Compiled by Charles Moore
and edited by
Dan Knight
- 2005.04.29
This Week's PowerBook, iBook, and Notebook News
General Apple and Mac desktop news is covered in The Mac News Review. iPod news is
covered in The iNews
Review.
News & Opinion
Reviews
New Products
News & Opinion
The (Im)Perfect Notebook
PC Magazine's Michael
Miller says:
"People get attached to their notebooks in ways they don't to
their desktop computers (gamers being the exception). The big
differences among notebooks are not with the processor, memory, or
graphics subsystem. Of course, if you're into gaming or video
editing, you do need to pay attention to speeds and feeds. But
those of us who use computers for Web browsing and office
applications need to think beyond speed....
"I like convertible notebooks where the screen swivels to become
a tablet. So kudos to Acer, Fujitsu, HP, and Toshiba. I also like
the fingerprint readers for passwords on the Fujitsu, IBM, and MPC
machines. And, of course, I need a reliable notebook. In our reader
surveys, IBM and Apple come out on top."
A Custom Install on a New 12" PowerBook
The Bangkok Post's Graham K. Rogers
writes:
"In March (and a little earlier than I had budgeted for) I
collected a new 12-inch Apple
PowerBook, delivered with two 15-inch PowerBooks and a PowerPC to the
Mahidol University International College (MUIC) out at Salaya,
Thailand. I walked across campus from the Engineering Faculty,
partly to save a second delivery trip, but really because I could
hardly wait to get my paws on it.
"Once home, I started it up, had a look and reached for the
install disks. I would not expect anyone else to do this, but I am
fanatical about the idea that the personal in PC means 'personal.'
When I bought my last PC - a 386, no less - I had problems
convincing the seller that I really did want 'just DOS.'
"With the PowerBook, I made a custom install: no un-needed
languages; no IE; no trial version of MS Office; but I made sure
X11 was installed so that I could run Unix software. The process
took about 30 minutes, then came the user set-up."
Fujitsu Readies 200 GB Notebook Drive
PC World's Paul
Kallender reports:
"Fujitsu is planning to sell 2.5-inch hard drives with a
capacity of 200 GB in the first half of 2007, the company says.
"The drives, intended for use in notebook PCs, will consist of
two disk platters that will store up to 100 GB each, for a total of
up to 200 GB. The largest capacity 2.5-inch drives the company
currently sells store 120 GB, according to Fred Hirose, a
spokesperson for Fujitsu."
IBM ThinkPad Spot Klutz Proof, Not Apple
Devotee Proof
Brand Republic's
Daniel Farey-Jones says:
LONDON - "A television ad for an IBM laptop has been pulled
after Apple geeks, notorious for their devotion to all things
Apple, mobilised to complain that Big Blue was not the only company
to offer 'Klutz proof wireless'.
"The Ogilvy & Mather-created ad for IBM's ThinkPad had run
for almost a year, during which it was the only computer to feature
drop protection technology, or "Klutz proof wireless".
"However, after Apple introduced the same technology in its
PowerBooks at the end of January 2005 and the ad was aired in
February, two viewers and Apple fans complained. They said the ad's
strapline, 'Klutz Proof Wireless. Only on a ThinkPad', was
misleading."
Reviews
Hitachi's 100 GB Laptop Drive: Fast, Massive,
and Ready to Rumble
MacNETv2
reports:
"Here's something to think about; In January 2001 Apple
announced an all-new, sleek Titanium PowerBook. This
state-of-the-art-and-then-some PowerBook shipped with a 10 GB hard
drive. Four years later Apple ships PowerBooks with 10 times that
amount of storage. How's that for progress? Want YOUR PowerBook to
sport a fast 100 GB hard drive? Read Sean Foushee's positive
experience with the Hitachi 5K100." - Lisa Swanson
New Products
NewerTech Announces Battery for 12"
PowerBooks
PR: Other World Computing (OWC) and Newer Technology,
Inc. are offering the longest lasting batteries available for 12"
PowerBooks.
NewerTech NuPower PowerBook and iBook
batteries are designed, engineered, and assembled in the
USA using only the best components. The result is a quality product
that consistently outlasts the competition in terms of both
operational runtime and useful longevity.
Longer runtime means more time spent unplugged between charges.
Better longevity means a longer useable life span compared to other
available batteries.
"The NewerTech NuPower design goes beyond just adding extra
capacity," said Larry O'Connor, president of OWC. "The extra
runtime is great, and that along with the long useful life span of
NuPower batteries is what sets them apart from any other."
