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AgBlue · Apr 29, 2004, 09:41 PM

Hey all,

I really should be studying right now, but I just wanted to stop and give you guys a brief and quick impressions of my 1.5ghz Powerbook that I received today.

Here's the specs :
1.5Ghz G4
512 mb ram
5400 rpm HD (Toshiba model)
128mb Vram
4x Superdrive

First of all, this laptop is absolutely amazing. I definitely feel the speed difference from this and my friends 12in pb 867mhz. Everything just really flies on it.

When I first turn it on, the battery was partially charged to 74%. I charged it up all the way and the guage said about 2:30 minutes, but it was still counting up. I slept the laptop for awhile, and opened it sometime later, and the guage read around 3:00. So I'm pretty sure I could expect about 3 hours of life out of it after everything. Setting was on automatic.

Heat... I was quite worried about heat and how hot the powerbooks have been lately, and I was hoping the 7447A would be the answer. And from my initial testing, I would say that it is. This new model, doesn't seem to get too hot at all. After normal browsing, and copying files, etc, the bottom plate was mildly warm, still very capable of putting it on bare skin w/o any discomfort. I did play some games, and for that I put it on highest performance, and it did get hot in the area just slightly left of the trackpad, and the center towards the back of the hinge on the underside. So it can get quite hot, but the palmrests are fine from what I've seen. Now the charger gets extremely hot when charging, but the laptop does not.

Also, screen quality. Unfortunately, I do have 1 single frozen pixel. However, it is in a very good spot, about 1 centimeter or less below the hinge. I'll take that. It's a little red dot that's only visible against black, or blue and just slightly under green backgrounds. But it's pretty hard to spot. Under normal conditions, one wouldn't notice this at all unless they were looking for it specifically like me. I tried some rubbing, but no luck.

Oh and the superdrive makes this weird "crunch" noise when a cd gets sucked into the drive. Kinda weird, but I'm sure it's normal. I vaguely remember my friend's Ti doing the same thing. Ejecting has a similar noise. When the computer is running, it is virtually silent. I noticed when I was copying files over from my drive through firewire, I could hear a hard drive pitch ever so slightly. Nothing that would get annoying though. Under normal use, I don't think this noise comes out at all. Nothing to be alarmed about, it's very faint and I had to be about 3 inches or so away in a quiet room to hear.

Speakers sound great. I was also worried that they wouldn't be that loud, as I'm accustomed to my iBook speakers. However, these are great, althought I haven't tried a dvd yet (those tend to be recorded pretty low so..).

Well, I can't think of anything else to put, other than I'm enjoying the laptop very much. The minor things I mentioned above are just that, very minor. Anyway, I'll return later with other info. Oh and I have pics which I'll post later too.

AgBlue

s0litude · Apr 29, 2004, 09:44 PM

yeah, the loud ass crunch when you put in a cd is normal... i thought it was weird as well but yup, its normal...

ibulldog · 05:35 AM

AgBlue:

I just want to say ditto on everything you stated in your post, minus the stuck pixel. My machine simply rocks. It's very fast, the airport range seems to be finally on par with the iBooks, and I'm extremely pleased with the upgrade from my 1 ghz 12 inch. I'm glad I waited for revision 2 of these PB's because it is worth it.

My configurations are identical to yours.

iBulldog

RussGJohnson · Apr 30, 2004, 12:24 AM

Well I finally received mine today and it is absolutley gorgeous!!!! I must have lucked out as mine has no dead/stuck pixels.

The heat seems comparable to my 17" PB 1Ghz, mildly warm to hot while sitting on my lap. You can definitely work up a sweat while working with it on your lap for any length of time.

I am very happy with the added portability over my 17" and I dont think I will be missing the real estate much. The only thing I have really noticed is that the power adapter plug is a little fickle, and will easily work itself loose with the slightest bit of pressure from your leg.

