[Simon]

I can confirm the HD noise problem. My 1.67 GHz 15" has the Fujitsu disk (FUJITSU MHT2080AH) whereas in my 12" 1 GHz I installed a Hitachi 5400 RPM disk (HTS548040M9AT00) myself. There's quite a difference. The Hitachi was absolutely 100% silent and (according to Xbench) even faster than the Fujitsu I have now. The Fujitsu isn't loud in the sense that you could here it in an Office, but you can hear the HD running in a silent room at home in the middle of the night. At first I thought it might be a fan (sounds just like a low-RPM fan), but after consulting Temperox I knew that my fans where off, so the noise had to be coming from the disk.

Since the built in Fujitsu seems kind of sluggish and louder than the Hitachi, I might just by a replacement disk. Any good 7200 RPM suggestions here? And I'll take it as a rule of thumb, Hitachis are quieter and faster than Fujitsus.

[BJNY]

My local reseller just happened to have a 15" with 100GB and 128VRAM in stock, so I bought it. The internal hard drive is a Seagate Momentus 5400.2 ST9100823A. How does it compare against the Hitachi & Fujitsu?

Also, the DVI connector looks regular to me. Should it be physically different (being Dual link DVI) to drive my future 30" ACD?

[Simon]

Originally posted by BJNY:
Should it be physically different (being Dual link DVI) to drive my future 30" ACD?

No, it's physically identical.

[Simon]

I went from a 1GHz rev B 12" to a 1.67 GHz rev C 15" with 1GB RAM, 80 GB HD, 128 MB VRAM, 8xSD.

Originally I wanted a better display (angle, color), better GPU (some casual 3D gaming) and most of all, less fan noise. The 15" really delivered on that: it's a beast. I really like it. It feels fast and it's very quiet (no fan noise, yippee!) which was one of the main reasons I wanted to get rid of the 12".

To be perfectly honest, the boost in performance on everyday tasks didn't blow me away. I wasn't a speed bump like a smack in the face, it was more like, nice, everything feels a tad faster. I guess part of this has to do with the fact that on the 12" I had already upgraded the 4200 RPM stock HD with a 5400 RPM Hitachi HD which made a big difference. Actually, I'm thinking of going to 7200 RPM with this 15" just because I believe the HD makes one of the clearest differences in perceived speed in everyday tasks (and also because the stock Fujitsu on this 15" is noisier than the Hitachi I used to have).

In 3D games the performance is much better than on the 12". However, I'm not sure how much of this comes from the large VRAM and how much comes from 9700 Mob vs. 5200Go. The best part is, even after an hour of gaming, the fans are running at only 2500 RPM and the PowerBook is still very quiet. No comparison with the vacuum cleaner fan noise on my rev B 12".

FWIW, I can give you the Xbench results of the 1 GHz 12" and the 1.67 GHz 15" both set to highest CPU performance.

Code:
12" 1 GHz PowerBook
Results 105.36  
        System Info             
                Xbench Version          1.1.3
                System Version          10.3.7 (7S215)
                Physical RAM            768 MB
                Model                   PowerBook6,2
                Processor               PowerPC G4 @ 1.00 GHz
                        L1 Cache                32K (instruction), 32K (data)
                        L2 Cache                512K @ 1.00 GHz
                        Bus Frequency           133 MHz
                Video Card              GeForce FX Go5200 32MB
                Drive Type              HTS548040M9AT00
        CPU Test                118.77
        Thread Test             87.30
        Memory Test             110.05
        Quartz Graphics Test    126.85
        OpenGL Graphics Test    92.36
        User Interface Test     157.59
        Disk Test               80.50


15" 1.67 GHz PowerBook
Results 138.23  
        System Info             
                Xbench Version          1.1.3
                System Version          10.3.8 (7U16)
                Physical RAM            1024 MB
                Model                   PowerBook5,6
                Processor               PowerPC G4 @ 1.67 GHz
                        L1 Cache                32K (instruction), 32K (data)
                        L2 Cache                512K @ 1.67 GHz
                        Bus Frequency           167 MHz
                Video Card              ATY,RV360M11
                Drive Type              FUJITSU MHT2080AH

        CPU Test                201.94  
        Thread Test             148.10
        Memory Test             139.82
        Quartz Graphics Test    195.22
        OpenGL Graphics Test    141.35
        User Interface Test     233.85
        Disk Test               65.31

The disk test actually shows how the new stock Fujitsu is slower than my 'old' replacement Hitachi.

