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Well there's G4 and G4: the PBs have still got much better specs than the iBooks, which are nonetheless a great bargain...

― chandler apple, Saturday, 25 October 2003 20:19 (twenty-two years ago)

I'm going to install Panther pretty soon. Ed, what's your opinion on clean installing vs. archive & install?

― s1utsky (slutsky), Saturday, 25 October 2003 20:34 (twenty-two years ago)

I'd be interested to hear more reactions from people who've installed Panther.

― Sean (Sean), Saturday, 25 October 2003 20:40 (twenty-two years ago)

archive and install is preferable, but time consuming as you will have to copy back stuff from the archive. It clears about a lot of junk from the old os so on the one hand you might have to reinstall a few things but on the other a load of things that you maybe don't use any more or have uninstalled get cleared out. Preferences and settings will get carried over and most applications will continue to work a very few (Norton system works for example) will need a reinstall.

Clean install is best of all as it will wipe your disk and you can put back everything onto a clean system, but no one has that much time.

Upgrade will work just fine but you miss a great opportunity to give the system a spring clean.

― Ed (dali), Saturday, 25 October 2003 21:09 (twenty-two years ago)

yeah, thing is my system is only a couple of weeks old, so I wonder if it matters so much... as for archive/install, do you have to copy back the stuff manually, or is it all automatic?

I don't really mind re-installing my 3rd party apps, it's just holding onto data in my user folder (music, docs--not much else) that I care about.

― s1utsky (slutsky), Saturday, 25 October 2003 22:30 (twenty-two years ago)

I'd be interested to hear more reactions from people who've installed Panther.

Been running it on several different machines and started in on installing it on machines at work.

― Elvis Telecom (Chris Barrus), Sunday, 26 October 2003 02:32 (twenty-two years ago)

archive and install will hold onto all data in the right place apart from the system folder which it will copy and place in a new folder (system (old)) or some such. That's what I'm going to choose anyway.

― Ed (dali), Sunday, 26 October 2003 08:11 (twenty-two years ago)

one year passes...

I'm thinking of buying a powerbook G4 with a 15" screen. I've never had a mac before. Are they about to update to G5's? Have they already? Please tell me before I make some kind of big fuckup.

― Product of Australia / Kate (papa november), Tuesday, 12 July 2005 09:39 (twenty years ago)

Sometime later next year they will be replaced with Intel based powerbooks, although refreshes will happen before then. there is no real reason not to buy one if you want/need a mac. PPC based macs will be supported for ages to come.

― Ed (dali), Tuesday, 12 July 2005 09:43 (twenty years ago)

It is very likely that there will never be a G5 powerbook.
It is very likely that there will only be minor upgrades to the powerbook line until the intel macs go on market.
I've got a G4 powerbook and I love it. It's not the fastest or lightest laptop on the market, but it is beautifully designed.

x-post

― Greig (treefell), Tuesday, 12 July 2005 09:45 (twenty years ago)

The weight doesn't really bother me. I'm needing to edit and retouch fairly cumbersome image files and be able to upload my photos on location. Do you guys think this is the machine for me based on that criteria?

― Product of Australia / Kate (papa november), Tuesday, 12 July 2005 09:48 (twenty years ago)

With lots of ram and the beefed up graphics card it should be fine.

― Ed (dali), Tuesday, 12 July 2005 09:55 (twenty years ago)

Cool, I'll keep that in mind Ed. Thankyou.

― Product of Australia / Kate (papa november), Tuesday, 12 July 2005 09:57 (twenty years ago)

You can't upgrade the graphics card on powerbooks. Anyway, graphics card means nothing for Photoshop performance. That is all done on CPU. (RAM is key though.) My 1 revision back 12" has no problem driving a second display, giving me a huge honking desktop.

― no tech! (ex machina), Tuesday, 12 July 2005 12:32 (twenty years ago)

15" powerbook has the option of more graphics RAM, which is particularly important under tiger or it would be if they ever turned on quartz 2d extreme.

― Ed (dali), Tuesday, 12 July 2005 12:33 (twenty years ago)

Ahhhh! I thought 2d Quartz Extreme (aka hardware accelerated stuff) was turned on all the latest pbooks? I don't think photoshop uses this for rendering images, etc (doing so internally to its own data structures) -- just used by the OS for GUI / window compositing.

― no tech! (ex machina), Tuesday, 12 July 2005 12:43 (twenty years ago)

But it stores GUI graphics in the graphics card memory, even hidden stuff, with effectively a SWAP file on main memory, so more RAM should equal better performance.

― Ed (dali), Tuesday, 12 July 2005 12:46 (twenty years ago)

I see your point; I would suppose that more system RAM would be the biggest performance gain. I think that 2D windowing performance would only start to be affected when you were mapping enough window surfaces to approach the limit of your video memory. I wonder when that occurs.....

