[kshack]

Hello Everyone,

Ive have been using apple products for about a year so far and I love it compared to windows. Im really wanting a laptop so that im not stuck in a room while making web pages. I was readign about these white spots on the powerbooks and Im wondering is it on a certain model of the powerbooks or is it on all models. Im also wonderign if the laptops come with jaguar or panther.. I had panther for a while but I found too many bugs with dreamweaver 2004mx (color eye drop selector) and some photoshop programs.. Im not sure if these are fixed yet but I rather use jaguar until panther becomes less buggy.. I really hope I dont have to go to the dreaded windows laptop.
Thanks for your time
kshack

[typoon]

Originally posted by kshack:
Hello Everyone,

Ive have been using apple products for about a year so far and I love it compared to windows. Im really wanting a laptop so that im not stuck in a room while making web pages. I was readign about these white spots on the powerbooks and Im wondering is it on a certain model of the powerbooks or is it on all models. Im also wonderign if the laptops come with jaguar or panther.. I had panther for a while but I found too many bugs with dreamweaver 2004mx (color eye drop selector) and some photoshop programs.. Im not sure if these are fixed yet but I rather use jaguar until panther becomes less buggy.. I really hope I dont have to go to the dreaded windows laptop.
Thanks for your time
kshack

Well from what I understand the white spots only happened in the 15" Powerbooks. Also from what I understand anything after December 1st should have the fixed screen so no more white spots. They all come with Panther pre-installed. My 12" Powerbook came with Panther. Just upgrade to 10.3.2 should be less buggy. I think some of that stuff in Dreamweaver is a macromedia problem not an Apple problem but I don't use it so I don't know. Hope those answer your questions

[jasonsRX7]

I'm kind of in the same boat as you. Long time PC user who recently got into Macs. Got a desktop G4 to try out and loved it, so I got a G5. Last Friday, I decided to replace my 5 month old IBM T40 Centrino laptop with a 15" Aluminum Powerbook. As much as I love being able to use OSX on the go, I'm wondering if I might have made a mistake.

First, I have to say I can not believe how hot this laptop gets. I need to hit it with a laser temperature gauge sometime, but I can say that it gets too hot to comfortably hold in your lap. The first time I picked it up off my couch, I let it go very quickly because I thought I might have burned my hands. I think this amount of heat will eventually damage the screen and possibly warp the casing.

Secondly, while my screen looks very good so far, it doesn't feel too sturdy. It wobbles quite a bit when you move it around. If you take your finger and kind of flick the lid lightly, you'll see what I mean. It wobbles for about 8 seconds or so. The T40 lid was very stiff and didn't bounce when I typed.

My third problem is really just a matter of preference. I absolutely hate touchpads (I call them 'Scratch 'n Sniff' or 'Finger Skating Rinks'). I like trackpoints so much better because you don't have to take your hands off the keyboard to use them, and you don't have to keep swiping your finger over it to get from side to side.

I wish I felt as confident about my Powerbook purchase as I am with my G5. I would gladly buy another G5, but if I had to buy another laptop right now, I think I'd go with the T40 again.

[madmacgames]

the problems with DreamweaverMX2004 seem to be macromedia problems. It runs terribly slow in both Jaguar and Panther. Seems to be nothing but bloatware.

Pickup a copy of the previous DreamweaverMX (v6) and you will be more than fine.

[carney]

I've got the 1.25 GHz Al and the 550 MHz Ti both paid for with other people's money, so I don't get too worried about having to send them off to early retirement. If I were really worried about reliability (I never thought that would be an issue with Apple till now) I'd buy the last Ti made (if you can still get then anywhere). I think it was a 1GHz system. The video and memory will be slower than on a 1G Al, and that sounds like it might be an issue for you. However, my Ti was/is a great machine. I snapped the hinges early in it's life, but I admit that was really my own fault (Apple made good and replaced the screen-yes there's apparently no way Apple will just replace hinges-anyway) but other than that it was a very robust and reliable machine for me and is now enjoying a comfortable retirement displaying email.

Though I like the Al, I don't love it the way I loved my Ti. I had just moved up from a G3 PB and it was just the coolest sexiest thing ever. The Al is thicker and heavier and not nearly as nice to look at. I had the screen darkening show up the other day but has since gone away and I have decided to be optimistic. Anyway, if I could, I would trade this puppy in for the last rev of the Ti in a heartbeat. Since it's not really "mine" don't bother offering a trade, I couldn't take you up on it... Sigh.

