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Asher
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Calgary, Alberta
Nov 1999
time: 22:31
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IBM is showing off a new feature in the ThinkPad T41 and R50s: http://www.anandtech.com/mobile/showdoc.html?i=1893
They come with an accelerometer chip which determines both the orientation of the laptop and how fast it is accelerating. This is used to protect data integrity: when the laptop detects it is falling, it will park the hard drive heads to prevent data loss. Coupled with the integrated hard drive shock absorbers introduced in the T40, that looks to be one mean durable laptop. 
And Apple's new 15" PowerBook looks decidedly bad, judging by the reviews I've been reading. It's available now.
This review is very good: http://arstechnica.com/archive/news/1065585440.html
Here's a rundown:
He ran into problems the second he took it out of the box. The latch to close the lid would not work, it would simply pop back open. Apparently this is a common problem with the laptop. Apple refuses to fix this for free, and charges either a $300 US restocking fee to get a new one, or another fee to repair it.
When the lid is closed and latched, there's a gap between the lid and the base. The PowerBook "rattles" when carried, and it feels like it "squishes" when you pick it up. The lids also seem to be cupped upwards.
Came with a nasty red pixel that was dead, easily noticable in movie playback.
The Hard Drive is a slow 4,200rpm drive.
Apple claims 4.5 hours of battery life, real world is more like 2 to 2.5 (compare to 7 hours on the T40...)
The keyboard is not removable (replacable, upgradable)
The keyboard is small and cramped (the exact same keyboard used in the 12" model)
AirPort reception isn't as good as the iBooks
Now granted he thinks it's decent and usable and capable, but he also says it's his first laptop.
Who would buy a laptop that's slow, badly built, and overpriced? 
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Asher
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Calgary, Alberta
Nov 1999
time: 22:31
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Besides, there are other sources to back up those points:
http://discussions.info.apple.com/W...hQ8.4@.5999d589
http://forums.appleinsider.com/show...&threadid=31187
http://forums.appleinsider.com/show...&threadid=30942
http://www.macintouch.com/pbg4reader24.html
http://forums.macnn.com/showthread....threadid=179206
http://forums.macnn.com/showthread....threadid=179990
quote:
After having my powerbook for 5 days I would post my thoughts about it.
Let me start off by saying this is my first mac, and I have been waiting to get this thing since Jan 03. Well it arrived last Friday and I must say I skipped class all day to play with my new too. I ran the dead pixel program to check if anything was dead, and there was nothing. Well when Monday rolled around I was in the library typing in office and I noticed 3 large white spots around the center of the monitor. THEY ARE CLEARLY SEEN at all times when the laptop is on.
Flaw #2 Another flaw started happening also, I would get these quite ticking sounds coming from the hard drive when I am not doing anything that would require me to write to the hd. It would click for 5 seconds, stop, and repeat for a while. Now this happens every once in awhile.
Flaw #3 The battery life is horrible! I have probably collaborated my battery like 8 times since I have had it, and the life will not get past 1 hour and 45 minutes running 10.2.7 with max battery life. I think this is ridiculous knowing the fact that others have reported almost double that with their powerbooks. My basic usage was airport, aim, and word; when I was getting under 2 hours of battery life. I had the brightness set to 1/3 with battery life set at max battery life.
As of yesterday my roommate installed the latest version of 10.3 on this 15” ti 1gig hz and he was averaging 4.5 hours with heavy usage, this is no joke there is a thread somewhere on this forum about this. (Heavy usage as in airport, msn, movies, and safari)
Well I figured today I would give it a try, since he seen an increase of well over 50-80% in battery life on his ti pb.
After installing it this morning and running it most of the day it ran quite smooth. I decided to see how the battery life would add up when I go to the library.
Here is a little over view of what I was doing and exactly what the read outs where.
This was with the battery life set at automatic.
6:00 pm(100%. 2:20): Brightness: 1/3, Airport: ON, Programs used: Mail, Aol IM, and Safari.
7:00 pm(50%. 1:19): Brightness: 1/3, Airport: ON, Programs used: Aol IM, I-tunes and Safari(for like 10 minutes.
7:30 pm(31%. 0:43): Brightness: 1/3, Airport: ON, Programs used: Aol IM, I-tunes and word.
7:50 pm(19%): Sleep Mode
8:10 pm(15%): Out of Sleep Mode
823 pm(3%): Brightness: 1/3, Airport: ON, Programs used: Word
That was about 2 hours of usage with Panther installed, which is a little more then what I got out of 10.2.7.
I have seen a number of read outs from the latest 17 inch and 12 inch powerbooks, they seem to get a lot more battery life then the 15s.
Tomorrow I plan on calling apple and demanding that I receive a new powerbook instead of having this one repaired taking the fact that there are 3 major problems with my powerbook. I’m a college student and the last thing I need to be worrying about is some piece of **** product shipped out by apple. I personally felt they could have done 100x better then this. Don’t even get me started on the battery life of my Bluetooth mouse, which is well under a week. I will fight it tomorrow, and I mean fight it. I will sit on the phone calling all day until they replace this powerbook.
There is my little spiel about what I thought was going to be a solid product from apple. |
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laurentius
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Helsinki, Finland
Jun 2001
time: 07:31
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Yeah, I mean I like him too, but these threads start to annoy me a little...
Ah god, I got to take my pain killers...NOW! Got 2!! Wisdom teeth pulled, actually one was surgically removed today. Hurts alot...
Last edited by laurentius on 08-10-2003 at 16:30
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mrmitchell
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I've said it before.
Geeks that get hardons thinking about their new EXTREME processor.
However, usually Asher does beat the Apple side of the argument. If he didn't lump in bad sarcasm, cheap insults, and etc. failures, he'd probably be a lot more convincing.
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Zopperoni
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What wrong with it, Jrabbit?
The thought of buying one crossed my mind.
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08-10-2003 10:38
If you say so
mac users.
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