The laptop that made Apple switch to aluminum
ฝัง
- เผยแพร่เมื่อ 3 ต.ค. 2024
- Apple's Titanium PowerBook G4 from 2001 was a much different laptop than the one it replaced. But despite it being a good value, it had a big problem that ultimately resulted in its demise.
Sources:
PC Magazine, February 2000
Macworld Magazine, May 2001
PowerBook G3 Zip drive photo: i.ebayimg.com/...
Titanium G4 photos: www.flickr.com..., www.flickr.com..., www.flickr.com..., www.flickr.com... and www.flickr.com...
PC Magazine, July 2002
Macworld, February 2003
17" PowerBook G4 photo: commons.wikime...
12" PowerBook G4 photo: forums.macrumo...
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"one flawed, yet compelling package" is what I want on my tombstone.
Titanium made probably!
I'm going to start using it on dating apps.
Omg yes!!! 🤣🤣🤣
Don't we all?
I want "Game over man , game over " On mine
I met my wife because of one.. we were both in a student common room, and she'd never seen one before and asked me what it was. 18 years laters, we're still together :)
Bruh, congrats on still being together. Cheers ^^
@@thedduck thanks duckbro! :D
What a beautiful story, congratulations ✨🙌🏻
It was probably an excuse to get to know you. Really nice to hear stories where the woman make the first move.
@@r2in360 I wish woman were like that more usually... but it only gets worse with time
I was in a programming contest in high school and everyone had to bring their rigs. A team showed up with 5 matching titanium’s, everyone had the jealz
Damg that was almost $50k in laptops at the time
@@pistachiodisguisey911 indeed.
@@spunkmire2664 did they won in the end?
@@floorgang420 I don't really recall. In the words of The Big Lebowski, "To tell you the truth Brandt, I don't remember most of it"
@@spunkmire2664 hahahahahahahahaha
We had thin bezels even during those days? Man we were spoiled
Only 9 grand!!
Yet everything had a headphone hack huih? lol
And yet, my 2015 MacBook Air came with inch thick bezels. I'd love it if the MBA had the same width, but with a bigger (possibly even 16:10 or 3:2) screen.
@@simonro9168 the pbg4 was 8 grand
Thin bezels are overrated by country miles, work in a repair shop or on the side as a hobby fixing machines and you'll eventually learn to love something more durable.
The bezels on the Titanium are still amazing to this day
I miss upgradable RAM and hard drives. That’s a serious flaw in Apple’s computers these days
I miss the renovable batterie...
All that stuff apparently was dropped simply to make the machines thinner and lighter, which to me is stupid. But then, if Apple brought back that upgradeability, they wouldn't make as much money from parts and service sales... Of course it doesn't matter to them that the corporation is already worth more than a trillion dollars.
Serviceability is one major reason why I still use a MacBook from 2012, as that was the last laptop model that had upgradeable RAM and storage, not to mention a fairly easily replaceable battery.
@@zBrainlezz Not sure how upgradable they'd really be able to make them nowadays with them using ARM based processors. Don't think I've seen an ARM based system with the possibility to upgrade RAM before.
@@nathansstuff1547 Yeah it was a deliberately hostile move right up until the ARM SOC came along, where the RAM is part of the same chip and increasing the RAM means literally producing a new SOC with new silicon - but having it integrated is also a big boost to the performance and efficiency so there really is a benefit unlike soldered RAM on traditional systems that are just a few mm thinner for no tangible gain
@@nathansstuff1547 there are a few arm boards that use standard so-dimm modules, but most of them are either devkits or made for specialized network equipment, which is quite a shame...
The G4 design was ahead of its time as far as aesthetics IMO. Very reminiscent of modern laptops.
grab a dictionary, look up reminiscent. It was ahead of it's time but less than most think. Look at business laptops from IBM, Toshiba and slightly less HP and Dell of that time. The trend started before Apple jumped on that train, in part started by Sony but their market penetration was not great outside of Japan.
The Titanium Powerbook and the G4 Cube were my dream computers back then!
