Macopinion

The Road Warrior Mailbag - October 1, 2007

Hotrodding The 12" PowerBook
Hotrodding The 12" PowerBook
The 12" PowerBook vs MacBook
Trackpad button of Little Alu vs Aircraft carrier
Re: Is iListen localized in Polish?
Hotrodding The 12" PowerBook - couldn't disagree more!
It finally happened!
MCS Online Petition and Position Statement

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Hotrodding The 12" PowerBook

From Gary Dailey

Thanks for the excellent article Charles!

http://www.macopinion.com/index.php/site/comments/hotrodding_the_12_powerbook/

The 12" is a long-time favorite for Photographers (most of our upgrade customers), due to its power and portability. We've upgraded (CPUs) a few hundred now with excellent success. Most customers opt to get a larger 7200 RPM drive at the same time. Giving new life to the weakest mechanical part (the drive) and getting a boost in performance at the same time.

We actually use an underclocked 1700 MHz CPU on this upgrade. The end result is a cool upgrade that's fast as well.

Gary Dailey
Daystar Technology - 404-625-7432 cell
http://daystartechnology.com
http://daystar-store.com
http://xlr8.com

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Hi Gary;

Glad you liked the article.

Charles

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Hotrodding The 12" PowerBook

From Jacek A. Rochacki

Hi, Charles:

I absolutely agree with your opinion on Little Alu. I use one myself - it is last model, 1.5 GHz, which is now 24 months old, upgraded to 1.25 GB of RAM. Original HDD, 5400 rpm, with its 80 GB is good enough for me, I still have ca 27 GB of free space.

It is a pleasure to enjoy this small laptop' speed and stability, and I do not regreat that I skipped the MacBook model; my niece uses one, I have been configuring and using it for several days and well, it is nice and fast machine, but I still prefer my Little Alu.

If rumors on caming new aluminum MacBook will became true, then maybe I'll go for it's rev. B or rev. C. Or maybe Apple will offer MacBookPro with screen 12" or maximum 13". Until then my Little Alu, seconded by Pismo and Wallstreet II will remain my front line machine.

As always

Jacek in Warsaw,
Poland

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Hi Jacek;

Thanks for your comment. Interesting to get your comparative impressions of the 12" PowerBook and the MacBook.

Charles

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The 12" PowerBook vs MacBook

From: Jacek A. Rochacki

Hi, Charles:

When in June 2006 I decided to buy next Mac laptop, I have placed side by side:

Pismo G3
iBook G4 12"
PB Alu G4 GHz 12"
MacBook - model which was at that time offered by Apple.

And for two or three hours I have been testing/comparing these machines. I am mostly working with texts, internet and simple graphics, so the computing power of both G4's and Intel is good enough for me, and was not the main factor; the deciding/main factor was and is for me the quality of an internal keyboard, as I can use the external keyboard only when I work seated by desk, not when I type seated in my special armchair. I am not a touch typist, so I expect the keyboard to have nice, firm responsiveness under my fingers, something like the keyboards of PB 1400, Walltsreet or Pismo. The best keyboard of these four was definitely the keyboard of Pismo; the keyboard of iBook that I was using then for more then a year was too soft, and I was tired of too slippery trackpad area, difficulties with keeping this white thing clean plus letters disappearing from the keyboard.

After this couple of hours with MacBook I realized, that its keyboard is also too soft under my fingers and this keyboard is an integrated part of the top case, what would make rather expencive to exchange it for new one if needed be. This left the Little Alu as the best successor of my iBook G4, to second my faithful Pismo. The keyboard of Little Al seems to me more "Pismo or Wallstreet like", to respond more vigorously under my fingers. Unfortunately after several months the letters have also dissapeared from keyboard - like from iBook keyboard that I had before. But in general the body is more solid - sturdy, the trackpad I find much better then in the iBook, and it is much easier to keep clean the Little Al then the white iBook. What I miss for evening typing when I am seated in my armchair is the iluminated keyboard, like in 15" and 17" models, but I use the USB goose neck little lamp.

Months later my beloved niece became Mac user, buying MacBook 2.0 GHz Intel Core 2 Duo. She had no experience whatsoever with Mac OS, and she was far away, continuing her postgraduate studies in England, but the MacBook under Tiger provided her with uninterrupted service; when she visited Old Country I was asked to "make an order" with this MacBook, so I have been using, testing and configuring it for a week. This experience has reenforced me in my choice of Little Alu, although I can clearly see, that my problem boils down to technique of typing; my niece simply loves the keyboard of her MacBook, but she - like most people of her generation - is a touch typist, typing not like these who have been doing most of their typing on old fashioned mechanical typewriters.