0s and 1s · Apr 30, 2004, 12:55 AM

Thanks for the report. I'm 'anxiously' waiting for my 15" PB. Now I'm getting worried. I hope I don't get any dead pixels. It seems that there's a bunch of screens w/ them on the latest updates.

php · Apr 30, 2004, 02:41 AM

I just got my PB 1.5Ghz with 1GB memory, stock 64 MB VRAM/4200RPM drive, and I'm really happy with it. It is far faster than my old G4 500MP. I use it primarily for audio and soft synths and it seems to run these types of apps much better. I also lucked out and got a screen with no dead pixels.

jaxxe · May 1, 2004, 08:41 AM

Yep, pretty sweet machine. I've had mine for nearly a week now, and just loving it. My wife is sitting next to me on the sofa with my old 12" AL. I caught myself this afternoon thinking this: I was burning a CD, while running around in Virtual PC, and didn't realize any slowdowns whatsoever! I didn't think about it until part way through the burn. Very satisfied. :-)

gostan · May 1, 2004, 09:11 AM

Mine is an upgrade from an 800 12 inch ibook. I am really enjoying this upgrade. I almost went for a 17er, but did not because I do take the PB back and forth from home to work. That was the right decision. The extra screen space would have been nice, but the 15 is more portable, no matter what anny 17er owner may say.

The screen resolution is just perfect for these older eyes. And the speed of the 1.5 with the 5400 hd and 1.5 gb ram is simply outta sight. I am also running Virtual PC with a stone industry program called Counter Intelligence, and I am very surprised by the reasonable speed and response of this windows program on a Mac. I have never run Virtual PC before as I always used my Dell laptop (which has now been retired) for this windows program, but it is faster and more fun on the PB.

Having used a 180 PB, a Duo 230, various Toshibas, the ibook, etc....there is little doubt in my mind that so far this is the best laptop I have ever owned. I will get months of enjoyment and work accomplished before a G5 PB ever shows up in the stores.

RooneyX · May 1, 2004, 09:23 AM

It's a good thing, in a way, the Powerbook G5 didnt come out yet because a lot of people wouldn't be able to use VPC for a while.

siflippant · May 1, 2004, 10:14 AM

Great to know you're all enjoying your new PB's! Just wondered how noisey those 80g drives are? Toshiba's can be pretty loud at times... I hope they've done something about this...

Konsole · May 1, 2004, 12:02 PM

i have the same config as the original poster also. My first mac, its perfect.

This laptop makes zero noise. I ripped one of my dvd's last night and i stoped it part way cause i thought the app had crashed... but it hadnt, it was working just very quitely. I dont have any games, (im a unix geek) but i was able to get it warm by compiling OpenSSL and a few other things last night. For a metal laptop I would say the temp was fine. you have to expect these machines to 'feel' warmer because of the conductivity.

gostan · May 1, 2004, 12:46 PM

Toshiba 5400 hd does not appear to be an noisier than the Hitachi in my IBook. I have been burning cd's and using computer for word, surfing and stuff.

jguidroz · May 2, 2004, 12:21 PM

My new 15" 1.5 Powerbook with 5400rpm drive and 128 VRAM is a nice improvement over my Pismo 500. Of course any laptop that could last longer than an hour on battery would have been a nice improvement.

squish · May 2, 2004, 01:20 PM

how's the fan noise? when exactly does the fan go on?

it sucks on my Ghz tibook.

battery charged, plugged in and doing light browsing and chatting, and the annoying fan by the power plug goes on.

now, if i unplugged the charger, the less annoying middle fan would be running. that's not so bad, but i'd prefer silence.

the fans aren't very forgiving.

you said you ripped an entire DVD and no fans turned on? If i did that, I'd get both going like nuts, regardless of whether or not i had the charger plugged in.

Master Yoda · May 2, 2004, 01:38 PM

I've gotta be the only guy left with a TiBook 500.

That new 1.5ghz AlBook is the first PowerBook since the Ti that has looked like a decent enough deal to upgrade.

These comments are very helpful, though I can't yet bring my self to upgrade quite yet.

One quickie though: My TiBook was great compared to my Wallstreet because it was much, much cooler. How's the latest AlBooks compare?

agibbs · May 2, 2004, 03:21 PM

Interesting, I followed the same upgrade path as you (Wallstreet to Ti 500 now considering Ti 1.5) and I found my 500 to be much hotter than my Wallstreet. However it may just be that it has been years since I used it, but the fan runs pretty consistantly on my Ti. That's one of the main reasons I'm considering upgrading (well asside from the fact that the new books just look like they kick ass).

curmi · May 2, 2004, 06:11 PM

Originally posted by Master Yoda:
I've gotta be the only guy left with a TiBook 500.

Nah - I've still got one...using it right now. But I have ordered a new 1.5GHz AlBook, and it should be arriving today.

Wonder how much I can sell a good condition Ti500 for?

