Converted! and it only took 15 years

Author's Rating:

Pros: Perfect balance of portability and performance. More stock features than any other Notebook

Cons: You better love iTunes. Soft monitor enclosure.

The Bottom Line: 
Best in class for portability, power and features. A real no brainer

Author's Review
Never before have I made such a 180 degree switch in opinions; it is remarkable what actually owning an apple does for your impression of them. Now I will admit, the only thing I hate more than fashion is when functional things try to be fashionable. Not much more than a year ago I was in Bishop, California and some dude sits next to me with his Powerbook G4, thick rimmed glasses and overly gelled hair and starts clicking away. “Must be from L.A.,” I thought with disdain while subconsciously propping up my own ego for being a 'real' outdoorsman.

In the upcoming months, one friend of at a time, little glowing apples stared out at me from behind their monitors. First at the coffee shop, then the library and finally in my own living room. Slowly I began to admire their compact size, lightweight, and solid appearance. Then, a few months later when needing to travel because of a death in the family, acting on pure impulse, I went out and got my 12” PowerBook G4. Insert foot in mouth: I love it.

As someone raised around computers but not one mac (my first was an Atari) I was a pretty died in the wool PC user. Accepting many of the problems that came along with a PC, I defended microsofts ingenuity up until the bitter end. Having used and never figured out OS 9, I dismissed the Mac experience as overly esoteric. Perhaps I had ran spybot one too many times. Or maybe it was going into my registry to try to get my icons match their file types, whatever the case I was fed up with my PC and ready for a change.

The first thing you notice about a PowerBook is that it is solid. Encased in a stylish brushed aluminum exterior, the Powerbook both feels tough and resists the telltale signs of aging that plague PC notebooks. After several months there are no glossy spots where my hands rest, no missing plastic fittings atop the hinges, and no scratches on the bottom of the case. I will say however that the monitor casing feels a bit flexy from behind making me suspect its ability to survive a direct blow.

The solid construction is matched by a utilitarian design philosophy that I love on sheer principle. Forgoing needless parallel, serial, PCI and monitor ports in favor of an elegant array of USB, FireWire and other perfectly necessary ports, the PowerMac keeps everything tidy esuring easy access and wise use of space. The slot loading Super Drive cleanly balances out the right side of the machine. Every external feature is easily accessible from even while sitting on a coach class tray table, while still leaving plenty of room for a drink.

In keeping with the 'complete' concept apple builds a list of features into the PowerMac absent on almost all of its competitors. While several other machines feature internal wireless compatibility, they lack the innovative AirPort antennas that grace each side of the 12” display. While others search for a signal, you can choose from the three or four that automatically show up in your system tray. Likewise, the built in bluetooth radio means that the PowerBook is ready to sync with bluetooh enabled PDAs and Phones, as well as making your bluetooth headset a handy VOIP (voice over internet) accessory, free phone service anyone? It almost goes without saying that Apple speced the PowerMac with an plesently bright and sharp LCD display, although the 15” model is spec'd with a more powerful backlight making it a better choice for outdoor use.

I will spare everyone a complete review of Tiger, the most current version of the OSX operating system, and just say it is not only more secure than windows XP but considerably more intuitive. The ultra fast spotlight desktop search bar will change the way you interact with your OS, rather than look through folder after folder, Spotlight delivers on its promise of near instance search response. Even more esoteric feature like dashboard have proven usefull for checking weather, sports and stock quoutes.

There are only a few downsides. First is power, at 1.5 Ghz processor speedand a stock 256 MB RAM, the PowerMac is by no means a slouch, but could be a bit quicker. An 1 GB memory upgrade is necessary to really get prime performance. Second is more of a gripe with Apple than with the machine proper. On a utility oriented machine, I would expect an easier time dealing with streaming internet media, but an ongoing digital rights dispute with Microsoft, has prevented Apple with sharing the vital info to make a Mac play most of the internet's streaming media. Instead, users are forced to use iTunes and Quicktime to satisfy their media needs, limiting both the media and third party MP3 players compatible with the machine. I understand that Apple sees their iTunes music store as the future of the company, but I would rather me and my computer be left out of that fight and be given the choice of providers and third party accessories. Some have complained about battery life, but for the size and weight of the machine the close to 4 hour battery life is acceptable.

What is most remarkable about the PowerMac is its price. Relative to other similar machines from Sony, Dell and HP, the PowerMac is incredibly competitive, especially when you consider the number of built in features, superiority of OS and glut of included software. The biggest downside is that the new Intel equiped MacBooks are not yet available in the 12” size. Nonetheless, for the ultimate balance of portability and performance, the 12” PowerBook is a no brainer.

There I said it, I love my Mac....just don't expect to catch me with those stupid white iPod headphones.