[AssassyN]

Well, those who predicted were right this time (but those who predicted on the G5 weren't ), I got an outstanding deal on a Rev. B 12" PB from my University, so I'm basically upgrading from the Rev. A 12" PB to the Rev. B 12" PB for no cost, and I believed (even before I owned) that the Rev. B was a worthy successor to the Rev. A for numerous reasons...well, my Rev. B 12" PB arrived yesterday morning, and I've spent everybit of my time from then 'til now playing with it, and so I'm writing up a bit comparing the two as requested.

I'll start by giving the specs of each machine:
**Rev. A 12" PB: 867Mhz/640MB RAM/Combo/40GB/AirPort Extreme
~~Rev. B 12" PB: 1Ghz/768MB RAM/Combo/40GB/AirPort Extreme

First, I'm sure everyone wants to know side-by-side heat tests, so here goes. My Rev. A 12" PB, even under Power Saver and only typing in Word w/ brightness at 3 bars, while it got outstanding battery life, it ran hot! I mean, it never got so hot I couldn't touch it and move it a bit, of course, I'm a guitar player w/ toughened hands, but admittedly, it got uncomfortably warm at times. Now, having my Rev. A here simply ON, not doing any tasks, sitting beside my Rev. B transferring files from a FireWire drive, through Ethernet, installing off a CD, and being plugged in, merely got warm, and I mean that in the truest extent. Even after 30 minutes of constant slamming of the hard drive from file transfer, the left & right palm rests were barely warm to the touch...no longer is the left one scalding hot. Even after gaming on it (which I'll mention later) it was simply warm. Really reminded me of how cool my Rev. A 17" PB ran.

So there's heat...if your Rev. A is frying you, the Rev. B's won't...the heat issue is finally fixed. Now, for issue #2, sticky trackpad. Rev. A's had a tendency to have a trackpad that got a lil stuck and "clicked" when coming up after you pressed it down...no more. It seems Apple changed the whole button mechanism as they don't even compare; the Rev. B's button glides down & up equally smooth, very, very nice. The trackpad itself also seems improved as it's much smoother to the touch and w/ 10.2.7 (the included OS X), removed another aggrivation for me, slow mouse tracking. The cursor seems to move faster now w/ slid to Max sensitivity, which I like a lot.

The case...maybe it's in my head, but it seems shinery. Probably just because it's newer, but the finish seems a *tad* more refined, and the newly found coolness of the metal makes it even more glamorous.

Everything is exactly physically the same, except for the video-out port; instead of the mini-VGA port, there's a mini-DVI port which IS (contrary to my own hopes!) shaped differently. Sadly enough, the Rev. B machines ONLY come w/ a mini-DVI to VGA adapter and a mini-DVI to DVI adapter...if you want RCA or S-Video out, you have to buy a seperate adapter from Apple, the mini-DVI to Video, for $19. I used the mini-DVI to DVI adapter to plug into my DVI-to-ADC adapter and power my 17" Studio Display for a good while, and it worked tremendously. It auto-sensed & adjusted for the new screen, and sliding windows across screens was perfectly seemless w/o any lag whatsoever, even w/ the built-in trackpad & using the 12" PBs display in screen-spanning mode. This is so amazingly nice, one of my main justifications to upgrade...if you own Apple displays, it is most definitely worth it to have DVI-out so you can tap into it and use the big screen for big work if needed.

Also, in case anyone's wondering, the RAM slot and battery slot is in the exact same position on both machines, thus Rev. A batteries and RAM are interchangeable...I've already swapped my 512MB SODIMM into the Rev. B and tried out my extra battery & it fits/works perfect.

