PowerBook G4
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
| PowerBook G4 (Aluminum) | |
|---|---|
 Aluminum PowerBook G4 (15.2") |
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| Type: | Laptop |
| Developer: | Apple Computer, Inc. |
| Discontinued: | May 16, 2006 |
| Processor(s): | PowerPC G4, 1 GHz - 1.67 GHz |
The PowerBook G4 is a series of notebook computers that was manufactured, marketed, and sold by Apple Computer, Inc. between 2001 and 2006 as part of its Powerbook line. It uses the PowerPC G4 processor, initially produced by Motorola and later by Freescale, after Motorola spun off its semiconductor business under that name in 2004. The PowerBook G4 had two different designs: one enclosed in a titanium body with a translucent black keyboard and a 15" screen; and another in an aluminum body with an aluminum-colored keyboard, in 12", 15" and 17" sizes.
Between 2001 and 2003, Apple produced the Titanium PowerBook G4; between 2003 and 2006, the Aluminum models were produced. Both models were hailed for their modern design, long battery life and processing power. When the Aluminum PowerBook G4s were first released in January 2003, however, only 12 and 17 inch models were available. The 15 inch retained the titanium body until September 2003 when a new aluminum 15 inch PowerBook was released. In addition to the change from titanium to aluminum, the new 15 inch model featured a FireWire 800 port, which had been included with the 17 inch model since its debut nine months earlier.
The PowerBook G4 line was the last generation of the PowerBook, and was succeeded by the Intel-powered MacBook Pro line in the first half of 2006.
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[edit] Titanium PowerBook G4
| PowerBook G4 (Titanium) | |
|---|---|
 Titanium PowerBook G4 |
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| Type: | Laptop |
| Developer: | Apple Computer |
| Released: | January 2001 |
| Discontinued: | September 2003 |
| Processor(s): | PowerPC G4, 400MHz - 1GHz |
The first generations of the PowerBook G4 were announced at Steve Jobs' keynote at MacWorld Expo in January 2001. They featured a PowerPC G4 processor running at either 400 or 500 MHz. They were just 1 inch (25 mm) thick, 0.7 inches (18 mm) thinner than their predecessor, the PowerBook G3. The PowerBook G4 Titanium also featured a front-mounted slot-loading optical drive into which optical discs (initially DVDs or CDs) could be inserted. The notebook was given the nickname "TiBook", a portmanteau of Titanium, the material used for the computer's case, and the brand name PowerBook, Apple's professional-oriented line of laptop computers.
[edit] Expansion/ports
The first generations of the Titanium PowerBook G4 featured 2 built-in USB ports, one FireWire 400 port, a 1/8" audio output, a 56k modem, 10/100 Base-T Ethernet, a PC card slot, a slot-loading CD/DVD drive, optional AirPort (Apple's name for 802.11 b/g networking), a VGA output, for operating a second display, and a built-in microphone. Later models featured similar I/O but the Ethernet was upgraded to Gigabit Ethernet (10/100/1000 Base-T), AirPort became standard (on high-end configurations), the CD/DVD drive was upgraded to a CD/DVD burner (on high-end configurations), and a 1/8" audio input was added. Also, the older VGA port was replaced with DVI output.
[edit] Revisions
There were three updates of the TiBook specification, featuring CPU speed increases, more powerful graphics chipsets, and other upgrades such as Gigabit Ethernet, DVI, and an optional SuperDrive DVD burner. The four releases are referred to by Apple as follows:
- Mercury, January 2001
- This was the original iteration, featuring a 400 or 500 MHz PowerPC 7410 processor. It featured a 100 MHz FSB, 2 RAM slots (that took up to 512 MiB modules, allowing for a maximum of 1 GiB), and an ATI RAGE 128 Mobility graphics card (with 8 MiB of VRAM; running at 2x AGP). Discontinued in October of 2001.
- Onyx, October 2001
- Now with a 550 or 667 MHz PowerPC 7450 processor. The 667 MHz model featured a 133 MHz FSB, and both models had the same ATI Radeon Mobility graphics, running at 4x AGP with 16 MiB of VRAM. This was Apple's first powerbook to fully support Quartz Extreme which is available in OS X 10.2 and later. Both models also now included Gigabit Ethernet (10/100/1000 Base-T); as a result this revision is also sometimes referred to as "Gigabit Ethernet". Discontinued in April of 2002.
