[Ham-Mac] Choice among current PowerBooks

[Stan Horzepa]

On 5/1/05 11:46 AM, "Richard Rucker" <rrucker at bellatlantic.net> wrote:

> Now that Tiger is out, however, I understand that a lot of the graphic
> effects that come, say with Widgets, that depend on having a more
> advanced video processor than that found in my Pismo.  Comments?

Dunno - I did not install Tiger on my Pismo yet.

> (1)  Do you think that the better performance you've seen is primarily
> due to the G4 Altivec) processor or due to the 3x clock speed?   (I
> have the G4, but not the clock speed.)

I can't hazard a guess.

> (2)  Why did you pick the 17" over the 15" model?  Some, including
> MacWorld, say the that 17" is too big and heavy to cart around much.

I do a lot of graphics and page layout, so I wanted the extra real estate
that the 17 inches provides.

FWIW, I just got off the digital scale (fully clothed). With the Pismo, I
weigh 226.5 lbs. With the new 17" PB, I weigh 226.5 lbs. The Pismo is about
1/2 inch thicker than the 17" PB. The 17" PB is about 2 inches wider than
the Pismo. They are just about dead even with regards to the front to back
measurement.

So, size is not an issue as far as I am concerned.

> (3)  I'm still using a 4200 rpm HD in an external FW case with my
> Pismo's 400 Mbps FW ports and it seems fast enough for what I'm using
> it for, so I don't think I have a need yet for 800 Mbps ports.  Any
> counter-arguments?

That "feature" did not sell me on buying the 17" PB even though I have two
160 Gbyte external HDs on the FW, primarily for backup.

> Dick Rucker, KM4ML
> 
> PS:  i've never been able to drive a TV display via my Pismo's S-video
> out connector; I don't know if it is operator trouble or something
> else.  I've tried two different cables, one S-to-S and the other
> S-to-Composite, and two different TV sets, so I don't think the cable
> or the TV set is the problem.   Reading the instructions, it seems like
> this should just be plug in, turn on, and see the image on the screen,
> but it hasn't worked that way for me.  Ideas?

I used that feature a couple of times awhile ago, so I don't remember all
the details, but I do remember using the Displays control panel to set it
up. 

73,

Stan, WA1LOU