So, all in all, the new 1.67 GHz G15" is a true winner. It's fast, it's silent and it has a very nice display. The only thing I really miss from the 12" is no longer having all ports on one side. It's messy and uncomfortable to have cables sticking out on both sides. And BTW is there no other docking station than the one from BookEndz? I don't like that one; it's expensive, ugly and too wide. Is there really no alternative?

[phoenix78]

Hi jindrik and all,

jindrik i noticed you mentioned your screen being unevenly lit. could you please update what it looks like now? has it developed uneven illumination?? this is a MAJOR issue for me as i was bitten by this problem at about this time in 2004 (march). I ended up returning my pb al 15" to my reseller for a refund eventually. my experience with apple tech was particularly nasty as they didnt want to recognise the problem.. it was a huge dark patch on the bottom right of my screen.. anyway.. its a sad tale as all tales about uneven illumination are lol..

if it seems that uneven illumination has not been fixed in the new revision then i wil not buy it... otherwise i may consider it.

thanx for your review... it was very informative. a very good reflection on how most people will use their pb.

regards,
rob.

[Lukas]

Originally posted by phoenix78:
jindrik i noticed you mentioned your screen being unevenly lit. could you please update what it looks like now? has it developed uneven illumination??

On my 15"/1.67 both bottom corners are a bit darker, radius about 5 mm. Not a big thing for me. The rest of the screen is pretty, especially compared to my 2002 iBook.

On the other hand, it's pretty hard to calibrate the monitor to the D50 (5000�K white) standard without colors becoming all pink. That was quite a disappointment for me. Unfortunately the ColorSync Utility doesn't provide exact values while calibrating the color channels, so you have to do that by trial and error when trying to filter the pink tones.

[zerock]

man thanks for the review, it makes me think maybe its time to upgrade my titanium 1ghz to this new powerbooks =)
im between upgrading my desktop(imac 800mhz) to a mini or upgrading my laptop.

[Commodus]

I have to admit, if I had a PowerBook 1 GHz or faster, I'd be apprehensive about upgrading my PowerBook now. You would, in fact, get a performance benefit... but with the PowerBook G5 as little as 3 months away (possibly 6 if they wait until Apple Expo), I'd hate to pick up something I knew would be obsolete pretty soon.

That said, it at least seems like the current models are at least a solid investment if you either 'need' a PowerBook right now or have a truly old system that needs replacing.

[Garage81]

Originally posted by Commodus:
I have to admit, if I had a PowerBook 1 GHz or faster, I'd be apprehensive about upgrading my PowerBook now. You would, in fact, get a performance benefit... but with the PowerBook G5 as little as 3 months away (possibly 6 if they wait until Apple Expo), I'd hate to pick up something I knew would be obsolete pretty soon.

That said, it at least seems like the current models are at least a solid investment if you either 'need' a PowerBook right now or have a truly old system that needs replacing.

PowerBook G5 3-6 months away? Umm, am I missing something here? And how could you call a PowerBook G4 "obsolete" when the G5 PBs come out? Clock for clock the G5 doesnt really dominate the G4, let alone render it obsolete?

[MichaelSullivan]

Originally posted by Commodus:
but with the PowerBook G5 as little as 3 months away (possibly 6 if they wait until Apple Expo...

Its true, here is the prototype:

[phoenix78]

well that new g5 pic is too impractical.. how on earth could anyone possibly carry that thing around!!?? it doesnt have a handle!!

lol


As far as there being 'little' bright and dark areas right at the corners of the screen i believe that is called 'light leakage'. from the globes that are located around the perimeter of the screen if it is not sealed perfectly you wil get some leakage... or even blockage of the seal is too tight i guess...

the 'uneven illumination' issue was unrelated to that though... as it was something that developed over time. so has anyone heard of or experienced any degrading of the scren yet? ( i hope not lol)

g5 powerbook? i personally am tipping it to come in say.. october when tiger is released. 64bit os for a 64 bit architecture lol... but it is all speculation.

cheers.
rob.

