Apple’s new PowerBook and the 17-inch iMac get high praise in three new reviews.
Writing for Business 2.0 , Shoshana Berger says that Apple’s new line of laptops, plus Detto Technologies’ Move2Mac one-step migration software, resulted in a “Switcher.”
“I haven’t used a Mac since high school, but my PC laptop just melted down after nearly five years of trusty service, so when Apple announced its new line of more robust PowerBooks and iBooks two weeks ago, I bit,” Berger says.
Mac OS X 10.2 (“Jaguar”), the aforementioned Move2Mac, and new hardware made the move irresistible. Berger is impressed with the PowerBook’s speed, looks, screen and slot-load SuperDrive.
“Though I went for the PowerBook, I was tempted by the iBook (Apple’s milky white laptop), with its new 14.1-inch screen and less severe sticker shock (the bigger-screen iBook sells for $1,849; the PowerBook, a wallet-burning $2,299),” Berger adds.
Rangefinder Magazine also praises Apple’s PowerBook line. In an article that looks at why the Mac is popular with photographers, photojournalist John Rettie discusses a one-month road trip in which his PowerBook was a valuable companion.
“It is really good enough to be considered as a perfectly acceptable substitute for a desktop computer,” he writes. “It has sufficient power and a decent display so it does not cramp the ability to get a job done wherever one might be.”
From a technical point of view, he finds the PowerBook pleasant to use. He likes its size, weight, looks, screen and slot loading drive. He also found the full-size keyboard and the slate used for moving the cursor to be “quite efficient, once one gets used to it.” And Rettie, like so many others, likes Jaguar.
“If you do not already own a Macintosh desktop computer or if you need to upgrade your current Mac system I would recommend getting a PowerBook and using it as your primary computer — it’s what I plan to do,” said Rettie. “A PowerBook will run all the software that works on the Mac OS system including Microsoft Office for business functions, FileMaker Pro as a user friendly database and of course all the imaging software needed to meet one’s photographic needs. With a PowerBook one no longer has to sacrifice functionality for portability.”
Finally, News.com’s Joe Wilcox gives a thumbs-up to the 17-inch flat panel iMac. He says the pivoting arm is a “marvel of engineering,” particularly since it must support the heft and width of that 17-inch monitor. “No other computer on the market today lets the user so easily re-position the monitor for easier viewing or sharing information, Web pages or games,” Wilcox says.
He thinks the iMac’s LCD display is the best he’s ever seen on any computer. Wilcox also appreciates the quietness and design of the iMac. He doesn’t like the lack of a two-button mouse, however, and wishes the iMac had a little more computing oomph.
“Consistently in my testing, many PCs appeared faster than iMac,” Wilcox writes. “But the iMac was more trouble free, in terms of everyday glitches using the applications and operating system or hassles connecting devices and peripherals to the computer. The iMac also proved plenty fast for what it needed to do, at least for most consumer tasks. But I did note some troubling performance problems that the majority of users might never see. Apple could fix this by using the same 800MHz processor found in the PowerBook G4.”