For me, it was the plain ol' iBook G4. A dream I was able to fulfill just last year, since the price went way down since the early 2000s.
Seems like you liked computers that fell apart 😆
Of many, no doubt. The G4 cube was an icon, as were the Ti Powerbooks.
I had this Laptop when I attended art school and I loved it at the time. I was a big fan of classics and not too happy when I switched to OSX. I hated the UFO power cable that came with it. All our classmates had to replace theirs within a year as the cord would break from wrapping it around the disk. The positive thing about the power supply being clear was you could see the sparks when it went bad, which was kinda neat. Also our school was idiots and advised us to keep the computers plugged in at all times so we all killed our batteries pretty quickly as well. I think I got about 5 years out of it until the hinges couldn't hold up the screen anymore. I took apart the laptop and it fell apart. Several structural pieces were snapped in multiple places. I drove a few hours to my closest Apple store so I could order new hinges and other replacement parts if possible. The employees laughed at me and called my laptop a dinosaur and said I should just buy a new one. My first child was just born a few months prior and I was flat broke so I was extremely peeved at the idiots acting like I could just spend several thousand dollars on a new laptop like money was nothing. Since I was forced to buy a new laptop I figured I'd rather buy something other than Apple since their employees acted like snobbish A holes.
Man, I wish today's laptops had hot-swappable batteries, that's so neat.
I think you might have wanted to say user-swappable. Hot-swappable means it can be replaced while the machine is powered up and in use, which you can easily do with something like a mouse or a USB drive on a modern laptop. Before the era of USB, adding peripherals to a computer usually required the machine the be rebooted, so those devices were not hot-swappable (e.g a PS/2 keyboard), hence why a distinction was made. Getting back to batteries, most laptops that had user-replaceable batteries did not support hot-swapping the battery (when plugged in, otherwise removing the battery in use would obviously kill the machine). I recall I had a Dell laptop that supported up to two batteries (one could be added in lieu of the DVD drive) and the manual explicitly said to always power off the machine before adding or removing the batteries. I assume the power controller could not easily deal with a large change in load as a battery was removed and you risked frying up the internal circuits of the machine.
Stefan Stan weren’t the batteries in the G3 hot swappable, since there could be two of them, and you could switch one at a time?
They still do, the Rugged and Semi-Rugged laptops from companies like Dell, Toshiba, Getac, etc.
@@SSW2503 yeah, that's what I meant, thanks for clarifying. I don't really like how some devices (almost all phones) are really cumbersome to repair.
@Abhishek Harge which isn't necessary today.. But there are some laptops from Lenovo are hot swappable
A design which really was something different compared to the competition. The design still stands today imo.
Holds up better than current macbooks honestly
Untell you hear it literally fell apart
@@fakename2966 Yeah haha I was more thinking about the aesthetics 🙃
@@1magazine eh, I kinda like the Aluminium PB better IMO
@@jockeyjeon9532 Same here, I still use the 2010 MBP. But a lot of laptops still look like the Titanium. Or at least did as of couple of years ago. Guess right now aluminium-like sleek designs are the current trend.
One of my favorite laptops ever. Brought this to Iraq years ago and it held up well with the sand storms. Even fell out a moving humvee onto the street and barely took any damage. I got featured in an issue of Mac World regarding this mighty laptop.
Why did he say they were fragile then?
@@momsberettas9576 ¯\_(ツ)_/¯
@@momsberettas9576 Probably just how it landed. My second gen iPad Pro 12.9 has fallen onto concrete, wood floors and grass lawns and it's still going strong. The iPad it replaced, a first gen iPad Pro 9.7, fell onto the same piece of concrete and its screen is completely destroyed. I also had a similar scenario with two phones, one a Samsung Note 8 with a case and screen protector which had its display completely destroyed by a six-foot fall onto concrete and the other an iPhone 12 mini that has fallen a similar distance onto concrete with no case or protector and still looks as good as the day I got it.
