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JayTi · 12:17 PM

After having this guy for over two weeks I'm prepared to make some general, and a little more specific comments on this behemoth of a Powerbook.

Lets start from the top. Apple has totally redesigned the structure of the Powerbook, replacing the prone to scratching titanium paint with a newer, sleeker more resistant aluminum. It is about the size of a legal pad when viewed from the top, and about as thing as one as well at just under an inch thick. It looks like one of Apple?s iApps with its brushed aluminum look.

The ports once on the back side of its smaller 15? sibling have been moved to either side, giving the computer easier access to peripherals such as mice, keyboards and iPods. Also new is a FireWire 800 port, not seen on any other laptops to date.

Enough of the tech specs?lets talk about using the computer.

The display opens with a simple click of the latch, and the boy does it open. I can lift up the display with one single finger and close it just the same. The screen is bright, as much so as the 15? Saturation, color uniformity is all perfect as I?ve come to expect from Apple products.

The area around the trackpad is vast. I can put a CD in either of the lower corners and there is still over an inch of clearance between the CD and the trackpad. My palms don?t feel at all cramped and the trackpad has also been widened. The click of the single button is similar to that of the 12? counterpart. It has a definite click in a subtle way. I find it very tactile.

Apple has done something with these generation Powerbooks that they have not done in some time. The keyboard is no longer removable, exposing the innards of the machine. Instead, the user only has access to the battery compartment, RAM expansion and Airport extreme, which comes standard with this unit. Thus the keyboard feels much more responsive, the click of the keys is nice and has a good, comfortable spongy feel to it.
Also new, is the addition of a backlight underneath the keyboard. Although not as bright as Apple claims on their website, the white light provides adequate light to illuminate all of the keys on the keyboard. This will come in handy on airplanes, even to us touch-typists.

This unit feels refined. This doesn?t feel like a ?Rev A? machine. Apple knew the flaws of the 15??such as the paint chipping, hot power button, marks on the screen and other small but there issues and fixed every single one of them. This beauty has two screen latches and one giant hinge as opposed to two smaller ones that were prone to breaking.

Speed. This thing flies. It comes standard with 512 Megabytes of DDR PC 2700 RAM, and upon bootup, everything happened faster. From switching between applications to watching a DVD movie, everything is up to snuff. Burning CDs at 16X, DVDs at 1x is a snap. Everything from rendering things in Maya to performing complex filters in Adobe?s Photoshop is superb.

However, this does come at a big price. At 6.8 pounds its not the lightest Apple notebook, but its also not the heaviest in the Windows world. For comparison, the heaviest laptop made by Dell weighs in at a not-so-portable 8.6 pounds, and with that you don?t get a massive 17? screen and DVD burner.

Everything from the polished aluminum finish, to the sturdy feel of this monster of a laptop screams refined.

My rating, 9.6/10

Pros: Massive 17" Screen, Backlit keyboard, SuperDrive, Fast
Cons: Too expensive for every Apple fan to own.

Pics and video coming tomorrow.

Any questions not already answered, ask here and I'll get back to you.

(screenshots for disbelievers)

kbdog · Mar 21, 2003, 09:17 PM

Aren't you on that new TV show 'Faking It'?

JayTi · Mar 21, 2003, 09:21 PM

Originally posted by kbdog:
Aren't you on that new TV show 'Faking It'?

Repored. What the hell? PICS TOMORROW, VIDEO TOMORROW. HOLD ME TO IT.

Anyway, questions guys?

AU_student_iceBook · Mar 21, 2003, 09:27 PM

Originally posted by JayTi:
Repored. What the hell? PICS TOMORROW, VIDEO TOMORROW. HOLD ME TO IT.

Anyway, questions guys?

No questions here JayTi. You actually answered mine months ago when you told us about it the pre-release you borrowed from your boss.
Let's see the pics and videos though.

RMXO · Mar 21, 2003, 09:48 PM

Originally posted by JayTi:
Repored. What the hell? PICS TOMORROW, VIDEO TOMORROW. HOLD ME TO IT.

Anyway, questions guys?

im curious to know about games. do you play wc3? i know the nvidia chip isnt the greatest for games but it would be nice. im not a full time gamer but on occasion i would like to fire up wc3 & do a few battles.

JayTi · Mar 21, 2003, 09:51 PM

Warcraft 3 is actually about the only game I like to play

I just installed it and played a single player. It is amazing. No lag, even with the most massive of battles.

vmarks · Mar 22, 2003, 01:04 AM

Originally posted by kbdog:
Aren't you on that new TV show 'Faking It'?

