[hazelnutcoffeeg]

I wanna switch.
I have a thinkpad 760xd. 64MB RAM. P166. 3 gig HD.
it has a beautiful 12" screen.

I built my PC in november of 2000.
athlon t-bird, KT7 RAID, 64MB voodoo, etc.
sony DVD burner, 19" monitor. now running XP.
I do digital photography.



I have fallen in love with the 15" 1.25 Powerbook G4.

But, after reading all this stuff about white spots, stuck pixels, heat, ridiculously short batteries, outrageously slow ship times, and the possibility of Panther due out next week, I am completely paralyzed.

I am having a very hard time pulling the trigger on an Apple purchase.
I worry that I might be just as well off purchasing the IBM thinkpad T40. It costs the same as the powerbook G4.

Honestly, is the Powerbook going to make me never use my PC again?

Will the powerbook last me a long as my thinkpad?

[nuraoar]

I just purchased a PowerBook 15" Aftera long wait. The ship time wasn't bad for me.

I however did send mine in for repair because of the white spots. Other than that I am very happy with my purchase and MacOS X is a beauty and dream to use.

I would suggest you wait a month or two for the initial spike in demand to wear off and panther to be realesed. I think Apple would have sorted out all the intial issues by then.

I recommend the PowerBook.

[herbsman]

can't comment about all the problems but the powerbook is a good looking computer that runs os x. if you get a thinkpad you'll be stuck with xp or whatever you choose to use. but hey, at least its an ibm machine.

let me tell you a story. i used to hate macs and apple in general. os x and the tibooks changed all of that. God bless apple

[amazing]

It's a first generation model (even though people say that Apple worked out the kinks with the 12" firebook and the 17" lapzilla, that not the case.) I recommend waiting until Panther ships with the new models, and waiting even beyond that to get user feedback on how well Panther works with the laptops.

You have to allow time for the dust to settle--that's when the picture gets a little bit clearer.

[jetta_gt]

I agree with the above posts:

Wait till 10.3 (or even better 10.3.1) ships with the new PB, by this time they will have some of the quality issues ironed out.

Then BUY IT!!!!!!

You will have an amazing laptop with an incredible OS. Your digital photography just became a lot more fun!

Also, I'll give you the standard line that we give newbies around here that get worried about bad reports concerning hardware.

For every 1 bad computer there are 1000 good ones, but the owners of the good ones are too busy using their machines to stop in just to say "Hey, it's still working!", whereas somebody with a messed machine is gonna be pissed and you are going to see their posts everywhere.

[hazelnutcoffeeg]

i've been lurking here reading for the last two weeks.
i've followed the link to other forums and stores and stuff.
last night i even dreamed about apples and panthers and dead pc's.

thanks for the feedback.


now, tell me how loooooooooong i have to waaaaait!

[Crusoe]

The white spots are convered under standard warranty. Also, I bet Apple is all over their LCD supplier for quality control.

Stuck pixels happen but are uncommon these days. All laptops have the potential to have them.

Heat is objective - if you can check one out in person, perhaps bringing and playing a DVD and running word (if installed).

Short battery will be improved with Panther, perhaps the "accident 10.2.8 patch" is to make Panther look even better for book owners but battery life seems weak according to reports.

If your order takes a while, and Panther is released before it ships, you're highly likely to get it free (or just pay for shipping).

Using OSX took about 2 days and I didn't want to us Windoz at home ever again.

My TiBook is knocking on 3 years and still quite powerful these AlBook are more sturdy, with up to 2GB ram and a sweet graphics card it should last you a long time.

If you can wait a few weeks perhaps and get a hands on before you buy, perhaps the quality of LCDs will be better controlled and Panther will released (though Panther could be 2 months a way still). Just cross you fingers on dead pixels.

Once I get the quanity of my bonus, my BTO will be placed within minutes for a AlBook, if it's really nice a G5 is also in my future.