Now, performance! Right off the bat (and bootup) it seemed faster, and it is in side-by-side comparison tests I did. A huge help in that, being the Rev. A lacked L3 cache, is *double* the L2 cache in the Rev. B 12" PB. Also, the clock speed has increased and you get an extra 128MB of RAM to boot. Under normal operations like files transfers, app. launching, etc., the Rev. B 12" PB performs *noticeably* faster than the Rev. A 12" PB, which I was definitely surprised about. I basically upgraded for the DVI-out and the ability to possibly actually play games on this, but in reality got a much snappier machine. Even PhotoShop opens merely ~1.5 seconds slower than my Dual 1.25Ghz PowerMac. Not bad at all...and I wondered about the graphics chip. FX 5200 Go...well, it's an improvement!

I tested SoF II: Double Helix first...set it to 1024 res., and ALL settings "Medium", and entered an online 16 man deathmatch...perfectly smooth, even on the little 12" screen! No lag in graphics or gameplay at all...very impressive! RtCW, Quake III, and Unreal Tournament all the same...they can all be ran at native res. w/ all settings medium/high and be perfectly smooth. Plus, you can output to an Apple display w/ an external keyboard & mouse for some real gaming action! I was definitely pleased w/ this lackluster sounding graphics card as it played this 3D games easily...for a small notebook such as this, it performed wonderful. I didn't even try gaming on my Rev. A as I was scared to see the results, but if I can run the above mentioned games fine, then I'd say that speaks for itself.

Battery Life...in a word, incredible. Just for kicks, I unplugged it at 100% w/ MAX brightness and no power saver on (so it was still running at 1Ghz) to see how long it'd last under constant use. I surfed the web., installed apps. from discs, launched random applications, rebooted a few times, downloaded patches and programs, and just used it basically anyway I could, and I got about 2:15 battery life before it force-sleeping on me. THAT is impressive! I haven't had it long enough to do power-conserving tests, but if it can run that long w/ everything in full use, I'm thrilled! My Rev. A 12" PB would last about 2:45 w/ brightness midway and Power Saving *ON*! I'm betting I'll push over 3 hours conserving power.

And just w/ my Rev. A 12" PB, AirPort reception is exceptional...love the range on these babies, great pickup everywhere on my campus.

Welp, that's just an off-the-top-of-my-head rundown of comparisons, however if you wish to know more of my side-by-side testing of these two machines, please just post and I'll do my best to help out! All in all, I wouldn't buy a Rev. B 12" PB if I owned a Rev. A 12" PB *IF* I'd be paying more than ~$100 upgrade difference...but for those who could seriously use the DVI-out and who game any at all, if you can pawn your Rev. A off for a nice price, it's a VERY worthy upgrade.

And for those who don't own a Rev. A 12" PB and are in the market for a subcompact computer, THIS IS IT! Apple really souped up the 12" PB to make it really a "Power"Book w/ the DVI-out, 512K L2 cache, and faster processing/graphics power...I cannot hesitate to recommend this notebook HIGHLY! It's a perfect mobile machine, escp. for college kids and those who need something small & light for on-the-go. Hope this was informative & helpful, and if you're in the market for an awesome Rev. A 12" PB w/ lots of free extras, check the Marketplace under my name

EDIT: Xbench 1.1.2 Scores have been added in a post by me further down the thread for those who are interested.

Cheers!

[videian28]

once again very nice info from AssassyN, I to am very happy with my rev b 12"... almost more so than I was with my rev a 17"

one thing of note that is almost comical is that I work in a secure environment for the governement, and they require a serial number check on all incoming and outgoing laptops.. well the apple is so clean that there are no serial numbers to be seen on the outside (or anything for that matter)

wake it up and go into system profile is the only wy to check it

oh well, I prefer it that way....now to get pounded on by all the network weenies in thier windows world

[Nessie]

Very helpful! Thanks. What about noise? Do the fans come on a lot and are they loud? Also, I've never owned a sub-compact, are the screens easy to read off?

[videian28]

fan noise on mine hasd not been an issue at all, not even sure it has come on yet..


the screen is nice, crisp and bright, in power save mode with the screen turned down, it really depends on how much power you want to save, and the ambient light conditions around you

[kaibutsu3]

thanks so much for the in depth comparison ,
i am just about to order my 12" revB (my first ever mac!! ), but one question, is the screen same as revA? i read in reviews elsewhere that the screen on 12" isnt that great just wondering if it has improved in revB?

kai

[ctishue21]

This isn't helping my decision on whether to keep my 17" or get a 12"!!!

