S$4588
Product Summary
6.9
out of 10View score
The bad: Expensive; lacks a TV-tuner card; has only two USB ports.
The bottom line: The 17-inch PowerBook G4 delivers a competitive set of features, a great software package, good battery life, and style in spades, but you can find plenty of less expensive options out there.
Read full review of the Apple PowerBook G4 »
Average User Rating
from 3 users
6.3
out of 10CNET Asia Review
Apple's reluctance to mess with a good thing brings a handful of modest upgrades to the new 17-inch PowerBook G4, which now offers a finer native resolution of 1,680 x 1,050 and a list price of S$4,588 (US$3,294.79). Though it's significantly more expensive than comparable Windows-based hardware, the 17-inch PowerBook G4 remains the dream machine for creative professionals already committed to the Mac OS, and for anyone else looking for the sleekest, lightest-weight 17-inch widescreen laptop on the market.
Design
The 17-inch PowerBook has the same rock-solid aluminum-alloy case as the other PowerBooks. It measures 392 x 259 x 26mm, making it considerably sleeker than the competition. It's also remarkably lightweight at 3.1kg, which is lighter than most 17-inch PC laptops.
With the same keyboard layout as the 15-inch and 12-inch models, the 17-inch PowerBook G4 has rounded keys that are shaped to fit your fingers. An ambient-light sensor automatically illuminates the keyboard in low lighting. The spacious touch pad's two-finger scrolling feature, for scrolling horizontally and vertically, is magical (use it for a few days, and you'll wonder how you ever did without it). Pressing on either side of the single mouse button below the pad simulates left and right mouse clicks.
The screen is the star here. Apple claims it has improved the brightness by 46 percent (we did not test this claim) and increased the top resolution to 1,680 x 1,050 pixels (up from 1,440 x 900), giving you 36 percent more real estate on your screen. The higher resolution makes icons and text quite small, but the image quality is crisp, and the display is equally excellent for graphics work, watching movies, and surfing the Web.
Features
Some of the 17-inch PowerBook G4's lightness comes from what it doesn't have. It lacks a TV tuner card, as found on the Qosmio G25-AV513 and the Sony Vaio VGN-AX570G, and it provides only two USB 2.0 ports; we consider four ports standard for a desktop replacement. Otherwise, the 17-inch PowerBook G4 has a complete assortment of connections, including a PC Card slot and ports for 56Kbps modem, 10/100/1,000 Ethernet, FireWire (one for 400 and one for 800), analog and digital audio input and output, VGA, S-Video, composite video, and DVI. It also has a slot-loading single-layer DVD burner. Since it comes on the heels of the revamped iMac G5, which has a built-in iSight camera, we wish this pricey PowerBook also arrived with a built-in camera and Apple's Front Row software (and a remote). Alas.
Like all Apple laptops, the 17-inch PowerBook G4 lacks a true productivity suite, but it ships with one of the strongest software packages around. You get the latest version of the terrific Mac OS X, nicknamed Tiger, plus Apple's excellent iLife '05 software bundle for managing photos (iPhoto), videos (iMovie), and music (iTunes). Also included are more professional-grade apps, including Art Directors Toolkit, OmniOutliner, QuickBooks for Mac, Logic Express, and Motion 2 or Final Cut Express HD.
The new PowerBook has similar components to those in the previous 17-inch model: A 1.67GHz G4 processor; 512MB of PC2-4200 DDR2 SDRAM (the previous model used DDR SDRAM); an ATI Mobility Radeon 9700 128MB graphics card; a new Bluetooth 2.0+EDR card; Airport Extreme 802.11g wireless; and a 120GB Ultra ATA/100 5,400rpm hard drive (the previous model had a 100GB drive) protected by Apple's Sudden Motion Sensor technology, which stops it from spinning when it detects imminent damage. If that drive is too slow, you can opt for a 100GB Ultra ATA/100 7,200rpm drive at checkout for the same price.
Performance And Battery Life
It's difficult to compare Apples and oranges (or PC laptops), but the new 17-inch PowerBook G4 isn't considerably faster than the previous version. While it turned in nearly identical results on our iTunes encoding test, it fared slightly better on our Photoshop test, due to its graphics card, which has double the onboard memory of the previous generation's card. Its scores on our Unreal 3D gaming test show, again, that the PowerBooks don't cut the mustard for serious gaming.
| iTunes MP3 conversion (Shorter bars indicate faster performance) |
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| Photoshop CS (Shorter bars indicate faster performance) |
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| Unreal Tournament 2004 (Longer bars indicate faster performance) |
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Apple is touting the improved battery performance in this PowerBook, claiming 5.5 hours of use under optimal conditions. We did, in fact, see a significant improvement in our tests. Those improvements aren't due to the battery itself, but to hardware and software tweaks that let the PowerBook run more efficiently. We got 3.6 hours of continuous DVD play in our battery drain test, which is almost an hour better than we got from the previous 17-inch model, and best of class for a laptop its size.
| DVD movie battery-drain test (Longer bars indicate longer battery life) |
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Service And Support
Apple notebooks have a one-year local warranty. At Apple's support Web site, Mac owners can download the latest drivers and manuals. In the event of simple malfunctions, the company offers an online knowledge database and support forum for troubleshooting. Should the Mac require further diagnosis or repair, the notebooks has to be brought to the Apple CareCenter. For the first 90 days, there will be complimentary telephone support to resolve any Mac related inquiries. If such a service is invaluable, the warranty can be upgraded to AppleCare Protection Plan for an additional S$247.80 (US$177.95) which extends the coverage to three years with an international telephone support and hardware troubleshooting.
Rate It Now
User Reviews
What's the major difference versus the last 17"?
Apr 10, 2006Rating: 5 out of 10 (Average)
Pros: -
Cons: -
Opinion:
Anybody knows the major difference between this 17" model versus the last one? (the one with DDR and 100Gb Hard Disk)
How bout speed difference? LCD quality???
Thanks
POWER!!!!!
Dec 21, 2005Rating: 10 out of 10 (Perfect)
Pros: Powerful, huge screen, sleek, lighter than most in the same class
Cons: Pricey, hot
Opinion:
Hard to read screen
Nov 3, 2005Rating: 4 out of 10 (Mediocre)
Pros:
Cons:
Opinion:
For some reason, the screen appears hazy. Not pleasant, give you a headache. I regret my purchase. The previous 1,440 x 900 was so much better in comparison.
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