[pete]

My recent RSI has brought about some major reconfiguration of my computer setup. I needed voice recognition to avoid further problems with my wrists. There is nothing equivalent to Naturallyspeaking 8 on the mac so I bought a used thinkpad T40 for speech input and kept my old powerbook G4 al. After a week of having two laptops on my desk and mainly using the thinkpad I decided that I'm going to sell my powerbook and buy an imac instead to use as my main non-work computer. It felt silly having two laptops. After a few days of not having a powerbook I almost relapsed and bought another used one, before I realized that it's probably not a great time to buy a G4 based laptop now when there will obviously be big changes to apple's laptops next year. So I ordered an Imac G5 20 which should be arriving today. Not that the powerbooks won't provide good service for several years, but the IMAC does deliver much more power at this point.

What has surprised me the most is how good the thinkpad T40 is. Of course, the design is not as stylish as the Powerbook, but it pains me to say that it feels better to use and more rugged than my old powerbook -at least in terms of the actual hardware and ergonomics, not OS or applications.

Reflections on the hardware:
- LCD is quite a bit brighter. Side by side the powerbook looked pretty dim and washed out (yes, I had calibrated it)

- The keyboard feels even better than the powerbook keyboard, although they both are excellent.

- The edges of the palmrest are more like the pismo's: rounded and not as sharp - it actually makes a difference when you are constantly resting your hands/wrists on the computer. The powerbook tended to cut into my wrists in an uncomportable way, especially when I was out and unable to adjust the height of the laptop which frequently meant working with it on a higher surface than would have been ideal.

- The display bezel doesn't exhibit ANY play whatsoever. It just feels sturdy and secure. The powerboo display always had a little bit of wobble, even after I tightened the screws inside. I feel totally comfortable opening this one with one hand from the side.

- Although it takes some time to get used to, I find the navigation 'peg' extremely comfortable to use compared to the trackpad (although the T40 has both so I can choose either): it allows my hands to remain on the keyboard instead of moving back and forth. This is of considerable ergonomic benefit IMO. The trackpad on the thinkpad T40 also has one finger vertical and horizontal scrolling similar to the newer powerbooks.

- Wireless range is significantly better and I get strong signal comparable to my girlfriend's pismo. The Aluminum pbs are lacking in this area.

- The thinkpad FEELS much snappier in simple everday operation. HOWEVER, Windows XP multi-tasking is really inferior to the Tiger which feels very frustrating. The system can easily slow to a crawl.

- The thinkpad runs cooler than the powerbook (it's a pentium M processor 1.5ghz). When the fan runs, it's equally silent to the powerbook.

-Battery life is much better. I quite easily get 4 hours + with this one, compared to the max 2.5 hours of the powerbook 15" with normal mixed use: email internet, word processing, music, some light photoshop etc

- The hard drive is very easily upgradable: one screw, pop it out, replace and slide it back in!

- The keyboard light that sits in the LCD bezel works, but Apple's solution is much more elegant and effective.

- Speakers are lousy compared to powerbook.

- Excellent IBM support experience. I bought this used on craigslist.org and it didn't come with any system cds. Since it's still under its 3 year warranty, I used IBM's support site to send a message requesting the CDS at 10pm on a weekday evening. Within 30 minutes ( I kid you not!), IBM support called me to arrange the details. I had to call back the next day for something and got through in TWO rings. Very very impressed. I've had many experiences with apple, an none went this smoothly, although I wouldn't rate my apple experiences as poor at all.



What I don't like with the thinkpad:

- Windows XP - that's the biggest and most decisive drawback and one I cannot overlook every. Everything I dislike about using the thinkpad has to do with the nastiness that is XP.

- Don't care for the tray cd now that I'm used to the slot loading one. BUT the bay is nice because I can add things to it such as a long-life battery which, together with the regular battery could give me 8+ hours of unplugged time!
- I like metal better than plastic, although the ibm is incredibly sturdy feeling, to the point of begging me to throw it around carelessly. Never felt that way with any of my powerbooks, although they might have been able to handle it. I think the shell of the thinkpad is some sort of composite with metal, but it still feels like plastic.
- No built in bluetooth
- No firewire ports, only USB 2
- There's a mac community feeling when you see others using powerbooks in coffee shops. Now I feel like a dull corporate laptop owner.... : (


Just thought I'd share these thoughts while I wait for the arrival of my new imac. Ultimately, having used this thinkpad for a few weeks, I think Apple should have stuck to a design more in line with the powerbook G3 pismo. Sure metal is way cooler than plastic and sure expansion options often mean more bulk, but I think a sleek pismo with today's power and extra features would be a nicer machine than the present powerbooks. I say that as a powerbook-loving person. In my mind, the Pismo remains the best laptop Apple ever made. And this thinkpad, though not nearly as sleek, is reminiscent of that feeling I have when I use the pismo.
Cheers,
Pete

[SEkker]

Nice review. The advanced power management on the pentium M processor has been built into the entire Intel CPU roadmap. That means less heat, longer battery life.

