12 inch or 15 inch Powerbook?

Some general advice/guidance here would be much appreciated. Having sold some gadgets on ebay over the past 2 weeks I now have about £500 to spend and I want to get either a 12 inch or 15 inch Powerbook, mainly for taking out and about for email and browsing but hey who knows if I come to love it then it may well get used for more stuff. I just don't fancy a MacBook and although no doubt they are better and faster I don't want to spend the extra £200 or so on one...I just prefer the look of the aluminium PowerBooks.
Should I go for the 12 or 15 inch? Is there any point in paying slightly more for the larger size? Is it better made or better specced or a nicer user experience than the 12inch? The smaller size is obviously more portable but often there can be a trade off...any help advice gratefully received!!

You can compare the specifications of both at http://support.apple.com/specs/#powerbook
A few observations ... the screen on the 15" is a higher quality screen, if I remember correctly the 12" was shared with the iBook. The 15" model can have 2GB memory vs 1.25GB in the 12" model. Hard drives are typically larger in the 15" Powerbook. 15" Powerbook has the faster Firewire 800 port that the 12" model doesn't have. Both have Firewire 400 ports.
There have been recalls on Powerbooks, you may want to verify if the one you're interested in was fixed under a recall, and you check at http://www.apple.com/support/exchange_repair/powerbook.html. Also, if you're considering one with the extended Applecare warranty, the owner can transfer it to you for it's duration.

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Using 12 inch Powerbook as second screen for new 17 inch MBP.

My new 17' MBP should be here in the new day or two. I want to use my 3 year old 12 inch powerbook as a second screen, mainly to keep my email client open on that screen.
What is the best way to do this? I am sure it's not hard but I have never used a second screen.
for you super users out there....is there a way to run the programs on my bookbook from the keyboard on the MBP without remote desktop? I have some programs on that machine I need to use that can't be run on the new Intel machines (PAUP if you know it). They will be sitting right next to each other so I can just use the other keyboard but I like to save time at everything.
17 Inch Macbook Pro Mac OS X (10.4.7)

Just try ScreenRecycler from http://www.screenrecycler.com/
You can even use a Windows PC or a Linux box as second display.
Patrick
yes, I'm the author

Card reader works on 17 inch PowerBook but not on 12 inch

I have a Compact Flash Card reader (Zio!) that works on my 17 inch PowerBook, but on my 12 inch it does not show up on the desktop when a card is inserted.
I have another card reader (Belkin) that works on the 12 inch but it is twice as large and uses a cable. The Zio! attachs directly to the USB port.
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I went ahead and reset the Open Firmware along with the PRAM and PMU.
It didn't show in System Profiler on either PowerBook. I think I'm going to let it go. A card reader that attaches directly to a USB port without a cable will also get in the way of the other ports.
I have the Belkin USB card reader that reads any card. I'm going to be upgrading to a Sandisk Firewire reader just CF cards.
http://www.bhphotovideo.com/bnh/controller/home?O=Search&A=details&Q=&sku=446772 &is=REG&addedTroughType=search
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Could NOT move my 12-inch Powerbook G4 battery. what can I do?

After I realised that my 12-inch Powerbook G4 battery is too hot. One of my friends told me that there is a "PowerBook G4 Battery Exchange Program", but I could not remove the battery from my PowerBook. I took my PowerBook to the computer department within my college, but all the Computer guys (including a ACTC) could NOT remove the battery.
As you all know it is a very simple step for removing the battery, but I could not.
I can not view the model and serial numbers labeled on the bottom of my battery, because nobody can remove the battery from the computer.
I called the shop where I bought the PowerBook, they said the only way they can do it is: take the battery by force (the case would be broken), then use a new case, but I have to pay several hundred Australia dollars.
What can I do?
I am in Melbourne, Australia. I bought the Powerbook at November 2004.
Regards

This sounds like a defect and not something that would be caused by a user. I would call AppleCare and ask them what to do under these circumstances. If it is out of warranty and they refuse to do anything, ask to be transfered to Customer Relations. Be polite but firm and explain that this is just a weird occurance and not related to something you did. How could it be? Hopefully they can find a way to unstick it, either by talking to them or by sending it in. In addition if your battery is heating up, they may replace it due to that fact alone. Try to find a way to measure the heat it put outs before calling in. Hopefully this will work for you!

