About a new hi-res 15" PowerBook

By David Chartier

I'm spending my last year in multimedia classes on video editing and motion graphics so, like C.K., I decided to give the 12" PowerBook the boot for a shiny new 15" hi-res book for all the extra screen real estate that video editing begs for. Yes – I know this might seem absolutely nuts on the eve of rumored Macintel books in January, but the big decision breaker is that I simply can't afford to either upgrade to, or wait for, new Intel-friendly version of all the software I'll be using to come out, and there's no way in my right mind I'm trying to run Motion 2 under Rosetta.

Since I'm writing this on the newest addition to my family though, I figured I'd post a few thoughts about the machine, while trying not to rehash too much of what John Gruber has already mused over at length:

  • Aesthetically, the machine is fantastic. I've owned one of each size of the aluminum PowerBooks, and this is the best constructed, most devoid of those minor flaws that make you think "it's a quirk but I'll deal with it so I don't have to deal with the snobby jerks at the Apple Store".
  • I can not feel the hard drive running at all, even with the PowerBook sitting right in my lap during startup. I'm not sure if I just got lucky with a quiet machine, but I'd like to chalk this up to improved engineering
  • This higher resolution is an absolute dream. I've always felt 1280 x 854 on a 15"  notebook that's supposed to be aimed at pros was a little on the short side, and 1440 x 960 is floating my boat quite well
  • If energy saving settings turn the display off before the machine goes to sleep, the latch light glows bright and solid. I've never seen this before on a PowerBook, can anyone else confirm this is a feature of the new machines and not just some setting I've missed, or new feature of 10.4.3?

So there, nothing too amazingly new or different about this machine but its recently updated specs. I'll be sure to post anything else I stumble upon like the latch light, but in the meantime: have any of you found new quirks or pleasant surprises like this?
 

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