Master Yoda · May 2, 2004, 09:46 PM

Originally posted by agibbs:
Interesting, I followed the same upgrade path as you (Wallstreet to Ti 500 now considering Ti 1.5) and I found my 500 to be much hotter than my Wallstreet. However it may just be that it has been years since I used it, but the fan runs pretty consistantly on my Ti.

Really? My Wallstreet 300mhz was scorching hot, though the internal fan never, ever went on. In the old days, the fan on my TiBook would run constantly in 9. But since > 10.2, the fan only goes on very occasionally. Its funny; my TiBook runs so fast now in 10.3 that I don' t see a need to upgrade. Things we're getting a little sketchy in 10.2, especially in Preview reading PDFs, but 10.3's Preview is just so fast.

Wonder how much I can sell a good condition Ti500 for?

I'd say quiet alot, since even Pismo's fetch a great amount.

bartman00 · May 3, 2004, 08:58 AM

I converted my room mate. He picked up a new 1.33 15"

Great laptop and he loves it. No dead pix, the screen and keyboard are amazing.

You guys who say it dosn't run hot must not be stressing it enough. After playing a couple hours of Diablo2 the bottom is so hot you can't hardely touch it. I've never heard the fan kick on.. or if it is on you can't hear it. It's run on a glass table that should disipate heat better than say, a wood,but this sucker is HOT.

Bart

cenutrio · May 3, 2004, 11:45 AM

Still using a TiPB 400...

Toyin · May 3, 2004, 11:58 AM

Originally posted by jaxxe:
Yep, pretty sweet machine. I've had mine for nearly a week now, and just loving it. My wife is sitting next to me on the sofa with my old 12" AL. I caught myself this afternoon thinking this: I was burning a CD, while running around in Virtual PC, and didn't realize any slowdowns whatsoever! I didn't think about it until part way through the burn. Very satisfied. :-)

That's cool. I gave my wife my old 12" AL as well.
I've got the 15" with 1gb of RAM, 128MB Vram, 5400rpm Toshiba

This machine is awesome. I took it on my 1st flight and it was perfect. I had no trouble at all on the plane even with the seat in front of me reclined. The screen is beautiful and so much brighter than my Rev A 12"PB. I can actually use it outside in the sunlight at the lowest brightness level. I really love how the screen dims depending on ambient lighting and the backlit keyboard is outstanding!!

My only problem is the heat. This thing can get HOT. Last night while charging the laptop and backing up a few gigabytes of files(to an external fw drive), the back get's toasty. Bearable with jeans but very hot to the palm and unbearable to backside of your hand. The machine is whisper quiet, but I'd like the fan to come on sooner to cool the thing down.

Battery life has been good. The longest I've seen is 3:45 on a full charge (which is better than I ever saw on my 12"). I also like how the sound doesn't turn off like it does on the 12"PB.

curmi · May 3, 2004, 06:12 PM

My 15" PowerBook (1.5 GHz, 128MB VRAM, 5400RPM 80GB) arrived yesterday. Screen is perfect - no dead pixels, illumination seems even. I won't be able to really push the machine until the weekend, but it looks and feels fantastic.

Most impressed by the screen - I bought a 15" 6 months ago that had white spots. Sent it back and got a replacement, which also had white spots. So I got my money back and waited. I was pretty worried this one would have some sort of display problem, but so far it seems fine.

rambo47 · May 3, 2004, 07:33 PM

My wife has co-opted our 17" PowerBook and made it her own. I have a 12" PowerBook for mobility, but when I'm home I grab my trusty old 15" 667 MHz PowerBook, the one called Gigabit Ethernet (before the DVI models). This latest update to the PowerBook line has me thinking it's time to jump up to the new 1.5 GHz 15" with the 128 MB VRAM. I have a "saved order" at the Apple Store online and I'm on the verge of hitting the purchase now button.

critterdoc · May 4, 2004, 08:40 AM

Originally posted by AgBlue:
Here's the specs :
1.5Ghz G4
512 mb ram
5400 rpm HD (Toshiba model)
128mb Vram
4x Superdrive

Are the new PowerBooks shipping with full OS X install sets or OS Restore only?

Toyin · May 4, 2004, 08:58 AM

Originally posted by critterdoc:
Are the new PowerBooks shipping with full OS X install sets or OS Restore only?

Mine was a restore and when I re-installed OSX it didn't install iDVD or Garageband. I thought I checked install extra applications or some similar option. Luckily I had purchased iLife for my other system.