@@foxcroasmun4097 my M1 iPad Pro 12.9 slipped out my back pack when I was taking it of my shoulders hit a desk then fell to the floor and doesn’t even have a single mark on lol
@@foxcroasmun4097 how clumsy are you to drop two different devices off a six story drop
I remember upon the switch to aluminum, a lot of snobs were mad that it switched to a cheaper weaker metal. Aluminum is a better thermal conductor meaning it dissipates heat better than the previous titanium laptop which trapped warmth and became a hot skillet. It can also easily be anodized to give color that doesn’t flake, chip, or wear as easily as paint.
Do not cover breathing hole. Just good advice in general.
Also, do not cover the wifi antenna. That's Antennagate season 1. Season 2 happens shortly in the future...
Man, Apple was very generous in terms of ports availability and expansion capabilities back in those days...
nope it was just different times, was pretty much expected.
Nowadays apple is not only politically progressive, but DIGITALLY PROGRESSIVE. about 5-10 years ago They had removed most headphone jacks, disc/cd/rom drives, usb ports, ethernet ports, hdmi ports, vga ports, and other stuff from thier products. And as time goes on, it gets worse.
Why? For 2 reasons, 1:money (so people can buy expensive airpods and shit) and 2, "digital progressivism" (just coined a term)
digital progressivism is a bisnuesss ideology where you get rid of all so called "obsolete" features that many people still use because they work and thier cheaper than wireless (such as ethernet ports, headphone jacks, usb ports, vga ports, etc) and leave your computer with 1 hdmi port and usb port, and no headphone jack. It has happened to various apple products, iphones, ipads and enspecially macbooks. All it the sake of "digital progressivism", money and minimalism. imagine an ipod having no headphone jack and u had to be FORCED to use airpods! Its like the people that scream at you for wearing something that is "out".
The bad thing is, some windows computer manufacures are doing this too.
This is why some people are using old pcs running softwares like windows 7 and even goddarn windows xp in 2023, becuase they dont wanna sacrifice their compatabillity for radical modernism.
How many pcs STILL have the compatabillity that older ones have in 2023? Well we have Most windows pcs, with ethernet ports, multiple usb ports, and are still as thin as macbooks. thats why windows is so popular, because windows pcs are good computers (except when bill gates forces you 2 update.)
and then the panasonic toughbook, a pc that looks like it was made in the windows 95/98/2000 era, which has all the ports that older pcs had, and everything i mentioned that appl removed from thier computers. the body style of the computer had pretty much never changed, and it looks like its 20 years old. But theres one problem about it. they cost 1,000-7,000 dollars. Expensive as shit.
why cant we have modern, fair-priced/cheap computers with all the ports pcs in the 90s and 2000s had? Because bigcorp dosent listen to thier customers.
goddamnit a mainline laptop made during the windows 95/98/2000 era has more compatabillity than a new macbook. which by todays standards a pc running windows 2000 is an old hunk of shit thats only useful for internet browsing and doing work. Same with a new macbook.
#Macintrash
One thing you forgot to mention, is the G4 Powerbook (running OSX) were like, THE FIRST laptop that you could close the lid on and everything would come back as normal once you resumed operation. Laptops back in the day had to have SPECIFIC drivers (and version of the driver) in order to wake-up from suspend mode correctly. With Apple it was literally zero configuration. IT JUST WORKED!
That quick release system for the keyboard is so cool
The way you narrate the video reminds me of the show How its Made . Always super relaxing to watch your videos
Same
👍 It's an accurate analogy
But... Is the CD drive in the power book G4 a Rinsing or a Filling Machine?
@@CathrineMacNiel Great question
Before Apple turned to the dark side, making systems hostile to user modifications.
this is where the trend started for sure. The last one in my eyes that's even a bit user serviceable far as their laptops go is the Unibody 13/15in Mid-2012 Macbook Pro models sold upto 2016. I have one I got for free from the recycle last year, and the most pain the ass thing was finding the parts I needed like a HDD flat flex cable(there are 4 or 5 different ones depending on model#, and when it was made), and replacing the hinge clutch cover which I decided not to do, and to cover the small cracks with black electrical tape, as a replacement is upwards of $60 USD.