[AssassyN]

Thanks videian28, I too agree it's a very solid machine.

And Nessie, thanks for bringing that up! The fans on my Rev. A 12" PB rarely ever came on...only during intense disc reading (like a DVD) while on like a pillow that allowed little airflow, and they were very very quiet. The same goes for the Rev. B 12" PB; the fans never come on unless you're doing something really intense like have 4-5 apps. open at once, extended reading from the optical drive, or in a warm setting, and when they do, they're next to silent. I always have to purposefully listen just to hear they're on, that's how quiet they are.

And the screen on the 12" PB is beautifully crisp; the res. is perfect for the size I think, and everything's very, very easy to read. Macs also make it so easy to increase letter size in web browsers and other apps. in case your eyes need larger font. But the LCD is amazing, you can view it from nearly any angle and see it great.

[AssassyN]

kaibutsu3, I forgot to mention, I did side-by-side screen comparisons, and at max brightness on both, I prefer the Rev. B 12" PBs screen. The Rev. A had a wonderful screen that I never had any issues with at all, but the new Rev. B just seems to be crisper and clearer...I can read everything on screen perfectly fine, and there's no ghosting at all when gaming, everything's perfectly fluid. Any rumors you've heard of a lackluster screen just aren't true about this Rev. B machine, it's screen is wonderful! And by the way, welcome the MacNN Forums!

ctishue21, in your case, I'd seriously ask yourself how mobile you want to be. I first owned a 17" PB, but quickly realized it's made for people who carry their PB to a desk, open & use it for the workday, and carry it back home. If you plan to be SERIOUSLY mobile, like in college, and lug it from class to class taking notes and such, you'll REALLY thank yourself for getting the more compact form factor. It just depends on what you'll be doing...the mobility factor of the 17" PB isn't very great at all, but the 12" PB is the most mobile computer I've ever seen/used.

[ctishue21]

I go from home to the train to work. The 17" is usable on the train. It's a little tight, but it works. I got the 17" for pure power reasons. I didn't think the 12" would be up to snuff for games, but now everyone is saying that it runs games like a champ. I may have to go down to the Apple store and buy a 12" and use it side by side with the 17" in order to decide what is better for me. It is just too hard to decide in the store. Then I'll sell whichever I like least.

Anyway, thanks very much for the in depth analysis. It has definetely got me thinking.

[kaibutsu3]

wow, thanks for such a prompt response, i am going to go order my powerbook now

hopefully it wouldnt take too long for it to reach the UK, let you guys know how i get on in the "official 12" order status" thread

[desillusion.com]

man, thanks assassyn for that review..
just makes it even harder for me to wait for my rev b 12", that isnt due to be shipped before octobre 7. hate the waiting!

[AssassyN]

ctishue21, I hear ya...yeah, the NEW Rev. B 12" PB really does run games pretty impressively whereas the Rev. A wouldn't run many games well. And for what you do, even the 17" PB wouldn't be too big. However, it's about what you wanna do w/ your computer aside from work and whether you'll need the mobility or not.

kaibutsu3, no problem at all! CONGRATS on your decision, you will love your new PB! And Apple seems to be rolling these machines on out now...I had mine BTO'd and it didn't take very long at all, so hopefully it won't for yours in the UK either.

desillusion.com, you'll be glad you waited man Is this your first subcompact computer? And did you BTO it w/ the 80GB hard drive? That, along w/ the 1GIG RAM SODIMM, seems to be slowing orders, but hopefully it'll ship out for you soon! And let me extend a welcome to you as well!

[schk]

Excellent write-up, this comparison should be beneficial to people hesistant on making the switch. I love this new PB.