― no tech! (ex machina), Tuesday, 12 July 2005 13:00 (twenty years ago)

Video will also be handled in the same way but with frames cached in advance and I could see that filling VRAM up pretty quick.

― Ed (dali), Tuesday, 12 July 2005 13:06 (twenty years ago)

Hmmmm, I don't know about that.

― no tech! (ex machina), Tuesday, 12 July 2005 13:07 (twenty years ago)

Uncompressed NTSC SD video runs at 17.9 MB/s (143.1 Mbps) without any alpha channel information. Which is what it has to be when it gets to the card, I guess.

― Ed (dali), Tuesday, 12 July 2005 13:17 (twenty years ago)

I think my next computer will probably be either a shuttle or a fujitsu lifebook.

― TOMBOT, Tuesday, 12 July 2005 13:29 (twenty years ago)

The baby fujitsu is a fantasic machine.

― Ed (dali), Tuesday, 12 July 2005 13:35 (twenty years ago)

Kate, I have a fairly new 15" PB. It is my favorite thing ever.

― I'd still rather be in Tokyo (nordicskilla), Tuesday, 12 July 2005 14:19 (twenty years ago)

Cool, I'm pretty sure I'm going to get one, I just want to make sure it's configured to work how I want it to as I really only get one stab at this.

― Product of Australia / Kate (papa november), Tuesday, 12 July 2005 20:06 (twenty years ago)

fujitsu lifebooks own. i love mine.

― mark p (Mark P), Tuesday, 12 July 2005 20:08 (twenty years ago)

The 1.67 15" PB looks great, but at $2100+ doesn't seem like a good deal for what you're getting (and you have to get the 1.67 to upgrade the VRAM/card). iBooks seem like an even crappier deal.

― milozauckerman (miloaukerman), Tuesday, 12 July 2005 20:34 (twenty years ago)

Get this, here in Australia it'll cost me $3299.

― Product of Australia / Kate (papa november), Tuesday, 12 July 2005 20:48 (twenty years ago)

yikes

― milozauckerman (miloaukerman), Tuesday, 12 July 2005 20:57 (twenty years ago)

Are they about to update to G5's?

An imminent G5 (or otherwise-named next-gen) PowerBook has been rumored since January 2004. Sooner or later, the rumors will be true. But I'm not going to hold my breath.

As far as the value goes, the OS is a nice perk that you can only get with an Apple laptop. As is nigh-invulnerability to malware of all kinds, for which I'd happily pay a one-time fee of, say, a few hundred bucks.

Beyond that, the 1.67gHz pbooks actually stack up pretty well against similarly configured "stylish" PC laptops (e.g., Sony VAIO with Bluetooth/wifi/80GB HD, DVD-RW). They're just less customizable and there are fewer "budget" options.

― rogermexico (rogermexico), Tuesday, 12 July 2005 21:15 (twenty years ago)

A Fujitsu 15" P4M 1.7, 60GB, DVD-RW, 512MB RAM is only $1499.99, about $600 less than a comparable PB. I love OS X, but I'm not sure it's worth $600.

― milozauckerman (miloaukerman), Tuesday, 12 July 2005 22:05 (twenty years ago)

that should read " a comparable PB under the student program." Retail, it's more like $800.

― milozauckerman (miloaukerman), Tuesday, 12 July 2005 22:05 (twenty years ago)

If that's the Fujitsu I think it is, isn't it more of a desktop-replacement form factor (approx. 8 lb vs 5.6 for the pbook)?

A thin'n'light would be more apples-to-apples, and the lowest I can get in comparably configured would be about $1700, saving a pound or so on a pbook but giving up a diagonal inch of screen.

Anyhoo, I freely acknowledge that you can get a PC box for less. Just not so much less, all things considered.

Of course, OS X for Intel is already rumored to have leaked into the wild, which could make this whole conversation moot (no matter how staunchly Apple insists that OS X will not be licensed for use outside of Apple machines...)

― rogermexico (rogermexico), Tuesday, 12 July 2005 22:35 (twenty years ago)

There will never be a G5 Powerbook.

― no tech! (ex machina), Tuesday, 12 July 2005 22:53 (twenty years ago)

am i right in assuming that a 12" 1.5 ghz w/ 1 gig RAM is going to be much faster than a 15" 1.67 ghz w/ 512 RAM?

i'm not going to be doing any real graphics work but i'll be doing lots of matlab/mathematica and lots of desktop publishing.

― vahid (vahid), Tuesday, 12 July 2005 23:22 (twenty years ago)

In choosing between the two, I would NOT base your decision on speed. RAM is cheap.

― rogermexico (rogermexico), Tuesday, 12 July 2005 23:24 (twenty years ago)

yeah, make sure you buy RAM aftermarket from Crucial or Other World Computing (macsales.com) or one of those. You'll save 50%+ vs. Apple's cost.