NuPower's new 53.3 Watt Hour battery model is immediately
available for $139.99, and provides more than 13% additional
capacity over original Apple batteries and as much as 32.5% more
capacity than other non-Apple after-market batteries.
"First introduced only two years ago, today people recognize
NewerTech's NuPower batteries for the quality and longevity they
provide," O'Connor said. "For a very long time customers have been
asking when we'll have our 12" Aluminum PowerBook Battery
available. We are pleased to announce that time is now, and we are
sure customers will find it worth the wait!"
NewerTech's full line of NuPower high capacity battery
replacements for Apple PowerBook G3 & G4, iBook G3 & G4,
and iPod models can be purchased through OWC and other fine
retailers.
LapBottom PowerBook Heat Absorbing Pad
PR: Take your laptop to a new level of
comfort.
The new LapBottom
offers a sleeker profile, a more secure work surface, and gives you
more options so that you choose the position that works best for
you and the way you use your portable.
The LapBottom has a comfortably padded underside that grips your
lap. We have made the underside thinner yet a bit more rigid and
firmer with the same comfortable feel. This thinner profile makes
the LapBottom more portable than ever before.
The top combines raised ridges and non-slip "feet"
to provide air flow under your laptop while holding it in place. It
is made of light weight and durable materials.
Measuring 12-1/4" x 9-1/2", it compresses to under an inch
thick. The LapBottom now comes with three different size self
adhesive "feet" which allow you to choose a variety of "tilts" or
choose more or less air space under your laptop. The new
polyurethane "feet" are more durable and hold your laptop more
firmly in place.
This accessory provides:
- A comfortable and ergonomic way to use your laptop where it was
meant to be
- Added stability at home or while traveling
- The air flow your laptop needs to cool itself and last
longer
- Additional padding and protection when included in your carry
case
Price:$24.95
Lapinator Laptop Desk
PR: The Lapinator uses 3M's Type B
Thinsulate insulation as the main barrier to the heat generated by
laptop computers. The Lapinator employs Type B Thinsulate,
typically used in footwear, which is pre-compressed and will never
lose its ability to block the heat. The crosslinked molded foam
bottom also acts as an insulator. We tested the Lapinator using a
Dell Inspiron running on the Lapinator for an hour sitting on a
wooden desk in a 70° room. The top of the Lapinator reached
125°, however, the temperature between the Lapinator's legs and
the desk was a cool 73°! Only 3° of the extra 55° could
make it past the Lapinator!
As proven by The-Gadgeteer.com, the Lapinator keeps
your laptop computer cooler too! In fact, it reduces the CPU
temperature 11 degrees more than the same laptop running on a
wooden desk.
When a laptop runs on a desk, the wood or metal surface acts as
a "heat sink." This is never more clearly evident than when using
your laptop in your. It doesn't take long to realize that your legs
also act as a heat sink. This heat conductivity creates a "hot
spot" right under your laptop that makes it much more difficult for
your laptop's cooling system to work efficiently.
The Lapinator's surface and core plastic layers are
not heat conductors. This means that laptop heat dissipates. Your
laptop is not sitting on a "hot spot" so it's cooling system works
much more efficiently. Almost all of our competing products claim
that resting your laptop on heat conductive materials is a good
thing! It isn't.
Ventilation
The Lapinator provides two levels of ventilation. First, in
addition to the insulation, the Lapinator delivers more airspace
between it and your laptop than any other "in your lap" product.
That space is created by two 3M self-adhesive bumpers that lift the
back of your laptop 1/2 an inch off the Lapinator's surface. The
combination of the non-conducting plastics and added air space
maximizes heat dissipation.
This ventilation is especially critical for the many laptops
whose fan vents heat directly through the bottom! One of our
customer's bottom venting Hewlett Packard laptops would simply turn
itself off when it go too hot! The Lapinator solved her
problem.
The second level of ventilation is provided by the Lapinator's
offset "legs" that lift the insulation up and off of your lap. This
space created between your lap and the Lapinator permits body heat
to dissipate keeping your lap extra cool!
The Lapinator's durable polyethylene top provides a nonskid
surface that still allows for easy laptop position changes during
use. For those laptops without their own rubber feet, or if an
extra measure of stability is desired, please use the self-adhesive
bumpers which prevent any movement. Though the Lapinator's surface
may distort a little bit during use as it dissipates the heat, it's
melting point is well over 200 degrees.
