!stop press! - bloodline buys a Powerbook G4

[bloodline]

mdma wrote:

Maybe I would be better off looking for a Pentium-M laptop with a 6wire Firewire port... But I can't find 6wire laptops anywhere.

Can you not get some kind of adapter cable?

No, the 6Wire Firewire provides power, the 4 Wire one doesn't so if you use a 6->4 cable you then have to power the device externally... which makes the whole mobile thing pointless... as I've discovered with my exisiting "normal" laptop which has a 4wire Firewire :-(

I really need to talk to others who have Powerbooks and can provide me with real world figures for perfomance... the spods at the apple store (the one on Regents Street) just hype the hardware so much, I left the shop thinking that the 1.5Ghz PowerBook G4 would make an 8 way opteron server look underpowered.. :-(

[bloodline]

mdma wrote:

I say just buy one Matt.  So what if they do go x86?  It won't suddenly stop your new G4 from working.

Another issue is that, to use the machine, I'll have to make a massive investment in software (about £600)... that's not something I'm prepared to just throw away, because Jobsie decides to change tack...


-Edit- Slightly off topic, but very cool link: http://developer.apple.com/documentation/Hardware/Developer_Notes/Macintosh_CPUs-G4/12inchPowerBookG4/0_Preface/chapter_1_section_1.html

[bloodline]

Doobrey wrote:
Anyway, onto your 4/6pin Firewire thingy...
Is there any way to make an adapter to take power from the USB ports, or does the Firewire spec demand a greater minimum current?

I already considered that :-)
But the USB provides 5v 550mW, the Firewire provides 9V 7W... so that's a no go...

I'm pretty much resigned to getting a powerbook G4... they do look nice if nothing else :-)

[bloodline]

Wilse wrote:

2 large obstacles are present. Firstly, no Mac version of Adobe Audition... But at a push I could cope with Logic Audio 7 (despite it costing 3 times as much...).

Why not get Logic Express (£199)?
Do you really need the additional features of Pro?

I'm planning on getting it for the iBook.

I would look into both.

[bloodline]

@Wilse

If you have an iBook there... have you run any version of logic on it? What spec is the laptop and what performance did you get?

[bloodline]

Not a bad little machine...

It's not as powerful as my Winblows laptop, I'm actually a little disappointed, but it is just about able to keep up with my demands :-) I've ordered a 1Gig memory upgrade (which will take me from 512Meg to 1.26gig) so I push the machine a little harder.

But I have to say I like it... it runs much cooler, it's great on the batteries, it is more stable and consistent than Windows... Once you get past the lack of basic control the OS is really good, the audio drivers as second to none... and since Logic 7 only runs on MacOS X, I've got no choice but to keep it :-)

All in all... it's a bit expensive for what it is, but it does do its job, and does it well... Looks like I'll be first in line for one of the new Pentium Powerbooks :-D

The onboard Audio is surprisingly good too! There may be times when I don't need to use my FA-101 :-o

[bloodline]

minator wrote:

It's not as powerful as my Winblows laptop, I'm actually a little disappointed, but it is just about able to keep up with my demands  I've ordered a 1Gig memory upgrade (which will take me from 512Meg to 1.26gig) so I push the machine a little harder.

I assume you're using Tiger, if so the memory upgrade should make a big difference.  Some memory usage went down with Tiger but other things went up so it can be a bit erratic.  The updates should fix it though in time.

Yup, I'm on Tiger 10.4.1

I've been using the machine all morning for music work ,and it's been as solid as a rock. I've not been pushing it too hard, but I am very happy with what it has done though. It's worth it just for Logic 7, which with the timing corrector is brilliant!!! ;-)

[bloodline]

mdma wrote:

bloodline wrote:

I've ordered a 1Gig memory upgrade (which will take me from 512Meg to 1.26gig)

1.26? :-?

1024MB + 512MB = 1536MB / 1024 = 1.5GB

As Karlos quite correctly pointed out... this is a Mac... you do indeed have to "think different"

The Powerbook 12" has 256Meg soldered to the Motherboard + a 256 SODIMM... thus in order to upgrade the RAM you first have to remove the 256 SODIMM.

The correct equation is:

1024MB + 512MB - 256MB = 1280MB / 1024 = 1.25GB


Any for anyone who is interested, I have run a battery of tests and this is what I've discovered:

The 1.5Ghz G4 is about half the speed of my 3.06Ghz Pentium4.
The 1.5Ghz G4 is about one third the speed of my 2Ghz Athlon64.
The 1.5Ghz G4 is over twice as fast as my Via C3 800Mhz.
The 1.5Ghz G4 is about one and a half times the speed of my AlthonXP 1Ghz.

All tests were performed by trying to carry out the same/similar audio and music operations. Your millage may vary ;-)

I'm keen to try a "G5" and see what that is like.

[bloodline]

Acill wrote:
I dont know about the RAM soldered to the motherboard, I know my iBook was like that, but my Powerbook has two sodimm slots, I know because I just put 2GB on it.

Yeah, I got the 12" Powerbook, which only has one SODIMM socket... the 15" and 17" Powerbooks have 2 sockets.