[Fawad]

Hey all;
I just got my pb today, Ill post a brief review.. and answer any questions later tonight;

Specs;
g4 867Mhz 640Mb Ram 60Gb Hdd AE

I have no physical defects (Unbalanced, too much space when closing. The trackpad and mouse button are perfect, infact I like it alot better than the ibook I used to have (700Mhz) I find the button lower, and much more smoother and posh

As regards to the keyboard, its very smooth, and I dont understand what people mean by bring back the plastic keys, I find the keys very comforting. There is no extra space underneath the keyboard, atleast not as described by some people.

The much discussed heat issue When I took it out of the box I was surprised at how cold it was. I was kind of dissapointed, thinking being so metal like itd get boiling hot. Ive had it on for about 6 hours straight downloading, installing, transferring files, using airport, bluetooth, many applications, while it does get warm, its as warm as my previous ibook. Nothing scalding. I can keep my left hand on it with no problems. It does heat up underneath, but not enough to cause uncomfortableness, rather I get worried I might damage it

Its so quiet

I find it extremely fast, most apps open with one bounce, as a person coming from an ibook 700mhz/640mb ram and who uses an imac 800mhz/512mb ram I find this faster than both.

The apperance is so much better than the ibook. Its a nice silver, not white/silver. It looks smaller, the screen seems a little shorter. Its very light. Something Im going to enjoy carrying around. The hinge is much better than both the tibooks and the ibooks.

I really dont know what else to say. The Combo drive is so cool. There is a clicking sound when a CD goes in, but t hen thats normal. So much better than the tray The hinge does give problems sometimes, in that I have to shut it down firlmy for the latch to lock, requiring some effort to actually get it down. But it's something small that will go away as I get used to it Im sure.

All I can say is I have no complaints Battery lasted 4 hours on the first charge, I was doing heavy stuff and had the brightness half way up. Im on my second charge now, says 1hr25min left, Ive been using it for 2 hours since the last charge. Seems good

Thankyou Apple.
Thankyou Steve.

(Now to get the girlfriend jealous )

[xdfk]

i also got my 12" powerbook 256/40/combo today so i decided to register here. it's my first mac and it's just awsome.

well my last pc even only had 700 MHz so i think the speed is great, battery lifetime ist better than i expected. still working with the first battery load (about 4 1/2 hours now)

no dead pixels or any other problems.
actually i think the powerbook ti is produced in higher quality but... my powerbook also really looks great.

i am still waiting for the airport card but they told me it will last a few weeks.

i ordered my powerbook 13 days ago at a local store. also the price was far cheaper than in the apple online store.

just love this notebook!
actually i really thought it's sooo small at the beginning but i think the screen is big enough for working..

[mikeylebeau]

xdfk,

Might I ask when you ordered the 12"? And did you order it from Apple.com? I'm anxiously awaiting mine and trying to determine based on when other people that are getting theirs ordered when I might see mine. Thanks.

-mikey

[xdfk]

i ordered it 13 days ago.... and no i didn't order it at apple.com
i ordered it at a local store as i said before.
btw it is an EDU powerbook.

[mikeylebeau]

Oops I actually meant to ask Fawad.. Fawad, when did you order your AlBook?

-mikey

[ebisix]

Thanks for the review.

[pnz999]

Originally posted by Fawad:
Hey all;
I just got my pb today, Ill post a brief review.. and answer any questions later tonight;

Specs;
g4 867Mhz 640Mb Ram 60Gb Hdd AE

I have no physical defects (Unbalanced, too much space when closing. The trackpad and mouse button are perfect, infact I like it alot better than the ibook I used to have (700Mhz) I find the button lower, and much more smoother and posh

As regards to the keyboard, its very smooth, and I dont understand what people mean by bring back the plastic keys, I find the keys very comforting. There is no extra space underneath the keyboard, atleast not as described by some people.

The much discussed heat issue When I took it out of the box I was surprised at how cold it was. I was kind of dissapointed, thinking being so metal like itd get boiling hot. Ive had it on for about 6 hours straight downloading, installing, transferring files, using airport, bluetooth, many applications, while it does get warm, its as warm as my previous ibook. Nothing scalding. I can keep my left hand on it with no problems. It does heat up underneath, but not enough to cause uncomfortableness, rather I get worried I might damage it

Its so quiet

I find it extremely fast, most apps open with one bounce, as a person coming from an ibook 700mhz/640mb ram and who uses an imac 800mhz/512mb ram I find this faster than both.

The apperance is so much better than the ibook. Its a nice silver, not white/silver. It looks smaller, the screen seems a little shorter. Its very light. Something Im going to enjoy carrying around. The hinge is much better than both the tibooks and the ibooks.

I really dont know what else to say. The Combo drive is so cool. There is a clicking sound when a CD goes in, but t hen thats normal. So much better than the tray The hinge does give problems sometimes, in that I have to shut it down firlmy for the latch to lock, requiring some effort to actually get it down. But it's something small that will go away as I get used to it Im sure.

