Powerbook 12"... some issues

the wobble is odd.

turn it over and see if all of the rubber stops are still attached underneath.

the slot-loading drive mechanism is actually MUCH better the the older ones used in the rev. a TiBooks... the old one had problems because people would force the CDs into the drive too fast and it would break now you can really go as fast as you want and nothing bad will happen...

Yes, I had the "wobble" too. Across the axix oposite the battery, right? (ie the battery corner and the diagonally oposite corner are the ones that move?).

I've had mine, a month tomorrow, and when I first had it I couldn't stand it, but it seems to have gradually gone away - no idea why. Though perhaps I should try it on another surface.

As far as the screen goes - it's a crappy screen with a pretty poor viewing angle (ie with yout head three feet from the screen you're getting colour distortion across it no matter what you do). My previous PowerBook was a 5300 with the 800*600 screen - and that screen is better!?

Having said that I really like the portability, and I can plug it into a big screen any time. The only issue I have there is that you don't seem to be able to switcth the small screen off at all, or use the external monitor with the PowerBook closed (is that an odd thing to want to do?).

My only other wish is that it would boot into 9.x!

Thanks for the replies everyone...

Yes, the wobble is across the corner with the battery and the diagonally opposite corner (bottom right, top left, respectively)... I mean, it seems fine with my temporary solution... but with a great piece of equipment like this, this really shouldn't be an issue...

As for the slot load drive... glad to hear it's normal, I guess... so I really do have to push a CD in about 90 - 95% of the way in before the drive accepts it?

Aquatic, I haven't tried playing a DVD yet... haven't had time, really... not a good idea to get your Powerbook when you have a test the following day and two problem sets due the next... but when I try it, I'll get back to you.

[quote]Originally posted by ironchef82:
<strong>Yes, the wobble is across the corner with the battery and the diagonally opposite corner (bottom right, top left, respectively)... I mean, it seems fine with my temporary solution... but with a great piece of equipment like this, this really shouldn't be an issue...</strong><hr></blockquote>

I just rotated mine 90 degrees on this desk, it does in fact still wobble. If I can find a glass desk I'll try it again - and if it still does it it's going back.

I don't think you should have to resort to bits of paper to keep is level, send it back, it's a manufacturing fault.

As to dead pixels - I think Apple's policy is up to four on a big screen - but the 12" is hardly big. Personally if I had even one dead pixel, on any size screen, I'd send it back. Apple can point to "policy" all they like - but that's not going to stand up in the UK, it's a manufacturing fault fair and square.

Remember that Quartz Extreme really needs 32 MB of VRAM to function properly, and th AluBook only has 32 MB. If you use monitor spanning for two displays, you're cutting your VRAM in half (16 MB dedicated to each display). That's going to hurt your QE response.

I don't have wobble but these "lines" in my "more graphics weirdness" thread are going to make me soil myself if Apple doesn't fix it. No one else is seeing this?

[quote]Originally posted by Clive:
<strong>

Having said that I really like the portability, and I can plug it into a big screen any time. The only issue I have there is that you don't seem to be able to switcth the small screen off at all, or use the external monitor with the PowerBook closed (is that an odd thing to want to do?).

My only other wish is that it would boot into 9.x!</strong><hr></blockquote>

its odd that you can close the lid on a 15" PowerBook and run an external monitor off it (which I do with mine), but not the 12", which I thought it would have been ideal for...

what happens when you try and do it? i put my machine to sleep and close the lid, connect my external monitor and plug-in my keyboard and mouse and hey presto! (sorry clive, have another egg grandma)

:D

[quote]As to dead pixels - I think Apple's policy is up to four on a big screen - but the 12" is hardly big. Personally if I had even one dead pixel, on any size screen, I'd send it back. Apple can point to "policy" all they like - but that's not going to stand up in the UK, it's a manufacturing fault fair and square.<hr></blockquote>

Yep, it's got to be "fit for the intended purpose", which isn't helped by a glaring green pixel in the centre of the screen. I think I'll give them a call.

