Ti Waits for No Man

5 July 2003

I’m thinking about buying a Titanium PowerBook. My thinking was that as Apple are rumored to be releasing an updated 15.4” PowerBook soon, I should be able to get my hands on an end of line 15.2” and a good price.

But, (and this is where you guys come in), would I be missing out on anything important if I parted with a slightly reduced number of notes for an old model (I’m still talking PowerBooks here), rather than stumping up the premium for the latest and greatest?

I guess I’m looking for opinions from:

15.2” PowerBook users – do your TiBooks match up to what they claim to be? Are there any snags I should watch for? Would you buy one again? (I’m thinking about a 1Ghz model).
12/17” PowerBook users – size apart (I’m told it’s not everything) what makes your AluBook better than a TiBook? Are any of the new features genuinely beneficial, or are they updates for updates’ sake?

I need some advice from you good Mac people.

- Drew McLellan

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§ Karen Morrill-McClure: As a powerbook users from way, way back (my first powerbook was a 180 and I’ve never had a desktop) and a current owner of a 17” powerbook, I’ll give you my two cents.

Since I use only my powerbook, I love the extra screen real estate of the 17”. I also use my powerbook as an entertainment unit when travelling to let my daughter watch dvd’s while on airplanes, etc and, once again, the larger screen is nice.

But it is noticeably heavier than my old 15.2”. Also noticeably faster (and I don’t have all of its ram in yet).

I think the 15.2” is a solid machine, I’ve used one since they came out.

Oh, I do love that all the connections on the 17” are on the sides. No more reaching behind the screen and squinting to find the right place to plug stuff in. And no more forgetting that my mouse is plugged in when I put it to sleep (don’t unplug a usb mouse after you’ve put the powerbook to sleep, it really doesn’t like it).

You can’t beat the coolness of those glowing keys and I’ve actually used them several times.

I think it comes down to what you’ll be using the powerbook for and what are you using as your primary computer right now?

Since I was feeling cramped on the 15.2” screen with all the panels that Dreamweaver or Photoshop like to have open, I really like my 17”

Would I buy it again? Definitely. Despite the fact that the motherboard died after I’d had it for a week and I had to go back to my old pb while it was repaired. I missed it a lot and am delighted to have it back.
§ jason hoffman: Same disclaimer: first desktop mac ran from floppies and first laptop was a 120.

Currently: 12inch iBook, 1GHz 15.2 Ti and a dual-processor tower.

When Apple comes out with an updated 15ish” powerbook, it will probably be in-line with the 12” and 17”. That means a slightly different type of RAM (but same size/capacity), an updated video card (but same amount of VRAM), built-in Bluetooth (it was optional on the 15.2 Ti), and Al instead of Ti (titanium is cooler, never heard of a titanium soda can...).

I would recommend getting the 15.2 Ti for cheap, because there aren’t going to be any major/noticeable changes in the 15.4”.

I would then save-up for the only worthwhile upgrade coming and that would be for a G5 powerbook.

Another pro is that with a 15.2 Ti, you’ll look (to mac-geeks) like you’ve been in the game for a little while. You can start saying how it ”was great to upgrade from your Pismo powerbook...”.
§ Todd Ditchendorf: Found your site by way of Z-man...

Just got a 12 incher a couple of months ago... was a little disappointed with the speed til I maxed out the ram... now I’m happy as a clam.

Love the portability... I feel kinda awkward walking into a coffee shop with anything bigger than an iBook... seems like EVERYONE can see what’s on my screen. Not paranoid... why do you ask.

As for the 15in... I say spring for the newer model when it arrives... the Tis just don’t look as cool as the Als. If it were me, that would eat away at my soul.

BTW... beautiful site. nice.

Tod
§ Joshua Brown: My suggestion is to wait. I’ve personally found myself delivering a few proud self-pats on the back for waiting it out. But, like everyone else, my ”gotta have it now” ’tude left me wishing otherwise.

I own a 15.2 Ti, and it suited me fine for nearly everything until a while ago when I got the same itch you have. I ended up purchasing the 17” Alu because I thought the extra size & power would be worth the price bump. As great as the 17 Alu looks, feels, and works, it didn’t blow me away when it came to performace by comparison. That’s all I look for, because I love to multi-task with PS, DMX, Word, Outlook, yadda yadda. The extra resources could have went to other toys or maxing out the ram on the 15.2 Ti.

Caveat: Take my suggestion with a grain of salt, because I just got back from a 7 day trip where I took my 15.2 Ti with a 19” LCD to use as my primary monitor. :) I know this is crazy, but with a nice hardshell to protect the LCD, what more could you ask for? (I’m waiting for the LCD to break in case you’re wondering).

All kidding aside, just wait it out. The resale value, as you probably know, holds strong for most G4’s. At the end of the day, I do not forsee the 15.4 Ti being worth the additional expense versus a ”passe” 15.2 Ti. That is, of course, a G5 Powerbook comes out. :) Or, what I’m personally waiting for, is the AMD64 mobile CPU. I’ve never been much on Mac’s except for their great ability to handle gfx applications. I guess you could say I was pressured by the ”go on, get it” pro-Mac crowd (who oddly enough were all designers).