@@CommodoreFan64 I dunno man, 2012 models are notorious for its GPU failure. Never should've picked up from the trash from the first place.😬
@@jockeyjeon9532 I actually have a 13in(they usually don't have problems with the Intel I-GPU), It was free with the Magsafe charger, and in overall good shape, but if it does die I don't care I'll just sell it for parts at that point as I'm not really an Apple person(it's the only modernish Apple product I own), as I have a small collection of Lenovo Thinkpads I've restored over the years I grab majority of the time when I need a laptop that I have Manjaro Mate Linux, or Neverware Cloud Ready OS Home Edition(Chromium OS) installed on them depending on my needs, and how heavy of a load I want to carry, or have on my lap while sitting on the couch, and I just keep my 90 watt Lenovo PSU plugged in ready to go.
@@CommodoreFan64 Sounds like you got a lot of computers. Whatever you do, please don't become a tech hoarder. It's not healthy.
@@jockeyjeon9532 You seriously need to get a life if you are worried about someone else's small collection of computers.
It was my first Apple laptop, I was used to using the desktops. It was fantastic. It was maxed out with 1ghz processor and 1Gb of RAM. It was their first drive with a writable DVD drive. I lent it to my sister when I'd upgraded, and it then fell apart and started giving her electric shocks.
😳
Modern manufacturers could learn something from how user-serviceable this thing was
Even today that looks clean, I would gladly take a thicker device to get all those ports.. heck is even take the transparent keycaps and the ability to open it to access the insides!
This is why I like Lenovo Thinkpads from the past decade, as if you have patience, keep eBay searches out for he models you want, they can be had at good prices, they are overall easy to work on, and upgrade, they have the most common ports you will need in day to get your work done, they generally have good support for most Linux distros if you don't want to use Windows, and they don't scream LOOK AT ME gamer bling, well unless we are talking about some of their higher end Legion series, but even then most of them are subtle about it.
I agree, I don't understand this relentless drive to make laptops thin enough to slice a tomato.
@@user-ty2uz4gb7v I'm the same way with phones, and tablets as well.
I know, right? Why would I want the option of adding ports using a lightweight dock that I can throw into a bag? I would much rather haul the ports around all the time in a device that's twice the thickness and 3x the weight.
@@tim3172 they don't have to be 3x the weight, to get the ports built In just go look at Lenovo laptops, or even Acer has been doing it for years even on their budget range of Aspire laptops.
One of these was my first computer I could call my own. After years of just using the family iMac, my dad passed his 400MHz G4 down to me when he upgraded to a 2008 MacBook Pro. Flawed as these things are, I still love them. Great video!
I'm salivating over all those ports. So... many.... so... useful...
I very distinctly remember when these were released. I was in college and had one of the G3 Pismos that I ran Linux on. It was an awesome machine. I had bought it just as it was being discontinued (and thus at a discount). However, one of my classmates got his campus research job to get him one of the new Titanium machines. It looked so sleek and thin next to my Pismo.
In Jan of 2003 bought a brand new TiBook 1Ghz, loaded it to the max and took it around the world. That machine served me in various roles for almost ten years. It was the first laptop that I could watch an entire movie on an airplane on a single charge. Mine never broke or lost paint but the keys were starting to scratch the screen so I kept a thin piece of foam to protect it. I did go through about six power bricks including one that caught fire. I then switched to non apple branded power supplies for the rest of its life. This spring I saw what they were going for on ebay and I pulled mine out and sold it for a premium due to the nice condition I kept it in.
I owned one when they came out and never had a paint problem. I did have a hinge issue which also tugged and damaged the frame, but did find parts online to fix it. Gave it to a family member years later, but really enjoyed it. Did have a keyboard failure, but was able to find a replacement online. Fantastic Laptop!
Those TiBooks, while suffered from some build/design flaws, are slick as hell!
I love the “Skinemax” soft core soundtrack for the titanium G4, seems fitting.
