Apple 15in. PowerBook G4 review

John Rizzo CNET

Published: 06 Nov 2003

Three years after the popular Titanium PowerBook debuted, Apple's new 15in. PowerBook G4 improves on the original in nearly all areas except battery life. The notebook has the same sleek design as the Titanium model but with an anodised-aluminium case and faster hardware. The £1,999 (inc. VAT) version includes a backlit keyboard that turns on when a room gets dark, a feature previously available on only the 17in. PowerBook. In fact, this new model offers such an excellent combination of features and price that we wouldn't hesitate to recommend it were it not for reports from some early customers of display problems -- specifically, faint white spots on the screen. We didn't encounter this issue on our test system, and Apple says that it is investigating. Once, this is sorted out, the 15in. PowerBook will secure a position high on our list of recommended desktop replacements.

Design

Like the Titanium PowerBook before it, the 15in. PowerBook hits a sweet spot in size. It's big enough for a wide-screen display (1,280 by 854) yet small enough to carry with you. The 15.2in. (diagonal) screen fits snugly in the PowerBook's 34.8cm width and 24.1cm depth, but the unit measures a mere 2.8cm thick. Both sides of the lid contain internal antennae for AirPort Extreme, otherwise known as 54Mbps IEEE 802.11g wireless networking.

The backlit keyboard is the best type of keyboard lighting we've seen for typing in the dark. Each character lights up automatically when it gets dark, so your hands never block the light as they do with a keyboard lamp. The ambient-light sensor that turns the backlighting on and off does double duty controlling screen brightness: go into a dark room, and the screen dims; turn on the lights, and the screen gets brighter (you can adjust this feature in System Preferences). Our test unit did not show any faint white spots on the display that some users have complained about.

The full-size keyboard has a nice feel; it's firm, with no sag. The grills on either side of the keyboard conceal a microphone and three speakers (the third speaker improves mid-range sound). Additional excellent design details include the latch that holds the lid closed, which retracts when you open your notebook, and the fact that Mac OS X awakes from Sleep mode at almost at the same time the lid opens. Our only complaint about the design is that the bottom of the unit gets hot.

Features

Apple packs in a ton of features -- more than some desktop Macs, if you consider its PC Card expansion slot. A slot-loading optical drive faces the front, and ports line both sides. The two USB 2.0 ports are conveniently located one on each side. There are also two FireWire ports, one at 800Mbps and the other at 400Mbps, and a Gigabit Ethernet port. Apple has also added a 16-bit audio-in port, which was missing from the Titanium PowerBook. The new PowerBook gives you multiple options for external displays through its DVI and S-Video ports (one of each), which connect to digital displays and TVs. Each port comes with a converter cable: one for VGA monitors, and one for composite video.

In our tests, the PowerBook worked flawlessly with Apple's new wireless keyboard and mouse -- these are separate items and cost £39 and £59 (inc. VAT) respectively. We didn't even have to install the software that came with the devices. Just choose Setup Bluetooth Device from the Bluetooth menu, and select the type of device; and within a minute, the keyboard or mouse is functional.

Inside the PowerBook, the processor, the graphics hardware, the memory architecture, and several ports have all been upgraded. The £1,999 model is powered by a 1.25GHz PowerPC G4, 512MB of DDR SDRAM, and an ATI Mobility Radeon 9600 graphics chip with 64MB of DDR SDRAM. You also get an 80GB hard drive, a DVD-R drive, AirPort Extreme wireless networking, and Gigabit Ethernet included. The model we tested ran Mac OS X 10.2.8. If you bought a Mac without the new Panther (10.3) upgrade on or after 8 October 2003, you can upgrade for the shipping cost.

As always, Apple's software package is stellar. You'll get the excellent iLife bundle -- which includes iDVD, iTunes, iPhoto and iMovie -- as well as iSync, iCal, Mac OS X Mail, Safari, Acrobat Reader, Demon (with 30 days of free service), a FileMaker Pro 6.0 trial, Art Directors Toolkit, OmniGraffle, OmniOutliner, Graphic Converter, FAXstf X and Microsoft Internet Explorer.

Performance & battery life

The 1.25GHz 15in. PowerBook bested the older 1GHz 15in. PowerBook in our application tests. The results were in line with what we expected, considering the new PowerBook sports a G4 processor that is 25 percent faster than the original.

We used two applications (iMovie 2.0 and iTunes) to test Apple's notebook performance. In iMovie, we convert a large movie file into QuickTime, and in iTunes, we convert a music file into MP3, timing each procedure.

Thanks to its faster processor, the new 1.25GHz PowerBook beat its older 1GHz sibling by 27 percent in iMovie 2.0. This performance trend continued with iTunes, as the newer 1.25GHz PowerBook saw a 28 percent performance increase over the older 1GHz PowerBook.

The new 15in. PowerBook lasted little more than a disappointing two hours in our DVD battery test -- about 20 minutes less than the older 1GHz 15in. PowerBook, which had a 61WHr battery (compared to the new system's 46WHr battery). The smaller battery combined with the higher speed processor means that you'll have less time for watching DVDs with the Apple's latest 15in. PowerBook.

To drain the battery of an Apple notebook, we play a DVD movie in full-screen mode with the sound on.

Service & support

Apple's warranty is a fairly standard one year for parts and labour, but the free telephone support lasts only a disappointing 90 days. You can extend both the warranty and the phone support to three years for an extra £199.

Apple does, however, put resources into self-help. The PowerBook comes with an Apple Hardware Test CD to aid in help diagnosing hardware problems, and Apple's Web site includes an extensive knowledge base and a large discussion board. The 120-page paper manual provides good information on connecting to the Internet and to peripherals, adding memory, and replacing the battery, along with various troubleshooting topics.

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