Another problem that frequently occurs during "in your lap"
laptop use is the tendency for the unit to slide towards your body.
This slippage results in a rather uncomfortable typing position.
The bottom of the Lapinator consists of a flame-laminated colorfast
pique cloth that will neither slide on nor snag your clothing. Its
also comfortable when wearing shorts.
The laptop/Lapinator combination easily slides across across a
desk or table when the need for space arises. Our customers pointed
out that during a phone call or meeting they no longer had to
stand, lift, and move their laptops.
For quick and portable storage the Lapinator's legs compress,
allowing the Lapinator to easily slip into the outside pocket of
your laptop bag. However, when weight is distributed across the
Lapinator during use, the legs will not compress.
Velcro
Each Lapinator employs a 4 inch strip of One Wrap Velcro in the
center of the back of the unit. This strip will neatly and securely
contain the power, modem and network cords often attached to your
laptop at home or in the office. Through the stress of normal use,
laptop power connectors and cables can contribute to failure of the
receptacle or be damaged themselves. The Velcro strip secures your
cables and prevents this stress.
Price $24.95 plus $5 Priority Mail shipping anywhere in the
United States. Only $10.50 Airmail shipping around the world
Buy two or more Lapinators and get 20% off your order.
iScroll2: Two-Finger-Scrolling for pre-2005
'Books
PR: iScroll2
is a modified trackpad driver that adds two-finger scrolling
capabilities to supported pre-2005 PowerBooks and iBooks on
OS X 10.3. Supported models include aluminum PowerBooks
introduced from 2003 to 2004 as well as all G4 iBooks.
Please note that this is not just the driver for
the 2005 models hacked to run older models - the new models use a
completely different trackpad and driver. iScroll2 is based on
Apple's AppleADBMouse-209.0.10 driver for the trackpads found on
older models, which is available as part of the publicly released
Darwin source code (and covered by the APSL). The code added for
supporting two-finger scrolling was written from scratch.
The installer will tell you whether your machine is supported or
not.
Note that both the driver and this check may not work if you
have another alternative trackpad driver (such as SideTrack or
FingaMIDI) installed.
As of version 0.20, iScroll2 includes preliminary Tiger
support.
To enable scrolling mode, just place two fingers on your
trackpad instead of one. Both fingers need to be placed next to
each other horizontally (not vertically, the trackpad cannot detect
that). Some people get better results with their finger spaced a
little bit apart, while others prefer having the fingers right next
to each other.
iScroll2 provides two scrolling modes: Linear and circular
scrolling.
For linear scrolling, move the two fingers up/down or left/right
in a straight line, respectively, to scroll in that direction.
Circular scrolling works in a way similar to the iPod's scroll
wheel: Move the two fingers in a circle to scroll up or down,
depending on whether you move in a clockwise or counterclockwise
direction.
In addition to scrolling, iScroll2 also supports mapping the
trackpad button and the tap gesture to a specific mouse button. The
trackpad button can also be remapped dynamically depending on
whether two fingers are on the trackpad. This can be configured in
the included preference pane.
New in this version:
- reduced overall scrolling speed
- fixed bug that caused 'turn off linear scrolling' to be active
even when circular scrolling is not enabled
- fixed some kext version numbers
- changed scroll speed / acceleration to use systemwide
facilities
- changed default settings to better suit the new speed /
acceleration mechanism
- moved back to using the two-finger scrolling controls in the
keyboard & mouse pref pane
- changed installer to work on systems that don't have the BSD
subsystem installed
- changed installer to allow installation on Tiger
- Warning: iScroll2 has not yet been thoroughly tested on Tiger.
If you encounter any issues, please provide feedback so I can work
on resolving them.
- changed permissions on StartupItem to fit the stricter
requirements in Tiger
- added uninstall button to pref pane
- reverted to using the controls present in the Keyboard &
Mouse pref pane.
- Warning: As in version 0.18, this will cause problems on OS X
versions prior to 10.3.8. If you are still using an older version,
please consider upgrading or using iScroll2 0.19.
- Warning: Because of changes in the pref pane, only its English
version is included in this release. The other localizations will
be re-added once they have been updated.
System requirements: Mac OS X 10.3 or later
SideTrack 1.1.2 Advanced Trackpad Driver for
'Books
PR: SideTrack
is a replacement driver for most PowerBook and iBook trackpads.
