[thebiggfrogg]

My wife still uses my 4 1/2 year old iBook G4. It is a champ. The battery is gone, baby, gone, but we mostly plug it in anyway. It has been a great little machine and I hope to get as much longetivity out of my MacBook Pro.

[kcmac]

Loved your article. I still have the original 867 Powerbook. It is simply the best size laptop ever for me. I also had the icebook.

Just the thought of changing sends chills down my spine. Don't look forward to it at all. Used my son's MB a bit and while it is nice it is just too big. All things must come to end however. Snow Leopard won't be supported on my PB and I will definitely want to upgrade. So.....come on Apple. Surprise us with a small laptop and Snow Leopard!

[dlowe4]

I am there with ya. I too had a 12" PB until a cat took her away from me. Darn thing pissed on the keyboard. I guess I should have known better than to leave it open overnight. Cat urine is very hard on a computer. I upgraded to a 15" MBP at the time. It's the 2.16g Intel Core Duo model and I absolutely love it. It will never match the portability of the old G4 but i do love it just the same.

[Macworldfan]

Too bad you bought a Macbook and didn't wait for the upcoming Macbook mini (Apple's Netbook)...which it will be much, much lighter than the monster you'll be carrying now. It'll be even lighter than your 12" PB. I think you're still on time to return it, though...hehehe

[iamac]

I just made this same transition (although my PowerBook is in better shape and will remain in use running Pro Tools in my recording studio).
My main reservation about making the jump was the glossy screen. I was vehemently opposed to the glossy screen. But after a couple of weeks of use I have to say that that has turned out to be a non-issue. That came as a big surprise.
Maybe the nicest part (aside from the speed) is the silence. The PowerBook's fans would whine with even the simplest of tasks. Just launching Numbers, for example, set them off. My ears are much happier now.

[mrjw34]

I knew I need to replace my 12" Powerbook last fall on a trip where the CS Suite was stumbling badly. I made the decision to get one of the recently discontinued and discounted black MacBooks that still had Firewire. Although I loved the 12", this is a fine machine. Much faster overall (4 gigs RAM) and for me the battery is incredibly better. I went through 3 batteries in the 6 years I had the 12" and it never had the charge power the MacBook has. An overnight sleep only loses my about 5%. I'm also happy I went with my gut and stuck with a laptop with Firewire. I have used TDM countless times since I switched over. No matter what the thinking on this was, I still think the Firewire deletion decision was boneheaded.

[clh126]

My daughter's PB12 just gave up the ghost! She loved it! Years ago, I convinced her to go Mac, she previously owned a Sony Viao (horrible machine). Now as she heads off to medical school she is using my white MB and loves it. 4iPods, an iPhone, Express she is now a mac convert for life and convinced her boyfriend to get an iPhone and her Step Dad (great guy!) to go Mac. He now runs a Real Estate Brokerage that is all iPhones & Macs!

[btc2]

No.

I just picked up a 12" PowerBook on ebay for $250, and it's the best money I've ever spent on a Mac. The new MacBooks are pathetic...overpriced and overhyped (I don't care if they're machined from a solid piece of unicorn horn), and the lack of FireWire is a killer for me. For crying out loud, even a sub-$500 DELL Inspiron laptop has a 1394 port. Weak, Apple. Weak.

I've owned countless Macs over the years, and I currently have 7, ranging from a pair of 2001 "Quicksilver" machines that are video workhorses, two iMacs, two 17" PowerBooks and the 12" Powerbook. The 12" PowerBook is the most versatile of the bunch...it's just a gem. I can't believe anyone would ever want to trade it for one of the new atrocities.

[pln]

btc2 said:

No.


I just picked up a 12" PowerBook on ebay for $250, and it's the best money I've ever spent on a Mac. The new MacBooks are pathetic...overpriced and overhyped (I don't care if they're machined from a solid piece of unicorn horn), and the lack of FireWire is a killer for me. For crying out loud, even a sub-$500 DELL Inspiron laptop has a 1394 port. Weak, Apple. Weak.