One of my bosses from an internship got one of these very early in 2001. Photos do not reveal how amazing that design was for the time (and in pristine condition). OS X clearly needed more work, but it was fun to see that too.
It's amazing to me that Apple ever made anything this serviceable.
I have an old desktop Macintosh that has no screws and can be almost completely disassembled without any tools.
@@leandrotami How old?
Apple stuff was highly user serviceable well into the Intel years. Just because you’ve got relatively little experience with them doesn’t make it unusual.
@@BlownMacTruck Pretty much after they sealed the battery into damn near everything, I've labeled them as unserviceable.
@@hattree *shrug* Putting aside that most quality laptop manufacturers have gone this route, it’s not like this is something not recent, like you insinuated.
strange to see in this days, so many ports on a MacBook, keyboard removed by using 2 clips, battery bot glued to the case and SSD and memory not soldered to the mother board.
One of my college roommates had a TiBook. His checked all the boxes: peeling paint, broken hinges, cracking case. He tried his best to kill it before the Applecare ran out, but it would not die.
@@robertplayz9157 no, it shows how slowly they die, many if not all the beige macintoshes are rotting away due to leaky caps and faulty scsi drives, the g5 machines are slowly burning themselves to death due to too much heat from the cpu or they end up getting water damaged if they had the liquid cooling system and of course the Tibook had its issues of pretty much disintegrating, i think the only apple computers from pre 2010 that are safe are the ibooks, macbooks (all kinds), mac pro, mac mini, g4 and intel imacs, the powermac g4 (graphite) and the x-serve.
My dad's Titanium's Powerbook looks immaculate and still boots just fine! We loved this computer!
The black G3 laptop with the smokey keys is one of my favorites.
They also had that keyboard in some of the bondi blue clamshells at school, but it's not nearly the match there.
I bought one of these in 2002 and used it for years, I think I finally retired it in 2010, loved that computer!
Just wanted to say how much I love these retro tech history videos, keep it up. One of the best channels on this site period for me :3
I liked the video Colin! You never fail to impress.
how is this 3 days ago the video released like 11 minutes ago.
people who join or are on Patreon
I want TH-camrs to do all kinds or teardown/unboxing/ upgrading/ vigorous cleaning to each apple laptop from 1997- now... I want to see light shined on the older models like how they do todays models. iMac for example is an engineering marvel compared to todays iMac. its satisfying seeing the progression.
the painted bits on the edge of the lower case are actually MAGNESIUM (Shown crakd in your video), painted beige, the only titanium bits are the Dark grey flat panels on the lower half and bottom cover, the monitor was completely covered in titanium ..at $50 a lb titanium was used sparingly....
the broken magnesium exoskeleton on the base can be super-glued and repainted...the titanium if dented or scratched is not repairable...I have stripped the paint of a Titanium and gave it a satin Finnish it came out pretty exotic....
I bought a Ti new for $3,500 back then. Worst Apple laptop ever. Bending case occasionally shorted out the motherboard. Hinges broke. Paint rubbed off. Just incredibly horrible design and construction quality. I had 5 more of them purchased for my dev team at the same time and can assure you they were all awful.
Right.
Apple computers are shit
Damn that sucks. It looks so good
I guess people going nuts about the 2016 MBP were wrong that Apple was always better
I wish i could be on your dev team
@@fargeeks not anymore. 1 year later Apple computers are as fast as gaming computers.
M1 Max, Ultra, etc and all the durability, perfect displays, retina & speakers is top tier these days.
Your laptops are well preserved. Great video!
Just picked up one of these used in mint condition for a steal from an "as is" auction site. Works great, always loved the design.
