Amazing desktop replacement

Author's Rating:

Pros: Fast, stylish and attractive, gorgeous screen, powerful enough to function as a desktop replacement.

Cons: Expensive, scratches easily, on the large side for true "laptop" use.

The Bottom Line: 
A trendy, attractive, functional, high-speed laptop with a full complement of software. For a light-yet-portable desktop replacement, or a high-powered portable video/audio system, look no further than Apple's 17"Powerbook!

Author's Review
System Specs

Processor: 1GHZ PowerPC
Ram: 512MB
Display: 17" (1440 x 900)
Hard Drive: 60GB
Optional Drive: CDR/DVDR Superdrive
Network Adapters: 10/100 & Gigabyte Ethernet Ports, Airport Extreme WiFi Wireless Card, Bluetooth Enabled, 56K Internal Modem
USB Ports: Two USB 2.0 Ports, Firewire 400 & 800 Ports
Weight: 6.9 lbs
MSRP: $2999

----- Apple 4 Me? -----

To start with, I'm a PC guy to the core. Gamer, web surfer, amateur website designer, and about the most a-typical/skeptical Apple prospect you could find. One of my best friends has been a lifelong Apple user, and after using his Powerbook 15" I was swayed a bit by the polish and user friendly operating system (OS X).

This friend kept prodding me to explore the Apple product line in my search for a laptop computer. In March of 2003, I wandered into my local Apple store to see what hardware they had in stock. As I was looking at the I-Book laptops the salesman directed me to the Powerbook display. He mentioned they had just received their first 17” Powerbook, and would I like to see it. I said sure, and he brought out the display model. The first thing I noticed was how incredibly thin it was, and how nice the titanium looked on a laptop. After he opened the screen and powered it up, I was once again surprised by the color and clarity of the screen. I was used to my ancient Toshiba (which I’m using right now) with its 12” dual scan screen that’s downright invisible if the sun is out. The Powerbook has a much brighter backlight and more vibrant color. It’s also huge, nearly as big as the viewable area on a 19” CRT screen. I usually research all of my purchases to death, but in this case I decided spur of the moment that I had to own this laptop. I ordered my Powerbook without adding any extra options, and was informed it would be in the store within a week. Next week arrived, and I went to pick it up. I can’t overemphasize how helpful the Apple store personnel were, I guess it shows how well trained and courteous staff can make the difference in customer service. Upon delivery, they showed me a few basics of the Apple OS X operating system and told me to call if I had any questions.

Setup was very easy, and all a new owner needs to do is follow the on screen instructions to customize the system to their desires. Startup guide and included documentation is also first-rate, with smaller manuals for the Airport, Bluetooth, and other included accessories. I concluded my purchases by buying the (Brenthaven Shoulder Case) to transport and store my laptop in.

----- Got Hardware? -----

The complete Powerbook line is loaded to the max with the best laptop components possible. The 17” Powerbook is the most loaded of all, with the only options available being a RAM or Hard-drive upgrade. The system boots quickly, averaging about 45 seconds from pushing the button until the user log-in is displayed. Keyboard layout and design is first-rate, although the button feel took awhile to become comfortable with. The buttons have a “dampened” feel to them, as if you were pushing on a liquid surface. It’s not disagreeable, just not what I’m used to. One of the downright coolest features has to be the lighted keys. You can turn the brightness up or down, and even turn it off if you so desire. Using your laptop in a darkened room, in the car, or on an airplane can be troublesome since you can’t see the keys. Even the best typists need to see the keys sometimes, and tilting your screen to shed light on the keyboard gets old. Each letter on every key is lit fiber-optically, and glows with a bluish-white light. It’s very subtle, and most effective.

Both the screen and key backlight can be adjusted via shortcut buttons located at the top of the keyboard. If left on auto, they both adjust automatically for the lighting outside. If it gets dark, the screen dims to save battery life. If you're in a sunlit room, the screen will default to maximum brightness in order to be visible.

Battery life is pretty good with the screen on medium to dim. If you are using the cd or dvd drive and playing a movie, expect to get about 2 hours flat from the battery. If just using a word processor or spreadsheet you can get closer to three hours. A handy LED battery indicator is located on the battery itself, and a press will light up to 5 LEDs depending on the charge level. A full charge usually takes just over an hour, and you can leave the system on and use it while it charges.

