| Product: |
Apple PowerBook G4 |
| Date: |
14/01/05 (272 review reads) |
| Rating: |
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Advantages: Huge expanses of screen, Quick, Slim
Disadvantages: Poor backlit keyboard, Heavy if lugged around, It's not free
It’s obvious when you have fallen head-over heels for a product. It penetrates your every thought. Before you own it, you spend every spare moment looking at in magazines, researching it on websites, gazing at it through windows. And when you finally own it, you give it a name. My 17” inch is called “God”. It demands that sort of respect. And very few who see this piece of kit argue with that title.
It’s a beautiful product to use. Compared to an ibook it’s like comparing Ferrari with Vauxhall. There is something tangibly nicer about the feel of the keyboard, the way it opens, and the way it shuts.
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The off-the-peg model now comes under two grand with 512MB Ram, 1.5Ghz G4 processor, 60 Gig hard drive and airport built in. For a user who does not do heavy-duty video or photo editing, this is more than adequate.
The screen is a good size for working,, and even after long hours on graphics files, I do not want for a studio monitor. One problem I have noticed with my screen, and those of others, is a blotchy uneven affect that can develop in places. However it has not bothered me enough to look into replacing the unit.
Imovie is a great introduction to video editing for those usually confined to the static image. Camcorders can be hooked up in moments and footage edited in seconds after that. I’ve imported up to half an hour of footage at a time and this thing chews it up and spits it out.
Professionals can, and do, edit whole movies on beefed-up laptops just like these.
The benefits of OSX are probably best documented elsewhere, but for anyone still lumbered with a studio-bound OS 9 system because they are “more stable”; I pity you. The seamless integration of iphoto, mail, calendar and address books are tools you soon learn to rely on. And Panther’s Font Book puts Suitcase and ATM to shame. It’s another example of how Apple don’t release a product until it is better than anything else on the market.
But all these words are wasted. For if you are reading this, you are already smitten by the 17”. You will not sleep right again until you own one. One word of advice. Go to an authorised dealer and buy a trusted product. Buy the 3 year Apple Cover and sleep well. There are some unbelievable deals doing the rounds in the classifieds and they probably are. If you can’t afford to pay the full price now, Microanvica do a no interest deal for 6 months. Save up your pennies and pay it off before the interest period kicks in. You can’t go wrong.
Summary:
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