MacBook Design Limits USB Ports, Unibody Audio Prolem Solved, G4 Upgrades Disappearing, and More

• A Letter of Appreciation
• Your MacBook Review and USB Ports
• Unibody MacBook/MacBook Pro Sound Issue
• Problem with Digital Audio Out
• G4 Upgrades Disappearing?

A Letter of Appreciation

From Matthew:

Hi Charles,

I just thought I would shoot you an email to thank you for your publications. I'm a recent switcher and am running a Rev C. 12" PowerBook G4 and have really found a lot of use for your aim on lower-end Macs, although I realize (especially after reading your stuff!) that this little warrior is no slouch!

Your focus on performance rather than bells and whistles really applies to users like me. I look forward to your subsequent articles!

- Matt

Hi Matt,

Thanks so much for your kind comments, and congratulations on joining the Mac fraternity. The 12" PowerBook is one of the great Mac laptops of all time, and as you've observed, still has lots of useful life left in it.

The Low End Mac approach to affordable and conservationist computing is especially well-suited to current economic conditions.

Thanks for reading.

Charles

Your MacBook Review and USB Ports

From Daniel:

As long as Apple persists in hinging the display across the back using the "drop-down" hinge that they introduced with the iBook in 2001 and refined with the aluminum PowerBooks in 2003, rather than mounting the hinge on top as with almost all PC laptops, they will continue to deprive themselves of the entire back of the computer for I/O.

If they would give up on this hinge and use a more traditional design, they would open the entire back side to I/O. As it is, they have literally nowhere else to go, as the front of the MacBook is taken up with the hard drive and battery and the right hand side is taken up with the DVD.

A traditional hinge design would have the added advantage of being ergonomically superior by holding the screen up and a little farther from the keyboard. I believe the reason they went with the drop-down approach was to allegedly make the computer fit better on an airline or train seat-back tray table, giving about an extra inch of clearance to the seat back when the display is open.

Daniel

Hi Daniel,

I agree with your recommendation if it would facilitate the inclusion of more I/O ports.

However, I do find the side-mounted ports convenient, especially when the machine is on a desktop stand with a lot of peripherals plugged in.

My 17" PowerBook is pretty good in that department with arrays of ports on both sides and a front-loading optical drive.

Charles

Unibody MacBook/MacBook Pro Sound Issue

From Malcolm:

Hi Charles,

I read about this issue with some fascination, as I do music with my MacBook Pro and regularly use headphones with no issue. If it is the same set of iPod headphones that has caused the same issue in two different machines, my guess would be something slightly odd about the headphone plug or a (hopefully short) run of bad luck.

As a user of a G4 iBook as well as two iMacs (and a former Pismo user - the MacBook Pro was an insurance replacement when the Pismo was stolen), I find the trackpad both a blessing and a curse. The multi-gesture stuff is great, however in applications it either does not work or gets in the way (I mainly use Reason and Apple Logic Studio). My way of getting round this is using a Wacom Bamboo tablet, best thing ever for precise control.

Anyhow, hope your MacBook experience is a good one and that you have no issues with the sound(!)

Malcolm

Oh, before I forget, if you have the fading in/out screen issue reported not long after the Unibody launch, just disable the automatic adjustment for ambient light in power saving.

Hi Malcolm,

Thanks for the comments and tips.

There is a good report on AppleInsider about the headphone plug issue, with photos and videos.

I'm actually finding the trackpad better than I thought it would be, but I'm still not convinced about the buttonless gimmick.

Charles

Problem with Digital Audio Out

From Mark:

Charles,

A quick note - Chris wrote to say that he had problems with the Digital Audio Out being stuck "on". This also happened to me recently on my new Unibody MacBook. I freaked - but a quick Google brought me the solution - and it's not at all serious. There's a microswitch in that port that sometimes gets caught in one position or the other. The solution is as simple as plugging in and unplugging a pair of headphones (once did it for me - others reportedly needed a few attempts).

More info at the Canadian Mac User's forum, ehmac.ca:

Cheers,
M

Hi Mark,

Thanks for the helpful information.

There do seem to be some issues with the sound-out ports on the Unibodies.

Best,
Charles

G4 Upgrades Disappearing?

From Vance:

Charles,

I enjoy your columns. I was wondering, though - are G4 accelerators on their way out? OWC seems to have dropped many dual processor models recently, and Sonnet seems to have as well. You can't get a 1.8 dual processor anymore, it appears.

Do you know what is going on?

Vance

Hi Vance,

Not specifically regarding those particular products, but I think it's inevitable that with the passage of time that G4 upgrades will gradually go off the market.

I'm more conversant with the situation in laptop upgrades than the desktop market, and last year Daystar discontinued all of their lines of G4 upgrades for Pismos, Lombards, and aluminum PowerBooks.

FastMac and Wegener Media still offer G4 Pismo upgrades, but for how long?

It wouldn't surprise me if supply of G4 chippery factors into this dynamic as well.

Charles

Editor's note: I was able to find one 1.8 GHz dual G4 upgrade still on the market, the Sonnet Encore/MDX G4 Duet, which is exclusively for those few G4 Power Macs with a 167 MHz system bus - the faster Mirror Drive Door models. dk

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