The first 2 generations of Titanium PowerBooks (TiBook) have issues with electrostatic discharge/surges on their FireWire ports which ended up killing the firewire controllers - the last generation finally added capacitors on the FireWire ports that filtered out ESD. The series remain the fastest PowerBooks with full ability to run MacOS 9 natively, though.
the 1ghz model is also notable as being one of the few apple computers that can officially dualboot leopard and os9
My first PowerBook! Amazing to use. The bracket(hinge) was not the best but a lot of things worked great. A great vid as always.
the funniestthing about this is how they used a 2.5mm headphone jack for power and at max it was carrying 24.5 volts at 2.65 amps or something like that, wild, i actually found one of these titanium powerbooks for 10€ locally and im meeting up with the seller later this week (hopefully lol), no idea if it works nor which exact model it is i just know i have to diy a power adaptor bc it doesnt come with one and this is the rarest standard connector ive ever seen, it was hard to find one shipping from my country bc i really dont wanna wait 2 weeks if i order it on aliexpress.
great video and even tho i promised myself not to get spoiled bc i wanted the laptop to speak for itself this was very welcomed, also glad the hdd is ide and not scsi i was having nightmares, also seeing how user servicable it is means i can image it first and foremost before doing anything else just in case, u never know it might have some lost software, probably not tho, also that way i can see how many hours its been used, really wish it looked as good as yours tho, the hinges seem ok tho so hopefully the screen is fine? idk im very excited!
also, is titanium more resistent than aluminium? really? every single one of these ive seen for cheap has a small depression on the top like it was hit and the metal bent inwards rip, no idea how to restore that but ill try.
I remember the first time seeing these G4’s. I fell in love instantly
The Titanium PowerBook G4 ("Titbook") was amazing at the time. I had the first model 500Mhz, then soon replaced it with the 1GHz when that was released. The only problems I had was the paint on the hinges - as you say they improved them, as my second one lasted well better than the first. The G4 chip was awesome for its day, if using software that embraced AltiVec. I used the second one right up until the Intel MacBook Pro came out.
Looks better than many entry level computers today! I miss the shiny power button the most.
Love how the Titanium G4 and the G4 Cube still look timeless. Hell even the PowerMac G5/Mac Pro look timeless. I've always wanted them. The Cube is ridiculously expensive to buy used, but the other two are definitely affordable.
I had a G4 Titanium that I really loved. I never had any of the issues with the paint, or cracking in the plastic, but the hinges both snapped on me one day and that was the end of that, as I'd gotten the laptop for $800 on eBay and fixing it would have (according to the Apple authorized tech I took it to) meant replacing the whole screen and hinges at a $300 cost.
Back then I never wanted a Titanium model. It always looked flimsy, and apparently it was. But what I did like was that previous design you showed with the curves. Man I wanted one of those so much. I never did get one. But I wanted one for a long time. At least until the 12" PowerBook came out. Man I wanted one of those. I settled for an iBook but I wished it was a 12" PB. Before the Unibody design we have now the aluminum PB designs they had were pretty nice.
I had one for a short time, until both hinges were broken... So unfortunate, because the rest of the laptop was very good. I liked the titanium, as it is very easy on the skin, having your palms rest on the aluminium case of the later PowerBooks and MacBooks for a long time sometimes brought some irritation to the skin.
I love how high your production quality is
I've always wondered why they painted the titanium. The benefit of titanium is that it looks great raw. Especially if you give it a random brushed appearance so that the scratches it inevitably gets remains doesn't alter it looks. Would look nice and rugged too.
It is a weird choice considering they didn't really bother matching it to the other finishes used!
Nice retrospective! I had the 12" G4 and it was a blast.
I've got a laptop from 2000, a MicronPC Transport GX+. It has the thin bezels, lots of ports, easy access to the internals, a nice keyboard and mouse, swappable bay, etc.
And the display is actually very very nice! It's 14 inches, 1400x1050, with good colors and viewing angles too.
It is crazy to me that I've got this old (for computing, these days) dinosaur, and it has better build and parts than a lot of newer laptops that I had seen for quite a while after it came out. I guess it is true though, that MSRP for it was about $3500 with the base configuration, and most newer devices are built down to cheaper prices...
