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TechRevu |
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 Apple G4
Powerbook 12" Dan Spisak 6/25/03 Model: Apple PowerBook G4 12" Product Website / Spec/PR / Availability: Website/Retailers/Amazon MSRP: $1799 (SuperDrive included) Apple’s introduction of its 12 inch PowerBook G4 gave Mac users and potential Switchers alike reason to rejoice; a truly ultra-portable full featured Mac at a great price point. There were some tradeoffs that designers at Apple had to make when creating the 12” PowerBook, resulting in a mix of features between the iBook family and the pre-existing PowerBooks. The biggest downside to the 12” PowerBook is its lack of a PCMCIA slot, which has been a traditional staple of previous PowerBooks. DVI output to an external LCD monitor also fell on the chopping block due to real estate limitations on the left side port cluster. While the 12” PowerBook does have a 867Mhz G4 PowerPC processor with AltiVec inside it, it has no Level 3 cache for the CPU putting its performance ahead of iBooks but behind the 15” and 17” G4 PowerBooks. The only other shortcoming of this great laptop is when it is plugged into an AC outlet and recharging the left side palm rest can get a bit hot to the touch sometimes. Notable additions to the 12” PowerBook include an analog audio input, improved keyboard feel, better speakers, built-in Bluetooth, larger hard drives, support for Airport Extreme 802.11g wireless networking and a slot loading optical combo DVD reader and CD burner or slot loading DVD and CD burner. This writer has found the keyboard to have a good tactile feel and easy to touch type with along with easier to read keys now over previous PowerBook models. The display of the laptop is quite readable and very bright for an office environment; but don’t expect the display to view well in direct bright sunlight. While lacking DVI output the 12” PowerBook does have the ability to output VGA video via the Apple Display Connector and can mirror or span dual displays this way thanks to its NVIDIA Geforce4 420 Go graphics chip and 32MB of DDR SDRAM. There is also composite video and S-Video output supported by a different ADC that comes with the system. Apple’s slot-loading SuperDrive option for the minute PowerBook only burns DVD-R discs at 1X speed and does not support DVD-RW writing. All of this is housed in a sleek compact aluminum case weighing in at 4.6 pounds making this PowerBook easy to carry around. With the 12” PowerBook Apple has managed to carry over the great power management features and long battery life that people have come to know from the PowerBook line. Getting 5 hours of battery life from this system is common provided you use the automatic power management built-in to OS X. The PowerBook is very solidly built, especially the hinge the LCD is attached to which is a weak point on other laptops sometimes after extended use. Of particular note is one unexpected torture test this reviewers notebook went through one night while working; during a plumbing emergency in our test lab a running floodlight was knocked over and crashed straight into the PowerBook breaking the bulb all over the top of the laptops screen and arcing the live electrical elements of the floodlight across the aluminum casing. Amazingly enough the laptop was running when all of this happened and didn’t crash or hiccup at all, the only memory of this incident is two carbon scorch marks on the case. Naturally we do not recommend you try this yourself, but it is worth noting just how durable this laptop has proven to be over the last 3 months. With its suggested price of $1,799 for the entry model 12” and $1,999 for one with the DVD burning SuperDrive option coupled with the excellent OS X operating system in addition to its great portability, versatility, and durability make this laptop the one to get. |
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