If Apple were to license the mac OS to select vendors like IBM, people would then have the choice -- go with the super cool, super slick Apple machine, or go with an updated Pismo design from IBM. All IBM would have to do is add a firewire port.

If this could be used to increase the market share of the OS, it would be great. If it means less $$ for Apple, they won't want to go this way.

[Scylla]

Some good points well made.

I have no problem acknowledging my PowerBook was bought mainly on the strength of its appearance and perceived x-factor. I knew nothing of MacOS, and it's only now, after a year's usage, that I appreciate the elegance of the operating system and the generally superior experience of Mac ownership. So much so, I'm buying an iMac 20 to go with my laptop. Who needs food and clothing?

I've no doubt that I could have got a more powerful, maybe even more practical, Windows laptop. But to me, that misses the point with Macs. I think many of us buy them with the heart, not the head. I like that.

[Lateralus]

You couldn't have picked a better PC notebook, I think.

However, I'm really curious as to whether or not Lenovo is going to let the quality of the ThinkPads slip now that they're taking posession of the line. The fact that they've introduced models as low as $599 makes me think that the name 'ThinkPad' isn't going to be anymore valuable than 'Inspiron' in another year or two.

We'll see though.

[jaybert]

i actually went the other way...sold my IBM t40 for a powerbook. Main reason being, the T40 went out of warranty and I wanted to get rid of it before anything happened. I was looking for a thinkpad using my employee discount but i stumbled across a deal too good to pass up on the 12" 1.5ghz powerbook w/ superdrive. assuming I get my rebate for the ipod mini (which I sold), it will have cost me $1050 for the powerbook, + $120 for an extra gb of ram, $160 for a backpack + STM sleeve + random RadTech stuff. Some of my friends called me a traitor, especially since I was working at IBM at the time

Stuff I miss about the Thinkpad:

the little mouse nubbin. I like it alot more than any trackpad I've used
ease of replacing HD
warranty service (never tried apple care...but I had IBM replace the LCD under warranty, I got my laptop back 3 days after I placed the first phone call)

What I like about the Powerbook:

OS X
the built-in software for stuff like basic video editting is much better than the one from Windows XP
how pretty it looks

[pete]

Thinkpads are the only PC laptops I have much respect for. They really are solid machines, although they're not exactly exciting or sexy! Not to mention the long warranty and support. If it hadn't been for my speech recognition software needs, I would not have changed anything as I was quite happy with my powerbook. Haivng said that, I'm pretty excited about having the Imac as my desktop and using the thinkpad as a speech recognition machine- kind of the best of both worlds.

[Kyros]

Originally Posted by jaybert

i actually went the other way...sold my IBM t40 for a powerbook. Main reason being, the T40 went out of warranty and I wanted to get rid of it before anything happened. I was looking for a thinkpad using my employee discount but i stumbled across a deal too good to pass up on the 12" 1.5ghz powerbook w/ superdrive. assuming I get my rebate for the ipod mini (which I sold), it will have cost me $1050 for the powerbook, + $120 for an extra gb of ram, $160 for a backpack + STM sleeve + random RadTech stuff. Some of my friends called me a traitor, especially since I was working at IBM at the time

Stuff I miss about the Thinkpad:

the little mouse nubbin. I like it alot more than any trackpad I've used
ease of replacing HD
warranty service (never tried apple care...but I had IBM replace the LCD under warranty, I got my laptop back 3 days after I placed the first phone call)

What I like about the Powerbook:

OS X
the built-in software for stuff like basic video editting is much better than the one from Windows XP
how pretty it looks

Tech support should be no problem from Apple, either. Personally, my mom's G3 iBook has had to have the logic board replaced a couple of times (a known problem with that model), and both times it took about 3 days from bringing it to the Apple store to getting it back. I have heard of people having problems with Apple's support, but they seem very isolated.

