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Wednesday, January 23, 2008
![[Item Permalink]](http://radio.weblogs.com/0112083/images/ur_bullet.gif){kind=small} Too much for me in MacBook Air -- Comment()
At work I'm currently using a Titanium PowerBook G4 from 2002. This has been my only computer for well over five years now - both at my office and while traveling. The CPU is 1 GHz PowerPC G4, and there is 1 GB of memory and 60 GB of disk. The machine is fast enough for daily work (I'm running Mac OS X 10.4 Tiger), for example MS Office, Acrobat etc. There are several gigabytes of disk available (and I could easily free some more if needed). The memory seems sufficient as well (although sometimes the machine slows down if I'm using a dozen applications simultaneously). I didn't expect the PowerBook to last this long. I was actually a bit afraid of replacing my G4 tower desktop with a laptop. But now I have over five years of positive experiences. The PowerBook has been an excellent little machine for work. I have got a replacement battery, and several additional external devices (more of these later), but otherwise there have been no changes needed. A big reason for the longlevity is the relatively big cache memory of the 1 GHz G4 processor, and the speedy graphics card. So, how does MacBook Air (MBA) compare with the Titanium PowerBook G4 (TiBook)? There is twice the memory - 2 GB vs. 1 GB. A slightly larger disk - 80 GB vs. 60 GB. (Certainly enough for me.) A big bonus is the n-version of wlan (WiFi). The PowerBook G4 contains a b-version card, which is much slower, and limits the overall speed of the wlan network. A big MBA advantage is the internal Bluetooth. The TiBook requires an external Bluetooth usb adapter, which is often inconvenient. Potential drawbacks of the MBA are the one usb port - but I have already an usb hub at work, which fixes this problem. No cd/dvd reading? Well, it has been a long time since I last used the cd/dvd drive on the TiBook. Usually I transfer files via net/e-mail or by using usb sticks. No built-in ethernet? Well, the usb ethernet adapter fixes this problem. (And in most places the wlan connection is nowadays quite enough.) What about the speed? Well, my understanding is that the MBA is 2-3 as fast as the TiBook, and there is twice the memory. So, this would be quite an upgrade. Potential advantages are also the built-in iSight, a nice display (brighter than on the TiBook), and the new gesture-based trackpad (the TiBook doesn't even know two-finger scrolling). Not to speak about the smaller size and less weight. In conclusion: MacBook Air is more than enough computer for me. Will I get one? Perhaps not. I'm happy with by PowerBook G4, but perhaps when the sixth year of using it is closing, I'll switch to the MBA. Update: I forgot that I wrote a quick review of 1 GHz PowerBook G4 in December 2002, when I was thinking of switching from a desktop to a laptop computer. Some of the thinking is suprising in retrospect.
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