The new badboy in town.

goldenbuddha · January 9th, 2003, 02:05 AM

As I have mentioned in the other thread. IMO the newest badboy in town for laptops is the new Apple Titanium G4 Powerbook with 17 inch screen. I saw it at Macworld which was in town this last few days and I have to admit. Its probably the BEST, MEANEST, most BADASS laptop I have ever seen.

I have the Sony Vaio GRX 600 series, with the 16.1 inch screen, DVD burner, and Pentium 4-m 2ghz, at about 8 lbs.

But the Apple , IMO blows mine away. It comes with all sorta stuff. From 802.11G, to Bluetooth, to the slot-in DVD burner/ CD burner, to the Nvidia Geforce4 440 graphics chip, and the light sensitive illuminated keyboard.....the list goes on..., and it all fits in the 1inch tall case, at 6.8 lbs. And most of you folk are techsmart enough to know that megahertz don't matter no more. The 1 ghz powerpc cpu in that thing is VERY fast...

Other than the lackluster gaming for macs at the moment, this system simply outperforms everything out there in terms of laptops. I asked the people there and was told that the battery lasts 4.5 hours.

Its badass to the max.

Bob The Great · January 9th, 2003, 02:35 AM

Dude, I missed that somehow! I'm going off to find a link right away! That thing sounds mean!

ocit · January 9th, 2003, 02:40 AM

Ahhhhhh. Mac games are too scarce for me to switch though it is alluring for a notebook.

Some linkage http://www.apple.com/powerbook/index17.html

id like to see a switch commercial with a gamer testamonial

Bob The Great · January 9th, 2003, 02:41 AM

60GB HD, 512mbs mem, DVI, s-video, v.92 modem, 10/100nic, firewire, bluetooth, 17" moniter (viewble of most 19" moniters)! Dude that thing is one mean grey fighting machine!

edit: sorry thats a 10/100/1000 nic, my bad

goldenbuddha · January 9th, 2003, 11:54 AM

Yes I was most impressed with it.... and its soooo LIGHT and THIN... and stylish......

at 3299, its really not a lot of money either, for a top of the line laptop.

If you don't game all that much, this laptop is such a dream system.

Arts Technica sums it up best

***
It immediately strikes one as being in violation of the laws of nature, in that it seems larger on the inside than the outside, so thin that it appears two-dimensional, so light for its size it practically floats, so strong it does not bend when held aloft.

The screen is gigantic, yet it does not feel like a 17" screen, in terms of making the machine larger. The radiant screen seems to hang, borderless, the Aqua universe seamlessly merging with reality, no metal frame twixt them. It is a thing unto itself, and whether this is a function of inspired engineering, or the addition to the motherboard of an RDF generator is not yet clear.

What is clear is that this machine will immediately become the most popular laptop in the history of the universe, and be the standard by which all other outrageously priced, technolust portables are measured. It runs cool, or warm to the touch, both on the palm rests and underneath, the chassis no doubt providing plenty of space for cooling.

Huge speakers sit to the left and right of the keyboard, better than the average speakers, in that I did not get that annoying distortion with the sound cranked up.

The keyboard itself, besides glowing in the dark (nice for war chalking the wee hours), is excellent, responsive, not a sponge but a spring. This is the machine everybody would buy if everybody was rich.

***

Bob The Great · January 9th, 2003, 07:01 PM

lol, that describes it perfectly! It is a new form of art! Mac has done it this time! I have liked their stuff, but now...now I love it!

Praetorian · January 9th, 2003, 07:44 PM

That is one nice laptop. I've got a friend who just bought the most expensive Powerbook (15" screen) last month, and with the 17" out, he's gonna try to upgrade.

Sadly, I do not have the money to spend on such a machine. I wish I did. I've been seriously looking into getting an iBook w/ 12" screen for $999 (no price drop sadly.

). I need something that is reliable, has long battery life, light-weight, and allows me to work with mainstream applications like Photoshop, M$ Office, Quickbooks (If I didn't need to maintain full compatiblity with customers, I'd use the Unix equivalents), and still have available to me many Unix programs (Apache, VIM, Ethereal, and all that other top-notch stuff

) that I love working with.

Apple seems to have the solution. I'm gonna try and iBook (not sure exactly when I can get it), but if it's not the thing for me, I guess I'll go to Qli and get one if their laptops.

BTW, if anyone has ever seen Apple's iBooks or Powerbooks, they've and used them, then they know these things are simply amazing.

lastEvolution · January 9th, 2003, 09:36 PM

Well, with a 17" chasis, what did you expect they could fit in there?

goldenbuddha · January 10th, 2003, 12:52 AM

Thats the odd thing, when its closed, I'd swear its TINY.. would not have guessed it had that big a screen... Its small outside, but big inside.. and oh man how thin....

bladeoftruth · January 10th, 2003, 12:58 AM

wow, that is very impressive. Mac has outdone themselves, GOD BLESS MR. JOBS