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jstein · Jul 11, 2002, 01:05 AM

Greetings,
I was wondering how does everyone use their powerbooks. As for me I never thought of myself as pushing mines to the max. Until recently I began to reccount the things I do on my Psimo 400. From editing videos, using photoshop, mixing and editing songs,learning to design webpages,producing music and working on screenplays. I feel that a truly getting the bang out of powerbook. I am constant motion with my powerbook moving from studio to studio, seminars or workshops etc etc... The strength and endurance of a powerbook is main reason I swtich over from using a solo 9100 by gateway. Its like my powerbook yearns to push to the max and then some .... With all of this in mind I was wondering in what ways do you guys use your powerbooks and how many acutally use their powerbooks on the road as well as in the house.........Or am I just powerbook freak!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Joshua Stein

seanyepez · Jul 11, 2002, 02:25 AM

I use my 500-megahertz "FireWire" PowerBook to troll MacNN Forums, browse the web, write reviews, and light Photoshop/ImageReady. I do video editing on my PC anc iMac.

mrwalker · Jul 11, 2002, 05:17 AM

I use my 667 DVI for everything. Other than an old 6100/60 it's my only computer. I do mainly web development & photoshop work.

CyberGreg · Jul 11, 2002, 06:45 AM

I use my Pismo 400 at car shows and while driving...

Interested? <a href="http://homepage.mac.com/iTiburon" target="_blank">Check out the iTiburon</a>

Mostly iTunes, Quicktime movies and DVD. I do have the DeLorme Earthmate GPS installed too. My wife plays solitaire when we are driving to a show.

edit - PowerBook is on page two.

[ 07-11-2002, 06:47 AM: Message edited by: CyberGreg ]

seanyepez · Jul 11, 2002, 06:53 AM

That's sick.

Kaner · Jul 11, 2002, 07:04 AM

yeah it is, thats awsome man

jstein · Jul 11, 2002, 11:31 PM

That's wonderful so many of us are using our powerbooks to the fullest!!!!!!!!!

PowerMatt · Jul 12, 2002, 01:27 AM

<blockquote>quote:<hr />Originally posted by CyberGreg:
I use my Pismo 400 at car shows and while driving...

Interested? <a href="http://homepage.mac.com/iTiburon" target="_blank">Check out the iTiburon</a>

Mostly iTunes, Quicktime movies and DVD. I do have the DeLorme Earthmate GPS installed too. My wife plays solitaire when we are driving to a show.

edit - PowerBook is on page two.<hr /></blockquote>A Tiburon, now thats gonna be a classic sports car. Move over '73 Porche.

BigMark · Jul 12, 2002, 01:46 AM

first glance I thought "say, that's quite a nice car....what is it?"

I then saw its a Hyundai and thought " oh dear...."

then I thought "well actually, that's not too shabby"

THEN I saw page 2, 3 & 4 and thought "sheeiiit.....this is some cool ****"

I've never been in a Hyundai and don't really like the look of any of them but this is a great example of how stereotypes can be cast aside.
Well done- the PowerBook installation etc. looks awesome. I was considering doing something along the same lines with my Mini but opted instead for just hooking up an iPod (no iPod photos yet : <a href="http://homepage.mac.com/sprucemoose)" target="_blank">http://homepage.mac.com/sprucemoose)</a>

BigMark · Jul 12, 2002, 02:08 AM

I was actually intending to start a thread to hear about any particularly innovative uses of Powerbooks. Any links would be appreciated.

I'll start off with this old one :

Navigate different. A GPS/Jeep/Powerbook project
<a href="http://www.hotkey.net.au/~ijcossor/nav.html" target="_blank">http://www.hotkey.net.au/~ijcossor/nav.html</a>

mrfett · Jul 12, 2002, 05:04 AM

i use one of the iRock radio transmitter's to listen to mp3s on my 'book in the car. i haven't tried any sort of mounting, though. that car is sweet. never thought i'd say that about a hyundai, but i gotta gives props...

i use my powerbook as the main component of my recording studio. i used to use a powermac, but when the motu firewire interfaces came out i decided to switch to an entirely portable setup. i also use it in live performance as an effects processor and sound module. i have my motu audio interface and midi interface in an skb case (portable) and have a small external mixer. this lets me use logic audio to route my guitar and vocals through effects, and my midi signal (i play a parker midifly) to one of my soft synths/samplers. It's a pretty sweet setup.

i occasionally do dj gigs and have used it for that, but admittedly need a better program than itunes for that (setting start and stop points is a pita, especially since it affects the song in all your playlists).

i'm starting my own network setup business, and use the book for all my development needs (still getting the hang of the unix thing, as i'm trying to move away from dot-net development entirely and take my clients to either mac or linux systems).

and of course there are those weekends that seem to dissapear after starting up some stupid game (escape velocity nova comes to mind).

i have a love/hate relationship with my 'books. i love 'em because when they work, they get all the above done elegantly and efficiently. but sooner or later, in my experience, they let you down and you're out a bunch of dough.

seanyepez · Jul 12, 2002, 05:31 AM

I mean, I had trouble bringing myself to say, "That's sick!" earlier. A Hyundai Grace van was responsible for getting my family stuck up at 5,000 meters at the peak of the Andes mountains at night.

