Titanium PowerBook Report Part 2

Part II: Opening the Titanium PowerBook

After admiring the TiBook from all sides for several minutes, I decided it was finally time to get inside. Opening the latch puzzled me for a bit: I knew the catch was magnetic, but pressing it did nothing. How did one actually open the 'Book?

I finally managed by pressing the latch with one finger -- awkward, as the button is narrower than a finger and you have to use a fingernail -- and pulling up slightly on the display at the same time.

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After a bit of use, the display pops open when you press the button, like above. The button is rather narrow, though (and I have small fingers).

My ancient Wallstreet has a really tight latch that's a bear to open (your fingers are sore afterward) even after years of use so this mechanism worried me slightly, but it proved to be an anomaly caused by lack of use. Once I'd opened and closed the display a few times, it wanted to spring free, and a push on the button released the display so it popped open a bit and you could grasp it.

Opening the PowerBook G4
Despite the hype over using titanium for the shell, there's no question that the huge LCD screen is the TiBook's chief distinction. Even with the computer off it's incredibly impressive: there seems to be miles of display.

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No matter how you look at it, the display looks huge. (That's Mischief on the screen. He's definitely not that big in real life.)

While I love the look of the thin display, I was nervous about durability. It didn't seem possible that there could be enough support for that wide screen across the full width of the unit. Surely one would have to use two hands to avoid twisting the display?

[High Resolution Picture]

From above. The screen is incredibly thin, but seems sturdy.

I don't know if it's the titanium shell or something else, but the display is extremely rigid. I had no problems opening it with one hand from one side or the other: the display hardly twisted at all. Still, I'll generally open it from the middle, or with two hands. No sense tempting fate.

Once you've gotten over the incredible display, your eyes will drop to the keyboard area. Here things seem strangely sparse. The trackpad -- much larger than normal -- is flat, as is the smooth button. The keyboard is nice, though a touch too transparent for my tastes. It reminds me slightly of the bronze keyboard laptops, which I never particularly liked. I'd prefer it coal black, but at least it's dark. (I did notice one positive benefit to the transparent keyboard: the caps lock light is visible from an angle through the key, instead of only from above.)

The keys themselves are spongy -- they push down easily, but spring up when you let off pressure. It's a little disconcerting at first, but I like it. At first all I could type was gibberish, but after a few minutes I started to adjust. The bigger problem for me was getting used to the completely flat keyboard: there's no slope like on a desktop keyboard, and I kept getting my fingers out of typing alignment. The tiny dots on the F and J keys are too small, almost imperceptible. But perhaps the tolerances on this laptop are so tight that larger dots would have poked holes in the screen!

Rather than use special buttons for sound control like on my Wallstreet, Apple has programmed the Titanium's function keys to double as control keys for things like screen brightness, sound volume, and the new CD/DVD eject key. I like this: it's cleaner than special keys, works just as well, and it's likely to be less expensive. A nice touch is that while you normally have to hold down the "FN" (function) key to access regular function keys, there's a preference setting so you can swap this behavior so that FN is needed for the special functions and regular typing uses the function keys.

[High Resolution Picture]

Some of the function keys do double duty as special keys that control brightness, volume, and eject media.

The speakers on each side of the keyboard look like air vents. They don't sound terrible or great, merely adequate. There isn't much bass and even less volume: for serious DVD watching or music playing you'll want external speakers. Rather a shame considering the price and market of this laptop: Apple could have used the space from the Titanium's extra width to set a new standard in laptop sound. (I'd push for Dolby Digital 5.1 surround sound via wireless external speakers. ;-)

Since my battery arrived with a full charge, I decided to run the Titanium off battery power in order to drain it and condition it, as recommended by Apple. (You just have to completely drain it once, the first time you use it. After that you can recharge it any time.)

Next Segment: In Part III, we'll turn it on!

Titanium Report - Part 1
Marc receives his Titanium PowerBook and reports his initial impressions.

Titanium Report - Part 2
Analysis of the exterior of the Titanium PowerBook continues with an exploration of the screen and keyboard.

Titanium Report - Part 3
Marc powers up the TiBook and discovers the first problems.

Titanium Report - Part 4
Marc installs RAM, partitions the hard drive, and begins personalizing his Titanium wonder.

Titanium Report - Part 5
Performance results: Marc benchmarks the Titanium PowerBook against a 500-mhz desktop G4 in a variety of tests.

Titanium Report - Part 6
Should you buy a Titanium PowerBook now or wait for version 1.1? In this final segment, Marc comments on a variety of issues and concludes with his analysis of the Ti's worthiness.

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