[AssassyN]

Thanks man...yeah, for those even considering this machine, GO FOR IT! You won't regret it

[Simon]

Originally posted by AssassyN:
Thanks man...yeah, for those even considering this machine, GO FOR IT! You won't regret it

I already went for it... If only it would finally arrive.



AssassyN, nice review. Thanks!

[johnong]

AsssassyN:

THANK YOU SO MUCH for the in depth report.
I have already made my order right when i learned that the PB 12 has a mini-DVI.

I, like you, am looking for portability. Never have I purchased a Mac without finally ended getting the most expensive, top of the line series. But this time, my main attaction to PB 12 is its size.

I carry my curren ancient 466 iBook everywhere I go. From home to school, to work, back to home.

The only concern for me was the heat issue, but I ordered it anyway on 9/18. Only Combo, I have Superdrive on my iMac at home. And frankly, for me, I've never even used it to burn DVD.

And the additional speed and great looks, are just icing on the cake for me.

I am so glad you gave such great reviews about PB 12.

Now I just have to painfully wait for its arrival. Shipped 9/30 from Taiwan, must be in the air now, and will be delivered 10/3 (Friday), I hope it really comes. Can't go with another weekend without my PB!

Thanks again.

[AssassyN]

Simon, congrats!! Hope it arrives soon for ya!

johnong, no problem at all, glad it was informative! Yep, you'll have no worries about heat, the problem has definitely been dealt with since Rev. A. And if you're seeking portability, you'll find exactly that in the 12"...hope it comes by Friday for you to enjoy over the weekend!

[qvr]

A really great comparison, thanks!

Man, I'm getting so excited, my new 12" should ship on or before monday.
Your post definitely makes the waiting harder.

[sghms]

AssassyN

I don't know if you have the game or not but what settings do you run mohaa or spearhead on your new 12" PB. If you dont have either game, have you been able to improve the settings on the games you do have with the new PB?

Reason I ask is I'm considering whether trading down from a 17" Rev A to the 12" PB and am trying to work out if there is a huge gfx hit.

Cheers and congrats on your new pb

[michael_on_mac]

AssassyN, thanks for the review !!!

I also ordered a 12", and for the record, mine is due not before end of october - it's the 80 GB BTO probably.

Anyway, I' m looking so much forward to owning a Mac again - after turning away from it some years ago (Rev. A Tibook and OSX 10.0 were both too experimental ).

Good luck,
Michael.

[Nessie]

Originally posted by michael_on_mac:
I also ordered a 12", and for the record, mine is due not before end of october - it's the 80 GB BTO probably.

A whole month wait? I'm considering a BTO 80 gig, too, and thought it would take a week, two weeks at the most. Bummer.

[AssassyN]

qvr, thanks a bunch man! Yeah, the wait is the absolute hardest part, but it sure makes delivery that much more enjoyable! Congrats on your incoming machine!

sghms, I actually don't own either of those games yet (my pal has them & the new "Breakthrough" Expansion pack for his PC and after seeing him play, they're on my must-buy list!) but I can speak for the other 4 games I tested. I ran all of those same games on my Rev. A 17" PB w/ 1GIG RAM and was able to play them all at 1024 res. w/ settings either high or medium/high, and now on my Rev. B 12" PB, I can play those same games all at medium details at 1024. It's just a tiny step down from the graphics displayed on my 17" PB, but it's so tiny, I honestly can't tell the difference when I'm playing...it's just that I know I turned the details in some areas from high to medium so it'd be smooth. If you need mobility but still want to game, this machine won't disapoint. You may not be able to play every game at max settings, but it's DEFINITELY powerful enough to push them w/ enjoyable settings smoothly. And thanks for your compliments

michael_on_mac, there's no better way to come back to Mac than on an AlBook! CONGRATS! You'll love it man...the 80GB drive was holding things up some, but the 1GIG SODIMMs are really holding things up, so if you ordered that, it's the reason. You'll love Jaguar, and you'll really love Panther, which should hit shelves by the holiday season.