- Ivory, April 2002
- Sporting a new DVI output, this PowerBook revision featured a 667 or 800 MHz PowerPC 7455 processor, with both models running a 133 MHz FSB. They also featured an improved ATI Radeon 7500 Mobility graphics chip-set, running at 4x AGP, with 32 MiB of VRAM. Discontinued in November of 2002.
- Antimony, 1 GHz/867 MHz, November 2002
- The only iteration to not receive a new incarnation of the PowerPC G4, it sported a minor speed bump to 867 MHz at the low end, and 1 GHz at the high end. It also featured an ATI Radeon 9000 Mobility running at 4x AGP, which shipped with 32 MiB of VRAM on the 867 MHz model and 64 MiB on the 1 GHz model. Additionally, Apple switched the font of hardware labels from the long-standing Apple Garamond to Apple Myriad.
Following the release of the 12" and 17" Aluminum PowerBook G4s, the Titanium PowerBook G4 remained available until September of 2003, about nine months later, at which time it was replaced by the 15" Aluminum PowerBook G4.
[edit] Industrial design
The initial design of the PowerBook G4s was developed by Apple hardware designers Jory Bell, Nick Merz and Danny Delulis. The new design was a sharp departure from the black plastic, curvilinear PowerBook G3 models that preceded it, more modernist than ergonomic. Apple's industrial design, headed by British designer Jonathan Ive, was to continue toward simple, elegant, and minimalistic designs—the TiBook laid the groundwork for the Aluminum PowerBook G4, the Power Mac G5, the flat-screen iMac, the Xserve and the Mac mini.
[edit] Quality issues
The hinges on the Titanium PowerBook display are notorious for breaking under heavy use. Usually the hinge (which is shaped like an 'L') will break just to the left of where it attaches to the lower case on the right hinge, and just to the right on the left hinge (where the right hinge is on the right side of the computer when the optical drive is facing you). At least one manufacturer began producing sturdier replacement hinges to address this problem, though actually performing the repair is difficult as the display bezel is glued together.
[edit] Aluminium PowerBook G4
| PowerBook G4 (Aluminium) | |
|---|---|
 Aluminium PowerBook G4 (12") |
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| Type: | Laptop |
| Developer: | Apple Computer |
| Released: | January 2003 |
| Discontinued: | 28 February, 2006 (15") 24 April, 2006 (17") 16 May, 2006 (12") |
| Processor(s): | PowerPC G4, 867 MHz – 1.67 GHz |
On January 7, 2003, Apple introduced a new line of PowerBook G4s with 12- and 17-inch screens and aluminium cases (prompting the new moniker "AlBook"). The new notebooks not only brought a different design to the PowerBook G4 line but also laid down the foundation for Apple’s notebook design for the next three years, and even the successor to the PowerBook G4, the MacBook Pro, is still manufactured with an aluminium body and a very similar design. New features on the Aluminium PowerBook G4s included FireWire 800, faster USB, built-in AirPort Extreme and Bluetooth, and a fiber-optic backlit keyboard (available on the 17" and 15"), among other things. Notably, the 12" model brought a welcome return to the Apple subnotebook configuration, conspicuously lacking in their product line since the discontinuation of the PowerBook 2400 in 1998.
[edit] Expansion/ports
The Aluminium PowerBook G4 featured connectivity similar to the earlier Titanium models, with some upgrades to the ports; starting with the second generation, it featured 2 USB 2.0 ports, FireWire 400 and 800 ports (FireWire 400 only on the 12" model,) a PC card slot (on the 15" and 17" models), AirPort Extreme (a faster version of the original AirPort), Bluetooth, a slot-loading SuperDrive (on some configurations), audio in and out, 56k modem, Gigabit Ethernet, a DVI port on the 15 and 17" models (the first-generation 12" model featured a Mini-VGA, and the later 12" models featured a Mini-DVI output), and a Trackpad. Unlike the it's predecessors, the 12" was the first subnotebook (the third smallest just behind the PowerBook 100) to include all of ports and features (except the PC Card) of its larger counterparts.
