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Review: Apple G4 Powerbook

by David Ross on 7 July 2003, 00:00

Tags: Apple (NASDAQ:AAPL)

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What Makes a PowerBook Tick?


You could not have guessed. Never in a long shot. It is the Operating System that has been written by Apple that makes this such a powerful beast. OS X is a separate article by itself, but I will summarize as much as I can. OS X is based on a BSD variation called Darwin, which is the heart of the system. This means, the user can access a Unix shell (or more than one simultaneously) to execute commands, directly accessing Darwin.

OS X supports an amazing technology called Quartz Extreme, which allows anything and everything to be powered by OpenGL rather than a 2D engine. This is what allows OS X to stand above the rest, completely based on the GUI effects.

The Dock is Apple's answer to the start-menu, and a lot of thought has gone into it. When any application is executed it will leave an icon on the dock showing the user that it is active, and applications (such as Microsoft MSN Messenger) uses the Dock as a method of grabbing the users attention by having the application icon 'boogie' in its spot. Some users will prefer to enable Dock Magnification, which causes the hovering application icon to grow as the mouse pointer passes over it, aiding people with poor eye-sight or extremely large (external) displays.


OS Sex?


Apple supplies Xfree86 for download, and this allows OS X to run most linux applications with nothing more than a simple compilation of the source. The Developer Tools are also supplied, and allow any user to start writing their very own applications, written using Object-C or Java as an example.

As I mentioned earlier, OS X is a subject on its own, and there are many books written about it and how to use it effectively, but it is time to consider the cost of all these features and power.

And With Power Comes Great Costs


Expensive power


Currently retailing at £2199.00 this beautiful work of engineering at its best does not come cheaply. But I ask myself, has the switch been worth it? Hell yea! I would do it again if I have to, and I seriously plan to follow the Apple way of life for the next couple of years.




Buy a Apple G4 over here

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HEXUS Forums :: 14 Comments

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Posted by Howard - Sun 18 Jul 2004 17:30
That's a capacitor. And it's burst. Lol.

My only recommendation is to get a new motherboard. :(
Posted by directhex - Sun 18 Jul 2004 17:37
or get out the soldeing iron.

and there were issues with motherboards from a few years ago using dodgy capacitors prone to bursting
Posted by Shogun - Sun 18 Jul 2004 17:38
New mobo im afraid. The temperature written on it is the maximum safe operating temperature of the component. I want to see what happens if you try and turn it back on :P
Posted by evil_king - Sun 18 Jul 2004 17:44
This may seem like a strange question, but why did it burst? Apart from the fact that it reached 105 degrees, of course. I've never had any trouble with temperatures with thos comp before. Zalman reserator on the cpu , couple 120mm system fans, watercooled graphics card (not overclocked). Seems rather odd. At least it gives me an excuse to finally stop neglecting it and update the cpu/mobo/ram (seems ancient compared to my vapochill xe :cool: ).

EDIT: Seems to be working fine. Swapped out the graphics card for a geforce 2 and disconnected the optical drives incase it decides to catch fire or something. Running cpuburn for 4 minutes so far without trouble.
Posted by Shogun - Sun 18 Jul 2004 17:58
evil_king
This may seem like a strange question, but why did it burst? Apart from the fact that it reached 105 degrees, of course. I've never had any trouble with temperatures with thos comp before. Zalman reserator on the cpu , couple 120mm system fans, watercooled graphics card (not overclocked). Seems rather odd. At least it gives me an excuse to finally stop neglecting it and update the cpu/mobo/ram (seems ancient compared to my vapochill xe :cool: ).

EDIT: Seems to be working fine. Swapped out the graphics card for a geforce 2 and disconnected the optical drives incase it decides to catch fire or something. Running cpuburn for 4 minutes so far without trouble.

Mostly just down to old age. If the caps were dodgy to start with it was just a matter of time till they went.

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