[spalding12]

now that more 17" Rev. b's are around... how is the keyboard. specifically, remember the issues with the right-front edge of the keyboard was significantly higher than other areas.

is this STILL the case with the Rev. b?

greg

[nagromme]

Any rev B 17" reviews would be welcome... I feel myself moving towards getting one once Panther is included.

I notice the gap in the front when closed looked uneven in some early photos of rev A. Is this, and the keyboard thing, just an early glitch that is a thing of the past?

TIA

[HouseSold]

Honestly, when the PB 17" 9/03 1.33 arrived and I began using it, I was very disenchanted that I had let my flawless, zippy Titanium 800 go to its' new owner. I initially was content that I received a good market value price and that a musician had a place in his studio for my workhorse companion and friend of the past 18 months.

The Aluminum 17" is sleek, enjoyable, misleading on display brightness and viewing angle and has its' own personality and way of becoming your friend as you warm up to one another. I know I was expecting the likes of my Flat screened iMac at home in screen visibility. A different ball game here..

I had disdain for the speed at first, feeling cheated by no level 2 cache. Like getting more dinner, but no dessert, sort of. But an encouraging personal e-mail from rob-Art Morgan at Barefeats.com helped assuage my critical expectations. He suggested more memory, as much as I could afford to the maximum 2 gb's worth. He also suggested the faster Hitachi 7200 rpm drive as well to expedite my data movements appetite. Both of which he graciously provided in a link to transintl.com .

Did I miss my Ti 800 any longer? Not as much as Day 1 and even less now that a colleague stopped by today to work together on a project and brought his Ti 800.

Last evening I worked on the sofa and saw 3 hours of battery life no problem, before I quit for the night. Using the screen dimmed with the illuminated keyboard made me feel like the pilot of a 747 must feel flying at night. I actually enjoyed seeing the keyboard while working. Redefining Web Surfing.

Today, after updating to 10.2.8 last evening, I noticed 2 gripes eliminated.
1) VPC actually worked faster now than before. As incredulous as it seemed, my saved state images open much quicker. I know because it was my biggest disappointment after reading the fine print in the VPC literature about maximum briskness coming from the level 2 cache (my long gone Ti 800) and staring bleary eyed at the progress bar crawl while opening or closing VPC. Thanks to Flyhigher for the encouragement and settings for memory in VPC.

2) The fan, which initially sounded like loose marbles in a coffee can when cycling (rarely except with Cinebench and VPC running), now was politely cycling much more civilly. How could this be? An update which was causing so much grief to so many others was actually improving 2 beefs that I had.

So day 3 brought back some enjoyment and some excitement after I ordered more ram today and also enjoyed the Waterfield sleeve that Gary from sfbags.com had personally shipped (4pm afternoon) so it arrived the next morning, totally unexpected service extraordinaire for a sleeve finished like a fine suit. Perfect for my new companion, with whom I am becoming more fond of daily.

BTW..Freehand 11.01 and Photoshop fly along pretty well, but not as well as running on a G5, I imagine.

Looking forward to more memory and even more experiences. Hopes this helps.

[Crusoe]

FYI
You have double the L2 cache (512KB) that you had in your 800 (256KB), just no L3 cache.

[spalding12]

your experience helps a lot. thanks for that insightful bit of info. more RAM is always better, and i suppose the increased drive speed would also make some difference, though NOT in all instances, of course. i am still ticked off that my local apple store has no memory sticks and has NO idea when corporate will be releasing them. i should have ordered the 17" online/BTO with the 5400 drive... but i wanted to hold it in my hand for that kind of money and just get the 1GHz stick (to add another later when costs decreased). i know that i would have had to "sacrifice" drive speed because the stores will ONLY have the 4200rpm model.. but i was willing to do that. the store is only 30 mins from my house.... i just wanted to take her home myself. they have been holding a 17" for me in the store off and on for 1.5 weeks. as you would imagine the 15" models are going much quicker than the 17" for very obvious reasons.

what to do, what to do

greg

[RayX]

HouseSold (or anyone else),

Can you comment on the right-front edge of the keyboard (arrow keys) and uneven lid issues that were present with the Rev A 17"?

[spalding12]

many folks commented and i saw personally several units... the right front side of the keyboard was higher than any other part and much more "spongy" in sensation... not sure why.... all else was well.... didn't notice it in the rev. b at the store...

wondered if anyone else has one to comment

greg

[HouseSold]

Just a quick response before work...

The keyboard has a nice, firm, quiet response that communicates expression (yours) when typing. You're able to type quietly in bed while spouse is sleeping and see the keys with low or no outside illumination (except the dimmed screen). Is this what Apple meant by increased productivity? Computer widowerhood ahead?

I looked everywhere for sponginess, in all keys and corners, and found nothing but solid construction and secureness. In a dim room with the lid closed and a flashlight on opposite sides and edges, I could see light (gap) between keyboard and screen. In fact this explains why my traditional two sheets of paper slide out while in the sleeve. Short of a circus elephant sitting on the powerbook, I see no screen/keyboard collisions in store for me

Just my unscientific 2 cents...

The romance continues... (powerbook and me)

[nagromme]

Regarding drive RPM, the trade-off is battery life I've been told, so either speed has advantages. I think I'd prefer speed to battery life... but maybe not for the price.