[James L]

Remember,

Apple sells a couple of million macs per year, and you don't hear from 99% of the happy users. You hear from the small percentage of people who are upset about something.

Reading forums can be VERY misleading sometimes, as people often come to forums when they are having problems with something. You can read 200 posts here about people having problems with something. That doesn't even put a dent into the number of units sold.

Any mechanical device is going to have defective units ship. Cars, Microwaves, Stereos, Playstations, etc. That's just life. The unhappy people will always be louder than the quiet, happy ones.

Now, to your actual questions, my buddies who repair makes haven't had to do a screen replacement in a PB since the beginning of December, and the coding problem is with Macromedia, NOT with Panther. I noticed the slow down as soon as I upgraded from MX.

...hope that helps!

[JCT]

jasonsRX7,

I may be in the process of switching as well, though my trajectory is the opposite of yours (started with a PB, seriously considering a G5).

Until my 12" PB arrived 2 weeks ago I had uh, borrowed my husband's T40 . Great machine. And I agree, it definitely didn't heat up. Clearly the Al casing is contributing.

FWIW, I usually use my PB on my lap and have started using one of the Targus Podium Pads. I've always used a travel pad on planes (for the swivel). The podium pad works great (much better airflow) and my PB barely gets warm even after several hours of use.

Might be worth a try.

Good Luck,

JT

[typoon]

Originally posted by James L:
Remember,

Apple sells a couple of million macs per year, and you don't hear from 99% of the happy users. You hear from the small percentage of people who are upset about something.

Reading forums can be VERY misleading sometimes, as people often come to forums when they are having problems with something. You can read 200 posts here about people having problems with something. That doesn't even put a dent into the number of units sold.

Any mechanical device is going to have defective units ship. Cars, Microwaves, Stereos, Playstations, etc. That's just life. The unhappy people will always be louder than the quiet, happy ones.

Now, to your actual questions, my buddies who repair makes haven't had to do a screen replacement in a PB since the beginning of December, and the coding problem is with Macromedia, NOT with Panther. I noticed the slow down as soon as I upgraded from MX.

...hope that helps!

Agreed. I'm one who has only had minor problems with Apple Products. So far (knocks on wood) I will continue to. I just got a 12 " and so far no problems. just some minro external blemishes nothing to complain about. If you are not looking closely you don't really notice them. Other than that so far I've had mine a little less than a month and it's been great so far

[MacNStein]

Originally posted by jasonsRX7:
I'm kind of in the same boat as you. Long time PC user who recently got into Macs. Got a desktop G4 to try out and loved it, so I got a G5. Last Friday, I decided to replace my 5 month old IBM T40 Centrino laptop with a 15" Aluminum Powerbook. As much as I love being able to use OSX on the go, I'm wondering if I might have made a mistake.

First, I have to say I can not believe how hot this laptop gets. I need to hit it with a laser temperature gauge sometime, but I can say that it gets too hot to comfortably hold in your lap. The first time I picked it up off my couch, I let it go very quickly because I thought I might have burned my hands. I think this amount of heat will eventually damage the screen and possibly warp the casing.

Secondly, while my screen looks very good so far, it doesn't feel too sturdy. It wobbles quite a bit when you move it around. If you take your finger and kind of flick the lid lightly, you'll see what I mean. It wobbles for about 8 seconds or so. The T40 lid was very stiff and didn't bounce when I typed.

My third problem is really just a matter of preference. I absolutely hate touchpads (I call them 'Scratch 'n Sniff' or 'Finger Skating Rinks'). I like trackpoints so much better because you don't have to take your hands off the keyboard to use them, and you don't have to keep swiping your finger over it to get from side to side.

I wish I felt as confident about my Powerbook purchase as I am with my G5. I would gladly buy another G5, but if I had to buy another laptop right now, I think I'd go with the T40 again.

The heat and screen problems aren't typical, you should get your PB serviced immediately. Again, that is NOT normal.

[selowitch]

Originally posted by jasonsRX7:

First, I have to say I can not believe how hot this laptop gets. I need to hit it with a laser temperature gauge sometime, but I can say that it gets too hot to comfortably hold in your lap. The first time I picked it up off my couch, I let it go very quickly because I thought I might have burned my hands. I think this amount of heat will eventually damage the screen and possibly warp the casing.

There are many aftermarket solutions for allowing greater heat dissipation from your PowerBook, among them the CoolPad.

You also might want to make sure you have the latest battery update from Apple, which might improve the performance of the battery and make it produce less heat.

Good luck.

[jasonsRX7]

Originally posted by MacNStein:
The heat and screen problems aren't typical, you should get your PB serviced immediately. Again, that is NOT normal.