like someone said above, technically a certian amout of bad pixles is acepted and will not warrent a return (at least in the US). To get a unit replaced for one bad pixel, you either have to be really lucky, or make a really big deal about it to the company and hope they do it. But you should deff try, the more people that demand that this is not acceptible the better it will be for all of us.

like someone said above, technically a certian amout of bad pixles is acepted and will not warrent a return (at least in the US). To get a unit replaced for one bad pixel, you either have to be really lucky, or make a really big deal about it to the company and hope they do it. But you should deff try, the more people that demand that this is not acceptible the better it will be for all of us.

good luck

edit: yea I just tried it cant close the 12" when hooked up to a external monitor, it just goes right to sleep <img src="graemlins/hmmm.gif" border="0" alt="[Hmmm]" />

[ 03-14-2003: Message edited by: Ti Fighter ]</p>

i ordered a superdrive 12"PB with a full complement of RAM from the apple uk store just after they were announced. got it in late january ... think it was one of the first BTO models in the country.

i immediately had several niggling issues with it. it wobbled, as described above, on a diagonal. i tried it on multiple surfaces and it always did it. the lid didn't close tightly ... there was certain amount of 'give' even when the lid was closed. the trackpad button was 'sticky' and would sometimes release ponderously slowly. i could live with all of these niggles after a fashion ... after all it was my first laptop and i was already really enjoying using it for work and play.

what swung it for me was when i tried opening the lid one morning. the hex screw on the bottom right of the screen bezel had somehow dislodged, dropping down and catching on the opposing edge of the bottom case just above the power button. the first i knew of this was when the lid refused to open properly, then 'tore' open, bending the aluminuim fascia of the bezel and ejecting the offending screw onto the desk. i carry the machine everywhere in neoprene sleeve, inside a padded bag, so i didn't think this fault was due to my rough handling.

having bought online from apple, and having bought applecare for my PB (def a wise move for any laptop owner, i now believe) I called apple. they arranged to send out a replacement BTO machine and collect mine. when i explained i needed the machine for various jobs, and had spent 2 weeks config'ing my machine with my tools and apps, they agreed to send the new machine on to me, but give me time to transfer my files. carbon copy cloner with a cleanly formatted HD on the new machine via firewire target mode let me copy everything in about 30mins.

my new machine is structually sound ... no wobbles, lid closes solidly and without movement, and trackpad is fine. however it does seem to get slightly warmer than the first machine, my xbench scores are slightly lower, and the internal fan seems to have a slight rattle and is noticebly louder than before. its slightly aggrevating, but i'll wait to see if i have any more pressing issues before i send this one back :)

btw, anyone else surprised by the sudden 'woosh' of air as the fan kicks in on the 12"PB? it's startled me on more than one occasion in an otherwise silent room...

[quote]Originally posted by fred_lj:
<strong>As has been said before, it's not a good idea to run the system closed anyway even though it might seem appropriate. With a G4 notebook, the heat dissipation requires the keyboard's open surface -- melting an LCD probably isn't likely, but might as well play it safe.</strong><hr></blockquote>

I am too lazy to look right now, but I am pretty sure this is touted as a feature of these books in Apple spec sheets - this isn't a hack someone figured out. I think it even tells you how to do it in the little manual that comes with the footlong...

[quote]Originally posted by othello:
<strong>
what happens when you try and do it? i put my machine to sleep and close the lid, connect my external monitor and plug-in my keyboard and mouse and hey presto! (sorry clive, have another egg grandma)
</strong><hr></blockquote>

Well someone reckons in another thread, like you say, that you have to plug in a keyboard and mose too. I didn't have that, I just wanted it to run while I was watching something on an external monitor.

As far as the wobble goes, it's surface dependent in terms of it doesn't happen on some surfaces. But that's because they are uneven, not because the PowerBook is not faulty. The test to my mind is whether it wobbles on glass surfaces, and whether it does no matter how it's rotated - and it does.

So it's definitely a manufacturing fault. I've never seen another PowerBook do it - the 12" is unuusally stiff, you can't get any flex in it at all.

cool thanks, I dunno why I didn't realize that the ibook was basicly the same size.

I tried plugging in a keyboard and mouse but it wouldn't wake up. But maybe i didn't try it in the exact order you guys said.

