PB 12" 1gig first impressions anyone?
Hi all 
I'm really curious about your impressions with this new PB...
How hot does it get (has the palm rest heat issue been fixed)?
How is battery life with it?
is it as quiet as the 867mhz model?
How's performance with it (is it as good as a TiBook 1 gig)?
Is the screen as good as the one on the Al 17 & 15.2 PBs?
Does it have suffer from any of the quality control issues that the new 15 has?
I have recently purchased a new 1.25 15Al PB and looks like im sending it back due to the 6 white spots on its screen and the battery not recharging properly and giving really poor performance - so, i guess im considering whether to dump this 15 all together and just move to the cute new 12"?
any advice will be welcome
thanks
I'm really curious about your impressions with this new PB...
How hot does it get (has the palm rest heat issue been fixed)?
How is battery life with it?
is it as quiet as the 867mhz model?
How's performance with it (is it as good as a TiBook 1 gig)?
Is the screen as good as the one on the Al 17 & 15.2 PBs?
Does it have suffer from any of the quality control issues that the new 15 has?
I have recently purchased a new 1.25 15Al PB and looks like im sending it back due to the 6 white spots on its screen and the battery not recharging properly and giving really poor performance - so, i guess im considering whether to dump this 15 all together and just move to the cute new 12"?
any advice will be welcome
thanks
Comments
Palm rest gets warm, but not any hotter than what I've experienced on a 800 MHz iBook... I think similar comments have been made over at MacNN, so I assume this means that it's fixed.
Battery life is approximately 3.5-4 hrs with Energy saver enabled, brightness halfway, bluetooth disabled, Airport Extreme enabled.
Can't make performance or display comparisons between this and the other Albooks, as I haven't seen them yet.
It's reasonably quiet, when the fan comes on you can hear it, but it appears to be muted somewhat, a lot nicer than when the fan turns on in my iBook.
No latch issues or white spot issues here... there is a wobble depending on what surface I put it on though (I believe this has become a characeristic of a number of 12" PB).
I got the 12" and a 15 lcd instead, portability and screensize!
First the negatives:
The screen is definitely not as crisp as my Ti. I would liken it to be much more like an iBook's screen, though slightly better.
Less RAM. I still need to pop in a 512 stick (so only 256 right now) but the 768 vs 1024 makes a difference.
Now on to the positives:
So much quieter than my Ti, I was using it on my lap for an hour and a half or so, and the fan just came on at the end, but was hardly noticible, unlike my loud Ti fan.
Longer battery life. I'm consistantly getting around 4hrs. My Ti got 2.5 or so.
The keyboard is awesome. Much better than the flimsy Ti (but I expect it's the same on the 15AL).
Overall build construction is amazing. Again, the 15 AL is probably similar, but compared to the Ti this thing is a tank. One hand screen opening and a solid "thunk" when closed. Like a dream.
As far as build problems w/ the 12's I have heard of a "wobble" but I haven't experienced this, and I don't think it's widespread.
It gets warm (especially under the left hand), but is roughly the same temp as my Ti was, maybe a little less.
Speed seems to be about the same when only using one app, but again I am comparing a machine w/ 256mb of RAM w/ my Ti that had 1 GB of RAM. You definitely want more than the base RAM. So I can't really compare performance, though theoretically it should be slightly faster than the Ti.
Let me just say that I'm loving this! The dvi out is what makes it a perfect machine. 12" is perfect for using a laptop on the go, or in the other room, etc. Just hook it up to a crt or lcd when you're at your desk.
Was using a first-gen TiBook 400mgz.
The difference: night and day.
My TiBook was all looks, no durability or performance. It stayed nice for about a month, and the first time I put it in a backpack (i know, not the way it was meant to be treated, but they DID sell it as "portable") it was thrashed -- scratches everywhere, dings, paint peeling, cracked case, battery would pop out, keyboard DESTROYED the screen (not just dirt, but it was like dozens of needles punctured the screen all across it where it met the base of the keyboard).
Granted I got close to three years of good use from my TiBook -- but I was always extremely frustrated with the durability issues, which I felt were unnaceptable. The TiBook was a museum piece, and that's where it belongs.
OK so the good news -- new PowerBook feels great. Keys don't have any bounce at all, unlike TiBook -- and best of all, it appears they will never touch and destroy the screen. Everything is solid like it's one giant piece of machined metal.
I'm on my first battery charge -- and it's holding out for hours. And the fan hasn't kicked in. And there is almost NO heat at all that I can feel -- unlike my Tibook which pretty much left me sweating and uncomfortable if it was on my lap for any period of time.
Sound is much better on the 12." -- it sounds richer, fuller. I am enjoying listening to streaming radio. My tibook sounded so "tinny" it was fatiguing to listen to.
The 12.1" screen looked a little "soft" -- but after reading another thread here, I adjusted the monitor gamma to the "pc" setting -- and this sharpened up the picture quite a bit and added more contrast. I did the same for my new Planar 19" Flat Panel ($702 from Dell Direct) and it looks amazing. This beauty has 700:1 screen contrast and is SO much more solid than the Samsungs I looked at. I highly recommend looking at Planar before you buy your next flat panel display. The perfect compliment for my DVI-out 12.1" powerbook. No more trying to "do it all" with a huge laptop -- I'm going for ultimate portablility on the road, and ultimate screeen size at home. No more compromising on each count.
My bluetooth keyboard arrives tomorrow, and my dream system will be complete. With my 3 year applecare warranty and 3 year warranty on the flat panel, i know this setup is going to serve me well, at least until the day I break down and buy a G5 laptop ... but hopefully I won't have to bite that bullet for a couple years.
Slight wobble. Depends on which surface I put it on. Maybe my desk is just warped...
Really fast, at least coming from a 500 MHz iBook. Fan has come on once, not too bad... It doesn't get any warmer than my iBook, but it definitely warms up faster, prob. due to the aluminum case.
The fit and finish is amazing.
Battery life is decent. I have yet to guage the time, but it seems to last for a good while.
Originally posted by scottylad
The 12.1" screen looked a little "soft" -- but after reading another thread here, I adjusted the monitor gamma to the "pc" setting -- and this sharpened up the picture quite a bit and added more contrast. I did the same for my new Planar 19" Flat Panel ($702 from Dell Direct) and it looks amazing.
What is this "pc" setting? I looked and I don't seem to have this (12" pb and a 15in studio display lcd.
It's a good way to fine tune your settings - many people are just amazed when they do this, and see how much better you can make the display look.
I still don't think the new 12"'s screen is quite up to what the previous and new 15"'s have, but it comes very close to that level, especially when compared with the previous 867MHz model which I thought was much diminished comparitively, (too, sounds like from previous posts that a little tweaking might improve the 12"'s crispness).
What impressed me most with the 1Ghz 12" was how much snappier it felt compared to the 867MHz iteration. The new 12" really feels on par with the 15" and 17" models in terms of performance. Quite a feat for the money you save. Still, I'm just not sure I can stare at a 12" screen all day, if I have to.
Here's a great write-up, in my opinion, on the new 12":
http://forums.macnn.com/showthread.p...hreadid=179875