I have to agree with the point that one can find pc's with comparably good hardware. I have seen a couple of very nice pc laptops (not necessarily nice looking though). With macs, it really is the software nowadays. I also agree with the Pismo being damn cool, the only unfortunate thing is that it is just too bulky for Apple to switch to such a design again. They can't really justify going from light, sleek aluminum powerbooks to plastic, black ones. Honestly, I'd be so happy if Apple did a sort of limited edition of the old iBooks and Powerbooks, with modern stuff in them. Few people would care, but personally I've been wanting both an old clamshell and a Pismo for a while now. If I could justify it to my parents, I would probably buy one of each, even though I just got a 12 inch powerbook from them. Just having them sitting around would be awesome. Actually, if I did get one, I probably would have a decent excuse, there are a couple of classic programs that won't run under classic environment (or at least not well). Not that it would justify both and not that it would be a good enough reason for my parents. Oh well, I'm going off to college in a couple of weeks, but I doubt I'll end up getting one, since I'm wary in general to buy used stuff over the internet.

[osxisfun]

Pete,

>My recent RSI has brought about some major reconfiguration of my computer setup.

Can you go into how / what signs you saw before realizing you are suffering from RSI?

I ask because my hand in the course of a week went from fine to pain. I own a powerbook but mostly use it in close lid mode with my lcd.

I just bought a microsoft ergo keyboard today and I was able to type longer without pain but i just put my wrist sling back on since it feels so much better.


thanks.

[f1000]

Originally Posted by pete

Reflections on the hardware:
- LCD is quite a bit brighter. Side by side the powerbook looked pretty dim and washed out (yes, I had calibrated it)

Indeed. Many PCs have nicer displays than my 12" Rev B PowerBook (and the displays on the Rev D models aren't much better).

Originally Posted by pete

- The keyboard feels even better than the powerbook keyboard, although they both are excellent.

ThinkPads do have great, crisp keyboards. PowerBook keyboards are nice and quiet, though.

Originally Posted by pete

- The edges of the palmrest are more like the pismo's: rounded and not as sharp - it actually makes a difference when you are constantly resting your hands/wrists on the computer. The powerbook tended to cut into my wrists in an uncomportable way, especially when I was out and unable to adjust the height of the laptop which frequently meant working with it on a higher surface than would have been ideal.

I wouldn't know. The 12" PowerBook gets too hot for me to rest my hands on. I type on it as if I were playing a piano.

Originally Posted by pete

- The display bezel doesn't exhibit ANY play whatsoever. It just feels sturdy and secure. The powerboo display always had a little bit of wobble, even after I tightened the screws inside. I feel totally comfortable opening this one with one hand from the side.

None of the 12" Apple laptops (iBooks/PowerBooks) that I've owned had any wobble in the screen whatsoever. I believe that only larger PowerBooks have this issue due to their heavier screens.

Originally Posted by pete

- Although it takes some time to get used to, I find the navigation 'peg' extremely comfortable to use compared to the trackpad (although the T40 has both so I can choose either): it allows my hands to remain on the keyboard instead of moving back and forth. This is of considerable ergonomic benefit IMO. The trackpad on the thinkpad T40 also has one finger vertical and horizontal scrolling similar to the newer powerbooks.

Bah, I hate them.

Originally Posted by pete

- Wireless range is significantly better and I get strong signal comparable to my girlfriend's pismo. The Aluminum pbs are lacking in this area.

- The thinkpad runs cooler than the powerbook (it's a pentium M processor 1.5ghz). When the fan runs, it's equally silent to the powerbook.

-Battery life is much better. I quite easily get 4 hours + with this one, compared to the max 2.5 hours of the powerbook 15" with normal mixed use: email internet, word processing, music, some light photoshop etc

Impressive. I hope some of that performance rubs off onto PowerBooks after the Big Switch.

Originally Posted by pete

- The hard drive is very easily upgradable: one screw, pop it out, replace and slide it back in!

Sounds great, but I don't usually swap out hard drives. I guess I'm willing to sacrifice some convenience for the seamless case. I have a Gateway with so many access panels on its underside that it looks like a laptop version of Frankenstein.

Originally Posted by pete

- The keyboard light that sits in the LCD bezel works, but Apple's solution is much more elegant and effective.

Agreed.

Originally Posted by pete

- Speakers are lousy compared to powerbook.

HAH!