The accessory ports are very handy, and are available on both sides of the laptop. USB, Firewire, Ethernet, and monitor ports are all positioned in easy to access locations. The monitor output is a DVI style for digital monitors, but a DVI to VGA adapter is included. An S-Video output is also included for presentations using Powerpoint or if you want to show pictures or a movie and use the Powerbook for a player. An S-Video to standard A/V jack adaptor is included. Sound output is limited to a stereo headphone/mini plug. DVD playback is smooth and stutter free with the included DVD player. CD/R recording is quick thanks to the 24X burner included, and I must mention I haven’t had a singe coaster after more than 30 burned discs. DVD/R recording is also easy, although quite a bit slower due to the 1X write speed. Current games such as Sim City 4, Warcraft 3, and Unreal Tournament play smoothly, but the limitations inherent to laptop design doom the Powerbook in terms of video upgrades. Its current 64 MB card is more than sufficient for most tasks, and will keep it competitive even in the next set of competitors.

The exterior and keyboard surround are all finished in a burnished aluminum/titanium look. There is a white Apple logo in the lid which glows softly when the lid is open, and this draws more comments than you can imagine. The only downside to the gorgeous silver finish is that it scratches very easily. I don't carry this in my work truck, instead I use an old beater laptop to do my daily drudgery. To carry my Powerbook I purchased a Brenthaven 17" carrying case which has protected my purchase very well.

Notice… As of this writing, Apple has a newly updated Powerbook line with newer components, lower prices ($2999 for the high end model) and slightly upgraded hardware.

----- Hardware? Nah, It’s The Software Stupid! -----

Part of the higher price Apple continues to ask for its systems is due to the large software bundle included with every system. OS X is a very full featured operating system, and the full complement of I software. I-Tunes, I-Photo, I-Movie, I-DVD, I-Cal, and more. Each of these programs is a full version app, not some 1/ 2-demo-trial version shovelware the likes of which usually clog the hard drive of every PC sold. OS X is not an OS most Windows users will feel instantly comfortable with, but it’s not hard to learn. Almost every Windows function has a similar Apple counterpart, and once you begin to learn them you can navigate with ease. Instead of the start button, OS X uses the dock. You can place the dock on any side of the screen you want, and adjust the size of the icons. All your frequently used programs should reside in the dock.

I-Tunes is my favorite MP3 storage system on either the Apple or PC. You can rip CDs to your hard drive easily, and then input all the information for each track. If you have internet access, just select all your nameless tracks and search the internet for the appropriate names. I-Tunes uses the ID3 tags with each track to locate and tag all the information from the 'net , saving you from the chore of typing in all the track info. Songs can be organized by track name, track number, genre, album name, or several other categories. After each track I-Tunes displays the last time it was played, which lets you keep track of what tunes you play often and those songs you've never heard. You may also rate songs on a scale of 1 - 5, the rating is then displayed after the track.

You can create both custom playlists and albums to categorize your music. Burning a CD is easy thanks to the ever-present burn icon in the upper right corner of I-Tunes. Select the tracks you want, and click on the burn icon. To make a hybrid Apple/PC disc is a little more difficult, you select all the tracks you want and drag them to the CD icon on the desktop. Then you select the CD and choose burn.

Quite a few internet radio stations come pre-loaded with I-Tunes, and you can select and listen to them as long as internet access is available. You can also browse online song lists, purchase songs, and download them through I-Tunes online service.

I-Photo is an in-depth storage and recording solution which requires learning to master. A master library lists all the photos stored on the hard drive, and you must create separate albums to divide your photos. Slideshows can be played or paused, and you can set up music to accompany them. Using the video out you can display the slideshow using a television or projector.

I-Movie is not a program I've used very much, but after experimenting around a bit, I'm impressed with its user friendliness. Like all the Apple-ware, the interface is simple and very beginner oriented. Both I-DVD and I-Movie are What You See Is What You Get (WYSIWYG) programs, and after making a few mistakes you should be able to turn out great looking edited videos or picture slideshows with music. When I get a DV video camera you can be sure I'll use I-Movie to edit with. The high speed Firewire ports make downloading movies from your camera a speedy affair, and keep the downtime to a minimum. If you'll be editing very many movies, I'd recommend upgrading the RAM to 1GB for extra speed.