Since this is the only Powerbook I've ever used for an extended period of time, I can't really compare the heat to another one. I guess I should check with the Apple store about that. But I have seen a lot of Powerbook specialized products for dealing with the heat produced by them. That leads me to believe that Apple laptops produce more heat in general. In all the years I'd used IBM laptops, I never gave it a second thought because they never really got hot.

I should also mention that the heat is only a problem when I'm doing CPU intensive work, such as extracting a large archive, or running Virtual PC. But then again, I could crank Prime95 on my Centrino for hours and it would never feel more than slightly warm.

As far as the screen wobble, every single laptop at the Apple store that I tried before I bought this one wobbled the exact same way. Most people probably don't even notice it, and wouldn't until someone pointed it out to them. And even then, they'd probably say "oh hush your whining." I knew before I bought it that it was like that, and I'm sure it's not an actual defect, but a result of the design. In fairness, almost every other brand of laptop does the same thing. I've just been spoiled by the T40 and A20 I had previously.

Don't get me wrong, I'm not saying I don't like my Powerbook, I like it very much, in fact. I like plopping it down on my desk at work, attaching a mouse, and letting my lousy IBM desktop rot away with XP running Adaware.

I just believe that for portability, ruggedness and general usability, the T40 I had previously might have been more polished overall (not in asthetics, however).


Selowitch: are the battery updates installed when doing a Software Update? If so, then I should be current. If not, I take it that I can dig around on the Apple site and find them?

[todrain]

I wouldn't worry too much about the bad problems you read about on the forums... most should have already been taken care of, so chances are you'll have a good machine.

I got an iBook Dual USB when they first came out, in fact in the first batch that shipped. People are now complaining about all sorts of problems with them, but mine worked like a charm (it did have a bad DVD drive, but that failed about 2 years after I got it, and it was covered under Applecare, no problem!)

Just because you hear bad things it doesn't mean that they will happen to you!

[selowitch]

Originally posted by jasonsRX7:
selowitch: are the battery updates installed when doing a Software Update? If so, then I should be current. If not, I take it that I can dig around on the Apple site and find them?

Here's where: http://docs.info.apple.com/article.html?artnum=120281

Make sure your PowerBook is one of the supported machines for this update -- if it doesn't have FireWire 800, then it looks like this particular update doesn't apply to your particular PowerBook.

[jasonsRX7]

Originally posted by selowitch:
Here's where: http://docs.info.apple.com/article.html?artnum=120281

Make sure your PowerBook is one of the supported machines for this update -- if it doesn't have FireWire 800, then it looks like this particular update doesn't apply to your particular PowerBook.

Thanks for the link. I do have FW800 so I took the update. I guess my battery is 'enhanced' now

[s4iscool]

My switch to a mac has been horrible. For over $3k I am seriously disappointed in this machine. I am setting it aside to just use at work, and ordering a new pc laptop for personal use. I just have had been unlucky...actually along with many others, but im no Mac appologist and never will be no matter how "pretty" the machines are, because if they always have problems or dont run smoothely with various devices, i could care less.

[Zatt]

Originally posted by James L:
Remember,

Apple sells a couple of million macs per year, and you don't hear from 99% of the happy users. You hear from the small percentage of people who are upset about something.

I'm here! Definitely a happy user and wish I had the money to buy a G5 desktop and another 15" 1.25GHz PB on top of the one that I'm typing on.

No screen issues, no heat issues, no keyboard issues and Panther installed.

Getting the thing shipped to me was a hassle, but that's over now and I've been smooth sailing ever since.

[southtdi]

Just to make sure this is out there some of the last model of the Ti's had the white spots also. I kow because mine had them and has since been fixed. The Ti and 15" Al both used the same screen as confirmed by a product specialist at applecare.

Remember that that white spot issue might have not been totally Apple's fault. It could have been due to the seating (which I don't think was ever confirmed) or it could have been defective screens from Samsung.

As for a bad experince with the mac I am sorry to hear that. I too am a recnet switcher but have found the experince awsome and wondered why I didn't do it sooner. I am an IT professional so I wrk in mainly Windows apps all day but I use my PB as my primary computer at work with no problems. I run a mixed enviroment at home (2 windows, 2 macs, and a windows server) and once I figured everything out have found it to run just fine. I would encourage you to post a thread with your experience and problems and maybe you can get some help solving your problems and bringing the mac up to your expectations.

