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shatten22 · May 23, 2004, 09:29 PM

Hey-

I've got my pbook 550 chugging along and I've finally narrowed my eye down to just the pbook 1.5ghz as a potential upgrade.

I'd love to hear what people's reactions are to the new 'book, especially from owners of recent models.

What can I expect?

thanks

geoff

dagmar · May 23, 2004, 09:56 PM

I replaced a 867 Tibook (my son in has has it now - I've made him a Mac convert, and he's now into making movies and DVDs) with the 1.5/512/80 gig 5400 hard drive, and I'm very impressed so far. The screen is fantastic...I can hardly use it with the brightness turned all the way up, it's almost too bright! I'm lucky I have no dead pixels, though the Ti didn't either. In fact, none of the Powerbooks or ibooks I've ever had have had any

It does get warmer than the Ti, but I don't use it on my lap, so that doesn't bother me, and my fans are very silent; I have to listen hard to even hear them. Airport reception is better, and it's very noticably snappier. Make using 10.3 a real pleasure.

I've only had it for a couple of weeks, so haven't run it through all its paces yet, but I recommend it highly.

stevenind · May 23, 2004, 10:14 PM

I have had mine about 3 weeks. Upgraded for 800 MHz TiPB. Very pleased. Perfect screen, the speed bump is very noticable. Worth the upgrade for me.

Bonne · May 23, 2004, 10:37 PM

It's the perfect computer for me. My screen looks great and there is no wobble. This is definitely a worth while investment. I came from an iBook 500mhz and this is like night and day!

riotge@r · May 24, 2004, 01:59 AM

I've had mine for about 2 weeks and love it. I went from a TiBook 1GHz -> AlBook 1.25GHz -> Albook 1.5GHz. The 1.5GHz PB hasn't had any problems and I'm extremely happy with it.

TonTaub · May 24, 2004, 03:37 AM

It's my first (personal) Apple and I love it.
I got mine last Wednesday evening - so four days ago.
I have to adjust my measures though and make up my mind - and I don't regret this decision and look forward to get used to it

Michael.

(anyone else fighting with WPA on a 3rd party access point?)

strokemouth · May 24, 2004, 03:50 AM

I've had mine for about two weeks now and I love it. Upgraded from a 700 MHz iBook. There is obviously quite a difference. It doesn't seem to get as hot as my girlfriend's 1.25 15" either (though it still gets toasty doing intense stuff like encoding DVDs or something).

The main things I really noticed were much better than my iBook:

- The screen is much brighter. My iBook screen is almost too dim to use in comparison.

- The speakers are much louder and much more clear.

- It's obviously much faster.

The only problem I had with it was for about the first 10 minutes of using it, I kept changing the brightness of the backlit keyboard when trying to activate expos�. I took care of that quickly though.

tkmd · May 24, 2004, 05:10 AM

I too am pleased with the performance. No dead pixels. Not as hot as people were talking about. Aesthetically, the keyboard takes some getting used to (at least for me) coming from a Pismo the keyboard- keys are fatter than on the Pismo. The design of the AL PB is not as comfortable as the smoothed edges of the Pismo. But considering the speed and the quietness of the fan on the AL book I will get used to these problems. Overall a solid performer - make sure to order more RAM and spend the extra 100 bucks and get the single 512 as opposed to the 2 256 sticks that come stock. Still kicking myself for that one.

Talk2Angus · May 24, 2004, 05:13 AM

It's the perfect computer for me

shatten22 · May 24, 2004, 03:26 PM

how is it running pro apps like final cut pro and logic?

also, how is it running garageband and reason?

is it quiet?

thanks, you guys are providing great information....

g

JHromadka · May 24, 2004, 04:07 PM

I went from a TiBook 400 to a 1.5GHz and love it. Everything's faster, I can burn CD and DVDs, and C&C Generals runs great on it.

MRTrauffer · May 24, 2004, 04:51 PM

I've had my 1.5GHz 15" PB for about 3 weeks as well. I upgraded from an iBook G4. I am loving this machine. So far, very few problems. I am glad I made the switch.

I'm running FCP4 on this machine mainly for LiveType, and it works flawlessly. It runs really close to my dual 1GHz G4 desktop (much quieter too!)

The 15" is definitely worth it. I didn't need a superdrive on my PB, so I used that $200 toward the VRAM upgrade, HD upgrade, and put in one stick of 512 RAM (so I can add more later).

If you can afford it, go for it, you won't be disappointed.

shatten22 · May 24, 2004, 07:17 PM

I just jumped over to the imac forums and everybody's a-buzz about the possibility of G5's in the imac come WWDC (july). Now I'm thinking, what if I kept my slow-poke 550, and then bought a 20" imac in July.

I keep my portable for lounging about, and then when it's time to do more intensive stuff, I flip on the imac.

All of this G5-iMac-stuff is rumour of course, but it's a smart rumour I think. Why would anyone buy an iMac now when the eMacs are kicking their butt and for under a G too?

thoughts?

geoff

TonTaub · 08:14 AM

Originally posted by TonTaub:
(anyone else fighting with WPA on a 3rd party access point?) [/B]

Yes! I got it working! I had to set "Authentication Mode" on the access point to "Auto" - that's it!

:-) Michael.