It was originally a company computer, for my Aunt's son to use, which got passed to my Aunt, who passed it to my grandfather, who gave it to me around 2011/2012. I used it as my main personal computer up through 2014, when I replaced it with a Thinkpad and custom built desktop. I still keep it around, and actually pull it out occasionally to mess around with or to use specific software on it.
I've got a Dell Inspiron 2200 from my uncle which I use as a PiHole for my home network, and a couple other network services. That thing has an awful keyboard, mouse, and screen, and fewer ports too. The physical mouse buttons failed on it years ago as well lol
Back then, this was a holy grail of Laptop Designs since I do loved it... 💻
The font on the keys is still my favorite to this day. I miss it a lot.
The TiBook was the DeLorean of laptops - sleek design composed of straight lines and flat surfaces, different from everything else upon its debut, and beloved by collectors to this day who have developed solutions to its various flaws.
One most important aspect. It should Apple was continuing to move the industry forward and took the risk with Titanium. Despite the issues what laptop looked as good as that did in 2001? Nothing even comes close and to expand, it ultimately led to the creation of the aluminum PowerBook which is still the foundation for MacBooks built 20 years later.
Now finally in 2021, we have our modern Titanium laptop from Lenovo: X1 Titanium Yoga.
The circle is complete. 🙏👌
Watching 8bitguy, Techmoan, LGR and so on, your videos were always in recommended or just around. And I purposely DID NOT click, because of reasons. Glad I finally clicked, great content my friend
I like all the options of connectivity, and that it allowed the user to remove a battery and replace it. I would love if I could have that today on a MacBook Air.
Upgrading RAM, upgrading HDDs? Is this even the same company as the one we have today? lol
The laptop that started the MacBook design
People that weren’t around then could never understand how absolutely stunning these computers were compared to everything else out there. Even compared to other apple products, this was a radical new design that was unlike anything else ever. I remember the first time I saw one I think my jaw literally dropped and I couldn’t stop drooling over it’s beauty - it was just the most gorgeous product I had ever seen, and the little details like the slot load disc drive was so slick. It wasn’t just the hardware though, I remember seeing how a video minimized to the dock would continue playing in the dock, instead of just changing into an icon. It was at that moment that I knew I had to give Apple another chance, and from that point on I’ve been pretty exclusive to Apple.
I had one, heating like crazy. The screen was so huge at the time! And the slot-in dvd drive..awesome.
This is my favorite laptop ever. My copy didn't have the issues noted here.
Watching these videos about the classic laptops, I realize how many of these things I actually owned and have subsequently forgotten about! It would be quite the stack at this point, and while the specifics have faded a bit in my memory I do recall the excitement and joy of exploring each of these when they came out, marveling at their innovations. That thin titanium was extremely cool to behold.
Love that you do such a great review including flaws, features and you explain them and show the machine so well! I want to model my channel after your if I ever get the nerve to launch one
I remember that around the period when these laptops came out, Apple laptops had hinge problems affecting the display.
Funny how you did this not long after IMNC's Titanium PowerBook video!
Helped order hundreds of these for a major university for professors to use. Many had hinge failure after a year or two of use.
My first Apple machine. Oh the nostalgia.
You sound remarkably like the guy who does the PBS Eons videos. It always throws me off.
Great video BTW
I always love watching your videos, relaxing to listen and see what you are showing off and fixing :)
W..We gave up bright colorful and fun plastics for bland matt/brushed aluminum. It's like looking back at cars from the 50's-80's ya you had the brown beige black and white but there were so many more colors and at least the roads would have looked more lively. Meanwhile having a rainbows worth of fleet macbooks with all of those fun bright colors would be nice. I know there are many people who love the minimalism of black, Silver [grey], and white but i've personally grown disenchanted with it and would love to see bright colors start to return.
Heh, I still have my father's old Titanium G4 laptop somewhere. It was his daily driver for nearly six years. Multiple hinge replacements, two new screens, countless keyboards and trackpads, hard drive and RAM upgrades; the works.
One thing I rarely see mentioned in reviews is the fact that air travel was made quite difficult by that titanium case, which apparently interfered with carry-on x-ray scanners. My father was detained several times over the years and thoroughly interrogated as to why it wouldn't x-ray.