[Drakino]

Honestly, go buy one now. The laptops out in a month or so will not be radicially different. I am sure I could find some IBM discussion board making it seem like every Thinkpad T40 is flawed too.

I ordered mine the day of the announcement, and had it a week later. It has been flawless so far. Sure, 10.2.7 dosen't calculate the battery life right, but I can still pull 2-3 hours of Airport surfing around the house on a very bright screen. I do wish the battery lasted a bit longer, but right now it dosen't bother me too much.

Panther? It's not this amazing holy grail that everyone thinks, and Jaguar isn't going to murder your kids in their sleep. Sure, get Panther when it comes out because it is a good upgrade, but don't use it as an excuse to hold off. Noone knows when it will be out for sure. I can find rumor sites that say October 3rd. And I know I can find ones that said it would be at least in final form at Paris Expo last month. Hell, to prove some people here expect to wait forever, someone here even suggested waiting for 10.3.1? Might as well play it safe and wait for 10.4 then, or better yet, wait for the G5 Powerbook sometime late 2004 or early 2005. But then, thats going to be an evil Rev A machine, so wait for the Rev B Powerbook G5 machines late 2005. Then, well, we might see hints of 10.5, so better wait on that... (See, it just keeps going.)

And if your really concerned about all these problems, buy from a local reseller/Apple store and open the package before leaving. That way, any flaws can be taken care of before you even take it home.

But again, I bet the amount of people with problems for the Powerbook is well under 1%. If it was anywhere near a full percentage point, Apple would be pulling them back, or at least halting sales. While some people might not think this, they do have quality control just like every other company out there. Because if they didn't, the amount of pure negative talk would kill the company.

While some people are sitting here waiting forever, I took the plunge and replaced my dated PC laptop with a Powerbook. And I personally couldn't be any happier with the result.

[hazelnutcoffeeg]

i'm gonna go over to the apple store again.


does it come faster that way or should i order it through macmall or one of the others?

[TheIceMan]

hazelnutcoffeeg: Remember that there are many, many satisfied users of Apple PowerBook laptops. Unfortunately what you read here in this forum are the entries and reports of a select few. Like you, I'm a "switcher", since Oct. 2002. *Wow, I can't believe it's been a year for me on OS X!*

Anyways, back to my point...you'll love the PowerBook and especially OS X!

[xylon]

Originally posted by TheIceMan:
hazelnutcoffeeg: Remember that there are many, many satisfied users of Apple PowerBook laptops. Unfortunately what you read here in this forum are the entries and reports of a select few. Like you, I'm a "switcher", since Oct. 2002. *Wow, I can't believe it's been a year for me on OS X!*

Anyways, back to my point...you'll love the PowerBook and especially OS X!

Exactly.

But I would also sugges waiting, getting 10.3 instead of 10.2 as your operating system would be huge! Like gigantic. Not that there's anything seriously wrong with 10.2.

[HouseSold]

My Powerbook came overnite pronto from www.CDW.com

Ron Golland helped me personally. Jasmine is his backup. (sounds like a Western movie)

Toll Free Direct Line: 877.846.9166 or 800.800.4239

They can ship overnite and even Saturday delivery.

Don't go through withdrawals any longer. Become a user. Apple user, that is.

[CobraNT]

I recently switched from a Thinkpad T20. The only advice I have is do not wait another minute if you are thinking about it! Getting use to OS X is auckward for the first few days but now using my Thinkpad is weird. I bought a Powerbook G4 800 because it was in my price range and love it. I would recommend you go to an Apple store and buy one as they may let you inspect it to avoid the screen issues. Either way it looks like Apple is resolving the issues as fast as they can. Trust me when I say you won't regret the switch. You will have to get use to not having to reboot constantly and having no random crashes.......

[agentmouthwash]

Mine is perfect. The broken ones are just a minority.