Last month's news. Get over it.
-vmarks

nagromme · Mar 22, 2003, 02:44 AM

Silly question, but... is it truly brushed aluminum? As in, brushed to leave the tiny "streaks" that the iApps have? Or is it just plain aluminum? (Hard to say from Web pictures!)

JayTi · Mar 22, 2003, 02:49 AM

It has a brushed aluminum look, but it is made out of just plain' ol good aluminum. Feels like my computer is a brushed iApp

Wet Jimmy · Mar 22, 2003, 04:40 AM

What's with the dead picture links?

badnewsblair · Mar 22, 2003, 04:57 AM

I don't know why JayTi, but some things about this report scream "FAKE". I'm not calling you a fake, and I know lots of reviews are up and about, but something I've noticed about every one else's reviews has something originial to them, something they love and or hate about the 17". I didn't get that from your review. It seemed generic, something anyone who has read Apple's site could have easily written.

Why include the bit about the ports being moved? We all know that. And the Firewire 800, Airport Extreme, keyboard... again things we knew.

But the real red flag are your screenshots. Click "Porperties" of the thumbnails. The pictures are TIFF images. Anyone worth their merit in the computer world knows TIFF image files can't be viewed on the web. Also, the pictures are only 28 X 30 pixels (normal pictures taken are at least 400 pixels in both demensions... at least!). Again, this wouldn't be a big deal except you draw attention to it by your quote "Screen shots for disbelievers"! As if you were so unsure of your own report that you had to give us the evidence you being truthful.

Wet Jimmy · Mar 22, 2003, 05:42 AM

From the looks of things, Jay isn't ever going to have credibility on these boards again. Let him have his fun. I mean the dude can get a Powerbook 17 before the rest of the world but can't get a digital camera? Yep, THAT'S believable.

And you're right, this review tells us nothing new. Nice of the guy who had a Powerbook for two weeks now to only JUST step up to the plate. Funny how there were posts about the "blue" light on the 17" which Jay never dispelled before others with 17" Powerbooks did.

Anyway, no doubt a mod will come in here and defend Jay, so I think it's time to break this one up.

Wet Jimmy · Mar 22, 2003, 05:42 AM

From the looks of things, Jay isn't ever going to have credibility on these boards again. Let him have his fun. I mean the dude can get a Powerbook 17 before the rest of the world but can't get a digital camera? Yep, THAT'S believable.

And you're right, this review tells us nothing new. Nice of the guy who had a Powerbook for two weeks now to only JUST step up to the plate. Funny how there were posts about the "blue" light on the 17" which Jay never dispelled before others with 17" Powerbooks did.

Anyway, no doubt a mod will come in here and defend Jay, so I think it's time to break this one up.

tanhauser · Mar 22, 2003, 05:53 AM

I don't know... I don't think he is faking this, if he is the same Jay from the PowerMac picture thread, you'd realize the kind of setup this guy has...

Still though, why the agression against him?

F

badnewsblair · Mar 22, 2003, 06:18 AM

I did my post with no aggression. But I read EVERY 17-inch review (making sure my purchase was the right one... and without a doubt it is well worth it... whenever I get mine, heheheh). And when I read this one, it just seemed very fake (for the reasons I already stated). I don't know anything of his past either, so it's odd that I get this feeling from reading his post and then later find out he is some sort of quasi-forum con artist or whatever (that may a bit harsh, I don't kow what happened). But if it is fake, I just don't understand why he posted it. Like the Moderator said... "old news". Nothing in his review was new and to tell the truth, it was basically a reading from the specs page on the Apple site. I just don't understand...

... and another thing. Where's my 17-inch Powerbook!? Heheheh

icruise · Mar 22, 2003, 10:29 AM

Originally posted by JayTi:
It has a brushed aluminum look, but it is made out of just plain' ol good aluminum. Feels like my computer is a brushed iApp

You do know what brushed aluminum looks like, right? I've never seen a 17" in person, but it should be the same as my 12" -- definitely not brushed aluminum. The difference being, as was pointed out, that brushed aluminum has straight lines going through the surface texture, while the powerbooks are all one finish (smooth with a bit of a texture to it).

Still though, why the agression against him?

Probably shouldn't go into it here, but JayTi had to see this kind of response coming. I mean really. Especially with this "review" that I could have written myself, never having seen or touched a 17".

robrandtoul · Mar 22, 2003, 11:12 AM

I picked up a PB 17" at the Pasadena store two days ago. Trust me. It does not have a brushed metal look! It is hard to describe. It is slightly textured but has no streaking like the brushed metal appearance of the iLife apps. It is a bit sparkly, especially under spot light.