It’s such a clean design, it really does hold up! Great video!
I still have a Titanium PowerBook, even compared to contemporary machines it remained it's beauty.
It looks surprisingly modern for the time.
I’m totally fine with the non unibody aluminum chassis we ended up with like on my m1 air. This feels like all the years of failure created a well done simple machine.
Titanium will always be cool though.. instantly grabs your attention cause it’s so hard to form so it means engineering goes up a notch or two.
Wow, so even back then there was "switch to the dongle life" Removing that hotswappable drive and force users to use ports feels a LOT like removing the SD Card slot and USB-A and forcing customers to use dongles off the USB-C ports.
I had this computer and thought it was the coolest thing ever when I got it. It felt so futuristic back then.
"DO NOT COVER BREATHING HOLE"
Good advice in most situations
That PowerBook G4 lid looks better than current ones
This was my first laptop and the machine that got me to move from from windows to MAC OS.
I didn't realize that the powerbook was also available in the same form factor as the ibook g4. Neat.
God this history reminds me of how the iPad Pro is evolving. Smooth curvy backplates in 2015, 2018 refresh all trim and square - sleek, yet manufacturing flaws where they bent like cray paper, now thats been addressed they’re a bit sturdier, boosted power, new M1 processor 2021 product refresh - compelling, now flawed with iPad OS15. Ahh, Apple’s don’t change their spots either it seems.
My most prized and only vintage Apple I've hung on to is my 12" PB G4. My favorite form factor of all time. The Titanium is beautiful as well. I would love to own one of those at some point!
Literally, the only downside I can see with Aluminum macbook is that if you have mercury metal in your house and spill on it, it will just eat through the mac in a few weeks. Such relevant issue among mac users.
Gallium will make it super brittle and crack in much less time than that.
The 667 and 800MHz DVI models are good, except for the cooling setup - they used an axial fan to draw hot air over the processor, yet almost all said air was dumped on the titanium bottom panel and *not* out the air vents in the back, rendering the fan ineffective and your lap roasting. They switched it (wisely) to a blower on the 867MHz and 1GHz systems.
Remember a lot of laptops in the mid to late 90s started using a magnesium alloy, Felt really nice were nice and solid. The other day at the computer store everything was plastic, even up in the $2500 range, Real gross.
Great video, Colin! Thanks for one more. What a weird resolution they chose to go with, I have never heard of any device that used it natively. That video out port looks like a multi out for a break out cable, s-video usually only has 4 pins, but that is a common mistake. Thanks again, I love the video as usual, top notch production and feature product.
Those 7-pin connectors are backwards-compatible with standard 4-pin S-Video cables.
@@eDoc2020 cool, thanks for correcting me 👍
Oh, this reminds me back to when MacBook where serviceable and expandable workstations instead of today's fashion items for influencers, sealed with pentalobe screws, and designed to sell digital contents.
7:34 - Oh, hey, it's the "12 inch aluminum G4 with bent frame in the vicinity of the optical drive"! That's the model I had!
Apple just doesn’t want you to be able to replace anything. ::cough:: Louis Rossman ::cough::
I'm totally feeling nostalgic watching this. I bought this computer back in 2001 and it was my switch from PC to Mac and I haven't moved back since. I actually used the PowerBook G4 for 5+ years before getting my next MacBook Pro. I still have it in storage somewhere and I have to say that it's still one of my favourite Macs (might be because it was my first and brought me through my final year of high school and all my years at university).
Also, I never experienced any of the physical problems. There were some chips in the paint, but I may have bought an "upgraded" version. I also took care of it very well... I remember a woman in an Apple store in Malaysia who, many years later, was astonished at how well it still looked along with a pretty pristine charging cable/adaptor.
4:32 just so you know, that Latitude C600 series notebook you use as an example to show PCs needed an expansion card, it has a miniPCI slot underneath to accept a wireless card, or other devices.
This was the first laptop I bought for myself. I have both good and bad memories of it.