Considering a Powerbook

One of the considerations I'm looking at (and one of the main reasons I'm looking at a powerbook rather than an ibook) is running SL.

What would it be like on one of these, has anyone tried it? Particularly, is the graphics card enough?:
12.1-inch TFT Display
1024x768 resolution
1.33GHz PowerPC G4
256MB DDR333 memory
60GB Ultra ATA/100
NVIDIA GeForce FX
Go5200 (64MB DDR)

(I know it'd be necessary to get another 256 memory, which I'd probably buy from Crucial since the Apple memory is way overpriced)

I'm not expecting it to be as good as my P4 3GHz with FX5900 and 1GB of RAM that I use for gaming But if it's comfortably smooth it'll be nice lounging around with the powerbook on WiFi and playing SL.

Does SL even look any good on a 12" display or would the 15" version be needed?

The 15" version also comes with this graphics card:
ATI Mobility RADEON
9700 (64MB DDR)

This would be my first ever Mac, which is why I'm pretty clueless I don't know much about how Macs and PCs compare in performance, other than that most say 1.33GHz isn't as slow as it sounds on a PPC.

I use a 1.3 GHz 17" Powerbook using WiFi and SL runs fine.

As long as you're prepared that it won't be as smooth and fast as it is on your PC, you should do fine. It's very playable on the 12" screen... the resolution is still 1024x768.

Good luck!

The GeForce FX Go5200 is the lowest-end NVIDIA processor. If Powerbooks have the option of a Go5600 or even Go5700, it's worth the price if you play 3D games like Second Life.

Thanks for the thoughts so far.

The 12" Powerbooks are only available with a go5200, but the 15" model has an ATI Mobility 9700. If that's considerably faster (as in big regrets if the 5200 is bought) then I'll think about getting that one. Naturally, I'm always worried about ATI's compatibility with SL.

For the most part I'd only use the book for "comfortable SL" instead of "perched in front of PC SL" and perhaps the occasional 3D game - for serious gaming or long and involved SL sessions, I would use the big beast of a PC which I bought just for that purpose

Is it true that the 12" model doesn't have USB 2.0? I'd really like the 12" for the portability (and the powerbook over the ibook would make it nicer to connect to a real monitor when desired) but the expense of no USB port would be rather annoying.

As an ex-NVIDIA employee, I'm pained to compliment anything ATI, but a Radeon Mobility 9700 performs in a much better class than the Go5200. The 9700 is ATI's top-end 2002 design, and the Go5200 is NVIDIA's low-end 2003 design.

This being said, I play SL on a 5200 desktop card occasionally. It's OK.

All current PowerBooks support USB 2.0. Refer to the USB 2.0 ports explicitly identified on the 12" Powerbook image at http://www.apple.com/powerbook/

It's going to be a tough decision I'm thinking if the 5200 is playable on SL (as in, not as bad as the Geforce2-MX 32MB I once tried on it) then I'd probably rather have the better portability.

At least the decision of getting a Powerbook in the first place isn't a difficult one. It's one of those things I just *have* to have.

Regarding USB 2.0, from what I can gather only the early models didn't have it. According to this page it has them:
http://developer.apple.com/documentation/Hardware/Developer_Notes/Macintosh_CPUs-G4/12inchPowerBookG4/3_Input-Output/chapter_4_section_2.html

The only thing I know of that's missing is PCMCIA, which I only ever used on the PC laptop for WiFi (built in on the Mac) so I can't imagine missing it.

One more thing: Has anyone had SL running on 256MB even though it states 512 minimum? I will be upgrading to 512 if/when I get one, but probably not straight away.

Well, I just ordered a 12" with 5400RPM hard drive I'm sure it'll be a good choice. Memory to follow from Crucial soon (Apple's is hideously overpriced)

Just a case of trying to contact the financing company (MBNA) now. Apple's site gives the wrong phone number it seems (after a few attempts I found an operator with a brain at MBNA who gave me the number for the correct department... unfortunately it closes earlier...)

Looking forward to being a Mac user. I haven't used one since school (Mac Classics!) so it'll be an interesting experience.

Hi there,

I have also been thinking of purchasing a mac laptop recently, had my eye on one of those shiny new 12' G4 iBook's (yeah well some of us don't have money to burn, lol).
it comes with a radeon 9200 chipset.