[stilltron]

Thanks for the amazing and complete review, AssassyN! You rock.
I didn't catch what version of OSX you were running for the test. Can you clarify? Within the 3 minutes I spent perusing your review, I've been convinced to buy a 12" as soon as Panther comes out.

Cheers.

[AssassyN]

stilltron, thanks man! And very nice choice on grabbing a Rev. B 12" PB when Panther comes out...I tell ya, I'd be hard pressed to wait until December though...by then you could've spent 3 happy months w/ your new machine, I'd say that's worth the ~$100 OS upgrade fee

And in my "heat" discussion, I mentioned it came with 10.2.7, quoted here: "...touch and w/ 10.2.7 (the included OS X), removed another..."

[videian28]

i was going to wait till panther as well, but the damn edu iPod+powerbook deal was just to good to passup... saved $230 on the ipod and $200 on the powerbook

that = a happy camper

[Jeff-Flowers]

AssassyN,

Could you do me a favor and run XBencn on the Rev. B 12" Powerbook? Version 1.1.2 was just released and, yes, I know that benchmarks aren't everything.

Thanks!

[desillusion.com]

assassyn:
it's actually my first powerbook. read "my story" here:
http://forums.macnn.com/showthread.p...p;pagenumber=2 (scroll down to the bottom)

no bto, no special hd, just the plain 12" combo, but i also ordered apple bt mouse & 512 mb extra ram (not from apple tho).

i am soo looking forward to this thing!

[michael_on_mac]

Originally posted by AssassyN:
You'll love it man...the 80GB drive was holding things up some, but the 1GIG SODIMMs are really holding things up, so if you ordered that, it's the reason.

Well, it's only the 512 MB module - but I'm just one of those annoying European customers...

Anyway, I'll survive the next weeks... somehow...

Michael.

[AssassyN]

Jeff-Flowers, sure thing! I'm d/loading the xBench 1.1.2 now and will run it, after it's completed I'll post the results here in this thread.

desillusion.com, sounds great! Read your story...very cool! And nice job buying RAM elsewhere, Apple charges WAY too much! Adding 512MB is the smartest thing to do until the 1GIG chips drop in price some.

michael_on_mac, ahhh, Euro...heh, Apple should treat everyone equally! I mean, geez, he gave the keynote in Paris for heavens sake!

[AssassyN]

Xbench 1.1.2 Results on Rev. B 12" PowerBook: 1Ghz/768MB RAM/40GB/Combo/AE - Oct. 1, 2003 - Tested after a fresh reboot.

Results 85.43
System Info
Xbench Version 1.1.2
System Version 10.2.7 (6R55)
Physical RAM 768 MB
Model PowerBook6,2
Processor PowerPC G4 @ 1.00 GHz
L1 Cache 32K (instruction), 32K (data)
L2 Cache 512K @ 1.00 GHz
Bus Frequency 133 MHz
Video Card GeForce FX Go5200 32MB
Drive Type TOSHIBA MK4025GAS
CPU Test 120.47
GCD Loop 114.77 4.48 Mops/sec
Floating Point Basic 119.94 433.74 Mflop/sec
AltiVec Basic 122.71 3.56 Gflop/sec
vecLib FFT 126.03 1.96 Gflop/sec
Floating Point Library 119.48 4.78 Mops/sec
Thread Test 63.95
Computation 62.94 849.74 Kops/sec, 4 threads
Lock Contention 64.98 815.71 Klocks/sec, 4 threads
Memory Test 90.63
System 87.13
Allocate 126.96 82.82 Kalloc/sec
Fill 117.10 932.10 MB/sec
Copy 55.51 277.55 MB/sec
Stream 94.42
Copy 94.67 692.01 MB/sec [altivec]
Scale 95.24 702.85 MB/sec [altivec]
Add 95.79 613.03 MB/sec [altivec]
Triad 92.06 562.50 MB/sec [altivec]
Quartz Graphics Test 114.98
Line 106.22 2.70 Klines/sec [50% alpha]
Rectangle 112.45 7.91 Krects/sec [50% alpha]
Circle 116.60 2.69 Kcircles/sec [50% alpha]
Bezier 109.26 1.19 Kbeziers/sec [50% alpha]
Text 134.23 2.19 Kchars/sec
OpenGL Graphics Test 99.22
Spinning Squares 99.22 69.43 frames/sec
User Interface Test 97.77
Elements 97.77 31.45 refresh/sec
Disk Test 55.66
Sequential 62.63
Uncached Write 57.31 23.89 MB/sec [4K blocks]
Uncached Write 50.15 20.54 MB/sec [256K blocks]
Uncached Read 134.14 21.24 MB/sec [4K blocks]
Uncached Read 52.58 21.24 MB/sec [256K blocks]
Random 50.09
Uncached Write 44.35 0.67 MB/sec [4K blocks]
Uncached Write 47.17 10.64 MB/sec [256K blocks]
Uncached Read 54.95 0.36 MB/sec [4K blocks]
Uncached Read 55.82 11.49 MB/sec [256K blocks]