Good Luck!
—Josh
§ Lllama: I’ve been looking at getting a Powerbook for when I go travelling across the globe. My father uses his 15.2” TiBook everyday but it is huge. Giant.

That’s why I’d prefer to get the 12”. I think the power/size ratio makes it the best choice, though if you’re looking for a desktop replacement then wait for the 15.4”. If you get the new one when it comes out then you may get a couple of months in before Apple release an even better one that you’ll just have to have.
§ Steve: This may not apply to you, but the other thing you need to be careful of in the TiBooks is decreased Airport reception.

This doesn’t appear to be the case in the Aluminum notebooks.
§ Drew: By Airport you mean WiFi, right? Rather than any strange phenomenon I might experience at London Heathrow?

What’s the problem with the TiBook’s WiFi?
§ Jesse: I have one of the first generation tibook’s and I must say it has done me well for just over 2 years now - even with only 8MB of VRAM. But then again i do all my real work on a dual G4 1.25.

There is nothing wrong with WiFi on my machine either. At times a Dell laptop can pick up a slightly better signal but if you are in a place where the signal is weak you will want an external antannae anyway.

I would save my pennies and go for the cheap... A laptop will last you 3 years, if that, and new models have issues.. .always. X.3 runs a lot faster on my tiBook, I got a developers copy to try and if it wasn’t for all the broken MS apps I would be happy with it.
§ Drew: I beginning to wonder if I should just hang on, save up and plumb for a lower end G5 later in the year.
§ Joel: Given my experience with the TiBook, I would have to say wait it out, at least until after Macworld (who knows, Apple *might* still be planning on rolling something out). The disadvantages of the TiBook vs. AluBooks are the airport reception and the case design. I’ve run into quite a few border cases where my TiBook can’t get reception, and someone else’s iBook or PC laptop can. And, this is partially my fault, but after dropping it on the floor once and repairing the damage to the case, the hinge became weaker and weaker, until it finally snapped this week—it’s now stuck on my desk at work until I can get them to replace it. The aluminum powerbook hinge design (which is based on the iBook design) seems to be more durable, and I’ve heard the same thing from a few other sources.

Since I’m looking to replace mine, I’m going through the same quandary as you. The 17” is just a bit too big to be portable in my messenger bag, and the 12” lacks DVI output, making it unsuitable to drive the flat panel on my desk at work. So for my part, I’ll be running my TiBook as a desktop machine until something better comes out in the 15” range.
§ Gerrit: I’m a happy 12 PBook-Owner (and Switcher). I’d of course recommend you to buy that one (everything else just isn’t portable enough. And for graphics work you’ll want to get an external display anyway).
Anyhow, since you were asking for features which make the AlBooks preferable:
-built-in Bluetooth
-Airport Extreme! (since you’re going to use your Notebook for hopefully a longer period of time, its nice to have 2nd generation Wi-Fi built in. The extra speed gain is noticable, e.g. when opening graphics from a file server in the LAN)
-the rounded edges make the TiBook look really old.

So my recommendation: wait for the new 15”-Book if you really want a notebook that big ;)
§ Drew: I guess that’s the thing. Do I want a notebook that big? For a long time I used my Sony VAIO (12”) as my main computer. I wrote my book on it. I love it dearly, but the physical constraints (screen res, max memory, storage options, expansion) are big issues. I now have a neat Shuttle box and a nice big 19” iiyama crt. The benefits on my back alone are immediately noticeable.

I’m now toying with the idea of getting a low end G5 and sticking with my iiyama monitor as it has 2 inputs.

For about the same money as a nice Powerbook, I can get a *really* nice G5.

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About Drew McLellan

Drew McLellan has been hacking on the web since around 1996 following an unfortunate incident with a margarine tub. Since then he’s spread himself between both front- and back-end development projects, and now is Director and Senior Web Developer at edgeofmyseat.com in Maidenhead, UK (GEO: 51.5217, -0.7177). Prior to this, Drew was a Web Developer for Yahoo!, and before that primarily worked as a technical lead within design and branding agencies for clients such as Nissan, Goodyear Dunlop, Siemens/Bosch, Cadburys, ICI Dulux and Virgin.net. Somewhere along the way, Drew managed to get himself embroiled with Dreamweaver and was made an early Macromedia Evangelist for that product. This lead to book deals, public appearances, fame, glory, and his eventual downfall.

Picking himself up again, Drew is now a strong advocate for best practises, and stood as Group Lead for The Web Standards Project 2006-08. He has had articles published by A List Apart, Adobe, and O’Reilly Media’s XML.com, mostly due to mistaken identity. Drew is a proponent of the lower-case semantic web, and is currently expending energies in the direction of the microformats movement, with particular interests in making parsers an off-the-shelf commodity and developing simple UI conventions. He writes here at all in the head and, with a little help from his friends, at 24 ways.

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