So my enquiry is 'has anyone had any experience with SL on one of these?'

Your thoughts Please.

Seconded, keep the thoughts flowing

The finance company Apple use didn't want my money, so I'll have to wait until I get to a PC World as I know HFC almost never refuse credit (bought an iPod off them only a couple of weeks ago). The downside being I can't customise it and put the decent hard drive in, oh well.

Update:

Hello from a Powerbook 12"

I may be biased at this time, but I'm in love with the thing. Anyone considering it, don't hestitate I was worried a little about the screen size but it's just fine, and really clear. Really well-buil machine, completely oozes quality, and lasts for a long time on battery compared to my pretty old PC laptop.

I had to get the version with the slower 60GB hard drive, but haven't had any complaints so far. Still from what I read, if you can order direct from Apple and get 80GB 5400RPM then do so. But if you can't... it won't hurt.

Now the important bit... SL runs just fine!!

When loading stuff it's a little chuggy as expected - I believe only having 256MB will be a major factor in that. An extra 256 or more should make things smoother.

Graphically, it seems perfectly smooth for my purposes... anyone who's a frame rate demon isn't expected to love it just yet, but for "normal" folks it's just fine RAM and connection lag aside, when just walking around, it's silky smooth.

I'll try to find the Mac buttons for the graphical framerate (the keyboard is so different!) and post back.

Seriously though, no regrets whatsoever. I'm glad to have the dinky 12", even if it does maybe sacrifice a few FPS. The screen is perfectly adequate IMO, and I couldn't have a nicer thing to carry around (*cough* show off *cough*)

I can't speak about the late-us 12" But One of my sister has a 12" albumin pb, and then my older sister has the 15" pb, the 15" pb has a very noticeable improvement over the 12". I have a dual 500 mrts g4 with a gforce 4 ti, and it runs sl better then the 12"
Where I noticed the difference is flying between area, and on the map. The map load almost instantaneously on the 15" , but the 12" it take a little time. Why is the 15" better, It's not just the video card, I'm pretty sure it has some thing to do with the bus speed. Other wise I think my old 5000 tower would out perform the 15"
but then again at the time the agb had to be disabled ont he 12" to get sl working. So it wasn't exactly a fair test.

Not sure, but I think the 15" model comes with the faster hard drive (the 4200RPM is quite slow) which might make a difference in that area. The faster graphics would definitely make a difference though.

Personally I'm very happy with the 12" model... it may be a little slower, but the size is great for what I wanted and running SL is more of a bonus than a concern. Got a big, fat PC for doing more intensive SL stuff

With 256MB RAM it seems playable (if "play" is the correct word to use) but it's almost constantly thrashing at the disk and slowing things down (especially when moving around) which would indicate that 512 is a very realistic minimum. This seems to be the only thing holding it up, as when it's done thrashing it's nice and smooth.

Beautiful machine and OS... very well made... depending on apps, my next desktop may be a Mac in 3 or so years time when the PC is paid for.

Hehe, Del, welcome to the world of computers that work well and look good

Max out the memory if you can, it'll be worth it in the long run with the laptop, as that's about the only upgrade you can do.

I have an original 12" Pb, with 128mb onboard and a 512 in the slot for 640 total, max at the time.

I play SL on it when I am away from my desktop (P4 2.26, 1gb RAM, FX5900 128mb) on trips and such. Works pretty well, but I wouldn't try racing around the vehicle sims or anything.

Honestly, while it was slower on my laptop (G4-867, 640mb RAM, GF4MX 32mb) it looked comparably to my desktop, which at the time had 512mb RAM and a GF2MX 32mb in it before i upgraded that.

USB 2.0 is a nice upgrade, since you don't have to spend the extra $ for firewire equipment and there is more USB2 equipment out there anyhow. Although firewire is nice in that a lot of things are bus-powered.

You also have a mini-DVI port, meaning you can drive one of those nice shiny new aluminum LCD displays.

You may eventually find that your laptop outperforms your beast PC for everyday usage.

This may be disconcerting at first, but that will go away along with most of the usual Windows headaches.