[hazelnutcoffeeg]

guess what!?

apparently i can use my dad as a source of a discount!
the elusive government disount, being that he is a retired USDA guy!
i was getting jealous of all of those educational discounts and started poking around...

and, there is an apple store in Emmeryville, which just happens to be my layover destination today!

yay!

[beijinger]

Originally posted by hazelnutcoffeeg:
guess what!?

apparently i can use my dad as a source of a discount!
the elusive government disount, being that he is a retired USDA guy!
i was getting jealous of all of those educational discounts and started poking around...

and, there is an apple store in Emmeryville, which just happens to be my layover destination today!

yay!

Here is another one with a new 15 inch that is absolutely perfect, with the exception of only 3 hour battery time, of course. My thinkpad only get two hours though.

Despite being a relatively senior consultant to IBM locally, i got my PB and just loving it. Incredibly beautiful and great ease of use. Had the CTO of a couple of companies over for drinks last night and they woo...ed and ah..ed to no end.

Especially the guys who work on UNIX and Linux, think they are headed to the Apple Store today!

At least the four people that I know or work with who have the new 15 or 17 inch,

no white spots,
no dead pixels,
no latch problem

I think this thing about waiting for Panther is really neither here or there. With discounts, government or student, it would be 69 bucks. But I think depriving yourselve of a few month of the joy of this new machine is a far greater cost!

[fhammond]

Originally posted by hazelnutcoffeeg:
I am having a very hard time pulling the trigger on an Apple purchase.
I worry that I might be just as well off purchasing the IBM thinkpad T40. It costs the same as the powerbook G4.

I have both the 15" AU PB and the ThinkPad T40. Personally, if I had to choose one, I'd go with the ThinkPad. However, I'm not sure what type of digital photography you're doing. If you're using a pro digital SLR, like the Canon 1D or Nikon D1 series, I'd go with the Mac for two reasons:
* Built-in FireWire
* DVD burner

FireWire is obviously a good thing if you've got a camera that uses it directly. The DVD burner is a good thing if you're shooting with a camera that makes very large files. The Canon 1Ds, for example, has a 13MB file size. You don't need to take too many of these before a CD burner isn't enough.

However, if you're not using a pro digital, camera, then these things become less important. Both computers have USB 2.0 and there are plenty of good memory card readers for that interface. Also, both computers have a PC Card slot that you can put your camera's digital memory card into via an adapter. With a consumer digital camera, you probably won't care about the DVD burner as much.

Here's my reasoning for picking the T40:
* Smaller
* Faster
* Lighter
* Higher-res screen
* Better battery life

The first three are not really a big deal. Photoshop, for example, is a little faster on the T40 ('though considerably faster doing file I/O: opening and saving files; not a big deal unless you're using a pro camera with large files & processing lots of files). However, the last two may be important. The T40 has a 1400 x 1050 while the PowerBook is 1280 x 854. That's almost 75% more pixels on the T40 and it's really noticable when editing pictures. The battery life of the T40 is great: an honest five hours on the regular battery (photo/web editing-type work) and by replacing the optical drive with another battery, you can get around 10 hours.

My bottom line is that, although both computers are great, I think the T40 has an edge for digital photography. Battery life beyond 3 hours is important to me 'though, so that's definitely skewing my opinion. You won't be unhappy with either. Both computers are wonderfully designed and both run reliable, mature operating systems. I suggest looking at both in the flesh (so to speak) and go with your gut reaction.

Have fun!
fh

[hazelnutcoffeeg]

went to the apple store in emmeryville, my dad in tow.
we wandered from on end 'round to the other, slowly savoring all the apple acoutremonts and lovely packaging. after about 45 minutes, we sauntered over to the counter to make my purchase. (i decided to give it a go. i'm switching.)
the 18 year old behind the counter said he wouldn't honor my dad's government ID because my dad is retired. he said he'd only honor active employees. the little snot-nosed jerk!
so i called back the guy at the 800 number, got some chick named stacey who was mega cool and quite helpful and told me they'd honor it on the phone! i was standing on the sidewalk though, so i eneded up calling back when i got back to my hotel room.
it'll be here in 7-10 days.
it will be shipped UPS of FedEx. apparently airborne is not in favor anymore.
now i'm going to go order a case for it, for my silver-steak baby.
i really love the gray flannel ACME bag...



yay!


thank you all for your input and your help in making this $3,000.00 decision.

