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jdparkinson · Feb 3, 2005, 08:42 AM

I just got the new 15 inch Powerbook straight from Shanghai China to NYC! I'll let everybody know how it is in a bit.
jay
www.darkshapesprowl.com

tungtied07 · Feb 3, 2005, 09:52 AM

yeah! please also take pics!

tortfeasor · Feb 3, 2005, 10:34 AM

I would like to know what the software disk image is like. What OS is installed, is iLife '05 pre-installed, is omnigrafe the new version, etc...

Congrats on your new system... Mine is still sitting on a loading dock in China!

awdboxer · Feb 3, 2005, 12:30 PM

Awesome, keep us updated. When did you order yours? Cool website btw

jdparkinson · Feb 3, 2005, 03:41 PM

So after re-installing the OS three times I am writing to you on my new 15 inch Powerbook. I upgraded from the Rev A 12 inch Powerbook and I can't explain how much of a difference in the quality of the screen. It nearly brought tears to my eyes to see how beautiful and deep the colors are compared to my old Powerbook. The OS is 10.3.7 and is bundled on the same CD as iLife '05. iLife was pre-installed but I re-installed so I could customize everything. I installed the OS for the first time and was so enthralled with the new PB that I didn't even realize I wasn't erasing and installing. So I re-installed. Then I got clever and changed my short name for the second re-install. After I thought everything was perfect, I used Backup but since I changed my shortname everything got mucked up. So after researching how to change my shortname I decided to just re-install for #3. That time I got it right.
The new keyboard is so pretty. The screen is ridiculously bright. There is a different feel to the keyboard than my 12". It's a little louder. But still quite delicate feeling. The fan has never come on since I have gotten it. It is much, much cooler than my 12". So, it was a good buy.
By the way, I ordered it through the Educational Store on 1/31 at 8:49 PST. Hope you all enjoy it as much as me. Oh, and thanks to the person above this post for the comment about my website.
Jay
www.darkshapesprowl.com

TWinbrook46636 · Feb 3, 2005, 04:52 PM

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

JCT · Feb 3, 2005, 05:47 PM

So after re-installing the OS three times I am writing to you on my new 15 inch Powerbook.

Oh my, been there, done that...I think it took me three installs to be satisfied with the setup on my 17" PB. I have a 12" arriving tomorrow ... hopefully will only take 1 or 2 tries

.

Oh well, at least installing OS X is far, far more pleasant that installing WinXP ... just the thought of wiping and installing WinXP on a laptop makes me dizzy...

Enjoy,

JT

amazing · Feb 3, 2005, 08:38 PM

Originally posted by JCT:
I have a 12" arriving tomorrow ... hopefully will only take 1 or 2 tries .

JT: Oh please do report back on the LCD quality in the 12"? Is it the same lesser quality screen as the previous generations--basically the same screen as the 12" iBook? And everybody's going to be interested in the heat situation, so for your own curiosity you might want to download a temperature monitor. Along with running Xbench?

Have I got your weekend planned out for you yet?

wunderkind · Feb 3, 2005, 08:58 PM

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

In 1.5GHz 12" it is

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

wunderkind · Feb 3, 2005, 09:08 PM

Originally posted by amazing:
JT: Oh please do report back on the LCD quality in the 12"? Is it the same lesser quality screen as the previous generations--basically the same screen as the 12" iBook? And everybody's going to be interested in the heat situation, so for your own curiosity you might want to download a temperature monitor. Along with running Xbench?

Have I got your weekend planned out for you yet?

It looks brighter than rev. B 1GHz 12". And the color balance is different. When using the same color profile and desktop background on both (rev. B 1GHz and rev. D 1.5GHz 12") side by side, the colors on the 1.5GHz look more "true".

With regards to heat, the very first impression while installing OS X is that heat and fan noise during high load are about the same as on rev. B 1GHz 12".

fortepianissimo · Feb 3, 2005, 10:48 PM

Originally posted by jdparkinson:
So after re-installing the OS three times I am writing to you on my new 15 inch Powerbook.

A couple questions:

1. Is it necessary to reinstall? I heard someone saying that reinstalling makes the system feel faster. I wonder why...

2. Would a reinstall lose any app? I mean does the disc contain every single app that comes with your PB?

wunderkind · 11:08 PM

Originally posted by fortepianissimo:
A couple questions:

1. Is it necessary to reinstall? I heard someone saying that reinstalling makes the system feel faster. I wonder why...

I had to reinstall since I needed to partition the disk (to create an emergency partition). Emergency partition is currently the only way to run DiskWarrior and Tech Tool Pro, since neither CD would boot 12" 1.5GHz.

Originally posted by fortepianissimo:
2. Would a reinstall lose any app?

It appears not. OS X Install disk contains all the bundled software including Office 2004 test run in all languages and File Maker Pro test run.

wunderkind · Feb 3, 2005, 11:06 PM

I'll need to run PB 12" 1.5GHz for several days, but it looks that it runs cooler than rev. B at the expense of more fan activity. When I was running full Tech Tool Pro test the fan was blowing like a hairdryer.

cmoney · Feb 4, 2005, 12:57 AM

Just picked up a 12" 1.5 myself as well. Nice little machine! It's replacing a TiBook 800 that's about 3 years old now. The fan is definitely more acceptable in this machine than the TiBook. It's almost like Apple knew the fan would be coming on pretty often and so they made it a little quieter than the normal laptop fans. They ramp up all the way from off to hair dryer so they sort of fade off as the machine cools down. Kind of a nice touch.

Overall though, it's running quite a bit cooler than I expected. The 12" 1.33 that the Apple store had was hot enough to burn my hands.

After a marathon install session, installing Adobe CS, Dreamweaver, iWork and Office, the fan came on but the machine wasn't that hot at all. My TiBook got hotter in fact.

Screen is okay. It's relatively bright, but hard to get the right angle so I notice poor antialiasing more on this machine than the Tibook.

Too bad about not having a backlit keyboard, that would've been a nice thing just to show off to people, though I probably wouldn't need it.

I'm not finding I use the scroll track pad much yet, I've already built muscle memory for not having it. Still though, it works pretty well, but nothing revolutionary there.