My desktop PC has been relegated to mostly file serving and playing SL. Of course I still upgraded it, I mean, gotta give SL nice hardware to use

The "beast" PC here is in a huge case, easily expandable, 7 fans yada yada... though in truth I've never had to pull the side off yet other than to clean the dust filters, and the flippin' CPU quite happily toasts away at 64C with no regard for the masses of fans, carefully applied and reapplied arctic silver compound, highly rated heatsink etc.

Sometimes it's nice just to have something already working, predictable and easy to use.. after all, I have nothing to prove

Some things will take some getting used to. I keep hitting "Home" and "End" whilst typing messages and expecting them to do something! (The equivalent seems to be Ctrl-Left and Ctrl-Right)

OSX looks bloody awful on a CRT, though, even with the font smoothing set to "Standard". Flatscreen is definitely the way to go with these puppies. (All deliberate I'm sure, getting used to the idea that Apple "fix" a lot of things to sell hardware - DVD software that only works with the Superdrive, monitor resolutions that are limited unless it's made by Apple etc. This is the only complaint I have - if they were Microsoft they'd be kicked around the courts for anti-competitive behaviour)

Just a minor and understandable thing though.

I'm loving Exposé.

Just to update, with the stock 256MB it was basically unplayable anywhere where there was activity. Having had a go with 768MB though, once you add that RAM it's MUCH smoother, almost as smooth as my FX5900 PC desktop, so yes a Powerbook will run SL very happily

I just signed on to SL and i love it ! Im running SL on my old old old PC but it works well enough for me to get around and enjoy all SL has to offer.

But I have a 12inch Powerbook G4
G4 1.0 Ghz
256MB built in - expandable to 1.25GB
GeForceFX Go5200 32MB
40GB hard drive

Thanks to earlier posts I know the new powerbook has 64MB on the graphics card and with upgraded RAM then SL runs fine.

Anyone know bout my model ? With 32MB, could i play SL once i get 512MB more RAM ?

And I have to upgrade to Panther since my laptop came with Jaguar....which sucks cause its not cheap to move up to Panther.

Is it worth it ? After using my powerbook for the last few months, i hate my PC for all its instability...so id love to run SL on my laptop...

How fast it the processor?

My Mac has a G4 processor at 1.0Ghz.

I use a 1.5ghz 17" powerbook, and i only notice performance lag when there is a lot of activity, and even so its not bad. ive got the 128mb ATI Radeon 7200 card too

I'm seriously thinking of getting a 12" ibook in the next couple of weeks, whats the skinny on the Radeon 9200 that comes with it, is it any good?

edited : because I'm a muppet and don't know my inches from feet hehehe

32MB will be playable, you'll just have blurry textures a bit (if anyone sets their graphics down to 32MB in preferences in-game, they'll see what I mean)

There is no such thing as a 12' powerbook (12 foot, that's huge!) and the 12" version comes with an NVidia card

Assuming you mean 15", I'll let someone else answer that.

My Powerbook was stolen last week I was devistated.

Thankfully insurance sorted it out and I should have a new one on Monday. Still lost some cash (excess on the claim) and data though.

I have the latest 15" PowerBook. It's a 1.5GHz G4 with a 64MB ATI video card. I've got 768MB of Ram. With AGP acceleration on I get 10 - 12 fps at my home in Miramare. I was somewhere yesterday and I was getting 20+ fps but that is certainly the exception. I'm hoping 10.3.5 will be out soon and will correct the problems with ATI cards and improve performance.

I was reading your thread and was going to tell you to get as much memory as possible. It looks like you made it up to 768 MB on your own already, though.

I have a 15" Powerbook that runs SL very well. I often have SL, Poser, Gimp, Safari, Mail, iCal, and a few terminals running at the same time. With my 1 GB of RAM the thing runs like a peach. Admittedly, I don't get the same performance as my desktop but a slightly lower frame rate is an acceptable trade off for working in MacOS.

~Ulrika~

I would've made it 1GB, but I'm not *that* insane when it comes to being screwed over prices, even as an Apple buyer The 512 stick was £60 whilst the 1GB was priced at something like £300. That-is-silly.

I hope they get the ATI problems fixed... I'm glad to have chosen the 12" which uses an Nvidia card as it'd have faaaar less headaches.

Muwhahahahahaha

Hello From New York and my shiny new G4 Powerbook. Just bought it and am very happy with it


Any Idea's on what would be good setting for running secondlife, I'll be upgrading the memory when I get home to the UK.