JayTi, you want to prove you have a 17" PB? On the battery (inside the compartment) there is a block of text. What does the last line of this text say? Then tell me how many rows of holes there are on the left hand speaker grill? If you can answer these questions maybe you will recover some of the credability you lost over the last 2 months!

hardcat1970 · Mar 22, 2003, 11:25 AM

Originally posted by badnewsblair:
I don't know why JayTi, but some things about this report scream "FAKE". I'm not calling you a fake, and I know lots of reviews are up and about, but something I've noticed about every one else's reviews has something originial to them, something they love and or hate about the 17". I didn't get that from your review. It seemed generic, something anyone who has read Apple's site could have easily written.

Why include the bit about the ports being moved? We all know that. And the Firewire 800, Airport Extreme, keyboard... again things we knew.

But the real red flag are your screenshots. Click "Porperties" of the thumbnails. The pictures are TIFF images. Anyone worth their merit in the computer world knows TIFF image files can't be viewed on the web. Also, the pictures are only 28 X 30 pixels (normal pictures taken are at least 400 pixels in both demensions... at least!). Again, this wouldn't be a big deal except you draw attention to it by your quote "Screen shots for disbelievers"! As if you were so unsure of your own report that you had to give us the evidence you being truthful.

why don't you guys just ignore his post then? There are lot of real 17" owners in this forum, and they have pictures to prove, and with details too.

kbdog · Mar 22, 2003, 11:47 AM

Originally quoted by JayTi:
It has a brushed aluminum look, but it is made out of just plain' ol good aluminum. Feels like my computer is a brushed iApp

In this case, it's a faux finish.

JayTi · 12:21 PM

Originally posted by robrandtoul:
I picked up a PB 17" at the Pasadena store two days ago. Trust me. It does not have a brushed metal look! It is hard to describe. It is slightly textured but has no streaking like the brushed metal appearance of the iLife apps. It is a bit sparkly, especially under spot light.

JayTi, you want to prove you have a 17" PB? On the battery (inside the compartment) there is a block of text. What does the last line of this text say? Then tell me how many rows of holes there are on the left hand speaker grill? If you can answer these questions maybe you will recover some of the credability you lost over the last 2 months!

It says EMC 1933, I count 72 rows of holes. Here's my serial number: V731001LMVZ. I registered it, go ahead and call 'em up. I laugh at you guys. You people would honestly think I'd go to call this trouble just to lie to some nobodys on the intraweb? my lord.

Edit: Updated the screengrab pics for jpeg, forgot about the tiffs not being web friendly. You could have copy and pasted...but whatever. I'm also off to take some pics and some movies with the DV cam I've got at the office. I havn't seen any movies of the 17" floating around so hopefully it will be something new.

b3b0p · Mar 22, 2003, 12:24 PM

I have a 17" Powerbook I just picked up Yesterday from the Plano Store.

About the brushed aluminum...

If you look at the powerbook from an angle (15-30 degrees) you can see a kinda brushed look to it. Make sure the lighting is right. It is faint but I see it (at least I think I am).

Chris

mrmister · Mar 22, 2003, 12:27 PM

The intraweb?

JayTi · Mar 22, 2003, 12:33 PM

My version of the internet. As I said, I'm off to the office to take some movies. And for the those of you following at home, I do not have a need for a digital camera at home, I use the one in the office when I have to, hence the delay in pictures/movies.

Alphy · Mar 22, 2003, 12:40 PM

That review was so "comprehensive" I think I shat in my pants. You really should work for Apple.

FW800.. yeah baby!! I can't wait to visit a compUSA and take home a trolleys worth of firewire 800 products.... argh.. so much to choose from!

That Dell comparison is so smart! Why not just compare it to computers in the 50's?

Jackass

JayTi · Mar 22, 2003, 01:30 PM

Originally posted by Alphy:
That review was so "comprehensive" I think I shat in my pants. You really should work for Apple.

FW800.. yeah baby!! I can't wait to visit a compUSA and take home a trolleys worth of firewire 800 products.... argh.. so much to choose from!

That Dell comparison is so smart! Why not just compare it to computers in the 50's?

Jackass

This was sarcasm? Coming from somone who registered probably just to post that comment is rather stupid. Plus, I do work for Apple, thanks.

