On Sun, Feb 16, 2003 at 11:52:02AM +0100, Mat?j Hausenblas wrote: -snip- > So if someone who has experience with Mac Powerbook or Ibook could tell me, > if there are some big problems (I heard of proprietary HW and Apple) or if > everything seems be OK. Also I would like to know, if Ibook can be bought > without MacOS or if it's like with PCs:'-( >
i just (about 1 month) ago acquired a powerbook (g4 15" 800mhz) and put debian on it (dual boot with os X). i also use a thinkpad x20 and i have a vaio z505r. what i like about the powerbook so far: 1) the debian install was relatively easier than on the x20 or the vaio. i think this is a reflection of the homogeneity of apple hardware which allows the porters to focus their efforts a bit more than is the case for i386 side of things. 2) the screen is simply gorgeous. 3) the slot drive works for dvd reading as well as cdrw. for the x20 i need to attach the ultrabase to get these options and that makes the weight exceed that of the powerbook. 4) battery life. apple claims 5 hours but i think that would be with very low lighting and light work. using full brightness and lots of compiling, i typically get 3.5 hours. 5) it comes with OS X so if you dual boot you can explore BSD :). 6) the debian powerpc list, like most debian lists, has an excellent signal to noise ratio. what i don't like about the pb so far: 1) one button mouse. major design flaw if working in X. simple fix is an external usb mouse, but sometimes you don't have room for a mouse - i fly coach :) 2) airport card. my reception seems to be ok despite reports by other tibook owners that this can be lousy. at the moment i'm having problems with some network apps - ssh/scp work fine on the aiport but browsing is not so good (time-out problems). the onboard nic works just fine however. 3) no real hibernation mode on the g4's only sleep. whether the latter works or not seems to be a hit or miss proposition on the tibooks. on my particular configuration the machine enters sleep mode but seldom comes back to life. 4) it comes with OS X ;-> i've explored it but can't see myself switching from debian. i don't mean this as a dig at BSD, but rather the layers of eyecandy that OS X had put ontop of BSD. what i don't know about the pb so far: 1) external video. i've seen reports that the radeon 7500 card under the powerpc port won't support using an lcd projector but i've yet to test this. in summary, the x20 has been my main laptop for going on 3 years now. it has seen heavy use and although one keyboard and one drive have died on me, they were under the original (3-year) warranty and replaced by big blue. the pb comes with only a 1 year warranty by contrast and i've heard from other tibook owners that shelling out the $ for the extended care might be a wise investment. at the moment if i had to pick one machine i'd stick with the x20. as i figure out more about the pb this might change down the road however. hth, -- Serge Rey http://typhoon.sdsu.edu/rey.html People who are aware of, and ashamed of, their prejudices are well on the road to eliminating them. -- Gordon Allport
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