[Macpilot]

Originally posted by amazing:
It's a first generation model (even though people say that Apple worked out the kinks with the 12" firebook and the 17" lapzilla, that not the case.)

Uhhh.....do you have a rev A 17"?

I do, and it is perfect. No problems at all!

What is your data that suggests that Apple failed with the new 17"? What "kinks" does my machine have?

According to demand alone, and Apple's 42% of sales attributed to notebooks, you are incorrect.

They make great notebooks, and it shows.

As far as the guy with thinking about the IBM....well. Go for it, and continue to deal with Windows if you want. The Powerbooks and iBooks are winners.

[euchomai]

Originally posted by hazelnutcoffeeg:
[B]I wanna switch.
I have a thinkpad 760xd. 64MB RAM. P166. 3 gig HD.
it has a beautiful 12" screen.

I'd take a powerbook with florescent dalmation spots on it instead of yours. Get the powerbook, the people posting got bad computers and had to ask someone about it. The people that have the ones working fine are happily surfing right now, posting in the lounge.

[wavegroom]

I have fallen in love with the 15" 1.25 Powerbook G4.

I too. can't wait..... still on stage being assembled

Honestly, is the Powerbook going to make me never use my PC again?
Will the powerbook last me a long as my thinkpad?

I have been a long time windows and linux user before I got an ibook (the first one)

I was bored using windows... some many years more or less the same... nothing exciting... on linux you could compile a new kernel if you a bored with your computer

But than I saw the ibook and os x . Before that impression, macs have been computer for me that can't multitask and hang often. The computer was so stupid that YOU must tell it how much memory it should use for each application!!!! But it changed all with os x. Quartz Extreme, Aqua, Dock, Pdf as internal format.... all this was so fascinating that I decided to leave windows and I will never go back.......

As web-developer I'm using windows now only for Browsertests and kazaa. Administration of other unix boxes and 3D work I do with my gentoo athlon linux box. When I "switched" to mac os x I opened the shell and felt comfortable. It's so great, that a lot of stuff that I have learned with linux, works on os x. But all the stuff I learned on windows gives me nothing on os x (except Application of course ).

The combination of OS X for the desktop and linux for the servers is so great...
For example when you have a linux printserver at home with cups installed in broadcast mode, and you connect a mac with panther it gets the printer with zero configuration. The printer is only there when you are in the localnetwork. When you are at work the printer disappears. Many little things like this make the power of apple + open source a better option than windows.

No I don't think that your laptop will last you as long as your thinkpad, not because I could not or because its not powerful enough. But in 2 years there will be this new G6 magnesium/silicone Powerbook that looks so good and is so powerful that you will fall in love again and you must buy it, there is no other option!!!

heise.de has an article (in german) about used computers. They say that the apple laptop in used market are getting younger and younger.

you can read it here.
used computers

[docholiday]

Originally posted by fhammond:
I have both the 15" AU PB and the ThinkPad T40. Personally, if I had to choose one, I'd go with the ThinkPad.

While I love the ThinkPad series (and would probably go with it if Apple didn't make such nice notebooks) I think the OS will nullifies the negative points of the notebook.

Also, while the extra features like Gigabit Ethernet and Firewire 2 might not be something for you at this point, if you plan on using this thing for several years and as they become more common, you will be glad that these were included in your notebook. And the graphics, HD, everything is pretty decent imo.

Anyways, what am I saying... the PB has been bought... congrats buddy!