― milozauckerman (miloaukerman), Tuesday, 12 July 2005 23:31 (twenty years ago)

in choosing between the two, I would NOT base your decision on speed. RAM is cheap.
-- rogermexico (tenthreaso...), July 13th, 2005 5:24 PM. (rogermexico)

so, um, what's better criteria?

― vahid (vahid), Tuesday, 12 July 2005 23:33 (twenty years ago)

Um... weight, cost, upgradeable VRAM, awesome portability vs. awesome display...

Comparing "1.5gHz w/1GB vs. 1.67 gHz w/512MB" makes not so much sense, as the 1.67 is just as easily upgradeable. If you get the machine from Apple and opt for the 1-stick upgrade to 1GB it's actually kinda reasonably priced. Otherwise, Crucial/Other World is definitely the way to go.

The point is, it's a cheap, easy upgrade that you can do any time. So it makes sense to go for the machine with greater expandability (15"). And for desktop publishing you'll appreciate the screen (and potentially the VRAM upgrade as well (ONLY available if you order from Apple).

― rogermexico (rogermexico), Wednesday, 13 July 2005 03:46 (twenty years ago)

QUICK BUY A COMPUTER NOW YOU ARE MISSING OUT ON THE FUN

― I'd still rather be in Tokyo (nordicskilla), Wednesday, 13 July 2005 03:48 (twenty years ago)

I'm typing this on a 400 mHz powerbook with 384 megs of RAM, running Tiger. Everything about it is fine, except that my screen is dying again, and this time i think it's terminal. I am going to the store today to buy a refurbed Powerbook. Any word on screens these days, do they still die the way they used to? I seriously could use this machine for another couple of years without upgrading any of my apps and be totally fine, but I need a screen. (yes, I've considered just buying a used CRT for $20 but I need my computer to be truly portable)

― Tracer Hand (tracerhand), Wednesday, 13 July 2005 11:42 (twenty years ago)

it just seems like such an inordinate waste, to turn this ridiculously sophisticated machine into a 9G external hard drive. i wish there were some way to salvage its functionality, do something good with it. i'm trying to think of something useful and drawing a blank.

― Tracer Hand (tracerhand), Wednesday, 13 July 2005 12:38 (twenty years ago)

headless server?

― Ed (dali), Wednesday, 13 July 2005 12:40 (twenty years ago)

As is nigh-invulnerability to malware of all kinds, for which I'd happily pay a one-time fee of, say, a few hundred bucks.

Haha purple money!!! Thank god only you think like that or I'd be just another drum machine busker.

― TOMBOT, Wednesday, 13 July 2005 12:55 (twenty years ago)

i'm trying to think of something useful and drawing a blank

OS X VNC could give you a little more time to figure out the answer, I would think.

http://www.redstonesoftware.com/vnc.html

― TOMBOT, Wednesday, 13 July 2005 13:00 (twenty years ago)

It sounds like it might make a good desktop for someone.

― Jon, remind me again why you haven't drowned in your own vomit (ex machina), Wednesday, 13 July 2005 14:14 (twenty years ago)

Okay I'm at Tekserve now, and I'm a little stunned by the amount of money I'm about to drop. My last one lasted 5 years, though. I imagine they've figured out their screens better now, so this one ought to last at least as long? GAAAAH.

Tom that's interesting, but I would still need a... screen.

Ed, ditto, but what the hell am I serving. Oh yeah, nothing.

There's a 1.33 GHz powerbook here for $200 less than the 1.5, except it has a Spanish keyboard!! I seriously think I might get it. Are there any other major diffs between them? I can't really tell and the staff here is a little overwhelmed.

― Tracer Hand (tracerhand), Wednesday, 13 July 2005 16:51 (twenty years ago)

Check the apple store site for refurbs, there's been quite a few recently.

No real diff between the 1.33 and the 1.5, other than the bleeding obvious.

― Ed (dali), Wednesday, 13 July 2005 16:56 (twenty years ago)

it looks as though for the same price I can get a refurbed 1.5 from the Apple Store. 1.3, 1.5 - eh. My screen is dead as a doornail now (it doesn't even light up any more)... I guess I could drop $20 on a CRT to last me 10 business days. But I am well and truly in full-on get-it-now mode.

― Tracer Hand (tracerhand), Wednesday, 13 July 2005 17:07 (twenty years ago)

Ed where is yr magic touch when my screen needs it??

― Tracer Hand (tracerhand), Wednesday, 13 July 2005 17:20 (twenty years ago)

Skipping 117 messages at this point... Click here if you want to load them all.

2016 means could be flexgate related https://www.macrumors.com/guide/flexgate-macbook-pro-display-issue/

― 龜, Tuesday, 14 May 2024 13:30 (two years ago)

Thanks. It doesn't really look like the flexgate pictures I have seen, but the display top of the laptop is also way looser than when new so maybe related.

― il lavoro mi rovina la giornata (PBKR), Tuesday, 14 May 2024 15:00 (two years ago)

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