Apple's PowerBook G3 is
a boon to Macintosh users
By Mark Kellner
THE WASHINGTON TIMES
pple Computer's future may remain in question, but the recent arrival of
the PowerBook G3, albeit with an eye-popping $5,700 price tag, should
dispel some of the gloom surrounding the Mac marketplace. This is one
powerful notebook computer, and one that offers features Windows users might
envy.
The G3, with a processor that clocks in at 250 megahertz, is the fastest
notebook around. That speed is evident from boot-up through to operations.
While the Macintosh operating system has its elements of elegance, startup isn't
always one of them: You can wait a while for a machine to boot. By contrast,
the G3, equipped with 32 megabytes of RAM and Macintosh OS 8, powered up
and was ready to roll within 45 seconds, a good 15 or 20 seconds faster than its
previous version. That may not seem like much until you need to get going in a
hurry.
At the heart of this faster speed is the PowerPC G3 chip, which Apple notes
is the third generation of PowerPC processors developed by Motorola and IBM
and the first "specifically designed to optimize the Mac OS and associated
applications."
The system bus communicates to the central processing unit at 50 megahertz,
a speed 25 percent faster than last spring's screamer, the PowerBook 3400, and
there's 512 kilobytes of level 2 "backside cache" memory, which allows
processor and memory to communicate faster, and 64 kilobytes of on-chip level
1 cache memory, again to boost performance.
Thus, I believe users will not only see a speed increase with this machine,
but also will not see that gain erode in the face of a 266 megahertz or faster
Pentium-based notebook. This is because I have not seen too many Pentium
notebook makers include some of the system enhancements seen in this
computer, so while these models may have a faster processor, overall
performance may not be substantially greater than this 250 megahertz system
provides.
This speed of operation is likely enhanced by some other features of the
device, notably 2 megabytes of VRAM and an embedded Chips and Technology
65554 PCI video controller, which supports hardware acceleration for faster
graphics displays. Put together, all this helps make the PowerBook G3 a truly
useful and fast system.
But having all this power at your command would do little good unless you
can use that power productively. The PowerBook G3 has several features which
should allow users to do just that.
The display on the computer is a 12.1-inch, active matrix color screen, with
brightness that can be adjusted using a button just above the keyboard. The
screen size is certainly adequate for most users, and ensures a form factor that
will work well in most airline situations. The computer has external video
connections for use in group presentations, and in both circumstances, I found
the video to be crisp and clear.
Good video and outstanding color support have been two of the Macintosh
operating system's secret weapons, and why even the publishers of magazines
that like to bash the Mac are likely using the Mac for pre-press work. Color
matching on the Mac is superior to anything on the PC/Windows platform,
although Microsoft's soon-coming Windows NT 5.0 may provide some
competition there.
In terms of sound, the combination of a 20-x CD-ROM drive and
four-speaker stereo sound is more than enough for most people in small groups
or for larger presentations; crank this up in your cubicle and they'll likely hear
you in the executive dining room.
Another nice feature of every Mac I've used is the communications ability
built into the machine. Not every one has had a built-in modem, but this one
offers a 33.6-kilobytes-per-second data/14.4 fax modem and support for 10
megabytes per second Ethernet networking. Both features are appreciated by the
road warrior who has to stop at the office at least once in a while. Nice, too, is
software that lets users configure the computer for use in several locations, and
save each configuration for easy retrieval.
Don't worry about running out of disk space for those configurations and
anything else you've got in mind; the PowerBook G3 ships with a 5 gigabyte
hard-disk drive, 50 times the size of the hard disk that was shipped with the
original PowerBook 100 six years ago.
I also liked working with the keyboard -- after IBM, Apple is one of the top
designers of keyboards for notebooks. The keys were responsive and easy to
work with, even under heavy-handed typing conditions. The placement of the
touchpad below the space bar was designed well enough to keep me from
striking the pad accidentally, something which has happened on other notebook
PCs.
Battery life ranges from two to four hours on the 47-watt-per-hour
lithium-ion battery supplied with the machine. Though two hours would be a bit
on the low side for travel use, four hours isn't half bad. The power pack for the
computer weighs less than a pound, and recharging the battery can be done in
less than two hours, which is very good.
As nice as the PowerBook G3 is, there are several potential improvements
for this system. The first would be screen size: Apple should be able to produce
a unit with a 13.3-inch display to satisfy those of us who want to get just a little
bit more out of their computer. I would also change the touchpad to at least
allow a "tap" on the surface to equal a mouse-click, something long available on
Pentium-based notebooks. (Coming soon will be touchpads that accept
handwriting input, and Apple should get on this bandwagon pronto.) While it
would be nice to have a 56-kilobytes-per-second modem on this system, I'm not
too disappointed in having a 33.6 model built in; the plain truth is that 56k
transmission speeds are still more a dream than reality and the 33.6 speed is fast
enough for most on-the-road applications, such as e-mail.
Overall, however, the PowerBook G3 is nothing less than a wonderful
machine for Macintosh users. It has the power to run emulators such as
Connectix Corp.'s Virtual PC with ease, which means you could run Windows
95 programs on the system as well. Pack one up and you may never want to
leave the open road -- at least not for want of computing power.
Mark Kellner is editor-in-chief of PC Portables Magazine. Write to him in care
of The Washington Times, Business Desk, 3600 New York Ave. NE,
Washington, D.C. 20002, send e-mail to MarkKel@aol.com, or visit the
writer's Web page (http://www.markkellner.com). |