[Commodus]

Originally posted by Garage81:
PowerBook G5 3-6 months away? Umm, am I missing something here? And how could you call a PowerBook G4 "obsolete" when the G5 PBs come out? Clock for clock the G5 doesnt really dominate the G4, let alone render it obsolete?

Obviously there's nothing official, but the unusual timing of the PowerBook update (January for a minor revision?) is noteworthy, as is its similarity to the last PowerMac G4 update (which was an extremely modest speed boost accompanied by an emphasis on price cuts and a couple of small feature additions). It's an example of a minimum-effort update that, however useful, is clearly designed to keep the line afloat rather than spur added sales.

Also conspicious is Apple's change in tone on the PowerBook G5 idea as compared to last year. Shortly after the April 2004 PowerBook update came out, Apple was emphatic that there would be no PowerBook G5 that year. This year, the reply was markedly different: "it will be the mother of all thermal challenges," and that's it. Apple said something similar about a G5 iMac just months before the iMac G5 came out.

It's the perfect example of deliberately flattering PR language: make no explicit confirmations or denials, but word it such that your engineers look good when they "miraculously" overcome the challenge. Deny only when you know the desired product isn't part of the next update.

[jindrich]

hi everyone again, and thank you for your compliments on my review. I'm very glad you liked it and that it's been helpful to some of you.


regarding the uneven illumination issue, both screens on my previous 1.25 alu had it, from the very first day. It was very noticeable, and funnily enough, it went for better with time, on the second screen, but huh, only sometimes. Somedays it was really awful, and really made me wish a tragic and very painful death to someone at apple.

my new 1.67 alu screen is almost perfect. when i wrote somthing like a "trace of uneven illumination", i realize now that i should have used some other words. the screen is not 100% evenly lit -by a VERY TINY and small margin, but that's something 98% of you wouldn't ever notice. At all.


truth is, everytime i look now at the screen i'm so relieved, compared to when i think of the previous alu i had. this one is quite nice. No strange phenomenon has developed on it so far, and i normally use it at half brightness; dont need more and helps keeping battery draining going at slower paces.


some discovery i made, dont remember if i already wrote it. When watching DVDs the HD likes to stop. i find it great. why should it waste battery when you just watch some film.

also, my batt times are going around 2h30min for DVD (brightness at half, akg501 phones plugged and volume at 3 bars below fullness, auto energy settings), and around 3h30 min doing light work at same settings.

i've found in the morning more than a couple of times the screen opened for 1 cm. looks like there's some little problem with the latch, but nothing serious, i think that's only when i close the lid really softly. It hasn't happened more than about 5-6 times.


the other day i was burning a DVD (for backup reasons, what did you think...), and when doing the compression to fit the film on a 4,7Gb DVD, the cpu was at 0.0% idle for about 20 mins. (that means 100cpu use if you didnt get it). Suddenly i noticed some gently and very lovely spurr. I thoughtit was the soundof the DVD drive, bu it was the sound of the fans. WOW, SOOOOO NICE and at low levels, much better and comfortable soundind than my previous alu 1.25 (which in turn were not bad ant so much quieter than the any titaniums). Really, if this is all the noise the fans are going to make, i'm so enchanted. the very VERY QUIET and LOVELY sounding, mostly low frequencies.
Just like Barry White, really! ;-)



So, now the HD noise is my only complain. yes, it's still "noisy" -to my considerations. I think i'm going to do somehting about it, maybe replace the fujistsu HD for a quieter one or dont know. But i dont want to screw the warranty. Would an apple certified repair center do it? any ideas?

[Simon]

Originally posted by jindrich:
So, now the HD noise is my only complain. yes, it's still "noisy" -to my considerations. I think i'm going to do somehting about it, maybe replace the fujistsu HD for a quieter one or dont know. But i dont want to screw the warranty. Would an apple certified repair center do it? any ideas?

