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I think the best PowerPC based apple laptop was the Powerbook G4 titanium. It's pretty much a design classic, was lightweight, and ran OS9. It was I think the f
by cesaref 3y ago
I think the best PowerPC based apple laptop was the Powerbook G4 titanium. It's pretty much a design classic, was lightweight, and ran OS9. It was I think the first Mac that didn't feel like a massive compromise when running a laptop vs a desktop machine. It introduced widescreen displays, and the 1Ghz model even came with a DVD writer if I remember.
It struggled with some design problems, notably that the hinges failed, and the display ribbon rubbed causing display problems after been opened/closed too many times.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/PowerBook_G4 https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/PowerBook_G4
If we head back to 68k days, then the Powerbook Duo was awesome. This was definitely a compromised machine for portability vs a desktop though.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/PowerBook_Duo https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/PowerBook_Duo
- justinator 3y agoThis laptop was destined to be an all-time classic, but they could never get the G4 to perform well in a laptop. They promised much, delivered little. They never were able to deliver a G5 laptop. And then Apple went Intel, one of the greatest WTFs in recent memory.
- scyzoryk_xyz 3y agoIt was a WTF but a hugely positive one the way I remember it. For the first 5 years or so at least.
- bdavbdav 3y agoHow was it a WTF
- Clamchop 3y agoUp to that point, their marketing had long been derisive of Intel parts and overstating the supremacy of PowerPC. (Supercomputers, anyone?) It's marketing, that's what it does, but an about-face like that is eyebrow-raising.
- justinator 3y agoCompletely changing the underlying architecture wasn't something that was known to always work back then, especially when it meant ditching your own PowerPC alliance. Despite the Jobs Reality Distortion Field on 11, those chips were not performant when compared to the competition. Much was promised, little was delivered. Gather 'round and we'll talk about clones next!
- cesaref 3y agoI don't remember this being an issue at all. My 1Ghz G4 laptop was a workhorse for me for software development back then. I do remember fan noise though, and paint flaking off the case.
- justinator 3y agoThe G4 was old news when that laptop came out. I had a G4 tower in the 90's. Apple promised much more and couldn't deliver.
- cesaref 3y agoYes, that's a good point. The G5 was a failure, ran too hot, didn't perform as well as hoped and hence the move to Intel.