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Yes, it is a bit odd to own the newest PowerBook at Low End Mac.
It doesn't seem very low-end, does it? I could try to justify it:
Apple has announce a 733 MHz Power Mac and there is a 500 MHz
PowerBook, after all.
The only justification I offer is that the TiBook is the right
tool for the job, regardless of speed, price, or age. It has the
screen size I need (just barely) for the way I work, it's portable,
and to top it off, I'll be able to run OS X on it.
Networking
First rule of computing: If it ain't broke, don't fix it.
It's probably been two months since we were able to share our
Internet connection. I'd been trying to configure my Hawking router
to support DSL, to use DHCP instead of static addresses, and finally,
in desparation, to do anything. In the end, I settled for putting the
cable modem on my SuperMac,
leaving my wife to use Earthlink for her Net access and the kids to
use my computer when they had to get on the Web.
I could do that because my SuperMac had two ethernet ports: one
for the cable modem, the other for the home network. But
Quicksilver, my PowerBook G4 only has
one ethernet port. Time to fiddle with the Hawking router again.
I don't know how many times I've reprogrammed, restarted, reset,
and even updated PRAMs in that little black box. More often than not,
I'd make a change, restart, and never see it on the network again.
Thursday night I'd had enough of anything different, cleared the
settings, and configured it for our cable modem and static IP
addresses on our internal network.
For some unknown reason, it worked this time. I'm never touching
those settings again.
Now the whole family is happy. My PowerBook, my wife's iBook,
Nathaniel's SuperMac, Brian's 8100, and Steve and Tim's 6100s can all
see the Net. And my 6100 dedicated to SETI@home
can finally report that work unit and begin a new one.
Problem solved, all because I couldn't defer a solution any
longer. After all, if I can't print, surf, access the file server,
and do email, I'm up a creek.
Of course, it's not a perfect solution. The connection goes down
regularly with the Hawking router in place, a problem I didn't have
when my SuperMac or TiBook were wired directly to the cable modem.
Sigh.
Taking the Heat
The biggest design problem with the TiBook is heat dissipation.
The G4 runs hot, as do other electronics within the case. Slowing CPU
speed to 300 MHz in the Energy Saver control panel doesn't seem to
help noticably.
At present, there seems to be no way to measure the internal heat
of the TiBook. The temperature programs I've downloaded may work for
previous G3 and G4 models, but don't give worthwhile results here
(33°F and "error" are my favorite reports so far).
Thursday night I dug out the LapBottom Dr
Bott sent me a couple years ago. My wife, then the only PowerBook
user in the house, never found it practical. Besides, her PB
150 never did run that hot. But after some discussion of TiBook
heat on the Titanium PowerBook list, I recalled the LapBottom
and dug it out.
The LapBottom is about 8-1/2" x 12". The bottom has foam, so it
sits comfortably on your lap. The top has four large pads that
support the laptop above a hard plastic surface, providing lots of
room for air to circulate.
It works. I can put the TiBook on my lap and use it. However,
because the LapBottom is 1-1/4" thick, it puts the PowerBook G4 at an
uncomfortable height on my desktop. Using the keyboard drawer on my
wife's computer table is just about perfect, though.
Additional Benchmarks
I've received email asking for more benchmarks: How fast does the
TiBook complete a SETI@home work unit? How many frames per second in
Quake?
I'm not a 3D gamer, so I don't have the programs for testing frame
rates. Given the way TiBooks are reaching users, look for results
like that on Accelerate Your
Mac and other sites soon.
As for SETI@home, I've just completed a work unit begun on my
SuperMac and begun a new one. It will be sometime this weekend before
I know how long the 400 MHz TiBook takes to complete a single SETI
work unit.
The TiBook Reports
TiBook Report #7: Zap!, 2/16/01. Great
laptop, but there's this pesky problem with static
electricity....
TiBook Report #6, 2/8/01. Is the
PowerBook G4 really a desktop replacement? Also, more comments on
DVD playback.
TiBook Report #5, 2/6/01. Heat
reduction with CoolPad, burning CDs, DVD tips, and more.
TiBook Report #4, 2/5/01. Battery life,
SETI performance, and more on heat.
TiBook: Day 2, 2/2/01. Internet
connection update, more on heat, brief benchmark discussion.
TiBook: Day 1, 2//01. More impressions
from my first day with a PowerBook G4.
Listen to Just the Music with the V-Moda Vibe Earbuds, Tommy Thomas, Welcome to Macintosh, 09.05.
Well built, the noise canceling earbuds will let you hear all the nuances of your music without letting through background noise.
Tomorrow's Solid State Drives and Notebooks, Dan Knight, Mac Musings, 09.04.
Flash drives are great but have some shortcomings. Some thoughts on building better SSDs and notebooks to use them.
Advice presented in good faith, but what works for one may not work
for all. Computers are like that. Please report errors to .
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