[Marek]

I currently live and work in two different locations. On location A I have an Athlon 2700 desktop PC, mainly for gaming. On location B I have a Pentium 800 desktop PC and Dell Inspiron 800 laptop. Right now I'm thinking of selling those last two and replacing them with a Powerbook.

The 15" superdrive options seems good. Does anyone here have experiences with Apple laptops, particularly the new Powerbooks? Things I really want to know is the battery life (apple.com claims 5,5 hours, but that seems unreal to me), whether it's easy to connect to a LAN with Windows 2000 or Windows XP computers and transfer files, and whether the keyboard is suitable for typing for long periods.

Also what's the weight like of a 15" Powerbook? I'm going over to an Apple store feel it for myself, but nothing beats having real experiences hauling it from one place to another.

I would use it 80% of the time for playing DVDs and video files (Xvid, streaming, etc.), but also word processing and image editing. If I can easily take it from location B to location A (about 40 min by bus/train) each week I would probably do so, if only to keep all my files in one place.

Oh also it seems really cool to hook up my stereo to an Airport Express so I can watch DVDs on it with friends and still have great sound. AirPort also functions as a router right? So I can just plug in my ADSL cable and sell my current router?

Okay, so yeah, anyone got any advice? Do you reckon this is the right model for what I want? I can get opinions on C|Net and such (and I have) but I also value peer advice

[Sage]

Jake (The Dartmaster) is far more knowledgeable about the current crop of Apple products than I am, so he might have some insight.
Also, for a wide range of first-hand opinions in probably much more detail than you'll ever need, there's http://forums.dealmac.com/list.php?1,page=1.

ScottMate

[tabacco]

Well, I already talked to you about it, but I'll post here too

You should go for it! I've been verry happy with my ibook, and I'm a desktop PC user. OSX supports SMB really well, so you shouldn't have any problems moving files around.

[fov]

I, too, am happy with my iBook. That doesn't help you, sorry. But it seems like a much sturdier laptop to me than the PC laptops I've owned.

My only complaint about the iBook (as opposed to a higher-end PowerBook) is that the computer goes to sleep if you close the lid. There's no way to disable this, so when it's connected to an external monitor (which is most of the time), I have to leave the lid cracked open, which is doable but fairly annoying.

[Huz]

Originally Posted by fov

My only complaint about the iBook (as opposed to a higher-end PowerBook) is that the computer goes to sleep if you close the lid. There's no way to disable this, so when it's connected to an external monitor (which is most of the time), I have to leave the lid cracked open, which is doable but fairly annoying.

Why not be a flash git and have a dual monitor setup in that situation - the external monitor plus the laptop's display?

[fov]

Not enough room on my desk for that! It's a work machine, so I'm a bit limited in what I can do with it.

[SakSquash]

Why don't you just buy a real computer.

[tabacco]

Originally Posted by temporaryscars

Why don't you just buy a real computer.

Because he wants one that works

[Marek]

I just browsed through an advertising leaflet with PC laptops and despite the fact that they're quite a lot cheaper for the same horsepower, I don't feel the same attraction. A powerbook seems like a no-BS system that will do 90% of what you want to do with it out of the box, in a very easy to use way.

I'm now thinking about how I want to interface with my existing stereo and TV. I could buy an Airport Express to load sound to my stereo and use a cable to hook it up to my TV, or I could buy an Xbox along with a wireless adapter, then mod it and stream stuff through that. Hmmmmmmmmmmm.

[tabacco]

The bonus to the Xbox is that you could play Psychonauts on it

[Marek]

Meh, I'll still have a PC that plays it just fine

[Huz]

Originally Posted by Marek

or I could buy an Xbox along with a wireless adapter, then mod it and stream stuff through that. Hmmmmmmmmmmm.

I should point out that a modded Xbox hooked up to a TV is a thing of beauty. Streaming trailers from Apple or listening to Internet radio without even having to get out of your chair is fantastic. Remember that the Xbox has an optional remote control....

And if you mod it plus install a bigger HD, you essentially have an all-purpose jukebox - games, movies and music, all on tap and self-contained.

[Crunchy in milk]

The newer powerbooks use aluminium for casing rather than titanium. While this makes for lighter books, aluminium can react like a bitch to heavy everyday use (wash your hands and wrists!).


See more here

Getting it fixed by apple is apparently hit and miss, and dependant on your level of apple protection plan (that extra fee they ask you to pay for half decent customer support).

If you plan to sell off the notebook some time down the track, well...

I can't recommend the older titanium ones either because I hate the old model keyboard (Only one command key and its on the fricken left side! A nightmare for long time mac users who have a healthy obsession for one handed keyboard shortcuts) the new layout is far superior.

None of apple's notbook range have G5 processors, and never will (they run too hot) so you may as well consider a high end iBook. You still get the top notch operating system, more resistant case, better keyboard layout etc.

My only complaint about the iBook is that the computer goes to sleep if you close the lid.

The powerbook does this too but it wakes from sleep if you plug in an external keyboard &/or mouse. I've never owned an iBook, have you tried closing the lid (sleep) first, then plugging in the monitor and mouse/keyboard to see if it wakes up?

[fov]

On the other hand, iBooks are white and show off a lot of dust. (Not that I'd know anything about that. )

As an aside (but related to that sort of gross picture above), I have a weird habit of rubbing the N key off every keyboard I ever use. Does this happen to anyone else? The N is even fading on my iBook, which is weird because I use an external keyboard most of the time.

The powerbook does this too but it wakes from sleep if you plug in an external keyboard &/or mouse. I've never owned an iBook, have you tried closing the lid (sleep) first, then plugging in the monitor and mouse/keyboard to see if it wakes up?

Yes, I've tried. It doesn't work. My IT person spent an hour on the phone with Apple tech support going through this long, drawn-out process of trying to disable the sleep feature... a conversation that ended with the tech saying, "Wait, this is an iBook? That's our low-end laptop, you can't turn the sleep feature off on that one."

EDIT: My iBook is about a year and a half old. It's possible they've fixed the sleep thing since then, I don't know. I just know how mine behaves.

[tabacco]

the iBook is also limited to 1024x768 and can only do display mirroring on the VGA out, instead of driving a second display.