My remarks on MacBook have been published - unfortunately in Polish only - on Wednesday, June 21, 2006 here: http://www.santee.pl/behind/2006/06/mac-book-son-of-pismo-ale-czy-juz.html

With my best

Jacek

Jacek A. Rochacki
PUC - Pismo Users Club
http://puc.santee.pl

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Hi Jacek;

Thanks for the detailed comparison of these machines.

Like you, I'm not a touch typist. I'm reasonably fast, although I also depend a lot on dictation software (something you might consider for use in your special chair; doe i:isten work in Polish? I must ask Chuck Rogers).

I'm pretty much in agreement with you about the keyboards. The WallStreet was the best-ever, with the Pismo a close runner-up. The keyboard and trackpad ate the things I like least about my G3 iBook, and based on my exposure to the ones in my daughter's G4 iBook, it's even worse. The keyboard in my 17" G4 PowerBook is not bad, pretty much the same unit in your LittleAl except for the backlighting, but I don't like it as well as the Pismo's, and I really don't like the trackpad, which is worse tha the one in the iBook.

Charles

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Trackpad button of Little Alu vs Aircraft carrier

From Jacek A. Rochacki

Hello again:

Well, I was testing the iListen app. after I have read a lot on it in your columns; unfortunately it doesn't work in Polish, and for last couple of years most of my texts, including large elaborations, are unfortunately in Polish. But maybe I did something wrong, so please, when you will find a free moment, kindly ask Chuck Rogers.

The button of the trackpad in Little Alu is really nice to operate and it gives better feeling under my thumb then the trackpad button of the PBook 17", what surprized me much, when I was fiddling with this 17 incher nicknamed in Polish "Aircraft carrier", belonging to one of my Mac colleagues.

With my best thoughts

Jacek

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Hi Jacek

"Aircraft Carrier." That's a new one, but logical and quite appropriate.

The trackpad button on my 17-incher is OK, but the trackpad itself is frustrating to use due to a sporadic hesitation in response.

The best trackpad I've ever used was in the WallStreet, but its button was horrible.

I'll drop a note to Chuck.

Charles

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Re: Is iListen localized in Polish?

From Chuck Rogers

Charles:

Nope. We do not have a Polish version of the Philips speech engine available to us.

Best Regards,

Chuck Rogers, Chief Evangelist
MacSpeech, Inc.

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Hotrodding The 12" PowerBook - couldn't disagree more!

From Trotskiii

I really couldn't disagree more!

Of the 20-30 or so Macs which I've used/owned the first gen 12" Aluminium PowerBook was the worst - an absolute pig!

1 You could fry an egg on the thing!

2 I used to get static shocks off it regularly ie several times a day!

3 It is assembled with more screws than the space shuttle - even the Apple certified engineers didn't want to open it!

4 The screen is poor and dimly lit

5 Memory was initially restricted to 768Mb

6 During my time it killed 2 hard drives 2 power supplies and a superdrive (and no I did not ever drop it)

(Having said all this my Pismo experience wasn't perfect either as it ended up being replaced with a Tibook under Applecare warranty)

I currently use a last generation 12" G4 iBook that really is a great machine and bar the cardbus slot bears a much closer Pismo experience than the 12" Al Powerbook ever did.

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Hi Trotskii;

Thanks for your comment, and I'm sorry to hear you had a bad experience with that 12" PowerBook.

Those 1st Gen. 867 MHz units did run hot, although not as torridly and the first-gen MacBook Pro and MacBook. Some folks seem to have trouble with statio shocks with metal PowerBooks, There were a lot of complaints about that when the first Titanium PowerBooks came out. It' isn't something I've heard about much form 12" PowerBooks, though.

The 12-incher incorporated much of the same engineering as the dual-USB iBook, which is a nightmare to open up (they're both made by the same subcontractor). None of the metal-skinned PowerBooks is a treat to work on, but the 12" is no worse than the iBooks.

The screen must have been atypical. The 12", 1,024 x 768 display in my iBook is still lovely and bright after nearly five years of use.

The limited memory was a characteristic also shared with the contemporaneous iBooks, for the same reason. The later three versions of the 12-incher will support 1.254 Ghz of RAM.

The manifold hardware failures you describe incline me to infer that you had the misfortune to get an exceptional lemon. Generally, the 12" PowerBook is well-regarded for reliability and toughness, although the early, 867 MHz units were definitely the least desirable in that context.

Glad to hear your iBook is giving you good service, but it's more difficult to open up than a 12" PowerBook, and uses a similar display (presumably this time you got a good one), but it won't give you shocks!

Charles

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It finally happened!

Hello Mr. Moore,

Well... it finally happened! My beloved Pismo refuses to charge. I've yet to completely dismantle it but there is a definite, audible "rattling" in the area of the power card. As much as I absolutely love the machine (as you and I have oft lamented) I simply can't justify spending any money to repair a now, almost - eight year old machine. While I may open it up and try to do so some day down the road, it just doesn't make sense to do so now.

