Rating: 
Summary: Best computer I've ever owned
Review: I bought a 12-inch Powerbook after I gave my old Sony Vaio notebook the Pete Townshend treatment - I put my fist through it. (Yes, it looks like a stained glass window.) I hadn't used a Mac in years, but I decided I'd had it with Microsoft and Windows. All it took was one weekend and a good book - "Mac OS X: The Missing Manual," by David Pogue -
however, and I mastered the machine.(Other than the size of the screen, the 15-inch model is the same as the 12-inch one.) SOFTWARE
The computer comes with some great software. iTunes is the best media player on the market. I have almost 5,000 songs stored on mine. With the search function and browser display, it is easy to find a particular song. iTunes also keeps track of the number of times you've listened to a song and it allows you to rate your songs. It's easy to create a playlist. Also, burning one of those playlists onto a CD can be done with one click. Safari is a great web browser. It has a Google search box built into the toolbar, prevents pop-up ads (I've never had one), has tabbed browsing (preventing a cluttered desktop), and allows for bookmarks to be added with one click. iChat allows Mac users to customize their AIM and Rendezvous chat sessions in ways that the normal applications don't allow, such as adding pictures from iPhoto to their profile. I haven't mastered iPhoto yet, but it is downloading pictures from a digital camera is as easy as plugging it into the USB port and clicking a button. Also, Macs are less likely to get a virus or be overtaken by spyware. The iCal and Address Book look good, but if you are going to sync a PDA with your Mac, you are better off using Palm Desktop software. Hopefully the functionality of those programs will be improved in the future though. Finally, most of the programs work with each other. For example, if someone on my iChat buddy list is online, a green dot will appear next to a message from him or her in my Mail inbox. I also use Microsoft Office, Quicken, Dreamweaver MX, and Palm Desktop - they all work well on the Mac. Office shares files perfectly with PCs. HARDWARE
Spend the money and get the superdrive (CD-RW/DVD-R). DVDs have more memory than CDs and blank DVD-Rs are becoming more affordable. If you are into collecting videos of concerts, a DVD-R is a must. I'd recommend upgrading to at least 768 MB of memory and the 80 GB hard drive. Burning a DVD requires a lot of memory and can take a while - this way you can use other applications while burning a DVD (on my old PC, if I was burning a CD, I couldn't use anything else). The hard drive space is really cheap. Plus, if you load your CDs on your computer, they can eat up a lot of memory, even as MP3s (my 5,000 songs take up about 25 GB). Also, there is a lot to be said for getting the Airport Exteme card (although you can buy a third-party base station for less). I am able to browse the Internet in any room of my house - well worth the extra $100 or so. I have the 12-inch monitor, but that was because Apple hadn't released the 15-inch in the new style when I made my purchase. The 12-inch is fine - it's much clearer than my old PC notebook - but if I had the opportunity, I'd probably go with the bigger monitor. DRAWBACKS
-While most software is available for Mac OS X, there are some programs that aren't (Google toolbar, Yahoo! toolbar, Kazaa, AvantGo) or minor problems in software that is available (Quicken can't access accounts on Ameritrade via Macs)
-The PowerBook doesn't have a fan, which is great for the battery, but can cause it to get a bit hot underneath where the user rests his left hand. Regardless of those drawbacks, however, buying a Mac was an easy decision. If you have any questions about it, click on my profile and send me a e-mail. UPDATE: After 14 months, the hard drive started making noise and system performance got slow and I couldn't run as many programs as I used to. I called Apple and had to spend $300 for them to put in a new hard drive and some other hardware. They were unable to transfer my data to my new hard drive, so I've spent the past four days reloading all of my software and applications. No idea why the hard drive went. Hence I dropped the rating from five stars to four.
Rating: 
Summary: disclaimer: worse than crack
Review: i have been actively looking for a new computer for the past six months. with so many variables, i found it hard to to fall in love with just one. price was a huge concern but i knew i didn't want to settle for a product i wouldn't want to use in 6 months. I knew OS X was a superior product compared to windows but i was apprehensive about compatibility problems. Once the aluminum came out though, i had to have it. it was more expensive than the titanium and the dell (d600), but after using mine for about twenty four hours now, i can honestly say you get what you pay for. Its as fast as you could ever want, the wireless is awesome, the whole i-suite is so easy and pleasing to use, windows office works seemlessly, and its all grounded by the best OS available. i have seemlessly set up the wireless using a netgear mr814v2 (they tried to convince me to spend an extra $100 for the airport ext base station but i'll never get more than 10mps over the cable anyway), my hp psc 2210 was easy to install as well (i have yet to put it through its paces though). as a student, my primary needs for the laptop were portability and word processing with wireless internet. I kept telling myself: "bare essentials." that pretty much went out the window (no pun intented) with this purchase but i have no regrets. its awesome. They should ship this product with a disclaimer though, in the past twenty four hours, i've left the house twice and both times i couldn't wait to get back and play with my toy. buyers remorse? only for windows chumps.