Truckers ended up helping us get down to a town where we could catch a cab and leave the broken-down Hyundai. Since then, I vow never to ride in a Hyundai with more than 50,000 kilometers on it. <img border="0" alt="[Hmmm]" title="" src="graemlins/hmmm.gif" />

Even though I'm bitter towards anything Hyundai, I still love what you've done to your car.

CyberGreg · Jul 12, 2002, 06:29 AM

<blockquote>quote:<hr />Originally posted by seanyepez:
I mean, I had trouble bringing myself to say, "That's sick!" earlier. A Hyundai Grace van was responsible for getting my family stuck up at 5,000 meters at the peak of the Andes mountains at night.

Truckers ended up helping us get down to a town where we could catch a cab and leave the broken-down Hyundai. Since then, I vow never to ride in a Hyundai with more than 50,000 kilometers on it. <img border="0" alt="[Hmmm]" title="" src="graemlins/hmmm.gif" />

Even though I'm bitter towards anything Hyundai, I still love what you've done to your car.<hr /></blockquote>Yeah I hera ya... Hyundai has a less than stellar track record. The new Tiburon (2003) has been getting rave reviews.

I bought mine new and only have about 19,000 miles on it and with all of the modifications I can pretty much throw out the 10/100,000 warranty. I've had almost no problems, in fact the only problem with the seat belt was corrected under warranty.

Okay, sorry back to PowerBooks....
I run a temperature program, sorry I can't remember it's name and my PB runs anywhere from 65 degrees (cool morning) to a max of 219 degrees one very sunny outside show. I usually run OS 9.2.2 so I can use the touch screen (no OS X drivers) and the only problem I've had is one crash with Powerpoint, imagine that a Microsoft program! LOL! If it's a long show I usually boot up into OS X and use the touchpad in the cup holder. OS X is just soooo much "cooler" than 9.x. The DVD plays better as do Quicktime movies.

[ 07-12-2002, 06:32 AM: Message edited by: CyberGreg ]

fisherKing · Jul 12, 2002, 11:52 AM

i use mine with the battery, and sometimes with an ac adaptor. <img border="0" alt="[Skeptical]" title="" src="graemlins/bugeye.gif" />

jstein, u sound like me!
pismo 400: music production, screenwriting, grafix, system tweaking,
simple webdesign, music listening...

shameless plug here:

<a href="http://fisherking.hypermart.net" target="_blank">yo!</a>

dannyn · Jul 13, 2002, 02:26 AM

<blockquote>quote:<hr />Originally posted by CyberGreg:
I use my Pismo 400 at car shows and while driving...

Interested? <a href="http://homepage.mac.com/iTiburon" target="_blank">Check out the iTiburon</a>

Mostly iTunes, Quicktime movies and DVD. I do have the DeLorme Earthmate GPS installed too. My wife plays solitaire when we are driving to a show.

edit - PowerBook is on page two.<hr /></blockquote>Damn!!!! That is sweet! Kinda makes me want to soup up my WRX now. 'course, I just bought a Ti800...

Speaking of which, I use my Ti800 for a ton of stuff. A good chunk of time is devoted to email, web browsing, and some web design (Photoshop and Dreamweaver). I also run presentations for my classes using Quicktime movies and Shockwave Flash files. Most of the time, I'm doing some combination of video editing in Final Cut Pro, effects and compositing work in After Effects and Commotion Pro, and 3D animation in Maya. Sometimes I watch DVDs on my Cinema Display (hooked up via Apple's DVI-ADC adapter). Now THAT is cool!

Basically, I'm running some of the most system intensive applications out there. I'm pushing the CPU, the memory, the hard drive, the video card, and the battery to the max. I've only had my Ti800 for less than a month, but so far, it's held up incredibly well. Just before my Ti, I had a dual-800 G4, and I must say that my 'book fares quite well in comparison. Hell, I don't even miss my Powermac. It's so nice having portable G4 power.

[ 07-13-2002, 02:29 AM: Message edited by: dannyn ]