[ 03-16-2003: Message edited by: Ti Fighter ]</p>

Hi just my small comments.

I bought my 12" pb thru the UK Apple store, it's a BTO model with a 60Gb harddisk and superdrive.
It took about 2 weeks to arrive.
I've had none of the problems you've listed here.
DVD's play perfectly in full screen, there's no lines appearing on games or intensive graphic operations.
Theres no wobble either.
However I had a chat with someone I know who lives in Ireland and works for Apple Support for the UK.
They hinted that the first production run of the 12" has these problems. The later mainly BTO models had the problems ironed out.

Makes sense...

I've got a BTO (but was a stock item at Micro Anvika) - 60GB/Airport/SuperDrive. It's got the wobble. No other faults I can find yet though.

A few notes on my footlong experience so far. I did notice the Chunky DVD Playback right away.. that kind of upset me, because my pismo had a similar problem for about the first month i owned it, not chunky playback, but the audio would go out of sync over time, so the dubbing looked like a kung fu movie.. The fact that the CPU monitor trick works, has me statisfied for now, as long as a fix comes along in the next few weeks.. :\

My unit has the Wobble. I didn't notice it actually until I read some of the threads on here.. I don't really give a shit about this one.. It spends 99 percent of the time on my lap, or closed, on my desk plugged into my CRT.

which leads me to the next thing:

Originally posted by Kesh
Remember that Quartz Extreme really needs 32 MB of VRAM to function properly, and th AluBook only has 32 MB. If you use monitor spanning for two displays, you're cutting your VRAM in half (16 MB dedicated to each display). That's going to hurt your QE response.

I've been spanning with my 21inch viewsonic, at 1200x1600, and not I haven't noticed a performance Hit at all.. :smokey:

Quartz Extreme Checker (http://www.entropy.ch/software/macosx/#quartzextremecheck) This thing would be a lot cooler if it burped out some numbers, instead of telling you if QE is
working or not

QE is active on both displays, but I don't know how much vram gets allocated to each. I'd assume there's some sort of dynamic allocation based on what rez you're running, but I don't really know..

-solar

I like the wetsuit idea, but wont that further impair the heat dissipation of the powerbook, which it already gets really hot? I just wated to see what yall thought
Forcelite

I've had my 12" Powerbook for about a month now. I love it but notice the following drawbacks...

-->It has the wobble. Seems like a serious manufacture flopp.
-->The battery drains way too fast - like a bathtub with no drain-plug.
-->It gets hot, which makes the fan run most of the time.
-->The Airport reception/range is nowhere near that of the iBook. Anyone know how to increase the range?
-->The headphone jack seems to be sensitive to the tuch - I can hear static fuzy noises come and go as I just barely touch the headphone jack where it's plugged in.
-->The slot-load drive is loud when taking in or spitting out the disk, but I can live with this.

Other than that I love this machine! I don't have the lines in the video that some are reporting on these forums. Anyway, if anyone knows how to maximize the airport range/reception I'd live to know how, or is there someway to plug in an external antenna?

-Z

The noise from your h/p jack is caused when the metal case touches the jack. I've noticed it ver much on my h/ps as they are have a large metal jack. Just insert it, and gently pull it out a mill or two, and it's grand, or put a sticker over the port and pop a hole in it.

Yeah I have a slight wobble too, I didn't realize it until I unplugged because the cords anchor it. It wobbles from left to right diagonally. Oh well not so bad.

And for God's sake what is it with everyone complaining about heat!! It's a frickin laptop of course it'll be hot! Look at all it has inside it! Get pants or get thicker skin.

The wobble on mine seems to have disappeared. I think the problem was the surface I was on was just uneven ever-so-slightly. (It had my CRT monitor from my old PC on it, so it might have been warping the surface a bit... but now that the monitor is gone, no problem)

My laptop gets warm just like any other laptop, Mac or PC... the hottest that it has ever gotten was enough to make it a bit uncomfortable for extended amounts of time, but definitely nothing close to scalding/burning hot.

So yup... no real issues on my machine now... it's working just as advertised and I don't regret buying it.