[edit] Revisions
At the Apple Expo in Paris on September 16, 2003, Apple added the 15-inch aluminium PowerBook to the portable computer lineup and introduced minor upgrades to the existing 12 and 17-inch models. The 15 and 17-inch models were widescreen, with respective 3:2 and 16:10 aspect ratios, while the 12-inch model featured a conventional 4:3 aspect ratio TFT LCD screen.
On January 31, 2005, along with minor speed upgrades, Apple officially introduced an updated USB trackpad, replacing the ADB trackpads used for almost a decade. These new devices, which were also included in some PowerBooks sold in late 2004, allowed users to scroll in any direction, much like a scroll wheel found on computer mice, by using two fingers on the pad instead of the normal single finger. This was an often-requested feature, as shown by the third party trackpad driver SideTrack that added a similar ability to older PowerBooks and iBooks. A technology called Sudden Motion Sensor (SMS) which monitors the orientation of the laptop and detects sudden changes in velocity was also introduced at this time. PowerBooks were designed to utilize the SMS feature to prevent damage to the hard disk caused by strong vibrations or sudden motion. When the SMS feature is triggered, the disk heads are disengaged from the hard disk platters, thereby preventing or minimizing data loss which may occur as a result of disk head crash. Various hacks have harnessed the output of the SMS feature for use in "tilt-sensitive" applications.
The last PowerBook G4 generation, announced October 19, 2005, originally consisted of 12-, 15- and 17-inch models in aluminium enclosures. The 17-inch model now featured a screen resolution of 1680x1050, equal to that of Apple's 20-inch iMac and Apple Cinema Display, while the 15-inch model now offered a 1440x960 resolution. All PowerBooks now shipped with 8x DVD-burning SuperDrives, with dual-layer drives on the 15- and 17-inch models. The 15-inch model joined the 17-inch model in natively supporting Apple's 30-inch Cinema Display, and hard disk space now ranged from 40 to 120 GB with speeds of 5400 RPM to 7200 RPM. Other PowerBook specifications remained unchanged, with 1.5 GHz and 1.67 GHz CPUs; 512 MB to 2 GB of RAM (with a maximum of 1.25 GB on the 12-inch); the NVIDIA GeForce FX Go5200 (64 MiB) on the 12-inch and the ATI Technologies Radeon 9700 Mobility GPUs with 128 MiB of VRAM and Dual-Link DVI on the 15- and 17-inch, and many other features. The 17-inch and 15-inch models now used PC2-4200 DDR2 SDRAM, though it operated at 333 MHz, and the PowerPC G4 processor did not take advantage of DDR's second tick per clock, giving it an effective 1.33 GB/s bandwidth rather than the maximum 4.2 GB/s.
While the Titanium PowerBook G4s were capable of running Mac OS 9 or Mac OS X operating systems, the Aluminum PowerBook G4s could only boot in Mac OS X from startup. Both series of machines could run Mac OS 9 in Classic mode from within Mac OS X.
[edit] Industrial design
The Aluminium PowerBook G4 was designed by Apple's VP of Industrial Design Jonathan Ive, and used a radically different design from the preceding Titanium models. The most obvious change was the use of Aluminium, not Titanium, to manufacture the body. The keyboard, which was originally black, was changed to match the color of the body. On 15" and 17" models it was backlit. The design was considered superior to most other notebooks when it debuted in 2003, and consequently it made the PowerBook G4 one of the most desirable notebooks on the market.[citation needed] The external design of Apple's professional laptops has never really strayed from the original however.
[edit] Quality issues
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Some users of recent Aluminium PowerBook G4 models are reporting a design flaw resulting in the failure of their PowerBook's lower memory slot. The typical resolution is replacement of the logic board, similar to iBook failures. A petition was started in early June 2005 at lowermemoryslot.editkid.com [1] and as of mid April 2008 has collected 3,966 signatures. Presently, Apple has started a Repair Extension Program for PowerBooks affected by the issue, for up to 2 years from the original date of purchase, even if the computer is out of warranty. However this repair program does not include the G4 PowerBook 1.25 GHz model, which are affected by the same problem. It also does not cover the G4 PowerBook 1.5 GHz model if its serial number does not fall into the range of serial numbers that Apple has approved for repairs. This model also exhibits the exact same problems as the identified models. So far Apple officially does not acknowledge the problem with this model, just as they previously did with the now covered models.
