Apple PowerBook G4 (Apple-M8760LLA)

• Reviewed by: janntique

  Strengths: Beautiful design, compliments Ipods, for creative types, good value, exceptional keyboard appearance and feel, no crashing of operating system, extremely portable, crisp bright screen

  Weaknesses: Slightly warm over left palm rest but not uncomfortably so, less software available than for win users

  Overall: This is my first Apple, the G4 12"Powerbook. The design gets compliments from everyone who sees it; it works better with my iPod than my Toshiba laptop did. I easily transferred my music library to the mac by attaching a Cat 5 ethernet cable and the mac did the rest: detected all the network settings and I needed no additional software to transfer my files. Of course you can only transfer things that you can open on a a mac like word files, music, etc. Otherwise WIN operating programs that open with .exe need Virtual PC to work on it. I recommend maxing out your ram , getting the Airport extreme card 54 g backward compatible to 802.1 b, getting the superdrive which burns CDs and DVDs, The slot for the superdrive prevents any damage to the CD drawer, which in my opinion is great. The screen is good enough to watch DVDs but if you do extensive video editing you probably want the 15 or 17" Powerbook. I thought the 17" was too big for portability (face it it's a surfboard) but it does have the same keyboard layout as the 12". The 15", while portable, sports ugly black keys that aren't as nice in appearance or touch asthe 12 or 17". Support at Apple is personable and knowledgable. Their website has a wealth of support too. I am in heaven at the iTunes store, the iPod works so much better on the mac system. The OS X 10 has never crashed. Apple deserves their profit this quarter for fine consumer products. Buy yourself this present, it's a delight to open the package - apple rocks! - former Wintel geek

• Reviewed by: Scootercat

  Strengths: Portability, ease of use, sound quality, cdrw/dvd-r drive, quality of LCD, best keyboard feel on a laptop

  Weaknesses: Heat buildup on left palmrest

  Overall: My constant companion taking it from the office to home is a breeze. Great presentation tool regardless of the audience. The keyboard has a solid feel better than any other I have used before. I previously used a klunky windows based laptop from a major manufacturer and will never go back again.

• Reviewed by: krsbtv

  Strengths: A durable workhorse, small and easy to live with while traveling. Runs long on internal battery.

  Weaknesses: Needs DVI-out and a L3 cache!!!

  Overall: I ordered this magnificent midget right before I left to cover the Gulf War. I took it into the desert in Kuwait where it survived in harsh desert conditions and high heat. It functioned great even though it was subjected to extreme conditions that no laptop is designed for. Sand, dust, sweat and bouncing around in an Army Humvee, not to mention the trip over in a C-130 Air Force cargo jet. It is so easy to take along on trips, much easier than my Sony VAIO laptop that is gathering dust because of my new found devotion to this hot-rod G4 from Apple.

• Reviewed by: jfaquestions

  Strengths: Without a doubt one of the fastest, most compact, and user friendly laptops ever. This is my 7th Apple laptop. Whenever I use it I always get compliments. And when I travel the SuperDrive, Airport and other features make this a must have accessory on any

  Weaknesses: Screen needs more protection from scratches formed from contact with keyboard.

  Overall: If you are looking for a laptop that has all the accessories inside instead of having to add them on, a fast processor and a superdrive this is the one to get.

• Reviewed by: bob$5534s

  Strengths: Full-featured, desktop replacement laptop at only 4.5lbs. 3.5 hour typical battery life. Mac OS X is wonderful, has stability of Unix.

  Weaknesses: Would be nice to have DVI-out and a L3 cache

  Overall: My PC is gathering dust. This Mac laptop is perfect - small, light, no compromises, excellent design. I used to have an 800Mhz iBook (G3), and this is much faster thanks to the G4. It's like upgrading from a Celeron to a Pentium4 - even if the MHz is the same, the performance is higher.