PS, LURK MORE!

Patcarla · Mar 22, 2003, 01:54 PM

Originally posted by Alphy:
That review was so "comprehensive" I think I shat in my pants. You really should work for Apple.

FW800.. yeah baby!! I can't wait to visit a compUSA and take home a trolleys worth of firewire 800 products.... argh.. so much to choose from!

That Dell comparison is so smart! Why not just compare it to computers in the 50's?

Jackass

Chill out man..

what's your problem??

JayTi · Mar 22, 2003, 02:09 PM

Alright guys, back from the office--I got some good movie footage that I'll edit in iMove...AS SOON AS MY POWERBOOK IS WORKING Yeah, I boot it up and I get a grey screen with a memory access violation error. I'm searching for a screwdriver to open the oh-so-small screws it comes with then change memory slots. I hope that works...if so stay tuned!

Podolsky · Mar 22, 2003, 02:15 PM

Originally posted by JayTi:
Yeah, I boot it up and I get a grey screen with a memory access violation error.

This part I believe.

seanyepez · Mar 22, 2003, 04:22 PM

Originally posted by JayTi:
This was sarcasm? Coming from somone who registered probably just to post that comment is rather stupid. Plus, I do work for Apple, thanks.

PS, LURK MORE!

Jay, you're not an Apple employee. The stunt you pulled with claiming you had a 17-inch PowerBook a month ago when you really didn't pretty much destroyed any remaining trust I had in you. Just try to participate on these forums as a normal person, not as the fake Apple employee you claim to be. You never had any inside information. I'm very disappointed in you. Please stop rubbing it in.

JayTi · Mar 22, 2003, 04:26 PM

Sean, I already gave you my badge number, what more do you want? You know that unit was my boss's and I borrowed it. Live and let live man, now I'm having powerbook problems and will probably have to send it in as I'm on vacation. Thanks for your wonderful contribution.

BTW Sean, sorry but it doesn't mean much that a 15 year old rumor-obsessed overly compulsive is disappointed in me. This thread will probably be locked, but whatever, I'm tired of this sheit. I'll post a link to the videos and pictures when I get them uploaded.

seanyepez · 12:27 AM

Originally posted by JayTi:
Sean, I already gave you my badge number, what more do you want? You know that unit was my boss's and I borrowed it. Live and let live man, now I'm having powerbook problems and will probably have to send it in as I'm on vacation. Thanks for your wonderful contribution.

What is your real name? Is it {snip}?

siflippant · Mar 22, 2003, 04:29 PM

i agree... you've been caught with your hand in the cookie jar...

just quit while you're ahead [well, a month behind really getting your grubby hands on a 17'?]

JayTi · Mar 22, 2003, 04:34 PM

Quit while I'm ahead? And let you people win? I already said I'll be posting the stuff as soon as I get these problems sorted out. I'm reinstalling the OS and we'll see from there. Gawd some of you people are pricks. Any real questions can be PMed to me and I'll answer them.

siflippant · Mar 22, 2003, 04:38 PM

lmfao... but again, why did your review take so long to hit these forums? When the likes of Karim etc beat you to it...

mmmmm..

lol..

JayTi · Mar 22, 2003, 04:40 PM

lol, I actually posted one a while ago but because they weren't out most people were skeptical, which is understandable.

JayTi · 04:51 PM

Originally posted by seanyepez:
What is your real name? Is it ...

At the request of Aplle legal I ask you to remove any personal information in your thread, or a moderator will do so. Thanks.

This thread needs more

(PS. No, it isn't)

seanyepez · 04:58 PM

You don't have any control over Apple's legal department.

If that's your name, you aren't listed in the company directory.

GeekyJeff · Mar 22, 2003, 04:51 PM

That guy blows. Who cares.

robrandtoul · Mar 22, 2003, 04:57 PM

Well. The last line of text on the two batteries I have (both purchased in US) is not 'EMC 1933' There is no reference to this on the battery. Looks like you guessed wrong!

It reads 'TM and 2003 Apple Computer, Inc. All rights reserved. 825-5746-B'

Get a life my friend. You are one sad and twisted individual.

siflippant · Mar 22, 2003, 05:08 PM

lol... go rob go!

sweet...

vmarks · Mar 22, 2003, 05:10 PM

You guys can't just leave well enough alone. Last month's news is last month's news.

If you know something to be untrue in your hearts and minds, walk away. Be the bigger person. And if you're right, good for you. If you're wrong, well then at least you walked away.

And above all- be civil to each other in here.