Simply Awesome
Written: Nov 19 '00 (Updated Nov 20 '00)
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Product Rating:
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Pros: Quick, reliable, great screen, great industrial design
Cons: Short battery life, heavy
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| kenshin27's Full Review: Apple PowerBook G3 (M7308LL/A) Mac Notebook |
This review is actually for the Powerbook G3 Wallstreet series which came out in 1998. It's specs is as follows:
PowerPC G3 300Mhz Processor
192MB RAM
4GB HD (upgraded to a 9GB later)
14.1" active matrix screen w/4MB VRAM
DVD
The Wallstreet model pretty much has the same form factor as the later Lombard/Pismo models except it's slightly thicker, heavier, is 100Mhz slower, and has a SCSI port instead of USB/Firewire. Anyway, on to the review!
Well, as you could probably tell from my review title, I love this machine. Best $4k+ I've ever spent (on a computer at least). I had originally purchased it as a desktop replacement for my venerable PowerMac 8500/120 which had served me faithfully for 4 years and is still around actually. But I was in awe of this Powerbook. It was, and still is IMHO, the best-looking laptop out there. Sure, Dell and Compaq are letting people swap colored panels on their new consumer laptops but nothing has the curves like this baby.
Despite its 8lbs weight (battery, AC adapter, DVD drive) I dragged this Powerbook everywhere, even halfway across the world. The later models are ~5lbs so it's good to know that Apple was able to lighten the load. The machine is solidly constructed and has taken tons of abuse on the road. The keyboard has just the right amount of flex to it and the arrow keys, while half-size, at least don't get in the way of the right SHIFT key like on some other notebooks. The speakers are located on either side above the keyboard and sounds decent enough for being notebook speakers. It also has separate buttons for mute, volume, and brightness.
The one accessory that I've grown to appreciate is the ac adapter for this model. It's nice and small and thin unlike the bricks that you find with most PC laptops and even the big retractable disc for the Lombard/Pismos. I don't understand why companies can't come out with a smaller, lighter ac adapter.
The expansion bays were one of the coolest features about this Powerbook back in 98. Hot-swappable by yanking the levers located on either side near the front of the machine. Incredibly convenient and impressive at the time. An extra battery is recommended with this model however since I usually get a little less than 2 hours of time with a full charge and getting through a DVD requires a battery swap. The newer models have a longer battery life though so that's no longer an annoyance.
The 14.1" screen is bright and clear even after 2 years and I've yet to find a dead pixel on my screen. The 4MB VRAM was just enough for me to entertain myself with Unreal Tournament, Starcraft, and the like but I'm sure they probably work a lot better with the new 8MB VRAM models. There's built-in modem and network ports (56k and Base-10 respectively, 10/100 on the Lombard/Pismos) which is very convenient and frees up PC card space for my DVD card and CompactFlash adapter.
The one bit of advice I'd like to give to any prospective laptop owner is to seriously consider shelling out extra for the extended warranty coverage when you buy the machine. Apple only provides a standard one-year contract but you can buy an extra 3 years I believe with it. And believe me, it might seem like a waste of money now, but in the long run it's well worth it as I found out the hard way. I've had to replace my ac adapter twice, the power management board once, and get new rods that help keep the screen upright to replace the ones that snapped. And of course, all this happened _after_ my warranty expired. =p And laptop parts aren't exactly the cheapest in the world. Sometimes I think manufacturers know exactly how long their products will last before all hell breaks loose and plan their standard warranties accordingly.
But overall, I've really enjoyed owning this Powerbook. It's no longer the best and fastest but it does what I want it to do and it looks great doing it. What more could you ask for? ;-)
Recommended:
Yes
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Epinions.com ID:
kenshin27
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Member: Ben C
Location: NJ
Reviews written: 34
Trusted by: 17 members
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