Sunday, March 06, 2005

rewired

finally got the notebook computer i drooled over when i was in manila:

apple powerbook G4 12-inch. it runs on Mac OS X operating system, though the processor nearly boasts 1.33 Ghz clock speed, but limitedly (since the 15" and the 17" powers 1.57 Ghz). has a sufficient hard drive capacity of 60 Gig, well after i put the necessary software and downloads i still got fifty-two gigabytes of space which is not bad considering i attempted to scrimp on the smaller 5-gig HD of my previous laptop.

basically, it's more of a portable machine than anything else. enough to have the writing bug trapped in an aluminum-built quarantine facility and at the same time treat my visceral faculties to two servings of dvds. yep. the battery clocked in 4.5 hours in my initial testing (though i know it would gradually sag since batteries are the most fragile component of any laptop- - -give or take, a year and i just might have to purchase another pack).

from what i've read they say (but i'll avoid quoting in verbatim), powerbooks are the fastest notebooks around, which is probably one reason why i try not to get blinded by the enticing centrino stickers affixed in most notebooks that proliferated the technology market. secondly, apple normally takes about three to four years before they introduce another hardware in the market, and by that time (i believe) its PC-equivalent had already crawled on and wheeled in replacements. thirdly, it is one of the cheapest of any power laptops considering that it has the illuminated apple logo upfront- - - the misconception arises that mac users are: (1) geeks who got exhausted of having microsoft invade their tech lives; (2) company officials and executives who has the moolah to spend; and (3) filmmakers whose iMovie software are only compatible with macintosh computers.

further on with the specs:the bundled software included are not what most PC notebooks would stuff into (the entire iLife package that includes iPhoto, iMovie, iDVD, iCal, iMail, iChat), i was looking for the Garageband, dunno what happened to the application when i reformatted the system; the powerbook has a NVDia Geforce video card with 64 MB DDR SDRAM which is practically okay if you want to play games albeit i am refraining of installing any game software in it; supports ethernet, bluetooth connections as well as wireless internet (i'm having trouble with this Wi-Fi thing, though the Apple guy told me it has an AirPort extreme card installed in it). The only lowdown with the system is its 256MB of DDR SD-RAM pre-configured and installed, and with such thing i felt obliged to get an additional memory card to boost its performance, to let's say 1 Gig of RAM.

to sum up, it's not a blind buy. i considered the vaio line of sony, HP pavillion and even IBM Thinkpad but settling on a powerbook is putting the saliva back into my mouth.

latest musing of Etchie at 11:50