New powerbook -- Airport, display questions

photoeditor

I am weighing the purchase of a new laptop. As my ideal machine does not yet exist (13.3 widescreen WXGA, SuperDrive, 7448 or Pentium-M processor, infinite battery life), it comes down to a choice between an iBook with a 100GB hard drive, or a new current version or refurb previous version Powerbook.



These big questions concern me.



1) DOES ANYONE know if the Airport bugs plaguing current version iBooks and Powerbooks with over 1GB RAM appear to be hardware, firmware, or software related? (This is where the computer ties up Airport, although not Ethernet, with massive CPU usage the moment it actually uses more than 1GB of RAM. See MacFixIt for many more details)



2) How are you all doing with the new 115dpi 15 inch display as opposed to the 100dpi that has been Apple's recent standard? Text too small, or OK? Text too blurry, or sharp enough? (I got the feeling text rendered more sharply on the new 17 than the 15)



3) -- 15 inch users only -- How does the new 15 inch display compare to the old one for viewing comfort, evenness, brightness etc.

bwhaler

Quote:

Originally posted by photoeditor

I am weighing the purchase of a new laptop. As my ideal machine does not yet exist (13.3 widescreen WXGA, SuperDrive, 7448 or Pentium-M processor, infinite battery life), it comes down to a choice between an iBook with a 100GB hard drive, or a new current version or refurb previous version Powerbook.



These big questions concern me.



1) DOES ANYONE know if the Airport bugs plaguing current version iBooks and Powerbooks with over 1GB RAM appear to be hardware, firmware, or software related? (This is where the computer ties up Airport, although not Ethernet, with massive CPU usage the moment it actually uses more than 1GB of RAM. See MacFixIt for many more details)



2) How are you all doing with the new 115dpi 15 inch display as opposed to the 100dpi that has been Apple's recent standard? Text too small, or OK? Text too blurry, or sharp enough? (I got the feeling text rendered more sharply on the new 17 than the 15)



3) -- 15 inch users only -- How does the new 15 inch display compare to the old one for viewing comfort, evenness, brightness etc.

I have the new 17" but have had problems, so I did a ton of research.



1. On some new PB 17"--like mine--the airport problem appears to be an issue. I get intermittent internet access when my other Mac sitting right next to the new one can connect to internet with no problems



2. I think the resolution and dpi is perfect. Crisp, not blurry, not too small. OS X looks sharm.



I was one of those folks who hoped for better resolution, HD-type specs. I now know Apple was correct in what they did. Any smaller and it would unusable. Looking at my older Powerbook, the older one looks dated. The news screens are perfect in my opinion.



I am sure a lot of people have had no problems, but unfortunately I did. I am on the phone right now with AppleCare to return my Mac and get a new one. Hopefully the new one will have the screen fixed, and 10.4.3 will fix the internet problem.

flinch13

Just got the 15", and I haven't had any problems with airport or text. The text is clear and readable.

iomatic

My 15" is flawless. I love it. It's also on an iCurve, and that works well, as well.



All this real estate!!!

photoeditor

You shouldn't have any airport problems so long as you are at 1GB or less of RAM. I've been over on the Apple discussion boards and it really does look like some kind of software issue with Tiger on the July iBooks and October Powerbooks; namely, if the built-in Airport card is running and memory usage goes over 1GB precisely, a kernel panic starts in -- but the problem does not occur on Ethernet or with a third-party WiFi card in the Cardbus port. The scary thing is that it is three months since those iBooks have been out and still no fix. Hopefully 10.4.3 will do something.

photoeditor

Encouraging to hear about positive experiences with the display. Keep the comments rolling on the display. If 10.4.3 shows up in the next few days, also feel free to post back about Airport with 1.5GB or 2GB of RAM on the new 15 and 17 inch machines.

iomatic

Dunno about that. Had the wake-Airport/not-working/freezing-menu-bar/beach-ball thing with 512MB stock RAM with the 1.67DL 15".



