Apple PowerBook G4 15.2 in. Mac Notebook

Just like most products from Apple, the Powerbook exceeds the expectations of many. It is a great, powerful, and speedy computer. It can hold its on ground against Windows computers with processor speeds twice that of the 1 GHz G4. OS X is not only very nice looking, but very fluid and easy to use. The Powerbook is also very easy to carry places, and the wireless Internet works very well. It is an extremely nice computer to use, though like any piece of technology these days, it has its issues too. Not all parts of it are perfect, and it could deal with a few improvements. In the end though, it is a wonderful computer and very enjoyable to use.

This Powerbook was my first experience with a home computer being an Apple. Up until then, I had used solely Windows, and relied a lot on my PC. Like a lot of other potential switchers, I was worried about the change of OS's. I expected at worst, total incompatibility with my network, older files, and that any software I wanted to buy would be impossible to find. At best I expected issues every few days with another problem, and a lot of trouble setting up internet with my Windows network, and other such things. The switch could not have been smoother. I installed Microsoft Office v.X which is at least as good as the PC version. All of my office files were completely compatible, and I bought a wireless access point for my existing network, which granted me internet in a few minutes. I didn't have to spend hours setting up compatibility settings, or install anything such as Virtual PC. The only item that did not work was my Nomad Jukebox 3, which was specifically not compatible with Apple, so that was no surprise. The switch from Windows to Apple was even easier than the switch commercials make it seem, and are not something one should worry about in considering this Apple.

This laptop is a truly great laptop. While at first the specs may seem comparatively low to state of the art PC's with processor speeds like 1 GHz, and Hard Drive sizes like 60 GB, this laptop outperforms PC's that have specs double its own. The speeds on this computer are very fast, and enjoyable to use. My Powerbook greatly outperforms a custom-built Windows PC with a 2 GHz processor, in everything from Photoshop rendering times to boot up speeds to FPS in games. It is also very proficient at running many applications at once, without them slowing down each other. Comparable operating systems seem to run into trouble with too many applications open. Not this one. Performance is barely affected.

The OS is also very great. In using this Powerbook for nearly half a year, never has OS X produced a crash or freeze. The few times in which a program would stall, it is conveniently easy to just end that program while the rest of the OS runs fine at full speed. The interface is also very nice and easy to use. OS X really shows how good an OS it can be with this computer.

Like every good piece of technology, this also has its flaws. Mainly, is the obvious price of it. It costs a lot more than many other laptops, and while that money is made up for in performance, style, and many other things, you should consider how much that is worth to you before making such an investment. There are also some little things. The thing that I noticed the most was the battery life. In normal use of the computer, you can really only get about 3-4 hours of battery life. That can be improved by certain things, but it won't make too much of a difference. The other main flaw is not PowerBook-specific, but is just the problems with running an Apple these days. There are many less programs available, and sometimes something you want to run will not be available. However, that is worth sacrificing for the performance and overall greatness of this computer.

All in all, the PowerBook is a very good computer, with very many great features, and if the price is acceptable, it is definitely worth purchasing over other models.