Owners love the Powerbook, but also have complaints; battery life, the tiny trackball and the odd screen shape head the list
Article Abstract:
The Apple Macintosh Powerbook series of notebook computers has become the best selling computer ever, but its users would like to see a number of features improved. The $2,000-to-$5,000 notebooks are most frequently criticized for their short battery life; users usually get about half the company estimate of operating time. Apple has designed a number of software features to save power by selectively limiting operation, but these also irritate users. The problem is that Apple uses Motorola 5 volt chips, not the low-power 3.3 volt chips used by IBM-PC compatible computers. Other complaints concern the layout of the keyboard, which has no page-up and page-down keys and suffers from a trackball that most find too small. The third major problem is with the non-standard 640-by-400 screen, which can cause problems when importing programs and images. Apple is working on a software converter for this.
Publication Name: The New York Times
Subject: News, opinion and commentary
ISSN: 0362-4331
Year: 1993
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Daunting hurdles to using System 7 on the Mac: What are the most dangerous words in computing? 'Mostly compatible.' (Apple Computer Inc's operating system, System 7.0) (The Executive Computer)(column)
Article Abstract:
Apple's System 7.0 operating-system software adds various features, such as information sharing on a network, and the program is easy to install and to use, but the transition to System 7 can be difficult, dangerous or expensive. Some experienced computer users make it a practice to avoid software releases with version numbers that end in zero because software publishers seldom get everything right in a first release. For such users, there is good news: Apple is finishing a revision that corrects mistakes that have turned up in version 7.0. For those who must move a software library to System 7, Apple suggests running their compatibility checker program. Programs will display in four categories: compatible, incompatible, unrecognized and mostly compatible. Users should be especially careful of the designation 'mostly compatible' since crashes can sometimes occur.
Publication Name: The New York Times
Subject: News, opinion and commentary
ISSN: 0362-4331
Year: 1992
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