Reinstalled OS/some apps. worked.

visualforces

Mark me down for a negative comment on the display. I'm one of the many that have mentioned seeing horizontal lines on every other row of pixels on my new 15" PB. This wasn't an issue on the PB model before this or even the new iBooks, but it makes working with photos, graphics, and video rather inaccurate. If you're just browsing the web and emailing it's not a big deal...but if you make a living with these, then I'd hang off for a while until they get this seemingly widespread problem cleared up.



I'm sending mine in to Apple Care to see if they can get it corrected...hate doing that after having it for only 3 days.



Here's a pic of the screen...you can see the lines on the default, blue background. It's very noticeable on midtones.

iomatic

Wow. Mine is like that, but definitely not as noticeable. I really have to get about 6?8 inches close to see it; I'm using an iCurve, so I'm looking from about 1ft.+ away.



Some designer I am. \

james_caddy

I have the 'line' problem too. Other than that I'm really impressed with the new machine. Im unsure whether to live with it or go through some major hassles trying to get it sorted. It would be intresting to find out how wide-spread this 'line' feature is....

mrscribble

For what it's worth, there are no visible horizontal lines on my new 15" - not even when you get really close. I'm v happy - seems very bright compared to my old 12" iBook. Guess the issue doesn't affect all new PBs.



I did have the airport problem though, which has fortunately been cured by yesterday's airport update.

visualforces

Good to hear, mrscribble. Mine is under "repair" right now at Apple Care, so we'll see if they can fix it. If so, I'll be very pleased with this new PB as the speed and everything else seemed to be great.

towel

I've been drooling over the new 15" PBs, but when I looked them over at the Apple Store today, both of the display models had a very noticeable horizontal grid on the display. So prominent that I thought it was part of the UI graphics, like the stripes on the Panther menu bar. Until I looked at the neighboring 17" and 12" models and saw no such lines. It was really, really, obvious, even on web graphics, and very disorienting. I don't think I could use a display like that every day. Which is awful, because I'm otherwise very tempted to pick up the new 15", in no small part for the new high-res display.



It's less obvious on a pure white background, but seems worst on any shade of gray or blue - which are, after all, the dominant colors of the UI.

sdaniela

I guess I'm lucky, since I ordered the new 15" with 2GB RAM on the day they were announced and I have experienced neither the screen lines nor the Airport freeze problems. Now I'm running the new Airport update, which I understand cures the memory glitch anyway.



To those considering this computer, I would say that it's the best laptop available today, all things considered. There are laptops that are faster, others that are lighter, others that have better battery life, others that are cheaper, others that have better screens, etc. But I haven't found a single laptop that offers a better combination of all these features than the 15" PB. Hopefully, the screen lines issue isn't widespread, and my own experience proves it's not universal. If you are shopping for a top of the line laptop, I would say don't hesitate to buy this one.



With the extra memory and the 7200 RPM drive, the responsiveness of this Powerbook approaches (but does not equal) my 2x2GHz G5 PowerMac. It's virtually silent (even the hard drive), and if there is a fan, I've yet to hear it running. Fit and finish is first-rate, as is usual on a Powerbook. Having the ports on the side is less than ideal, if you use your PB as a desktop replacement, but it is easier to access the ports on the side when placed on a tray table in coach class.



I agree with the earlier poster who said that the screen is the perfect resolution. The added desktop space is great, nearly equally the space of my desktop 20" LCD. Any higher resolution, and it would have been very difficult to read text at the native resolution. The screen is certainly bright enough under normal circumstances, and in fact, I choose to run it at about 75% most of the time and never feel thatthe screen is too dim.



I also like the auto dimming feature of this model, where the screen brightness automatically adjusts up and down (throughout the full range of brightness) according to ambient lighting conditions. This is a nice feature which helps both the eyes and battery life. It's fun to turn the room lights on and off and watch the screen and keyboard respond in unison. Very Apple-like in the attention to detail.



I know the next generation of Intel Powerbooks will likely run circles around these models, but speaking as someone who does not want to spend thousands of dollars to replace my PowerPC software with Intel versions, I'm happy to invest in the best of "yesterday's" technology. I'll let someone else experience the "joys" of "Rev A" ownership.