A Month with a Mac - Part II: The Mobile Experience
by Anand Lal Shimpi on January 24, 2005 12:01 AM EST- Posted in
- Mac
The PowerBook Arrives
So, what does $2500 look like? Well, it looks pretty good. |
| The PowerBook in the dark, all lit up. |
For the most part, I'm not a fan of how most laptops look. They often feel cheap and aren't designed with much style in mind. Folks who carry their desktops around with them to LAN parties want their systems to look good, so I'd assume that those who carry their laptops around with them would like a bit of the same. Apple delivers on that front. In fact, I wasn't actually impressed with the PowerBook G4 when it was first released - it was only after I encountered one first hand that I found it to be stylish. But more important than style is build quality. In my opinion, one of the most important features of a laptop is its build quality. I've been using Sony VAIOs for quite some time now, mostly because Sony generally offers some of the thinnest and lightest laptops available at the time. Take my current VAIO for example: the X505/SP. The regular X505 weighs in at just over 1.8lbs, but with the carbon fiber shell of the SP version, the total system weight is dropped down to 1.71lbs. However my biggest complaint with Sony is that the weight savings generally come at the expense of build quality, as I have yet to have a single VAIO notebook that doesn't begin to feel flimsy after a few months of good use. The hinges just never seem to be as sturdy as when you first use the laptop and the entire package just don't seem to fit well together anymore after some use. This is in sharp contrast to IBM's Thinkpads. Intel originally sent out Thinkpad X31s for reviewers to use to get more familiar with Centrino, and to date, the X31 was one of the most solid laptops that I've ever used. So what about Apple's 15" PowerBook G4?
On the scale of Sony to IBM, the PowerBook is much more like an IBM than anything else. Only time will tell how the notebook wears, but initially, it definitely feels much more sturdy than not. Also remember that the PowerBook is built at an ASUS factory and is put through ASUS' QA labs, which are some of the most strenuous QA labs out there.
The PowerBook's external skin is made of a lightweight aluminum that looks and feels good, but has two negative points to it. First, it tends to be a great surface for electrons to jump to, especially after walking across a carpet in a dry climate. I doubt that you could damage the notebook by shocking the aluminum shell, but it's something that can definitely get annoying in drier climates. The second issue is that because the exterior casing is all aluminum, it conducts heat exceptionally well, meaning that if the ambient temperature is cold, the PowerBook will feel quite cold. And also, when the PowerBook is running, the base of the system can get rather warm. It's not warm enough to burn you, but it can get a little warmer than I'd like. The aluminum exterior does give an additional feeling of sturdiness that you don't get out of most plastic laptops, including the IBM ThinkPads.
The footprint of the 15" notebook is obviously determined by the size of the screen itself, and measuring in at 13.7" x 9.5", it's not huge, and actually makes similar sized PC notebooks feel large because of the fact that the PowerBook's dimensions are ever so slightly smaller than most 15" widescreen PC notebooks. The notebook is 1.1" thick, which normally to me is quite thick, but Apple did a wonderful job of making it seem as slim as possible. The PowerBook is actually slender looking enough that I wouldn't consider it to be a thick notebook, which is impressive if you've ever heard me talk about what I consider to be thick (the X505 is about 0.37" thick).
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| Slender from the front, that's the slot loading DVD-R to the right. |
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| The left side of the system features (in order from left to right): the power connector, modem jack, USB 2.0 port, 1/8" audio input, 18" headphone/line out, and PC card slot. You can also see the cooling vent on the lower left side of the system. The PowerBook has no cooling vents underneath, just this one on each side and the rest run along the back of the system. |
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| The right side of the system features (in order from left to right): USB 2.0 port, FireWire 400 port, FireWire 800 port, 10/100/1000 Ethernet jack, S-video output and DVI output. |
There are a few points of weakness, however, when it comes to the construction of the notebook, the most significant of them being the PowerBook's latching mechanism. The way the latch on the PowerBook works is like this: when the screen is less than an inch from being closed, a very small hook will drop down to latch into the base of the laptop - keeping the laptop securely closed. The hook is spring-loaded so that when you press the release switch, the screen will pop up slightly, thus removing any need for you to fiddle with the screen to get it to lift enough to get your fingers in between the screen and the notebook. While quite impressive mechanically, the latching mechanism is the one area where I expect the PowerBook to break first. If you've ever dropped a laptop, you know that the latch can be one of the first things to break, even if the rest of the laptop survives. While this was one area in which I didn't test the $2500 acquisition, it's one that didn't feel "IBM-like". The other annoyance that this latch causes is that if you are carrying the laptop from the end opposite the latch, the screen and the base of the laptop have a tendancy to hit each other because of the little amount of play in which the latch gives the screen to move. It doesn't cause any damage to the notebook, but it's an annoyance, one that can be solved by simply holding the laptop by the other end.
After a bit of use, the area above the SuperDrive (combo DVD-RW/CD-RW drive) started squeaking after a bit of traveling and use with the PowerBook. It turns out that the surface of the PowerBook where the trackpad is located became slightly separated from its base at the front right corner of the notebook, causing it to squeak whenever you applied pressure to it. I applied a lot of pressure to the squeaky area and the panel snapped back into place - squeaking problem solved.
The monitor hinge on the PowerBook is decently solid, definitely better than the build quality that you see on something like a Sony VAIO, and at best, it is on par with the quality found in an IBM Thinkpad. Overall, I'd say that the build quality is pretty decent, but it is still lacking a bit of the ruggedness which you'd find in a ThinkPad. Part of the problem is that the surface of the PowerBook scuffs fairly easily, and because of the stylish nature of the PowerBook and its light surface color, scuffs and marks are much more bothersome.