An Apple certified dealer will do it w/o voiding your warranty, but in my experience that can be expensive. Changing the HDD in an Al book is rather tedious. You need to relieve the entire top case which means loosening a lot of screws and cracking open the plastic lining on the top. It's not very difficult, but it takes some time if the technician does it carefully - and you really want that. If the Al books don't get re-assembled properly, you'll have all kind of problems ranging from screwed up hinges and latches to uneven spacing and lose plastic lining.

The time consuming replacement makes it rather expensive. OTOH I have seen offers from my dealer that he will install the HDD for just $40 if you buy the drive from him. If I can find such an offer, I'd upgrade to a quieter and faster 7200 RPM HDD immediately. Any suggestions for quiet, or better yet silent, 7200 RPM 2.5" HDDs?

[Agent69]

Originally posted by Commodus:
I have to admit, if I had a PowerBook 1 GHz or faster, I'd be apprehensive about upgrading my PowerBook now. You would, in fact, get a performance benefit... but with the PowerBook G5 as little as 3 months away

Personally, I think that all the people hanging their hopes on a G5 Powerbook are going to be in for a bit of disappointment. The difference in performance over the G4 Powerbooks will probably not be that great, initally, considering the compromises that will have to made to get a G5 in a portable.

And you can almost hear the whining now from those who leap in and purchase a revision A Powerbook G5: it's too slow, it's too hot, it's too noisy from the fans.

[ddma]

I am a bit weird, I jumped from Dual 1.25 PM G4 > PowerBook G4 1.25 > eMac 1GHz (overclock'ed to 1.33GHz) > PowerBook G4 1.67. But all I can say is the PowerBook G4 1.67 actually feels faster than Dual G4 1.25 or PB G4 1.25 in anyway.

D.

[dopik]

I have just received my new PowerBook and the only word that comes to mind is awesome. I have just upgraded from a PowerBook 12 rev A to this PowerBook G4 15 with 100Go of HD and 128Mo of video RAM. I think it has a 1.67Ghz (it is the superdrive one).

With only 512Mo of RAM, I am very surprised by the speed of this machine. It definitely exceeds my best expectation.

This is a great machine and thanks to the education discount, I think it is definitely worth it.

I will probably post more feedbacks in the coming days.

Do

[BJNY]

Originally posted by ddma:
I am a bit weird, I jumped from Dual 1.25 PM G4 > PowerBook G4 1.25 > eMac 1GHz (overclock'ed to 1.33GHz) > PowerBook G4 1.67. But all I can say is the PowerBook G4 1.67 actually feels faster than Dual G4 1.25 or PB G4 1.25 in anyway.

I've had the Dual 1.25GHz Powermac G4 for almost a year, and just got the 15" 1.67GHz w/2GB RAM. Would you elaborate, as I'm looking for a reason to sell the tower

[Commodus]

Originally posted by Agent69:
Personally, I think that all the people hanging their hopes on a G5 Powerbook are going to be in for a bit of disappointment. The difference in performance over the G4 Powerbooks will probably not be that great, initally, considering the compromises that will have to made to get a G5 in a portable.

And you can almost hear the whining now from those who leap in and purchase a revision A Powerbook G5: it's too slow, it's too hot, it's too noisy from the fans.

The performance difference could be more significant than that, depending on what exactly Apple and IBM do to the processor. Adding extra L2 cache will increase performance, of course, but it could actually end up cutting down on cooling requirements (since a larger die means more even heat distribution). Also, if they integrate a memory and/or system controller into the die as with the Athlon 64, it not only eliminates the need for a power-hungry dedicated system controller - it improves performance by reducing latency.

Even if it's just a low-power 970FX, it'll still have improved performance in two key areas: bandwidth and FPU math. The former seems to help with general system responsiveness, while the latter is really useful for 3D.

And as far as first-revision problems, I wouldn't be surprised by them, but a lot of people tend to act as though there's nothing to worry about in subsequent revisions. You'll get the occasional defect with any system, whether it's the first revision or the fourth.

I also don't think you have to wait 6-9 months before buying in - just wait for the first wave of users to get their systems, and see if there are any chronic problems before jumping in. It might mean dealing with a long shipping delay, but it could be worth it if you get the extra performance that much sooner.