[IronPen]

I made the switch last week and upgraded from my iBook 500 to the 12" PB. With the EDU discount, I got a good deal, and an iPod with a fantastic rebate. I'd waited for new REVs, but felt I was just wasting time. Besides, I wanted to buy before the wife changed her mind.

My impressions so far? It is an amazing machine! I've heard a lot about it, mostly what I've read here in the forums, and I am very happy with my decision to get it. I was debating whether to get this or the iBook 900, but for $200 more the PB had more to offer, enough to justify the PB purchase:

G4, Airport Extreme, DDR RAM, more

For anyone reading this now and wondering what they should do, don't let the horror stories about heat dissuade you. It gets hot, but so does the iBook. And the 12" isn't that uncomfortable. If you're importing lots of music off of CD or something, yes, it's going to get rather toasty. I imported an entire CD in less than 10 minutes (17 songs). It will be a nice lap warmer in the winter though.

And as far as sturdiness, it's great. The iBook has a tough case, no doubt, but that doesn't mean the Aluminum PBs aren't tough. The screen frame is sturdy and the LCD itself is bright and beautiful, more so than my old iBook. I noticed the difference right away. It's much brighter and crisper. My mom has an iBook 600 and it is also very nice though.

I saw the new iBook casing at the Apple Store. Man, it looked horrible in the store. It was really dirty. Granted, mine wouldn't be that dirty if I had one, but I do like the older metallic look much better.

The PB is awesome. I'm happy to be a part of the gang. I never thought I'd be able to afford a PB G4, and this things has made me very happy.

[SOLIDAge]

welcome to the club...its a fun club!!

[AssassyN]

Awesome choice! I too love my 12" PB, very awesome mobile machine! Enjoy it!

[jsnyder]

Agreed. I absolutely love this thing. The only two issues I've come accross (other than it getting toasty.. 151?F right now sitting on a woodent desk ripping music) are:

1. A singular sub-pixel defect has appeared on one pixel about one inch from the top of the screen and two inches from the right. It annoyed me the first day I noticed it but now I don't really care

2. To the right of the latch button/sleep pulser light the case gave a little and now does not perfectly flush with the battery

Having also upgraded from a 12.1" iBook I can certainly say this is an improvement. I think the heat issue is actually less annoying on the wrist rest with this machine than it was with the iBook. Where the iBook would stay annoyingly warm (unless the fan came on) the PowerBook seems uncomfortable at first and then the area cools and feels warm but not uncomfortable to work on. The keyboard is perfection comared to the iBook. I think it even tops my trusty old 1400's keyboard. I think it would take more than a crowbar to pry me away from this machine (unless to be replaced with an upgraded model )

[11011001]

I might have bought a 12 inch by now.. but only 640 MB of RAM bothers me. A gig would be prefferable.

We'll see if new ones come out soon, if not, I'll buy one anyways.

Congrats on your purchase.. they are definetely very, very cool machines. Hmm, probably my favorite thing to do on one is to find a nice comfy chair and read some tech docs or whatever (only get to use one at work).

I know this has been discussed to death, but what's your battery life like on this thing. Like how many hours would you get watching a movie or something (even better, what kind of life would you get watching a .avi, without the DVD spinning away).

[variable06]

Congrats on the PB...i just got mine this week myself and i'm loving it. Great choice!

Jason

[IronPen]

Thanks for all of the comments. This is a fantastic machine. The more I use it, the more I like it.

[andreas_g4]

Congrats (with a little envy... )

But why in hell didn't you max out the HD for 50 bucks? Shame on you!

[euchomai]

The 12" PB is my favorite mac ever. I've owned several over the years. I had my iBook stolen on a business trip to phoenix and the company replaced it with the PB. Thank God for full replacement insurance!

[IronPen]

Originally posted by andreas_g4:
Congrats (with a little envy... )

But why in hell didn't you max out the HD for 50 bucks? Shame on you!

Believe me, if I weren't married, I would have that and then some.

[ASIMO]

But you did not "switch."

[dreamBweaver]

I'm a switcher and I got to say how much I love my PB12 too. Congrats on your purchase. It is a wonderful machine!

[iMacfan]

[QUOTE]Originally posted by jsnyder:
The keyboard is perfection comared to the iBook. I think it even tops my trusty old 1400's keyboard. [/QUOTE

No way! It might be a slight improvement on more recent models, but it most definitely does not match up to the supreme clickiness of my old PB1400. Add to that the fact that the keyboard can not be lifted up like previous models - so repairs mean a big job, so I'm staying put with a wonky Y key. Apart from that though, this rocks compared to the iBook 466 that I was using.

[HotSoup]

lol, you sucka's will be mad when the 12" gets updated this month

[Phat Bastard]

Congratulations on a smart purchase! The 12" Albook is a beauty.

I'm personally sick and tired of everyone complaining about the supposed heat issue...I've used my computer sitting on my lap from room temperature when I power it on, to hotter after using it for an hour or so, and my body gets used to the heat. Even if I use the computer on my desk for an hour or so, and THEN put it on my lap, sure it's hot right away but I get used to it really quickly.

So yeah, the heat issue is blown WAY out of proportion.

[euchomai]

Originally posted by Phat Bastard:
Congratulations on a smart purchase! The 12" Albook is a beauty.

I'm personally sick and tired of everyone complaining about the supposed heat issue...I've used my computer sitting on my lap from room temperature when I power it on, to hotter after using it for an hour or so, and my body gets used to the heat. Even if I use the computer on my desk for an hour or so, and THEN put it on my lap, sure it's hot right away but I get used to it really quickly.

So yeah, the heat issue is blown WAY out of proportion.

EXACTLY what I said in another post on this board yesterday. Totally out of proportion!

[Earth Mk. II]

Originally posted by HotSoup:
lol, you sucka's will be mad when the 12" gets updated this month

Not really, since a) you don't know when there'll be an update and b) the 12" AlBook is an amazing machine as it is - I'm a new powerbook owner (since the beginning of the month) and I'd have no regrets if the whole line was updated tomorrow. So I'll be short a quarter of a gigahertz and some other features I don't need or use, big freaking whoop.

[real]

Originally posted by HotSoup:
lol, you sucka's will be mad when the 12" gets updated this month

I bet your mad right now( No Powerbook For You.)And you will be still mad in 6 months when nothing has changed in the powerbook line.

Let the man have his day


real

[s0litude]

Glad you like your PB! Welcome!