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garote - Wednesday, January 26, 2005 - link
A note about Exposé usage on a powerbook:I know it's unorthodox, but consider using the 'Fn' key, on the lower left, for activating Exposé. It's easier to reach in general, but especially easy to use when you want to drag an icon/file _through_ an Exposé operation (via hold-release), from one window to another. Especially if you're right-handed.
You can still use Command-up/down for home/end, Command-left/right for begin/end of line, and Option-left/right for next/prev word. You'll have to invoke F6 to use the keypad, however, and you'll lose quick access to page-up/page-down.
The big difference, of course, is that you'll lose access to the regular invocation of the FN keys - however, I find that I never want to use the FN keys anyway, unless I want to embed a bunch of Photoshop macros in them.
Try it for a while. If you're a heavy Exposé user, you may find the change quite pleasing.
adespoton - Wednesday, January 26, 2005 - link
Hi Anand; just thought I'd clarify a statement you made in your conclusion:"Unless you do a lot of .NET development on the road, just about anything you use your laptop for is available under OS X...."
For anyone in this situation, Project Mono is available for OS X at http://www.go-mono.com/archive/1.0.5/macos/MonoFra...
Of course, this doesn't give you *all* the .NET bindings etc., but for basic .NET development it works quite well -- and has the added benefit that you can test the programs out under OS X as well, without resorting to emulation.
jayemcee - Wednesday, January 26, 2005 - link
Thanks for a nicely balanced article. The speed issues tend to fade a bit (especially pure cpu speed) when looking at the way the system operatesand how it helps productivity. Less downtime for the system (my uptime has been continuous except for reboots at software updates times). Drag and drop into and between applications make the system appear very elegant to me and a bonus is when I want it... there is BSD *nix underneath OS X.The hardware is as good as it gets for the price and I do not feel cheated by Apple. Of course, there is also that indefinable Apple experience that you get when opening the boxes of a new piece of apple hardware. I guess that I am addicted to that as well. :)
You write well and many PC magazines would do well to emulate your methods of testing the unquantifiable variables of all machines that they test and then write about... for public consumption.
mattfaulds - Tuesday, January 25, 2005 - link
Great article. Good to see someone weighing things from a bablanced point of view.Would like to reiterate the greatness of Sidetrack (www.ragingmenace.com)
I have an iBook G4 and have changed the button to a right click button, the corners of the tap pad to exposé functions (and a right click corner) and a scroll on the right side. It's very customisable and very stable.
Apple really really should pay him lots of money and incoporate the optional function as standard. You need it with the limited space on a laptop.
Cheerio
waterbug - Tuesday, January 25, 2005 - link
Anand,Another thing to compare between OS X and Windows is sleep/wake behavior. Try this at home:
Connect both your Wintel laptop and your PowerBook to a WiFi network with DHCP and verify connection by opening a browser. Close both lids for 5-10 seconds, until you're sure they're both asleep. Open the lids.
You should be able to click a link on the PowerBook within 5 seconds of seeing the LCD come on. If you have a static IP, it'll be even faster.
On my XP laptop, it takes anywhere from 10-45 seconds to reacquire the wireless signal, figure out the encryption, reacquire a DHCP address, and then finally be able to do anything.
It sounds trivial, but imagine this scenario: imagine you're working with your laptop in the kitchen, and you decide to move to the dining room. Do you close your laptop, or walk over to the dining room with it open? With my Dell, I walk around the house with it open. With our iBook, I close it even to rearrange things on the bed. It's not a huge issue, but it's one of those "little touches" that makes for a more satisfying ownership experience.
lookmark - Tuesday, January 25, 2005 - link
Nice article, as always. I too am slightly disappointed by my 15" PB's wireless range, and hope Apple is able to improve it in fure models.Just want to chime on the fabulousness of Quicksilver, which is like just a little taste of Tiger's Spotlight, focused on launching (or more, if you want). Well, well worth checking out.
I too started with the Applications folder in the Dock -- didn't we all? -- but Quicksilver is so much better it's quite astonishing, and considering it's completely free and open-sourced all the more so. Apple is clearly taking notice as well.... it's been reported from the latest Tiger builds that the (customizable, of course) shortcut for hitting Spotlight quickly is now command-space, a la QS.
jim v - Tuesday, January 25, 2005 - link
Actually, the ethernet port on the PowerBook is 10/100/1000bcstanding - Tuesday, January 25, 2005 - link
I am one of those guys that switched from PC to Mac (3 years ago). This article (with Part I) is one of the most insightful and unbiased articles I've ever read on the subject of the Mac User Experience. Very well done!I also thought I'd chip in an idea - if you don't have quite enough RAM, you may want to leave apps open (just hide them) instead of quitting them. OS X seems to be faster when swapping a program back into memory than starting it outright. I'm on a 3 year old PowerBook, though, so this may not be applicable for faster Macs...
davechen - Tuesday, January 25, 2005 - link
As an old school Unix programmer, I've always hated keyboards that have a large caps lock and a small control key (as most do these days). I use control a lot more than caps lock. Hell who ever really uses caps lock.So on OS X, I'd be lost without uControl. It's a little control panel that allows you to remap modifier keys (along with a lot of other things). Here' the link:
http://gnufoo.org/ucontrol/ucontrol.html
jsares - Tuesday, January 25, 2005 - link
I second and third the suggestions for SideTrack. Great shareware from a great guy.