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skyman · Sep 30, 2003, 11:32 PM

Just got back from CompUSA after checking out the new 15" Al PowerBook and here is what I have to say.

(I am the owner of a 1GHz Ti)

1- The new design is MUCH better than the Ti. Hey I like my Ti but the new 15" Al design is better hands down.

2- I opened every app and taxed the heck out of the CPU and could not get the fan to come on. Yes, the bottom was warm but no more so than my Ti. My Ti fan(s) run all the time and it drives me nuts. Speaking of which the Fans on my Ti just came on. I HATE THESE FANS!

3- With all apps closed and brightness at 50% battery life was only 2 hours 20 mins. This is about 1 hour less than what my Ti gets. Maybe this is just a PM monitoring problem with OS 10.2.7 and 10.2.8.

4- The 1.25GHz felt faster than my 1GHz Ti. Apps opened faster and it just felt...snappier.

All in all the new 15" looks GREAT and I really think I am going to get the 1.25GHz 15" because I HATE THESE BLOODY FANS ON MY TI!!!!

TheIceMan · Oct 1, 2003, 12:04 AM

skyman:
I know what you mean. When I first got my PowerBook the fans didn't come on often. Now it seems like anything could set it off. Even just surfing the web!

skyman · Oct 1, 2003, 12:17 AM

Originally posted by TheIceMan:
skyman:
I know what you mean. When I first got my PowerBook the fans didn't come on often. Now it seems like anything could set it off. Even just surfing the web!

Yes... I love my Ti....but I hate the FANS...I HATE THESE FANS!!!!

Eyenovation · Oct 1, 2003, 12:27 AM

Sold my Ti for an Al and love every minute of it. For me, the biggest sigh of relief is NOT worrying about paint and the fragility of the the computer itself.

I have the 1GHZ Al. The coolest differences I notice so far are the new hinge design, the keyboard, AirPort Extreme, and the port placement on the side.

As a designer using this in the field, this thing f*ing rocks!

Dump your Ti on eBay, get an Al.
You'll never look back

skyman · Oct 1, 2003, 12:35 AM

Originally posted by Eyenovation:
Sold my Ti for an Al and love every minute of it. For me, the biggest sigh of relief is NOT worrying about paint and the fragility of the the computer itself.

I have the 1GHZ Al. The coolest differences I notice so far are the new hinge design, the keyboard, AirPort Extreme, and the port placement on the side.

As a designer using this in the field, this thing f*ing rocks!

Dump your Ti on eBay, get an Al.
You'll never look back

What about the FANS....???

Eyenovation · Oct 1, 2003, 12:59 AM

Never heard them come on, excessively the way I heart with the Ti. Thus far, it's remained extremely cool relative to other Apple books.

fuddman · Oct 1, 2003, 02:00 AM

I'm sorry but I never used a powerbook before, al'15 on order 10/10.. whats the deal if the fan is on? would'nt you want it on enstead of your motherboard burning up? is it that loud or something,? please educate..

Eyenovation · Oct 1, 2003, 02:01 AM

Originally posted by fuddman:
I'm sorry but I never used a powerbook before, al'15 on order 10/10.. whats the deal if the fan is on? would'nt you want it on enstead of your motherboard burning up? is it that loud or something,? please educate..

Most of the time (and I could be wrong), it is convection cooled. The heat is dissipated through the vents. if I am not mistaking the fan only comes on if it's VERY HOT.

MusicalTone · Oct 1, 2003, 02:50 AM

I have the 15" Ti 1Ghz and the fan rarely comes on. I am so glad I bought it before the Aluminium model came out as I think I would be having difficulty choosing right now between the two. I just love the look and feel of the titanium model. It is just class all round. I dont think I could live with the Aluminium models poor battery life and side ports.

Eyenovation · Oct 1, 2003, 04:02 AM

I dont think I could live with the Aluminium models poor battery life and side ports.

I'll take that ANY day over this:

:O:O

MusicalTone · Oct 1, 2003, 04:10 AM

Eynovation: ouch! What did you do to it for chirst sake? My god. Not a single scratch on mine. In fact this is the best quality finish I have seen on a laptop. Something tells me that an Albook in your hands wouldnt last long either!

Link · Oct 1, 2003, 04:21 AM

Originally posted by Eyenovation:
I'll take that ANY day over this:

:O:O

Easily explained: The tibooks at one point used a paint finish that wasn't too strong, there wasn't any finishing underneath, and to make matters worse the metal they used had some copper in it apparently, which would stretch/shrink with the heat and cause the paint to come off easier.

Eyenovation · Oct 1, 2003, 04:22 AM

My point is that you can't go wrong with newer technology. It's faster, has more storage, AirPort Extreme, and looks better in my opinion.

pete · Oct 1, 2003, 09:07 AM

I don't get why people don't repaint their tibooks with something cool looking once they start getting scratched. When I got chips on my hinge covers recently, I stripped them and (following advice from somebody here), sanded them down with super fine sand paper and water. The titanium underneath looks awsome when polished! The carbon fiber edge must be very paintable too, perhaps even with stronger paint than what was originall there. There seem to be so many possibilities to make the tibook even cooler once it has become scarred.

Of course it was stupid of apple to paint it in the first place, but what's done is done.....

Besides the paint issue on some powerbooks, these machines are amazing.

alpha rays max · Oct 1, 2003, 09:19 AM

Those photos make me feel ill. Haha.

amazing · Oct 1, 2003, 11:16 AM

The battery in the Ti is 61 watt-hours, the 15" albook is 47 watt-hours. That's a serious downgrade in battery life. Hopefully, NewerTech will come out with higher capacity aftermarket batteries, like they have for the Titanium.

Why, oh why does Apple come out with such wonderful features and then throw in an obvious lemon feature? Yes, they wanted to keep the weight down, but at the expense of battery life? Did they think it wouldn't be noticed?

For any Apple laptop running Jaguar: If you notice it getting hotter than you remember it being, try deleting the invisible powermanagement pref, then resetting the PMU and / or resetting the PRAM in open firmware. It's worked wonders for a few people with the firebook, and I've even noticed that it works with my Ti-400. The downside is that the pref eventually gets corrupted again and you have to reset it all over again. Read this thread:

http://discussions.info.apple.com/We...2191@.3bc109fc