[selowitch]

I'm a Macintosh lover but also a realist, and I am not blind to the fact that Apple has had some significant quality-control issues with the PowerBook line, especially in regard to the hinges and the white-spots issue.

I am fairly certain that any Mac ordered since September is far less likely to exhibit these issues.

Keep in mind, however, that with any mass-produced item of this kind of intricacy that there will always be the occasional dud or lemon -- no computer maker can claim to be 100% free of that. It's just not possible.

I do think that Macs in general reflect superior industrial design and aesthetics, as well as power and efficiency. And the operating system is far and away the best choice, in my opinion.

[MWeinstein]

My experiences with Macs has (fortunately) never been a bad one when it comes to hardware.

I order a dual processor G5 in September and even though people were complaining about bad power supplies, and noisy hard drives, I have not experienced any issues with my system at all. My G5 is my everyday workhorse and it performs flawlessly.

In early December, I ordered a 15" AiBook and was terrified about what I might get after reading more and more about the issues that people were having in the forums. When it finally arrived after several shipping delays, the holidays, etc., the machine is flawless (knock on wood). I use it every day and travel back and forth from the office with it. It gets connected to a second display and an external mouse and keyboard when at the office. No white spots, dead pixels (noticeable), or any of the other issues that people are complaining about.

Liek someone said earlier, if you come into these forums intentionally looking for problems, there are many to be found, however, do keep in mind the number of posts you are reading and compare that number to the numbers of mahines that are being used daily. Apple makes a great product, and like any other manufacturer of high-tech equipment, there will always be some issues to contend with.

Buy a mac. You won't regret it.

Mark

[jimf_81]

I've had a new 17" PB for just over a month now, and it has no problems whatsoever. No white spots, no dead pixels, and it doesn't get that hot. Sure it can get a little warm, but its not even in the least bit uncomfortable.

[KraziKid]

I had just gotten my 17 inch powerbook around a month ago, and have had no problems other than 1 dead pixel. I decided that I will not call apple and complain for two reasons. 1) They may not even take it back for repair because it's 1 pixel, and 2) If I get it repaired, the new screen may have more dead pixels. Considering the pixel is stuck off (black) rather than on, it is much better. I rarely notice it unless I look for it, and even then I sometimes confuse it for dust on the screen. When I purchased my first LCD years ago, it had 4 pixels stuck on in various colors. Considering I lived through that, I have learnt to not be annoyed by one off pixel. Other than that I think this is one of the best purchases I have ever made. I foresee it lasting me through 1.5-2 years of college (which starts next september) while still being very fast, and then after that if I need a faster laptop, I will upgrade. But, if the G5 Rev B powerbooks aren't out by then, I will stick with what I have.

[voicebox]

Originally posted by Zatt:
I'm here! Definitely a happy user and wish I had the money to buy a G5 desktop and another 15" 1.25GHz PB on top of the one that I'm typing on.

No screen issues, no heat issues, no keyboard issues and Panther installed.

Getting the thing shipped to me was a hassle, but that's over now and I've been smooth sailing ever since.

I'm with Zatt - 100% ...!
I bought an iMac last February when I was 'borne again' and finally ditched my PC - no problems whatsoever. Bought my 15" Powerbook last November (after waving a happy fairwell to my Toshiba Laptop!) - added Panther in December - no issues at all - spot free, heat free, keyboard terrific, not warped and with battery perfect. Although I have to say the battery performs even better now that I've installed the update...
So enough of the moaning and groaning folks and lets have three cheers for the 15" Powerbook!!!
PS: the latch works perfectly as well ...!!

[Fezziwig]

Originally posted by kshack:
I had panther for a while but I found too many bugs with dreamweaver 2004mx (color eye drop selector) and some photoshop programs.. Im not sure if these are fixed yet but I rather use jaguar until panther becomes less buggy.. I really hope I dont have to go to the dreaded windows laptop.

Hello,

I switched to a Mac 18 months ago, having used PC's since the Bronze Age. I'm running Dreamweaver on a G3 ibook, with Panther installed. It's a little slow, but I'm a patient man, and I haven't had any problems. Anything is better than Frontpage! Then again, the two websites I maintain are fairly simple.

I usually have Dreamweaver, PageSpinner, MS Word, Devon Think and Itunes open while I'm working ona website, so the G3 is doing a pretty good job.

I'll be moving up to a powerbook as soon as I can afford to, though what I've seen on this forum makes me a little nervous.

A good friend just bought a brand new Dell laptop with onsite support. It was defective when it arrived, and tech support tried to talk her into repairing it herself. Two weeks later she was still waiting for onsite repair.

Cheers
Bob