Originally Posted by pete

- Don't care for the tray cd now that I'm used to the slot loading one. BUT the bay is nice because I can add things to it such as a long-life battery which, together with the regular battery could give me 8+ hours of unplugged time!

Would adding a hot-swappable bay make the PowerBook's thicker?

Originally Posted by pete

- I like metal better than plastic, although the ibm is incredibly sturdy feeling, to the point of begging me to throw it around carelessly. Never felt that way with any of my powerbooks, although they might have been able to handle it. I think the shell of the thinkpad is some sort of composite with metal, but it still feels like plastic.

I think it's rubberized metal. It's ugly when rubbed off, especially at the corners. The rest of it is probably plastic on metal.

Originally Posted by pete

- No built in bluetooth
- No firewire ports, only USB 2

The horror!

Originally Posted by pete

Just thought I'd share these thoughts while I wait for the arrival of my new imac. Ultimately, having used this thinkpad for a few weeks, I think Apple should have stuck to a design more in line with the powerbook G3 pismo. Sure metal is way cooler than plastic and sure expansion options often mean more bulk, but I think a sleek pismo with today's power and extra features would be a nicer machine than the present powerbooks. I say that as a powerbook-loving person. In my mind, the Pismo remains the best laptop Apple ever made. And this thinkpad, though not nearly as sleek, is reminiscent of that feeling I have when I use the pismo.
Cheers,
Pete

Interesting conclusion, but I happen to like the metal look of the current PowerBooks. I'd like to see thinner models, with no grey plastic bezels. Also, I'd like to see Apple stiffen the chassis up using a less flexible metal or even composite material. A Tungsten Carbide exterior would be nice, exotic, and expensive, but hey we Macophiles are made of money.

Originally Posted by pete

- There's a mac community feeling when you see others using powerbooks in coffee shops. Now I feel like a dull corporate laptop owner.... : (

Put a sticker on your laptop that say "My other computer is an iMac."

[brettcamp]

Originally Posted by pete

I think Apple should have stuck to a design more in line with the powerbook G3 pismo. Sure metal is way cooler than plastic and sure expansion options often mean more bulk, but I think a sleek pismo with today's power and extra features would be a nicer machine than the present

Isn't the 14" iBook the successor to the Pismo? No expansion options, but otherwise about the same.
I liked my old Pismo 400, but I much prefer my current Powerbook, mostly for its slim and light feel.

[madmanXwater]

I'm shopping for a new laptop, you may have heard if you've read my other posts. I currently have a 17" PowerBook G4 1.33 2Gb/80Hd and think it's a wonderful machine, but the speed I can't live with anymore. For a lot a people I'm sure it's great, Safari, Mail and Office run just fine as do most programs. But I use my computers mainly for music creation (Cubase SX) and for flying (X-Plane and MS Flight Sim, yes I'm a real pilot as well) and the PowerBook just doesn't compete. Both in performance and value. My $4500.00 PowerBook is getting killed, I mean killed, 200-400% by a $1799.00 P4 laptop running the same software and files! I even did some tests today using QuickTime 7 and an H.264 movie, the PowerBook was at 70% to play the file and the P4 (HP ZD8225) was at 15%, that's a huge difference and for half the price! Does that work out to say, 400% speed devided by half the price is equal to an 800% value increase??

From my own tests, and from guys I know that do serious CPU intensive work, the PowerBook is not currently a realistic option. It's a very well designed machine, and OS X is just great, but if you have a cross-platform app and have the chance to run it on a fast PC laptop, you'll see what I mean. XP is not as attractive as OSX and if you need the great included apps, OSX is a much better deal, but for my needs, performance is King!

I'm hoping that in the next year or two, the Intel deal will bring PowerBooks back to the level of price/performance that justifies the extra cost.


Mike

[I was David B.]

Hi Pete,

I fully agree with your review in nearly every point.

I use a T40 at work for 2 years now (1.6 GHz Pentium M). It runs linux (which is a much better multitasker than windows).

The T40 is a really good notebook.

[SEkker]

Originally Posted by madmanXwater

From my own tests, and from guys I know that do serious CPU intensive work, the PowerBook is not currently a realistic option. It's a very well designed machine, and OS X is just great, but if you have a cross-platform app and have the chance to run it on a fast PC laptop, you'll see what I mean. XP is not as attractive as OSX and if you need the great included apps, OSX is a much better deal, but for my needs, performance is King!

I'm hoping that in the next year or two, the Intel deal will bring PowerBooks back to the level of price/performance that justifies the extra cost.