[desillusion.com]

i think apples new powerbook prices are totally fair, esp. when you get edu-deals =) seriously, compare prices to high end toshiba/sony/ibm notebooks!


i actually didn't order via the german apple online store.. ordered mine at http://www.cancom.de (europe's #1 for apple/adobe products, got me a super-doopa edu-deal, so no complaints here *g).. cancom says, apple's powerbook delivery for cancom is due 07-10 octobre.

but still tho, i can't make it a whole lot longer without my powerbook.. i do hope it'll make it here till next weekend (10.11.).

man, assassyn, you're a lucky one!

[AssassyN]

Ahh, ordering through a retailer also slows it down, but nevertheless, hopefully it'll arrive sooner than expected!

[TheIceMan]

AssassyN: I am simply in awe of your depth of coverage in your review of the 12" PowerBook. And also to how quickly you respond to questions. Man, you should work in Apple Tech Support! I didn't think too much about getting the 12" AL because I'm using the 15" Ti now and love it. BUT your glowing review has made me reconsider perhaps going with the 12" AL Rev.B for my next laptop!

Damn you AssassyN.

[michael_on_mac]

Originally posted by desillusion.com:

i actually didn't order via the german apple online store.. ordered mine at http://www.cancom.de (europe's #1 for apple/adobe products, got me a super-doopa edu-deal, so no complaints here *g)..

Have no personal experience with this dealer..
Nevertheless, I'd recommend http://www.macatcampus.de once you're in university. Nice people, they ought to be supported!

Michael, spreading the word.

[AssassyN]

TheIceMan, hehe, thanks a bunch for your compliments...I'd absolutely love to work for Apple someday in some position...I'm hoping next semester to land a job at SouthPoint Apple Store if possible...but at any rate, I can't recommend the new 12" PB highly enough...I always complained that Apple crippled the 12" PB (Rev. A) w/ its lack of DVI-out, and "iBook-like" built-in RAM and such, but Apple has surely redeemed themselves w/ this effort. DVI-out, 256MB RAM built-in, the option for an 80GB hard drive, and a GeForce 5200 Go in there TRULY sets it apart as a "PowerBook" rather than a glorified iBook. Mobility and power all in one small, lightweight hunk of aluminum.

[TheIceMan]

= One Guy!

[Ryan1524]

whoa, great review. i'm very excited on the 15" before, but now i'm quite impressed with the 12". i'm gonna use it for college too. and now wondering if 15 would be a tad too large for it. the only thing keeping me (barely) on the 15" side is the larger screen and backlight, since i have a 1024 on a 15" LCD right now and i want something bigger...not sure if i want that 1024 on a 12" screen...but hmmm...can somebody help push me over. getting the 12 would also mean more money for ram, accesories and softwares...


decisions, decisions....

[bkb]

Assassyn,
Solid review. Thanks for that. Mine arrives in a couple days.

