12" PowerBook G4

[MultiFinder]

I just got myself a 12" PowerBook G4! It's part of my plan to redo my computer setup here; right now I have a dual 500 G4 tower as my main desktop, and a MacBook as my main laptop and power machine. Since I really don't need a powerful computer when out and about, but I do need one at home, plus I'm kinda obsessive about small laptops, I decided to sell the MacBook, and get a 12" PowerBook and new desktop. This is the first part of that plan

It's the last revision, a 1.5GHz with 768 megs of RAM, and an 80 gig HDD. I wanted the 1.5GHz because it's the last revision, so all of the hardware bugs had been ironed out by that point, plus the scrolling trackpad, plus just being plenty speedy. I got it for $500 from a guy locally through Craigslist. It's in *really* nice shape; has two little dings in the lid, but those are just cosmetic. The battery in it is *epic* though; I ran it using it like I normally do for about five hours last night before I got too tired and had to go to sleep, and it still had about 20% left

It's now happily running Leopard (runs it like a champ!), and is an awesome replacement for the MacBook; it's smaller, lighter, and seems to run longer on its battery. Plus, this is the laptop that I've been lusting after gently since I first saw one just after getting back into Apple

Oh, here's the obligatory screenie:

http://i44.tinypic.com/34eerma.png

So anyway, that's my story of conquest

 

[Bunsen]

In before obligatory "I hate you"s

 

[Christopher]

Not bad. Although I would prefer a 17" PowerBook because you get a *slightly* faster processor.

 

[joshc]

... I decided to sell the MacBook, and get a 12" PowerBook and new desktop.

Ehh? Are you sure you're feeling alright? G4 performance absolutely sucks balls compared to the Intel Macs.

 

[Cory5412]

A trend I've been noticing in the past year is that performance isn't everything to everyone -- and what I think MultiFinder17 may be experiencing is that he's willing to accept the performance trade-off for a G4 system, in order to get a Mac OS X machine that does what he needs/wants, in a small 12-inch 4:3 form factor.

As for the 17-inch powerbook being slightly faster -- it's also slightly more GARGANTUAN. I've got a 15-inch widescreen ThinkPad, and I would be utterly terrified to think of how much more gargantuan a 17-inch laptop must be, especially given that I think of this thing as a whale.

Anyway, congrats on the nice find MultiFinder17 -- I'm glad the 12-incher is working out for you

 

[MacMan]

The 12" PowerBook are very attractive notebooks mainly because of their size. You can also get a good second hand one these days for about the same price as a new Asus eeePC but performance wise there's no contest! I remember the first time I saw a 12" PowerBook I actually thought it was a sub-notebook or "netbook".

 

[MultiFinder]

Not bad. Although I would prefer a 17" PowerBook because you get a *slightly* faster processor.

... I decided to sell the MacBook, and get a 12" PowerBook and new desktop.

Ehh? Are you sure you're feeling alright? G4 performance absolutely sucks balls compared to the Intel Macs.

A trend I've been noticing in the past year is that performance isn't everything to everyone -- and what I think MultiFinder17 may be experiencing is that he's willing to accept the performance trade-off for a G4 system, in order to get a Mac OS X machine that does what he needs/wants, in a small 12-inch 4:3 form factor.
As for the 17-inch powerbook being slightly faster -- it's also slightly more GARGANTUAN. I've got a 15-inch widescreen ThinkPad, and I would be utterly terrified to think of how much more gargantuan a 17-inch laptop must be, especially given that I think of this thing as a whale.

Anyway, congrats on the nice find MultiFinder17 -- I'm glad the 12-incher is working out for you

That would be it. I just really don't need that much power while I'm out and about. I have four criteria for my ideal laptop:

1. It has very good battery life. I don't like carrying the power cord.

2. It runs Mac OS X, because I'm used to it, all my apps that I use are for it, and its feature set allows me to be more productive than in other systems.

3. It's affordable.

4. It's as small as possible.

This bugger fulfills 1 better than the MacBook, they're on par with 2, when I sell the MacBook I may actually wind up making a little bit, so it trounces on 3, and it also wins by a good margin on 4. I could really care less how thick the thing is; the footprint and amount of room it takes up on a desk is what really matters to me. I actually kinda like a bit of thickness to my notebook (not that I would want this little baby any thicker)

 

[heebiejeebies]

I hope the logic board doesn't go kaboom like they usually do on those things. May the force be with you.