[Ham-Mac] Choice among current PowerBooks

[Richard Rucker]

On May 3, 2005, at 7:18 AM, John E Bastin 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?
>
> I don't know what graphic effects you're looking for. I installed 
> Tiger in my 500 MHz Pismo over the weekend and everything seems to 
> work just fine.

I saw a demo of some of the Widgets that come with Tiger, and the 
demonstrator noted that some of the visual effects, such as the 
water-wave effect seen when certain widgets open, is only available on 
machines with the latest video processors.  I joked at the time: "Is 
this my excuse to buy a new machine?"  There was a mention of a 
capability for the CPU under software control to off-load the routines 
producing the effects to the video processor.

> The only I know of so far that I don't have, and I didn't have it with 
> Panther either, is when using Fast User
> Switching, I don't get the cute rotating cube when it makes the 
> switch; that requires Quartz video, which the Pismo doesn't have. 
> There are probably some other Quartz-requiring features I don't have, 
> but I haven't missed them, whatever they may be.

Same here.  Since I don't have it, I don't miss it.  FUS is a neat 
feature, however.  I use whenever I think a prefs file might have been 
corrupted.  My alternate (pristine) user is named "FixIt Guy."


> My opinion would be that the clock speed is the more determining 
> factor. The 450 MHz G4 that I use at the office sometimes seems slower 
> than my 500 MHz G3 PowerBook. Two very important factors to consider 
> also: the bus speed and the speed of the video drivers (and the amount 
> of video RAM).

You're probably right.  I use a 1.5 GHz accelerator from FastMac in my 
former 450 MHz G4 AGP Sawtooth machine, and I was quite pleased with 
the difference the x3 speed bump made.

> Since with each new OS, there seem to be more toys running around on 
> the Desktop, I now think the next PowerBook is going to be a 17-inch 
> display. I believe the 17-inch G4 PB still weighs less than my Pismo.

Stan Horzepa's comparison between the weights of the two machines 
seemed to bear that out.

>
> Not sure what the problem may be; S-video from my Pismo to a TV, using 
> the cable that came with the computer, has worked just fine from Day 
> 1.

Stan mentioned something about using a control panel to get S-video 
working, but I found no such animal available in OS X 10.3 when trying 
my Pismo with two different TV sets, one digital and one analog.  Since 
you didn't mention any adjustments, I assume you mean that when you 
connected the TV set, powered it on, and then powered on your Pismo, 
the configuration necessary was automatic and required no further 
intervention on your part.  Yes?

Dick Rucker, KM4ML