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Iron Lung Ryan · Jul 26, 2003, 11:40 AM

I am right now on my powerbook typing my first post with a mac! I am in the Cincinatti Apple Store setting up the computer - out of box it had no charge which they tell me is strange, so they are testing the battery to see if I will need to swap out my machine. I am killing time while the battery charges so please IM me at AIM = ironlungryan - more later!

DigitalEl · Jul 26, 2003, 01:23 PM

Congratulations! Great little machine. I just had a 5 minute conversation with a complete stranger 30 years my senior at a Seattle's Best this morning. That sleek, aluminum chassis is certainly a head-turner. Enjoy!

My first PB was DOA and likely a power problem. All better now though. Welcome to Macintosh.

aktive · Jul 26, 2003, 01:37 PM

congratulations, hope you really enjoy it

Ooo, the envy

rambo47 · Jul 26, 2003, 03:48 PM

It's an awesome little maching. I went from a PB2400 to the 12" G4 PowerBook and now I'm never without it. Lots of curious folks at places like Starbuck's just can't resist.

compact · 05:03 AM

I'm also a new 12" PB owner; one day old to be exact. I really like this thing.
I'm sure nobody really wants or needs yet another "first impressions" post (especially since there was another 12" review thread just a few days ago), but I'm writing one anyway, so deal with it.

The general feeling on this board and others like it is that now's a horrible time to buy a PB, what with an update being imminent. However, I'm on a shoestring budget (poor college student), so for me at least this was probably the best time to buy. I'm using this PB as a desktop replacement as well as a portable, but I'm a pretty casual user, so I'm not expecting any problems. This is pretty much just a mail, web, text/TeX editing, and Mathematica machine for me (well, and maybe a little emulation and Simcity 4000), so if anything it's probably overkill.

I was a little bit worried about the small screen, but I'm already pretty used to it. Making some default font sizes larger helped. I'm going to have to get used to working in pretty much one window at a time, though. As far as the machine itself goes, it has a really great feel to it. I think it has a kind of dialectic feel to it: it feels both solid and delicate, and it looks both powerful and streamlined. The weight of it is about the same as a medium-sized textbook, so I'm expected this to travel with me frequently. I'm on a college campus, so there's plenty of wireless hotspots nearby. It looks nice enough that I'm hoping it'll draw attention from cute girls in coffee shops.

Yes, it gets a little hot, but I really don't see why people see it as such a big deal (unless they're worried about it eventually damaging the internal components?) - it certainly doesn't seem bad enough that I'd consider it a factor in the overall quality of the machine. Is there anyway to manually turn on the internal fan? It seems like it would be nice to be able to turn it on if battery power isn't an issue. Or is there some reason why doing so would be bad?

The only complaints I have are really minor: The machine shipped with 10.2.3 instead of 10.2.6, meaning I have to download an 80 meg update over my 56K before I can try out my airport extreme card (Airport 3.1 wants 10.2.6). The keyboard lacks page up/page down keys despite having two spaces in which they'd fit perfectly (but otherwise the keyboard is amazing; probably better than most desktop keyboards I've used, and I have big hands). Since those are the biggest complaints I have, you can probably tell I'm pretty satisfied.

Any other complaints I have would just be OS X specific, and aren't worth mentioning here...

Overall, this thing has a really nice "personal" feel that good macs have - you know, that feeling of being more than just a plain old computer that apple seems to specialize in.

Naz · Jul 27, 2003, 05:01 AM

Originally posted by compact:

The general feeling on this board and others like it is that now's a horrible time to buy a PB, what with an update being imminent.

I'm glad you wrote that because I'm feeling a little better about this now.

I'm waiting for a company I'm doing some work for to place a PB order for me. It is not my money so I want to make sure I get the best PB since I may never get another chance like this being an artist with very little money at this time.

the post about Dual G4 PBs made me sick

but I'm not going to try to delay the purchase of my PB, I'm just going to have to be happy with what I get, whenever I get it.

Duals though?

ah I don't think I will need that much power

Nebrie · Jul 27, 2003, 02:38 PM

Originally posted by Naz:
I'm glad you wrote that because I'm feeling a little better about this now.

I'm waiting for a company I'm doing some work for to place a PB order for me. It is not my money so I want to make sure I get the best PB since I may never get another chance like this being an artist with very little money at this time.

the post about Dual G4 PBs made me sick

but I'm not going to try to delay the purchase of my PB, I'm just going to have to be happy with what I get, whenever I get it.