All I can say is I have no complaints Battery lasted 4 hours on the first charge, I was doing heavy stuff and had the brightness half way up. Im on my second charge now, says 1hr25min left, Ive been using it for 2 hours since the last charge. Seems good

Thankyou Apple.
Thankyou Steve.

(Now to get the girlfriend jealous )

How good is the AE reception? the same as iBook

[smick]

Fellow PB Toters,

A couple of weeks ago I took a ride to the Atlanta Apple Store to be one of the first to get my hands on a 12" PB. While this is my first post here, I am not new to the PB world. I've owned the 170, the 520c, the Duo 2300c, the Pismo G3, and the original TiG4. I'm not a power user, I've just always wanted to have Apple's latest and greatest, ever since I got an Apple IIe many years ago. To me, Apple machines have always represented the greatest balance of features, value, speed and ease of use.

After two weeks with my new machine, I think Apple will have a hard time giving me a machine that better suits me than this one. I am a writer, and I find I do some of my best work in some very odd places. For any tool to be useful, it has to be one you enjoy using, and one you have when you need it most. I can pull out my AlBook just about anywhere. It's so solid that I don't worry about it like I did with the Ti. The 12" PB has helped me be more productive and more creative.

Only a Mac can make this possible. This is why I carry a PowerBook.

--Stephen Mick

[Fawad]

Mikey; I ordered it online from the Ireland Edu store on 29th January, it shipped on 1st February, reached Luxembourg on 5th February and I got it 7th February afternoon.

No dead pixels

AE reception is actually just as good as my ibook. I dont have a base station and actually have an adsl connection through my PC (WinXP, ack!) Which has a 3rd party wireless card attached to it.

I have no complaints though.

Same in college. Works in all the places it used to before. Damn, it even works in my neighbours house!

And after using it for so many hours, i still maintain there is *no* heat issue. And Ive got the processor performance set to highest.

[Homer1946]

Ok, got my alubook 12 and have been playing with it for two days. Here is my impression (long time mac user with multiple computers including, but not limited too, sawtooth 400 AGP, clamshell iBook 300, icebook 500).

Alubook 12/640/60/AE/SD

Most of my comparisons will be to the iBook 500, because 1) it is the computer I use 90% of the time and 2) I love my iBook.

My impressions.

Great little computer. Like an iBook on steroids. The iBook is a great industrial design and this just perfects it. It has a physical presence that just seems a lot smaller than the iBook, although when you lay them side by side you can tell there is not that much difference. It feels stiffer and studier, and the keyboard is MUCH better.

The screen is the same or worse as compared with the iBook. Calibrating it was difficult, much harder than the iBook, and required supercal. All in all I prefer the iBook monitor.

It feels fast. It is, of course, the fastest mac I have personally owned, so I am happy with it from that standpoint.

It gets hot, much, much hotter than the iBook. Not a problem for me, but on the verge of being one.

Very quiet.

Airport extreme is flaky with my Linsys 4 port/wireless router (I am aware of the reports). It frequently loses the wireless connection and refuses to reconnect without a lot of effort. The iBook never has a problem. The trouble seems related to the iBook being connected, still investigating.

WarCraft III runs fine, which makes me happy, but yet to get in any involved battles.

3+ hour batter life, on AE, surfing, playing mp3's. Much better than the iBook.

One dead pixel.

All in all I am very happy. I love this little computer. A great replacement for the iBook (the iBook has new duties). The unstable wireless is a pain (growing pains for AE), but I may now have it licked with some tinkering.

-R

[Chris Grande]

Originally posted by Homer1946:
Airport extreme is flaky with my Linsys 4 port/wireless router (I am aware of the reports). It frequently loses the wireless connection and refuses to reconnect without a lot of effort. The iBook never has a problem. The trouble seems related to the iBook being connected, still investigating.

I had this problem with my wired Linksys router. I'm guessing you are using DHCP, under the DHCP tab on the config page make sure the number of DHCP users is set higher than the number of computers you have. I found when a friend brought her iBook over that i couldn't plug it in to my network. I had it set to two (I have two computers), and the router would not allow for this third one to connect once I changed it to three the iBook connected. Hope this helps.

[Homer1946]

Originally posted by Chris Grande:
I had this problem with my wired Linksys router. I'm guessing you are using DHCP, under the DHCP tab on the config page make sure the number of DHCP users is set higher than the number of computers you have. I found when a friend brought her iBook over that i couldn't plug it in to my network. I had it set to two (I have two computers), and the router would not allow for this third one to connect once I changed it to three the iBook connected. Hope this helps.

Thanks for the suggestion. Actually I have the number of users set to 50 (the default). What seems to have worked is setting up the iBook TCP/IP manually, but still letting the powerbook connect using DCHP. I will need to change the PowerBook to manual soon anyway so I can forward ports. Eitherway whatever conflict was appearing is hiding for now.

-R