Apple 20-inch with a 12-inch Powerbook = Constant Fan

Just picked up a 20-inch display for use with a 12-inch Powerbook.. I also have an Apple Bluetooth Keyboard and Mouse that I use.. The fan runs constantly when the powerbook is connected to the Apple Display.. Can anyone confirm if this is normal or if I should be worried.. Thanks

Just received a 20" ACD yesterday. I also purchased a Targus Chill Pad (USB-powered fan stand) having read that 12" PBs run hot with 20" ACDs, and I really like the combination. One possible solution to the heat generation might be to avoid using the USB and FW hubs on the ACD - I don't have mine plugged in and my PB has remained nice and cool - same temps. as before hooking up the ACD (~125 F for the graphics processor, according to Temperature Monitor). I haven't heard the PB's fan go on once, and I can barely hear the fans of the Chill Pad - I'd recommend that as a 25 dollar solution to people experiencing the overheating. I don't know if the lack of hub usage is keeping the heat down, but that may also be something others want to try.

Monitor Capability with 12 inch Powerbook

Does anyone know if my 12 inch Powerbook will work with this Dell 24" monitor?
Dell 24" Wide DVI 6ms 1000:1 500 cd/m² 1920x1200 WUXGA
9-in-2 Card Reader
3-year Advance Exchange
4 USB 2.0 Ports
Adjustable Stand
Thanks!!

If you are using MIRROR mode, there is no way to get your widescreen monitor to mirror your PowerBook's 1024x768 dimensions since the laptop's monitor isn't widescreen as well.
If you TURN OFF MIRRORING and use the display as an extended desktop, then you can choose whatever resolution you want for your 19" Samsung display.
The main screen will always be what is reflected (thus mirroring) on the second monitor. If the second monitor is proportional to the main display, then it will match-- even if the second monitor is say, 1024x768 and your PowerBook is at 640x480.
But in your case, your 1024x768 will unfortunately, never match proportionally to a widescreen display and will be stretched out. (Unless, I just remembered, if you have special features on your display that allow it to have black bars on the side, like a "reverse" letterbox mode... LCD TVs have this feature, since you can double them as monitors in addition to TVs).
Vice versa would work if you set your main display as the widescreen LCD and choose your PowerBook's monitor set as the second display. You have to do this while your external monitor is connected of course.
Go to SYSTEM PREFERENCES > DISPLAYS > (choose the button for) ARRANGEMENT... and then it will tell you to drag the menubar to which monitor you want to be set as your main. The screen will light up red to let you know which one you're working with.
Message was edited by: Pismo 900:
"Vice versa" I mean in MIRROR mode. Again, extended desktop mode (non-mirrored) will stay as whatever resolution you choose your external monitor to be.

Monster iTV Link for 13-inch MacBook and 12-inch PowerBook

Does anyone knows or the Monster iTV Link for 13-inch MacBook and 12-inch PowerBook even work with the imac intel-based mini-dvi port?
hp Windows XP

I went with the crucial 512 SSD. It will push your budget just a tiny bit more as with tax and shipping it came to about $834 but oh man what a difference this makes! My MBP sprang to life with this SDD... Everything simply pops open instantly.
www.crucial.com
On transferring, I suggest the following:
Get a copy of SuperDuper
Buy an external case for your internal drive.
Install SuperDuper on your current HD (before swapping)
Perform the HD/SSD swap, so your SSD is in the MBP, your HD is now in the external case.
Plug in the external HD and power up holding down option. You should be presented with a choice of boot drives (DVD and your external). Boot off your external. Once OS is loaded, use Disk Utility to format and initialize your SSD. BECAREFUL that you initialize the SSD and NOT the external HD!!!
Now run SuperDuper, clone from the external to the internal SSD. It might take an hour or so to do this. When complete. Power down, disconnect the external and reboot. If you've done everything right your computer should come up on the SSD but basically will look exactly like your old drive.
You're good to go. Use it a few days and make sure everything is good, then you can format your external and use it for general purpose storage!
I'm not sure this will work on the 13" but these guys: www.mcetech.com make a bracket that you can remove your internal DVD and install your old HD inside. This way you have your SSD + your old HD installed at all times. You move your DVD to an external case. I did this in my MBP 15 so now I have basically a 1 TB laptop. My main drive is the SSD but for storage of stuff I don't use all the time I have the HD which is also 512gb. Pretty cool. For me I didn't use the internal DVD that much so having it in an external case was just fine.

Does any one know how to replace the hd in a 12 inch PowerBook G4?

I need to find a manual for replacing the hard drive in a 12 inch PowerBook G4. Has anyone replaced the hard drive for the 12 inch PowerBook G4.
Thanks

Allan Jones wrote:
Tom,
You and I should appliy for the "Glutons for Punishment" award. I changed PRAM batts in two Wallstreets less than a year apart.
Again, glad I have Titanium G4 books, PRAM battery almost trivial by comparison.

Final Cut Pro on a 12 inch Powerbook?

I just got my 1.5 12 inch powerbook with a super drive.
I'm having fun with imove but thinking about giving Final Cut Pro or express a try. Does the powerbook have the umph to run them well?
I been thinking about swapping out for a gig of ram also if that would help.
P.S.
I don't realy get frustrated with longer render times.

