Real Estate
Written: Mar 03 '04
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Pros: The screen is simply huge
Cons: The screen is simply huge
The Bottom Line: 90 Day tech support is a joke on an otherwise incredible computer. Of course, with a 17" screen, calling it a laptop is really a stretch.
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| lawman67's Full Review: Apple Powerbook 17 (m9110ll/a bundle) PC Notebook |
This is a review of the Apple PowerBook 17” G4 laptop. The laptop isn’t mine, but belongs to a colleague who permitted me to use it when I created a presentation. My personal machine is a PowerBook 12” G4 at 1GHz, with both computers running with the same 512MB of RAM and connected to one another using Bluetooth. I won’t go into much detail about the Panther operating system as I already wrote a seperate review of that product, and described it in detail in my review of the 12” PowerBook.
First off, this machine and my 12” are aimed at very different users, and I’ll state up front that as an owner of the smaller one, I’m clearly NOT the intended audience for this machine. Who is the intended audience? Well, anyone who works in graphics or other programs that require a lot of screen area. A good example of a non-graphic application would be audio mixing, with even simple programs such as Apple’s Garageband working best on large monitors. It also has a better video card (ATI Radeon 9600) than the 12”, and combined with its 1.25 GHz G4 processor, the 17” PowerBook is also aimed squarely at the game enthusiast who prefers Macintosh over PC.
Despite not being the intended audience, as I spend a lot of time on airplanes where a small computer is preferable, creating a photo-heavy PowerPoint presentation set to music, while definitely possible on my 12”, was a lot more pleasant on the big 17” PowerBook. Attached to the 17” was a WaCom tablet with pen, and a set of JBL Creature II speakers. I simply cannot imagine a nicer system for content creation, desktop or laptop.
So how did the machine feel? Well, it was actually almost indistinguishable from my small 12” for everything except the size of the display. Powerpoint is a lightweight app by G4 standards, even with the large music files and 5 megapixel photographs that being added and manipulated. Such files are no trouble on my slower, smaller PowerBook, and are no problem here. Sound quality is simply awesome, even without the external speakers, but then again, so is the sound on the small PowerBook; call it family resemblance.
What really sets apart the largest of laptops is the screen, and set apart it does. This thing is positively huge, making the 19” CRT at my office feel inadequate (the old Pentium II running NT4 doesn’t help it). Colors are natural, images are sharp and most important for a presentation/collaboration machine, the screen is easily viewed from a much wider angle than my 12” screen is. It is also brighter, sharper and clearer, which says alot as the screen on the 12” is exceptional - this one is just that much better.
Remarkably, the 17” PowerBook is almost 1/4 inch thinner than my 12”, and is actually thinner than the 15” as well. It is also very light considering all the glass you are carrying at 6.9lbs. Back in 1993 I owned a PowerBook 145B, with a 10.4” monochrome screen, and that computer ALSO weighed 6.9lbs, despite being MUCH smaller, though thicker than the 17” PowerBook. To put it into proper perspective, you won’t find many 14” laptops that weigh as little as the 17” PowerBook, unless they have an Apple logo on them.
Of course, the computer is huge in all dimensions save thickness, required to accomodate that screen. It actually looks a bit funny, as the keyboard is the exact same unit as the 12” (though beautifully backlit at night), but mounted in a MUCH larger case. The end result is a HUGE expanse of aluminum on each side of the keyboard. It makes me wonder why Apple didn’t get really innovative here, and fit a largish graphics tablet, a numeric keypad, or even a small secondary monitor in all that wasted space. Sure, it looks elegant and classy with all that aluminum, but a REAL desktop replacement like this deserves a REAL desktop equivalent keyboard. Many games use the numeric keypad, and this laptop was built with gamers in mind as at least one important target audience.
Like on the 12” PowerBook, the keyboard feels terrific and is easily the equal to the best on the market. Key action is long, secure, but with a light touch.Also just like on the smaller 12 and 15” units, all ports are located on the left side, while like the 15”, the slot loading superdrive is on the right front of the case. The 12” puts the superdrive on the right side of the computer under the keyboard, and there are ergonomic advantages to both positions. The front loader, in my opinion, is more convenient when the computer is on a desk as the big 15 adn 17” PowerBooks are likely to spend much of their time, while the side loading 12” is terrific in a crowded coach-class airplane seat, where the front of the computer may well be snug against your chest or abdomen.
Of course styling and design are not important to the uses a huge screen laptop is put to, it does matter, especially to Apple’s core customers. Apple has always put a greater emphasis on industrial design than other manufacturers, and this can be seen in all Apple laptops going back to the original PowerBook 100. Apples are sleek, stylish, and always oh-so-cool, and the 17” PowerBook is no exception. Actually Apple’s entire current laptop line really stands out from everything else on the market. As the top-of-the-Apple-Line, the 17” PowerBook looks the part.
The big question most people will ask is whether or not they need this much monitor, and the machine that goes with it. Honestly, this is a niche product that a few artist types (like my colleague who let me use his 17”er) will really benefit from, but which for most laptop users, is much like using a Hummer for their downtown commute, meaning too much tool for the job. For the average user, the 15” PowerBook is probably a better bet, with the same widescreen format as the 17”, with the same high-end video card, the same architecture and overall performance with the exception of the top processor being 1.25GHz instead of 1.33GHz that is available for the 17”. In fact, the 15”, like the 17”, can handle a full 2GB of ram making it an equally impressive graphics station in a much more portable format. Of course you can also argue that the 12” is more portable still, with almost the same performance at 1GHz and 1.25GB ram. Its all relative, and yes, size does matter, both when seated at your desk doing content creation, and when stuffing your laptop into a bag and running across a busy airport.
In conclusion, the 17” PowerBook is, much like the Corvette for Chevrolet, a terrific image machine. The commercial with Yao Ming with his 12” PowerBook and Mini-Me with the 17” shows it best, while in truth most users fall somewhere in between. Still, by offering small, medium and large versions of the aluminum PowerBook, Apple has almost every Mac-toting laptop user covered. I would imagine there exists a group who would go smaller than even the current 12”, trading 2lbs for a thinner machine of the same size without an optical drive (sign me up), while at the other extreme there are most likely those who would like their 20” flatpanel iMac in a to-go bag. As it is today, this is as big as they come, and mighty impressive it is.
Recommended:
Yes
Amount Paid (US$): Not Mine
Operating System: Macintosh
Processor: PowerPC G4
Processor speed: over 1000
Screen Size: Greater than 15 inches
RAM: More than 256
Internal Storage: SuperDisk
Hard Drive (GB): Over 50
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Epinions.com ID:
lawman67
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 in Computer Hardware |
 - Top 200 |
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Member: Andrew F
Location: Los Angeles, CA
Reviews written: 209
Trusted by: 63 members
About Me:
Her Majesty's a pretty nice girl but she doesn't have a lot to say.
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