[asxless]

I picked up my new 15" PowerBook w/ 8x SuperDrive this afternoon. It's replacing my aging Rev A 500Mhz Titanium. The TiBook's screen is going and I just couldn't wait any longer for Apple to bring out the "real" PowerBook updates.

I ran into a couple of quirks while trying to clone the hard drive before I partitioned it. First I had significant difficulty getting the Panther Disk Utility to clone the HD onto a firewire drive. It kept hanging the firewire port. So I used the command line ASR on my TiBook running 10.2.8 to clone the AlBook's drive (target mnode) onto the same firewire drive. BUT... then the AlBook refused to boot from the firewire drive.

So I cut my losses and booted the AlBook from the install DVD, partitioned the drive and reinstalled OSX. At least this time I could use custom install to load X11 and not load any MS junk

While this was going on, I booted my antique TiBook into 10.3.7 using that same clone that would not boot on the AlBook. And after OS X had installed on the AlBook, I tried booting the AlBook from this clone one more time, and... it worked!

FWIW the new Powerbook is a very nice machine
* over 3 time faster,
* much better/brighter screen,
* neat back lit keyboard,
* lots of built in i/o & networking (airport, bluetooth, USB 2, Firewire 800)
* 8x DVD burner, etc.
...but let me tell you it is not even close the the break though machine that original TiBook was.

-- asxless in iLand

[Simon]

asxless, congrats on your new PowerBook.

I'm interested in the same model you got. However, I'm waiting to hear about temperature and fan noise. For that reason I started this thread. I'd appreciate if you could report.

[asxless]

Originally posted by Simon:
asxless, congrats on your new PowerBook.

I'm interested in the same model you got. However, I'm waiting to hear about temperature and fan noise. ...

I've been installing the OS and appplications from CD/DVD. I haven't gotten down to 'normal' usage yet FWIW during this heavy duty install / date transfer regime I only heard the fan on the new AlBook come on once. It was during the OS X 10.3 install which takes forever. But even then the fan(s) were not nearly as loud as the 8x DVD wirring around looking for the next bit of OS to dump on the hard disk. Even when transferring the 40+ GB of data from the TiBook, it was the TiBook whose fan ran nearly continously.

-- asxless in iLand

[TWinbrook46636]

Could you run System Profiler and tell us what the model number is for the Superdrive? That would be great. Thanks.

[RonnieoftheRose]

I'm getting very tempted to buy. My Rev A Alu 17" has a problem with the latch and I want to render and burn with iDVD faster. Anxiously waiting for benchmarks.

[asxless]

Originally posted by TWinbrook46636:
Could you run System Profiler and tell us what the model number is for the Superdrive? That would be great. Thanks.

MATSHITA DVD-R UJ-835E:

Manufacturer: MATSHITA
Model: MATSHITA DVD-R UJ-835E
Revision: GAN7
Serial Number:
Drive Type: CD-RW/DVD-RW
Disc Burning: Apple Supported/Shipped
Removable Media: Yes
Detachable Drive: No
Protocol: ATAPI
Unit Number: 0
Socket Type: Internal

BTW this drive doesn't 'engage' the CD/DVD until yoou have pushed it nearly all the way in the case. Then it quickly snatches it out of your hand. Ejecting is just the opposite -- don't have anything like a coffee cup in the way (don;t ask) because it pratically flings the CD/DVD out 3/4 of the way.

-- asxless in iLand

[zzarg]

wonder if anyone will ever region-free the new UJ-835E ? A worry with upgrading the machine is my UK DVDs won't play in my AU machine (my 12" Rev.A with a UJ-315 has already had the benefit of the work over at http://xvi.rpc1.org/