With SideTrack installed your standard trackpad becomes a powerful
multi-button scrolling mouse.
Leave your external mouse at home and take full control over
your trackpad:
- Vertical scrolling at left or right edge of pad.
- Horizontal scrolling at top or bottom edge of pad.
- Map hardware button to left or right click.
- Map trackpad taps to no action, left click, left click drag
(with or without drag lock), or right click.
- Map trackpad corner taps to mouse buttons 1-6 or simulated
keystrokes.
- Extensive control over accidental input filtering.
SideTrack is multiuser aware and fully compatible with MacOS X
fast user switching (FUS). Every user on your PowerBook can have
different settings depending on their needs.
Extended control over the trackpad button and tap gestures. Use
trackpad taps for left click, drag gestures, or right click.
Complete scrollwheel mouse emulation with customizable scrolling
speed. Place your scroll zones on either side of the pad, or both
sides simultaneously.
Turn the corners of your trackpad into independent tap actions.
Use the corner zones to emulate up to a 6 button mouse or generate
custom keystrokes. Customize SideTrack's sensitivity and accuracy.
Calibrate to your own trackpad style and adjust filtering to reduce
accidental taps while typing. Choose from several mouse
acceleration options.
System Requirements
- PowerBook or iBook (for specific supported PowerBook models
please see the FAQ)
- Mac OS X 10.2 (Jaguar), MacOS X 10.3 (Panther), or MacOS X 10.4
(Tiger)
SideTrack 1.1.2 does not support the new trackpad hardware found
in the January 2005 PowerBooks. Support for the new trackpad will
appear in the next major release of SideTrack.
SideTrack is shareware. Unregistered copies of SideTrack will
periodically remind you to register. Registered users receive
technical support and free upgrades.
SideTrack registration is $15 (US)
ThermoInDock 0.9 Shows CPU Junction Temperature
in Dock
PR:
ThermoInDock shows the CPU's junction temperature in the
Dock. It also supports the modules to change the style of Dock
icon.
The current version of ThermoInDock won't work on some models of
Power Macs and PowerBooks due to lack of thermal sensor on their
CPUs.
The following list shows the supported and unsupported models
reported. The other models not listed here have not yet
confirmed.
- Supported model: PowerBook 400/500 (Pismo), PowerMac G4 500
Dual, PowerMac G4 Cube, Aluminum PowerBook G4s
- Unsupported models: Any models that ThermoInDock quits
immediately after the startup.
New in this version: Fixed a bug where ThermoInDock won't work
on Mac OS X 10.4.
System requirements: Mac OS X 10.0 or higher
ThermoInDock is freeware.
Bargain 'Books
Bargain 'Books are used unless otherwise indicated. New and
refurbished units have a one-year Apple warranty and are eligible
for AppleCare.
There are two different versions of WallStreet running at 233
MHz, the cacheless MainStreet version and the later
Series II with a level 2
cache. It's not always possible to determine from the vendor's
listing which is being offered, so we've included links within this
paragraph to the two models. The same goes for the PowerBook G4/667 (VGA) and G4/667 (DVI), the titanium vs. aluminum
15" PowerBook G4 at 1 GHz, and 1.25 GHz to 1.5 GHz 15"
PowerBooks.
- refurb 12" iBook G4/1
GHz, 256/30/CD-ROM, $699
- refurb 12" iBook G4/1
GHz, 256/30/Combo, $799
- refurb 12" iBook G4/1.2
GHz, 256/30/CD-ROM, $799
- refurb 12" iBook G4/1.2
GHz, 256/30/Combo, AirPort Extreme, $849
- refurb 14" iBook G4/1.2
GHz, 256/60/Combo, AirPort Extreme, $1,049
- refurb 14" iBook G4/1.33
GHz, 256/60/Combo, AirPort Extreme, $1,099
- refurb 14" iBook G4/1.33
GHz, 256/60/SuperDrive, AirPort Extreme, $1,299
- 12" iBook G3/500,
10/192/CD-ROM, $399.99
- 12" iBook G3/500,
192/10/Combo, $499.99
- Add an AirPort card, $79.50
- Add an AirPort Base Station, $39.50
- Add 256 MB RAM (total of 320 MB), $41
- Add 512 MB RAM (total of 576 MB), $93
For more deals on current or recently discontinued models, see
our Best PowerBook G4 Deals,
Best iBook G4 Deals, Best PowerBook G3 Deals, and Best iBook G3 Deals.