One question: i want to get rid of classic as i am a recent convert from XP and have no use for it whatsoever. what is the best way to do this? i've been told to do this first thing.

Thanks.

[AssassyN]

TheIceMan, you got that right!

Ryan1524, I'd definitely recommend the 12" PB for college use...it's amazingly portable, slips right into any typical backpack, and it's so light you don't even notice it...most of my textbooks are nearly double it's weight. Plus, the 1024 res. on the 12" PB is a nice deal of screen real estate for typical tasks like web browsing, Word processing, email, games, etc...I have Word, Safari, and occasionally a small game like Chess open in my Psychology lectures as I type my notes, surf on my campus's WiFi network, etc. and I find it to be plenty big. Plus it fits comfortably between the small seats and doesn't get in the way whatsoever. And the excuse that the 12" PB's screen is too small for real use doesn't work any longer as you can bring it back to your dorm, connect it to ANY display now that it's got a DVI-out, and have a dual-display setup. Plus, you'll save cash to allow you to pump the RAM up to 768MB, and buy yourself some cool accessories like a sleeve/case, iPod, PowerMate, etc., etc.

[AssassyN]

bkb, thanks, and CONGRATS!

If you are certain you wanna ditch Classic (I thought so too, and I did this on my first Mac, a Rev. A 17" PowerBook, however I kept it on my new 12" PB as I use OS 9 more than I thought w/ scanner software and the original "Unreal", but anyways...) you'll need to do this:

Turn your PB on for the first time, and immediaitely insert the grey disc that comes w/ your machine w/ the System Software on it into the optical drive and hold down the "C" key for about 10 seconds.

Let it do it's thing, give it a minute, and soon a thing will come up w/ an Installer...continue through it, and for each "Next" you click, keep an eye out for a button across the bottom of the Installer labeled "Options", click that when you see it. Select the bottom option to Erase & Install, and make sure you de-select the option to Install Classic & Applications when you see it somewhere in the Installer. Continue the installation, it'll install JUST OS X & not Classic, let it reboot, and you're set.

However, Classic is SO small, it takes up literally no drive space, and it won't ever hinder you at all if you never use it, so I'd recommend leaving it up there as you never know when you could need it.

[LfGrdMike]

YOu must of lost money though. explain that to us how you say you got a better deal. You can only purchase so many computers with your edu discount and so on. I can purchase one a year at my college. So I find it hard to believe you got a better deal. I think your hiding the fact that you couldnt resist LOL. I am curious.

Now that the iPod deal is out im glad i did what i did i saved a good 200 dollars which was nice.

[AssassyN]

Hah, no, I promise, I *made* money on this upgrade. My university allows us to use our EDU Discount as many times as we like (I don't order through Apple's EDU Page, but through my Campus Computer Store). Apple had a huge price mistake and allowed us to purchase the new AlBooks at about $400 less than retail...put it this way, I got it way cheaper than even the ADC Discount thanks to this price screwup. I've sold my Rev. A 12" PB on eBay and have ended up making about $200 in the process. Worked out nicely

[bkb]

Assassyn, this is better than mac support!

OK. Here is the thing. I am a returning mac user from...um...10 years ago. my last mac laptop was the first duo. forget the model. it has been so long that i have no idea what i'll do come friday when Fedex (hopefully) rings my doorbell.

Could you please give me a quick rundown on the essentials to getting the rev B 12" going. I've heard things about calibrating the battery (certainly didn't do that on my Duo), etc... i just want to get it going ASAP. What do i have to do?

Thanks.

[bkb]

A couple more clarifications.

What does holding down the C key do, after i put in the system software? and do i have to wait until it boots or during the boot process?

Thanks

[AssassyN]

bkb, hehe, I hear ya man...when my first Mac arrived I just opened it up and started playing around cluelessly, which I highly recommend actually! First off, you'll need to calibrate it's battery, and Apple provides a step-by-step guide HERE.