Another issue came to light concerning the amount of heat generated inside the PowerBook G4 by its internal processors. The fan included does not seem to dissipate much of the heat. This, some critics contend, can cause issues with the logic board functionality, and even in some cases cause the hard drive to crash. Compared to the Titanium PowerBook G4, however, current PowerBook models run cooler and with less fan noise.
It is not uncommon for the 15" PowerBook G4 (2004–2005) to reach temperatures as high as 63 °C (145 °F) during periods of extensive use and operations that require a large amount of processor power, such as video editing, games, etc. Similarly, a 12" PowerBook may reach up to 66 °C (150 °F), while under a heavy load. 50 °C (120 °F) is the normal running temperature for most moderate levels of activity. A fix for the overheating is to lift the laptop above a surface.
There has also been a rash of reports concerning sudden and pervasive sleeping of 1.67 GHz models, primarily the 15" model. Symptoms will include the PowerBook suddenly entering sleep mode, no matter the battery level or if plugged into the mains, and System Logs will report "Received emergency signal from power management. Going to sleep now." The cause is generally the trackpad sensor monitoring the trackpad; it will sporadically spike to over 100+ C, causing the PowerBook to think it will melt if it does not immediately shut down. Often service groups will replace the motherboard or power converter, but the actual fix is to replace the top case which holds the trackpad and sensor. Alternatively, there are reports that removing key sensor .ktexts from /System/Extensions Powerbook Sleeping Issue Fix or rebuilding the kernel using the Darwin Open Source project, commenting-out the relevant sleepSystem() call.
The final generation of the 15" and 17" aluminium PowerBook models were affected by a defect in audio output. Hundreds of users reported an echo or loop effect emitted from the internal speakers and audio line out on these models. This issue was fixed in the Mac OS X 10.4.5 update.
The PowerBook G4 17" 1.67GHz may suffer from poor quality display. Other than suspected at first, this does not only affect type M9689 PowerBooks introduced in Q2 2005, but as well displays replaced by Apple Service Providers in this period (e.g. because of the bright spots issue). The devices were the last ones shipped with the matte 1440x900 pixel low resolution display. After around 15 months of usage, the displays may show permanently shining lines of various colors stretching vertically across the LCD.
[edit] Discontinuation
The PowerPC G5, which powers Apple's now-discontinued Power Mac G5 and iMac G5 computers, proved to be too power-hungry and heat-intensive to use in laptops.[citation needed] This, along with the stalling development of the G5, is said to be one of the main reasons for Apple's transition from PowerPC to Intel processors. It should also be noted that development of x86-based Mac OS X had been occurring for some 8+ years before its release to the public.[citation needed] On January 10, 2006, Apple released its first Intel-based laptop, the 15" MacBook Pro. A 17" version of the MacBook Pro followed on April 24, 2006. The 12" PowerBook G4 and the G4 iBook were discontinued and replaced by the 13.3" MacBook which was released on May 16, 2006, ending the whole PowerBook line. However, an immediate replacement for the 12" subnotebook form factor was not immediately forthcoming. Apple's current subnotebook offering is the MacBook Air, released in 2008.
Apple CEO Steve Jobs noted during the introduction of the MacBook Pro that Apple wants the word "Mac" in the name of all its Mac hardware products. Consequently, the trademark name "PowerBook" was retired in early 2006.
Timeline of portable Macintoshes
- See also: Timeline of Apple Macintosh models
[edit] References
- 15-inch PowerBook G4 Developer Note
- 17-inch PowerBook G4 Developer Note
- Mactracker Detailed information on Apple Macintosh computers.
[edit] External links
- Apple - Support - PowerBook G4
- Lower Memory Slot Failure
- EveryMac.com - PowerBook G4
- Powerbook Sleeping Issue Fix
- PowerBook narcolepsy - Part I & II
- The PowerBook G4 17-inch Display (Apple Discussions)
- PowerBook G4 17" LCD Defect Database
- PowerBook G4 17" LCD Defect wiki Includes details of censorship at Apple Discussions.
- PowerMac G4 Memory Specification Guide
- PowerBook History Site
- DIYBlog.net How to change 15" G4 1.5 PowerBook's Hard Drive.
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