I have the same notebook and run FCP 5 adequately on the installed 512 RAM. But, like you, I am swapping the 256 stick for 1GB this weekend because I encounter the occasional dropped frame. Most of the editing I do has involved short films less than 5 minutes in length. Dropping a frame is frustrating, but does not mean I can't edit a simple movie fairly quickly. If you plan to edit home movies maybe closer to 30 minutes in length, I highly recommend buying the 1GB stick. FCP will run better, and so will most everything else on your PowerBook. The prices are slowly dropping, with an average online price of 200-pin DDR333 (PC 2700) RAM for around $160. You can of course buy it from the Apple Store for more than double that.
If you're only planning on editing the occasional home movie, FC Express might be the better solution than FCP 5. It offers less features, sure. But depending on how much you plan to edit video, you may not need everything FCP 5 offers. I've been editing video and making short films for three years, and I still don't use, let alone know, every function of FCP. You should be able to check out the programs at the Apple Store to compare the two. If not, you may be able to try them at a university campus computer lab.

Can't decide between a 12 inch and 15 inch Powerbook, comments welcome.

I have a new PowerMac G5, and am looking to add a laptop. I love the size of the 12 inch Powerbook, but see enough differences between it and the 15 inch that I am looking at both. I will only be using my laptop when I travel, on airplanes, in airport, and hotel rooms. I see myself mostly reading email, surfing the web, and possibly working on individual scenes in Final Cut Express, and Soundtrack. I would appreciate any comments, complaints, or suggestions from anyone who has experience with either laptop.
Bill

I owned a 12" PB G4 and recently switched over to the new hi-res 15" Powerbook. I was really torn about it, I love my 12" PB, it is great to carry around, surf the web, etc. I did not want to give up the small size, but finally switched. Here is my opinion:
The 15" Powerbook is the clear winner. In terms of performance the 15" Powerbook with a 7200 RPM drive and the 128 MB video RAM is clearly faster in perceived day to day use. The significant extra real estate (specially in current generation of 15") is just stunning. I have not yet sold my old 12" and when I occasionally pick up the 12" the screen looks cramped and small. And as far as size differential the only real issue is that I could easily and safely pick up the 12" with one hand and I really don't want to do that with the 15". And place the 15" on one leg I have to carefully balance it (where the 12" would just stay).
I believe the 15" when open requires just under one extra inch in space for traveling no the airlines. My experience is that I have been on flights where even the 12" would get crushed by the person in front, so I am not sure how significant this part is to you.
Finally and before you commit you should go look at the display of the 15". There are some issues with alternate lines being a little dimmer, which bothers some people and not others (mine has it, but it does not effect what I do). Make sure it works for you in case Apple does not have a fix for this.
Good luck.

Does a firewire cable come with new 17-inch Powerbooks?

Just ordered a new 17-inch Powerbook, and I plan to run the Migration Assistant when it arrives, to get the data from my old iBook to the new PB. My question is about the requisite firewire cable. Does a firewire cable ship with new PBs? Or should I go down to the Apple Store and buy one before it gets here? Thanks.

You'll need to go and buy a cable.
From the Store page:
In the box
• PowerBook G4
• Power adapter, AC wall plug and power cord
• Lithium-ion battery
• Adapters: mini-DVI to DVI and mini-DVI to VGA (12-inch); S-video to composite and DVI to VGA (15-inch and 17-inch)
• Install/restore DVDs
• Printed and electronic documentation
Tuttle
1419/8127

17-inch PowerBook G4 Display Issues

Hello Everyone!
I'm just posting to voice my concern about the issues with the vertical lines on 17-inch PowerBook G4s. I have a 1.67Ghz PBG4 17 and it was the model right before the last one, it had only a 1440x990 resolution, I want to know if this is involved in the problem or not but I do have one stuck pixel one the right side center of the screen and that has been there almost sense the day I bought it but I didn't notice for a wile and when I did it was too late to do anything about it and I hope that we can get through to apple with our problems and they will provide a replacement because I know that most of you with this problem have it a lot worse than I do.

Your PowerBook is the same generation as the one most people are complaining about, although the majority of affected users that have been reporting the problem have machines that were manufactured around the end of the first quarter of 2005 at the factory described as W8 in Shanghi. There are ways to find out if yours is one of these machines by doing some web searching. Stating site names here my go against Apple's usage policies for this discussion board ... sorry, but info is easy to find with a little searching.
I am glad to hear that you have not as yet experienced the dreaded lines or blanked-out areas. It is still a good idea to call Apple Care and get a case number if you have not already. Explain your problem and they may be able to help. Even if there is nothing they can do, your problem will be registered. This case number may come in handy if heaven forbid your machine starts developing more severe screen problems. Good luck!

