Just bought my first Mac

[alienmac]

G4 Powerbook Rev. D / 15 inch / 100GB (7200 rpm) / Superdrive / 1 gig (PC-4200). Most recent iteration of the Powerbook line. This model includes the brighter higher resolution screen 15.2

I am really excited about owning my first Mac, I bought it for $1300. I know, I know...alot of you probably think I should of gone with a Macbook. I strongly believe that it depends what you use your portable laptop for. I have the whole desktop dual-core workstation that I do all my Photoshop / Flash in, I just needed a portable laptop to surf the web, access ftp, and email, that's it.

I almost did buy the Macbook, but I know I will never use it for heavy applications or gaming so I couldn't quite justify it. I see some G4 Powerbook bashing, but it's all in how you use it. I do have one question though, do people carry around an extra battery since battery life is limited? How easy is it to swap it out.

I now have the Mac fever...

 

[sushi]

G4 Powerbook Rev. D / 15 inch / 100GB (7200 rpm) / Superdrive / 1 gig (PC-4200). Most recent iteration of the Powerbook line. This model includes the brighter higher resolution screen 15.2

I am really excited about owning my first Mac, I bought it for $1300. I know, I know...alot of you probably think I should of gone with a Macbook. I strongly believe that it depends what you use your portable laptop for. I have the whole desktop dual-core workstation that I do all my Photoshop / Flash in, I just needed a portable laptop to surf the web, access ftp, and email, that's it.

I almost did buy the Macbook, but I know I will never use it for heavy applications or gaming so I couldn't quite justify it. I see some G4 Powerbook bashing, but it's all in how you use it. I do have one question though, do people carry around an extra battery since battery life is limited? How easy is it to swap it out.

I now have the Mac fever...

I have a earlier version of what you are going to get. Works great.

The battery is very easy to change. In my case, I don't use mine in the portable mode, so I just plug in where I go.

 

[inlimbo]

I have the same machine. I bought an extra power brick and just leave it in my bag - and plug it in whenever I can. The battery life isn't so bad. Just turn off airport ande bluetooth if you are not using them. Close any programs that you don't need open. Turning the screen down also helps (or even do the invert thing - that might same even more energy ctrl+option+cmd+8).

For example I could get 4 hours out of mine when using Word to record (while typing) lectures at uni.

P.S. I think Rev E was the last revision to the powerbook line, not Rev D.

 

[watchmainspring]

G4 Powerbook Rev. D / 15 inch / 100GB (7200 rpm) / Superdrive / 1 gig (PC-4200). Most recent iteration of the Powerbook line. This model includes the brighter higher resolution screen 15.2

I am really excited about owning my first Mac, I bought it for $1300. I know, I know...alot of you probably think I should of gone with a Macbook. I strongly believe that it depends what you use your portable laptop for. I have the whole desktop dual-core workstation that I do all my Photoshop / Flash in, I just needed a portable laptop to surf the web, access ftp, and email, that's it.

I almost did buy the Macbook, but I know I will never use it for heavy applications or gaming so I couldn't quite justify it. I see some G4 Powerbook bashing, but it's all in how you use it. I do have one question though, do people carry around an extra battery since battery life is limited? How easy is it to swap it out.

I now have the Mac fever...

you'll be fine with one battery. If you do purchase another one, you will find that it is seldomly used. (Trust me on this one!) I second the notion of another power adapter.

 

[alienmac]

you'll be fine with one battery. If you do purchase another one, you will find that it is seldomly used. (Trust me on this one!) I second the notion of another power adapter.

Would you do ebay for the power adapter? What should I look for and do you guys trust a certain type of car power adapter?

 

[craigatkinson]

I would buy a power inverter from radio shack or circuit city or any other electronics store for the car and just use your current power cable to plug it into. As far as a second power adapter goes, I would highly recommend sticking with the apple brand power adapter.

 

[watchmainspring]

Would you do ebay for the power adapter? What should I look for and do you guys trust a certain type of car power adapter?

eBay is always a good solution.

 

[Collin973]

I just got my first mac 10 days ago: a 12" powerbook 1 ghz. What an awesome machine. It feels so (physically) solid compared to my older dell laptop. It is in amazing shape and the battery life is respectable! I watched three episodes of 24 on dvd before the battery turned red. I'm very very happy with it!!!

You will love your PB. They are the best laptops you can buy (mbp included). There's nothing (that i've used) that i can compare it to.

 

[inlimbo]

Would you do ebay for the power adapter? What should I look for and do you guys trust a certain type of car power adapter?

I don't know if u will find any 'Apple' power adapters on ebay. I don't know if there are third party ones. As you probably know the Apple ones are quite expensive. I couldn't find any so I went with the standard 'Apple' one.

Car power adapters may be a differnt story though...

 

[dmw007]

G4 Powerbook Rev. D / 15 inch / 100GB (7200 rpm) / Superdrive / 1 gig (PC-4200). Most recent iteration of the Powerbook line. This model includes the brighter higher resolution screen 15.2

I am really excited about owning my first Mac, I bought it for $1300. I know, I know...alot of you probably think I should of gone with a Macbook. I strongly believe that it depends what you use your portable laptop for. I have the whole desktop dual-core workstation that I do all my Photoshop / Flash in, I just needed a portable laptop to surf the web, access ftp, and email, that's it.

I almost did buy the Macbook, but I know I will never use it for heavy applications or gaming so I couldn't quite justify it. I see some G4 Powerbook bashing, but it's all in how you use it. I do have one question though, do people carry around an extra battery since battery life is limited? How easy is it to swap it out.

Congrats on the purchase of your first Mac alienmac. The PowerBook G4 may no longer be the top of the line laptop, but it is still one heck of a machine. Enjoy!

I now have the Mac fever...

Welcome to the club! Is it not a great feeling!