I don't know if you'll get this before my decision is made (as it will be very soon), I thought I would at least get your opinion on my availably options. I have the opportunity to purchase an 12" 800MHz G4 iBook that has been upgraded with an Airport card, the maximum 640MB of ram, and a new battery for about $350. My only other option is to go put a new MacBook on the credit card. What do you think of this? Do you know of any particular problems with the G4 iBooks? I've heard that the logic board problems that plagued the G3 iBooks had been largely resolved with the G4s. However... being that the 800MHz was the first of the G4s... would they be considered a first revision machine? I, for the most part like to stay away from Rev. A machines... although I would think that any problems this four year old machine would have had, would have happened already.

From all accounts these current MacBooks seem to be fairly solid... but I just don't know if I would like to make that sort of investment at the time. One thing in the MacBook's favor is the inclusion of its one-year warranty. I just don't know... but I'm going to have to make a decision rather quickly!

As always, you're thoughts/comments/advice is more than appreciated!

I hope that all has been going well for you! I look forward to hearing back from you!

Take care and God Bless,
Adam M. Goff

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Hi Adam;

It sounds like maybe the power adapter connection jack has come unsoldered from the power management board. Does the jack feel loose and sloppy? I've seen it happen to WallStreets and Lombards, and of course the old PowerBook 5300, but never a Pismo.

Frankly, Imy advice wouldb e to look around for a 12" PowerBook rather than a G4 iBook.

For example, TechRestore has listed a PowerBook G4/867Mhz Aluminum 256MB Memory, 40GB Hard Drive, CD-RW/DVD Optical Drive, 12.1-inch LCD Screen for $529.99, and it comes with a six month warranty. http://www.techrestore.com/

You might want to check out the stats. in the MacIntouch iBook and PowerBook reliability survey here: http://www.macintouch.com/reliability/laptops.html

The 800 Mhz G4 iBook didn't stack up very well against the later versions, and they've developed a distinctly spotty reputation as they got some age on them. On the other hand, my 700 MHz G3 iBook has statistically the worst reliability record of any Apple laptop since 1999, but the particular example I own has been essentially trouble-free for nearly five years now, so there are certainly exceptions.

On another other hand, the 12" PowerBook actually did worse than the 12" iBook over the span of that survey, but over the longer haul has proved more sustainably durable than the G4 iBook. My daughter's 1.2 GHz G4 iBook has developed the dreaded "sudden shutdown" syndrome, but then it has been used prettty hard.

Another option for you would be to pick up another Pismo and use your current one for a parts mule. Wegener Media got a batch of Pismos in last spring, and still has some in stock. I bought one, and it is in immaculate condition with a perfect screen and looks like it has hardly been used, although I can't guarantee that they are all like that.

They might also be amenable to selling you one "bare-bones", as it were, at a discount if you wanted to swap in your battery, optical drive, RAM, and even your hard drive and processor card from the old Pismo, which could make it a really inexpensive solution.

Prices start at $299.99 for a 400 Mhz unit (128/6GB).

More info here:
http://www.wegenermedia.com/pismo4.htm

All that said, if you can afford the outlay, a MacBook would be great! Have you considered an Apple Certified unit? Same warranty and AppleCare eligibility as buying new, but at a significant discount.

Hope this helps with your deliberations.

Charles

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MCS Online Petition and Position Statement

From Lourdes Salvador

MCS America is collecting signatures on our position statement that was published in the October 2007 newsletter via a petition. The signed petition will be sent to US Congress and other recipients as provided for in the petition at the link below. To sign the petition, visit:
http://www.petitiononline.com/MCSAPS/petition.html

Sal

Position Statement: Multiple Chemical Sensitivity

Multiple chemical sensitivity (MCS) is an environmental illness (EI) in which negative neurological, pulmonary, cardiac, and rheumatic health effects, among others, are experienced from exposure to common environmental chemicals including fragrances, cleaners, pesticides, and other petrochemicals at concentrations that are below regulatory toxicity thresholds and that are normally deemed as safe.1-2 In 1989, consensus criteria were established for the diagnoses and definition of MCS and later revised in 1999.3 The case criteria, currently under revision, define MCS for diagnostic purposes as meeting six criteria: 3

1. The condition is chronic.
2. Symptoms recur reproducibly with repeated chemical exposure. 3. Symptoms recur in response to lower levels of chemicals than previously tolerated. 4. Symptoms appear in response to multiple chemically unrelated substances. 5. Symptoms improve or resolve when chemical incitants are removed. 6. Multiple organ systems are affected.

This paper will support the position that MCS is a disorder of organic biological origin induced by toxic environmental insults, and requires immediate recognition in the workplace, medical community, school system, and public places across America; and that it is crucial that environmental toxicants are identified and reduced or effectively regulated and enforced through legislation to prevent additional injury to citizens.

*** cmoore@macopinion.com

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