I realize you're just using hyperbole to make a point, but in future you should bear in mind that you make a better point if you're accurate. No Dell Inspiron, at any price, offers a 1394 port. Maybe one of other ones does, but I couldn't be bothered looking any further (also, Safari 4 beta crashed on me for the first time ever while going to Dell's site)

I suspect you're still suffering from Intel-switch-shock. Get over it. The world is leaving you behind. The Intel Macs are excellent (I own three older generation Intel Macs and have a unibody MBP from work).

[btc2]

pln said:

No Dell Inspiron, at any price, offers a 1394 port. Maybe one of other ones does, but I couldn't be bothered looking any further (also, Safari 4 beta crashed on me for the first time ever while going to Dell's site)
I suspect you're still suffering from Intel-switch-shock. Get over it. The world is leaving you behind. The Intel Macs are excellent (I own three older generation Intel Macs and have a unibody MBP from work).

I realize your zealotry is blinding you to reality, but I'm looking at the DELL site right now at a picture of the Inspiron 13 Laptop. The side I'm looking at shows ports for a Power Supply, Ethernet, USB and 1394. You are wrong. To use your own words, "get over it".

I am hardly suffering from "Intel-switch-shock", but I know value when I see it. And the MacBooks ain't it.

www.dell.com/content/topics/topic.aspx/global/products/inspnnb/includes/en/us/laptop-inspiron-13-superview?c=us&cs=19&l=en&s=dhs

I will gladly accept your apology. More likely, though, you will now compose an angry post telling me that the Inspiron is a piece of crap.

And FWIW, both my current iMacs are Intel-based.

[pln]

btc2 said:

I realize your zealotry is blinding you to reality, but I'm looking at the DELL site right now at a picture of the Inspiron 13 Laptop. The side I'm looking at shows ports for a Power Supply, Ethernet, USB and 1394. You are wrong.

I will gladly accept your apology. More likely, though, you will now compose an angry post telling me that the Inspiron is a piece of crap.

Well, it is crap (celeron, x1300 gpu etc), but you seem to be the angry one. (Funny how with the angry ones, disagreement always means the other is a "zealot").

I used an Inspiron for three years at work until recently ... I have experience in how crappy they are.

Anyway, you got me here, my apologies - but try going through Dell's notebook filter - check < $700 in the price selector, and the $499 Inspiron 13 drops out of the list. Go figure.

As for seeing value - do you really think paying $250 for a four year old PPC laptop is good value? What is it you're getting from it that isn't worth another $750 for the white MacBook (which has firewire, incidentally)

[btc2]

pln said:

As for seeing value - do you really think paying $250 for a four year old PPC laptop is good value? What is it you're getting from it that isn't worth another $750 for the white MacBook (which has firewire, incidentally)

The ability to keep $750 of my hard-earned money. I also don't like the build quality of the white MacBook; I have a client who was unfortunate enough to buy one, and it feels cheap, the "Superdrive" has broken down twice, and it's loud. It doesn't even begin to compare to the 12" PowerBook, which is more than powerful enough to do the daily tasks I throw at it.

In this economy, spending $250 on a computer seems like a very smart idea indeed. Plus, if it gets lost or stolen, I'm not out that much. It's a workhorse computer, and if it gives me a good solid year or two of service, it was definitely a bargain.

[tewha]

I switched from a 12" PowerBook G4 to a MacBook a couple of months ago. There's a lot good about the MacBook, more than I lost, but there's definitely a sense of serious loss involved in the trade.

[wolfe]

Do you mean replace the 12in PowerBook in my heart or in performance? The PB 12in was my first Mac. Loved the design, the handling and the travel ability. I have two MacBooks - a 2.16 and a 2.4 - and either one will blow away performance of the 12in.



My 12in PowerBook is still going strong but its days are numbered. Any repair costs will be of Applesque proportions.



In fact, MacBook performance is largely overkill for me so I bought a netbook
for lighter weight, smaller size and modest performance at a lower
price. Think Apple removing performance features from both ports and software and dumbing down hardware to make a less than stylish netbook. It's not pretty but it's cheap.



Even if I could get a well designed performance netbook from Apple with perks like backlit keyboard and built in Superdrive, I doubt I would buy these days. Apple design is too unknown and business planning too closed.I don't think I am the customer they are trying to reach.