I-DVD is an easy DVD creator that lets you make professional quality movies or slideshows, set them in a theme or setting, and burn them to a DVD. You could make a picture slideshow of your child over the past year, a sports team and their championship game, or even a vacation you and your family took. Send the DVDs to family and friends, or keep them yourself for posterity. A great tool for those with time and a knack for creative talent.

I-Cal is a full featured calender with appointments, reminders, alerts, and other important features. I-Cal and Address Book are both useful apps for most any computer user, and since they both can be synced with Bluetooth enabled devices, certain PDAs and Cell phones allow you to transfer addresses and appoinments between them.

----- Internet Browsing -----

Apple's mail program is a great tool for Email, and is a step or two above Outlook Express for spam blocking. It features an "inteligent" spam blocker that learns what you don't want to see. For awhile it flags messages it's not sure about, and you tell it whether or not it's spam. Once it's learned for awhile, you turn off the training mode and 97% of the spam goes right to the junk bin.

Apple included Internet Explorer as the web browser, but I don't use it. I urge you to download Camino or Mozilla, both available at www.mozilla.org Either of these browsers is a better choice for spam and pop-up killing, and another good choice is Safari.

----- Final Comments -----

I love my Powerbook, and for many reasons like it better than my PC. However I'm still a game lover, and software ports to Apple's OS X are at least a year behind if they ever come. I'll always have a PC for games and online play, but I wish I could ditch it forever. Apple's computers are inherently more stable and less crash prone than PCs. I can't explain it a technical detail, but it has to do with the UNIX based OS X operating system. Windows XP has more design flaws and holes than Apples OS, so it's more easily exploited.

OS X is also a more visually appealing operating system, with a fluic and almost juicy look. Soft buttons, vibrant toolbars, colorful and functional menus and tabs... it's a true joy to work with.

I wouldn't recommend a Powerbook for every laptop shopper, since no one can compete in the price wars with Dell and it's ilk. Dell sells a competent laptop, a good friend of mine owns a 2003 model Latitude. It does work smoothly and quickly, for $1500 less than my Powerbook, but Dell doesn't include the comprehensive software bundle Apple does. It also looks like a pregnant college textbook, and weighs quite a bit more even though the screen is only 15". It's loud when it's running, hot on your lap if you hold it, and not attractive in any way. The advantage is almost any program you want to buy will run fine, and it can be purchased for under $1900.

I can only say good things about Apples warranty, since I've already made a claim. My power plug was damaged in a stupid accident, and my system refused to charge. I took it in to my Apple store and left it with them. They called the following day to report it had been sent to Apple USA to be repaired, and to expect it back in two weeks. About 10 days later they called me up to report it was repaired and should be in the store on Monday. I proceeded to pick up my system, and was informed I didn't owe a dime for shipping or repairs. Now that is how a warranty should be! My Powerbook has worked perfectly ever since the repair, over 6 months ago.

The factory warranty is for one full year, with an extra two years of Applecare warranty available for about $350. In the spring I'm planning on returning to buy the extra coverage, since any major repair to this model would be about $500. I don't plan on it breaking, but I like to protect my investments.

As I said, the current Powerbooks are slightly faster and cheaper than my model, and I can't vouch for the current software bundle. I purchased my system with Microsoft Office X for my business needs, and it has worked very well. All files are interchangable with PC versions of Office, and the CD burner makes great backups.

The Powerbook series is for those who want the best, want a quality product, but also want to be a bit out of the mainstream. Powerbooks excell at video and audio storage and recording, working even better than my AMD 2700 1GB RAM equipped desktop. You can take it anywhere, download digital pictures and video instantly, and burn a CD minutes later. If you have any doubts, wander over to Apples site @ http://www.apple.com/hardware/

There you can find a local Apple store to have a look at one up close. I think you'll be as impressed as I was with the 1" thick silver wonderbook.

One more suggestion if you do decide to purchase a Powerbook. I went ahead and splurged on a (Brenthaven Shoulder Case) a few weeks after my laptop purchase. At $170 it wasn't cheap, but it's worked flawlessly at keeping my Powerbook safe and secure.

Thank you for reading my opinion, and feel free to comment!
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