[all2ofme]

I've got a 17" rev. A Powerbook at the moment and am considering swapping it for a new 12" which I'll then plug into my 20" Apple screen.

I've got a few questions for anyone who'd be kind enough to answer them (the local shops here aren't clued up enough to answer):

1) I remember that there was an issue with the original 12" which meant that it ran at a reduced speed when the lid was closed. Is this still the case?

2) Will I notice a big drop in speed if I go to a 12" with 768MB or 1.25GB of RAM (I have 1GB in the 17")? I understand that now it doesn't need the level 3 cache the way it did before.

3) Does anyone know if the Superdrive in the new 12" is the same (i.e. UJ816) as in the new 15" and 17" machines?

4) I'm pretty sure that the SD only burns at 1x for DVD-R (the same was that my 17" does), but does it do DVD-R/W the way the 15" and 17" do?

5) Is dropping from 64MB of video RAM in my rev.A 17" to the 32MB (and a different video card) on the rev.B 12" going to slow things down in things like Photoshop? I don't play games so that doesn't matter to me.

Long post. Oops. Thanks for any help!

[dennis88]

If I'm not wrong, the superdrive in the 12" is the same as in the new 15" and 17".
It can burn dvd's at 2x.

[all2ofme]

Great - that's a real upgrade. Hope that's the case.

Anyone else know the answer to any of the other questions?

[Simon]

Originally posted by all2ofme:
1) I remember that there was an issue with the original 12" which meant that it ran at a reduced speed when the lid was closed. Is this still the case?

Never heard of such behavior.

2) Will I notice a big drop in speed if I go to a 12" with 768MB or 1.25GB of RAM (I have 1GB in the 17")? I understand that now it doesn't need the level 3 cache the way it did before.

No, if there is any drop it will be small.

5) Is dropping from 64MB of video RAM in my rev.A 17" to the 32MB (and a different video card) on the rev.B 12" going to slow things down in things like Photoshop? I don't play games so that doesn't matter to me.

No, Photoshop relies on your CPU and bus, it doesn't care about 32 or 64MB GPU RAM. Games depend most on amounts of VRAM. Both chipsets will allow QE to run sufficiently.

[all2ofme]

Originally posted by Simon:
Never heard of such behavior.

Thanks for the reply. Sounds good so far! Here is a thread discussing the monitor spanning problem. I really hope that it's no longer an issue.

[Simon]

Originally posted by all2ofme:
Thanks for the reply. Sounds good so far! Here is a thread discussing the monitor spanning problem. I really hope that it's no longer an issue.

I wouldn't call that an issue. The guy claimed that he was getting �2-4 points in xBench. I'd say that's within the precision of the measurement.

I don't think you should see a noticeable difference in closed-lid operation.

[all2ofme]

I agree, if that's in fact all it is. I read other reports which were much more alarming. I'm just eager not to sell myself short on something which might get to me after a while.

A couple of points on xBench isn't something which I'll lose sleep over, but I'd like to make sure that's all it is.

Originally posted by Simon:
I wouldn't call that an issue. The guy claimed that he was getting �2-4 points in xBench. I'd say that's within the precision of the measurement.

I don't think you should see a noticeable difference in closed-lid operation.