Now, a few easy things you should know: Hitting Cmd + K while on the desktop brings up "Connect To Server..." in which you may wanna do if your old computer & PB are on the same hub to easily transfer files from your old computer to this one. Make sure you go into "System Preferences", then "Sharing" and Enabled Windows Files Sharing first, as well as any other sharings you'll be using.
The typical Windows commands crossover in a lot of cases, except use the "Cmd" key (the one w/ the Open Apple on it) in place of "Control" on Windows. Like Cmd + C = Copy, Cmd + V = Paste, etc., just like those Windows shortcuts. Play around in System Preferences and click on each icon just to see what you can change/manipulate, like in Power Settings, etc. to make things as you please. And some of those things in the Dock when you get it, you may never use, so just drag the icons into the trash bin to remove them from the dock (but they'll stay on your HD). Also, NO MORE UNINSTALLING! If you wanna get rid of a program, simply drag the whole file of a certain app. into the trash, and Empty it. Boom, done. Nifty, eh? To put things in the dock, just drag the ".exe" icon in the folder into the dock (of course, it's not .exe, but that's what would be familiar to Win users).

Be sure to tinker in the Applications Folder & the Utilities folder...and also, if you'll be installing the full Office v.X, this must be done first. Go into Mac HD, Applications, Office Test Drive, and doubleclick "Remove Test Drive". Do that, Empty the trash, and NOW install the full Office, if you don't remove the Test Drive it won't work right.

Anyways, I just suggest playing around man, click on things, experiment, w/ Macs it's SO much harder to screw stuff up, so I bet you won't...have fun!

[LfGrdMike]

The C key just startsup from CD so you can repair permissions although you could just use system prefs startup disk pane

Well Assasyn I still say you couldnt resist. You know im right. I heard you say you would keep your rev a boy those words must of hurt you,

[AssassyN]

Holding the "C" key during bootup tells your machine to "Boot from CD rather than hard drive" so it searches that install disc for startup files, which it'll find.

Immediately after hitting the Power button, insert the disc, as soon as has swallowed the disc (btw, it'll take awhile to get used to the Slot-Load...push it 4/5 of the way in and don't be surprised by the CLICK it makes sucking it in, it's cool man ). As soon as the disc is in, start holding "C" and keep holding for a good 10-12 secs...then just wait. The installer will pop up within a minute. All those steps are done pretty fast, so be ready.

[LfGrdMike]

Dont go in the "system" folder though. Leave that be. Also be careful in the Library folders if you dont know what yoru doing you could mess up your apps or X. Its pretty easy once you understand what the library folders do, and how X works but until then new users should not touch these areas. Unless of course someone tells you too who knows what they are doing.

[AssassyN]

LfGrdMike, if you would've been presented this deal to get PAID $200 for upgrading and little work to sell, you wouldn't have said no either, eh?

I said I had no reason to upgrade BEFORE this deal was presented to me...I still had no real reason (besides I love hooking into my Apple Display now), but heck, for $200 & a nice free upgrade, I'm game.

BTW, to bkb, his advice to leave the actual "System" and "Library" folders alone is good advice...but if you go there, you'll easily see there's nothing interesting, just random files that make your system work.

[LfGrdMike]

No no you can put the CD in before you only need to put it in right away if the machine is shut down. Furthermore you could simmly hold down the option key too and let the machine search for all avaiable startup disks.

No I wouldnt of taken it. Im happy with what i got personally. It does what "I" need it to do. Plus i got a practically free iPod. So far my computer has run everything I put it up against. Sure rev b would of been nice but why not wait for the rev c this isnt a huge upgrade. For you it worked out better cause you got a LCD and needed that feature. So its different for everyone.

Keep in mind i was joking and must of forgot to click teh wink smilie

bottom line don't mess with directories you dont know anything about. Not even expert users mess with the System/Library. sure their may be some ddude out their who does but its a bad idea. I go in the /Library and Users/MYNAME/Library although i go in to delete old pref files and application support files for stuff i remove. Of course I also know what im doing in their. Its easy to learn, but until that time leave it be.