Duals though?

ah I don't think I will need that much power

There will never be a Dual G4 PB

buddy1065 · Jul 27, 2003, 03:04 PM

Can I qoute you on that?

Link · Jul 27, 2003, 05:29 PM

I think you can. If battery life and heat are problems now.. try to imagine what dual g4s would do.

arnette · Jul 27, 2003, 05:35 PM

Originally posted by Nebrie:
There will never be a Dual G4 PB

I second that.

rambo47 · Jul 27, 2003, 06:53 PM

Another reason to go ahead and buy the 12" G4 now is that any upgrade will probably be a very minor speed bump and not include the expensive addition of an L3 cache. Yeah, the next revision might have the ambient light sensing keyboard like the 17", but I don't see that as a feature to wait for.

iBorg · Jul 28, 2003, 04:04 AM

Originally posted by arnette:
I second that.

Fortunately, Apple R&D doesn't rely on vote tallies on internet forum boards.......

iBorg

Kenstee · Jul 29, 2003, 09:47 PM

Originally posted by rambo47:
Another reason to go ahead and buy the 12" G4 now is that any upgrade will probably be a very minor speed bump and not include the expensive addition of an L3 cache. Yeah, the next revision might have the ambient light sensing keyboard like the 17", but I don't see that as a feature to wait for.

Well according to Macrumors.com....

"Although the grapevine appears split almost 50-50 on whether this will make the cut for the upcoming revision, we have confirmed that a thinner (about one inch), and more feature-current (PC Card slot, DVI port, Gigabit Ethernet, 2GB+ RAM support with two SODIMM slots) 12-inch Powerbook G4 has exited the prototyping stage and is ready to manufacture, if that fits Apple's marketing and manufacturing timetables."

Simon · Jul 30, 2003, 05:54 AM

Originally posted by Kenstee:
Well according to Macrumors.com....

"Although the grapevine appears split almost 50-50 on whether this will make the cut for the upcoming revision, we have confirmed that a thinner (about one inch), and more feature-current (PC Card slot, DVI port, Gigabit Ethernet, 2GB+ RAM support with two SODIMM slots) 12-inch Powerbook G4 has exited the prototyping stage and is ready to manufacture, if that fits Apple's marketing and manufacturing timetables."

Couldn't find that rumor on their site.

Could you give a link?

Kenstee · Jul 30, 2003, 09:43 AM

Originally posted by Simon:
Couldn't find that rumor on their site.

Could you give a link?

Whoops!! Wrong rumor site....

It's on http://www.macosrumors.com/

Sorry.

Simon · 07:54 AM

Originally posted by Kenstee:
Whoops!! Wrong rumor site....

It's on http://www.macosrumors.com/

Thanks for the link.

When I couldn't find the rumor on macrumors.com I was afraid you meant macosrumors.com. I wouldn't give too much about what they say. The site is fun to read, but I can't remember when they came up with a rumor themselves that actually materialized. Normally you only read pi in the sky at mosr.

I wouldn't mind your 12" PoweBook suggestions, but I wouldn't expect it too badly if you only read about it on mosr.

cc_foo · Aug 3, 2003, 08:49 AM

I'm waiting for a speedbump. I'm one of those who can't bring myself to buy a Rev A machine. No doubt the 12" has been revved already since it's initial release... but still...

Hopefully the next version will have a significant speed increase.

The lack of special offers by Apple Australia (unlike in the US), makes it easy to wait...

dreamBweaver · Aug 5, 2003, 02:07 AM

Originally posted by rambo47:
Another reason to go ahead and buy the 12" G4 now is that any upgrade will probably be a very minor speed bump and not include the expensive addition of an L3 cache. Yeah, the next revision might have the ambient light sensing keyboard like the 17", but I don't see that as a feature to wait for.

I agree. I decided it was time to stop waiting for that upcoming update and make the plunge. Today I bought a 12" PB at a great deal (recently improved Edu discount, $200 iPod rebate, and of course the June price reductions which may or may not stay). I'm bringing it to college and am very happy already with my first Mac. It's so great to switch! I now have time to get all my files and setup to this fabulous machine. If I kept waiting I'd be in a rush to get this all done before September and reading lots of rumor threads nervously

If you can't wait, don't!!!