Second hand 15 inch powerbook advice

Got offered a second hand 15 inch g4 powerbook, 3 months old for US$1300 from a guy i know that uses it for business and did not need it. I think its the 1.5gig model. Anyhow, is there anything i should be aware of for this model second hand?
Is the above a good price? I have a rev A imac which i will sell, horrible machine that one. Already have a 3 yo 15 in al powerbook and it has been great. Thought i would up grade and get rid of the imac as my back up machine and use the old 15 inch as a back up.
Any comments, thanks all.
regards
Joe

Some of the issues affecting the last G4 PowerBook involved the display and sound issues. I believe OS X release 10.4.5 or 10.4.6 took care of the sound issues. On the screen, you can do a search in the discussions...to get you started, you can read here and here.
The machine may be just fine, however, I wouldn't pay for it sight unseen. I'd want to run the Apple hardware test on it, maybe memtest, and be very sure the screen doesn't exhibit any of the horizontal lines cited by other owners. It would be a plus if it comes with Applecare, which is transferable to a new owner.

Installing 9.1 on a 12-inch Powerbook G4 in a Mac OS 10.4.8 environment

After reading several posts under this heading and checking several documents under the SUPPORT tab I am much wiser, but still without a solution.
What I have learned:
I can use neither my 9.1 English nor my 9.0 Japanese installer disks to boot up my Powerbook. This I already knew through several actual attempts, but I was hoping that there was somthing that I did not know. I know longer suffer from that dillusion.
So, what next?

Thank you for responding.
The CPU speed of my 12-inch PB G4 is 1 GH.
If it is of any help, you will find below a copy of the messages I receive when I click on the Classic icon in my system's preference window:
"You do not have a version of Mac OS 9 installed that supports Classic. Install Mac OS 9.1 or later (Classic Support)."
"There is no volume with a Mac OS 9 system folder for Classic to use."
Once again, the problem lies with my getting a copy of either of my two Mac OS 9 system folders onto my G4.
Perhaps I should make additional (see Other Details) mention that I am already running Classic on my G3 and have a copy of Japanese Mac OS 9.1 installed in a Mac OS 10.3.9 environment. Can I use that system folder on my PB G4 in a Mac OS 10.4.8 environment?
Finally, my reason for wanting to install Classic on my G4 is to reduce my travel luggage and run Japanese software on it that is compatible with neither Mac OS 9.2 nor Mac OS 10.x.
Your continued assistance would likely be helpful.

Fastest hard drive for the 12 inch PowerBook?

I'm upgrading my sis's powerbook, already bought 1 gig of ram to max it out, now I'm thinking of getting a new hard drive, the one currently inside is a 4200 rpm 60 gig drive, and I'm thinking thats the biggest bottleneck.
This is the 2004 version of the 12 inch, runs at 1.33 ghz, runs leopard fairly well with only 768 megs of ram, hence the reason I finally buckled down and decided that this thing needs a upgrade.
So finally to my question, what is the fastest drive possible for this computer? The options seem quite limited considering its an EIDE drive, and it needs to be 9.5mm, so from anybodies experience, can they direct me to the right drive with best performance?
Thanks so much.
Vito

Your best option may be an IDE SSD. I know these aren't the fastest SSDs out there, but I'd imagine their speed as comparable to a 7200 rpm drive. Newegg sells the 32GB SSD for around 90 bucks, which isn't a whole lot more expensive than the 5400 rpm 250GB drive. You get the benefits of a quiet drive, lower power consumption, and really fast read speed.
Try xbenching your current set up, and the following is what I'm getting:
Results 64.06
System Info
Xbench Version 1.3
System Version 10.5.6 (9G55)
Physical RAM 1280 MB
Model PowerBook6,4
Processor PowerPC G4 @ 1.33 GHz
L1 Cache 32K (instruction), 32K (data)
L2 Cache 512K @ 1.33 GHz
Bus Frequency 167 MHz
Video Card GeForce FX Go5200
Drive Type TS32GSSD25-M TS32GSSD25-M
Disk Test 64.06
Sequential 63.90
Uncached Write 59.12 36.30 MB/sec [4K blocks]
Uncached Write 74.38 42.08 MB/sec [256K blocks]
Uncached Read 40.69 11.91 MB/sec [4K blocks]
Uncached Read 130.43 65.55 MB/sec [256K blocks]
Random 64.23
Uncached Write 21.11 2.23 MB/sec [4K blocks]
Uncached Write 87.35 27.96 MB/sec [256K blocks]
Uncached Read 1674.03 11.86 MB/sec [4K blocks]
Uncached Read 350.66 65.07 MB/sec [256K blocks]

12 inch or 15 inch Powerbook?

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