Mike

This is exactly why Jobs switched to Intel. The powerbook has been the best designed and most underpowered laptop around for nearly 3 years.

If you can wait until next year using your PB17, then you can stick with Apple. If you need the speed AND portability now, you'll have to go PC until then.

[pete]

Hi OSXISFUN,

My pain started suddenly. I've used computer keyboards and mice since 1992 and never had a problem except for a little strain five years ago which caused me to switch from a mouse to a trackball. Then suddenly, after a week of long hours, my fingers and wrists started hurting. At first it was a feeling of strain rather than pain but then the tingling started in my fingers. I immediately stopped using my trackball and went over to a fingerworks touchpad. Then I tried several keyboards (fingerworks touchstream and a few regular ergonomic keyboards) but found that none of them really helped. It might have been because I was already in pain, but I decided to go for speech recognition instead, combined with a macally icekey keyboard which, I must say, is very comfortable and doesn't require a lot of pressure. Anyway, I tried both macspeech and viavoice and was very disappointed. Macspeech was as good as useless as an everyday way to input text and navigate the computer. Too many errors even with long hours of training and a good mic. Viavoice was infinitely better with recognition and require almost no training, but otherwise was a very limited application because it didn't allow me to input data outside its own 'speakpad'. Development has also stopped on that product.

So I took the plunge and got the thinkpad. naturallyspeaking 8 for windows is amazingly accurate out of the box with minimal training. I can easily use it for input and also for complete control of the computer and for internet browsing. If you haven't tried it, I can't recommend it enough. Simply superb.

If you feel pain in your fingers or wrists, don't ignore it! Do everything you possibly can to make your work environment more ergonomic and varied: desk height, adjustable chair, keyboard tray, keyboard and mouse, speech and whatever else helps you. Also, make sure you take breaks and move your arms and fingers.

Good luck!

[SEkker]

Originally Posted by pete

Hi OSXISFUN,
If you feel pain in your fingers or wrists, don't ignore it! Do everything you possibly can to make your work environment more ergonomic and varied: desk height, adjustable chair, keyboard tray, keyboard and mouse, speech and whatever else helps you. Also, make sure you take breaks and move your arms and fingers.

Good luck!

I can second this comment -- my carpal tunnel started literally overnight when I woke up and was unable to hold a pen. It was clearly caused by incorrect use of the trackpad (I hold my wrist at a terrible angle). I've used computers for 30 years, and the trackpad really did a job on me.

I almost always use an external mouse with my laptop, and I use anti-inflammatories to proactively keep my wrists from getting worse. Clearly the best treatment is prevention.

[osxisfun]

thanks pete! I have started doing the above and am starting to really pay attention to my work habits. Have a good desk and good chair so I hope i can negate some of the effects over time.

here's a strange keyboard that i hope i don't have to try out., i may work but its funky.

http://www.safetype.com/

[osxisfun]

Originally Posted by SEkker

I can second this comment -- my carpal tunnel started literally overnight when I woke up and was unable to hold a pen. It was clearly caused by incorrect use of the trackpad (I hold my wrist at a terrible angle). I've used computers for 30 years, and the trackpad really did a job on me.

I almost always use an external mouse with my laptop, and I use anti-inflammatories to proactively keep my wrists from getting worse. Clearly the best treatment is prevention.

If you live in america can i ask what brands of anti-inflammatories do you use?

thanks!

[SEkker]

Originally Posted by osxisfun

If you live in america can i ask what brands of anti-inflammatories do you use?

thanks!

Tried ibuprofin(Advil) instead of taking tylenol when the pain got bad; discovered that even one advil would proactively keep the pain away for most of the day. Clearly an inflammation problem, as the advil is not in your system as long as the pain-free time I'd experience.

But I always forgot to take a second round of meds during my lunch hour, etc., and my wrists would often start hurting at night.

Recently switched to naproxen (alleve), works great -- again, to actually prevent the pain from the inflammation rather than by masking the pain. I often only take once per day.

The problem with both of these OTCs is the potential effect on the stomach (I tried the naproxen because my wife purchased it for her medical condition, but she found it too hard on her stomach to use).

At the moment, I have avoided the stronger meds available only by prescription. When the naproxen won't keep this at bay, I'll check out these more powerful meds.

[threestain]

I assume your taking them after meal, as this helps reduce their gastric side effects.

[osxisfun]

thanks sekker. i have some alleve but it has expired so I will pick up some more the morning.