Rating:
Summary: This is the best of the best
Review: I have had this computer for a long time and it always works just perfectly. i have never had it brake, even with my constant droppings of it. So over all this is the toughest computer i have ever had.
Rating:
Summary: Another Great Apple Product
Review: I have owned 2 Dell PC's in the past 8 years and have made the almost seamless switch to one of the best computers I have worked on, the Mac Powerbook. I have experienced 0 problems and have also purchased the Apple Care with my computer as insurance which is the same as what Dell does as well, offer an extended warranty. So to combat what the person said above, first you should always take the extended warranty no matter how much it costs, it technology and it can malfunction. And secondly I had my last Dell computer crash and and lost everything I did not back up. I was able to get help from Dell but I waited on the phone for hours and every person that I talked to had a very hard time speaking English well. The communication was horrible. Point of this message, the Apple is far superior!
Rating: 
Summary: yes, terrible support
Review: I have to add my comments as well after reading some of the support stories. I am a software developer that works with many macs, and can attest to the fact that when things do go wrong (which fortunately is not that often, I think the powerbook quality is excellent compared to any other computer on the market) but when they do go wrong, you will be almost guaranteed a hellish ordeal. If you break the computer yourself, by far the most common thing I have seen, it won't matter if you have an applecare warranty, because accidents are not covered, only defects. In this case, you will find prices to be outrageous for parts, rendering the notebooks essentially unrepairable, ie. it will be cheaper to buy a new one, which, as you know, is not cheap. I give this product 3 stars, because although it is like the ferrari of the computer world (both in price and quality), you don't have to take a ferrari back to italy for excellent service for a lot less than the original cost. A powerbook on the other hand, will be inescapably expensive no matter what if something goes wrong, both in time, frustration and money. P.S. I had a similar applecare warranty experience as the person who wrote the previous review as well with one of the machines.
Rating:
Summary: My best laptop ever (this is not a notebook)
Review: I just upgraded to a new new pb 15" aluminium from a very cute first release white 12"iBook. I am pleased for the various reasons given by other reviewers. I am not computer expert, but my work takes me consulting at different companies. One of the amazing things is how quickly my pb connects to the various LANS then it "finds" through rendezvous all the networked printers in the building, often numbering in the hundreds and instantly makes them available. I have used powerbooks and macs for a long time, and these machines and this version of OS are simply the best, more agile in windows networks than windows machines themselves! There are so many other stunning things that this machine can do, and I am having fun in and out of the office: the best $3000 I have spent, on the machine and upgrading the RAM to 1gig. Could have gone up to 3 gigs, but what would I be doing with all that memory? I initially tilted towards the 17", but I am glad I settled for the 15". The screen is plenty big. How does one carry a 17" aircraft carrier around. Then there are choice limits to one's work surfaces. 15" is certainly the way to go. My only regrets: if I had waited just two weeks, I would have acquired the faster 1.5mHz powerbook that Apple just released. I think there is a 2.5mHz powermac G5 in the horizon.
Rating:
Summary: My best laptop ever (this is not a notebook)
Review: I just upgraded to a new new pb 15" aluminium from a very cute first release white 12"iBook. I am pleased for the various reasons given by other reviewers. I am not computer expert, but my work takes me consulting at different companies. One of the amazing things is how quickly my pb connects to the various LANS then it "finds" through rendezvous all the networked printers in the building, often numbering in the hundreds and instantly makes them available. I have used powerbooks and macs for a long time, and these machines and this version of OS are simply the best, more agile in windows networks than windows machines themselves! There are so many other stunning things that this machine can do, and I am having fun in and out of the office: the best $3000 I have spent, on the machine and upgrading the RAM to 1gig. Could have gone up to 3 gigs, but what would I be doing with all that memory? I initially tilted towards the 17", but I am glad I settled for the 15". The screen is plenty big. How does one carry a 17" aircraft carrier around. Then there are choice limits to one's work surfaces. 15" is certainly the way to go. My only regrets: if I had waited just two weeks, I would have acquired the faster 1.5mHz powerbook that Apple just released. I think there is a 2.5mHz powermac G5 in the horizon.
Rating:
Summary: powerbook 15"
Review: I love my apple powerbook. It looks good, also very easy to carry around. OS X is excellent, if you get the microsoft office it's fully compatible with your office, exel, powerpoint files from your PC. This is my second macintosh and I have no plans on getting another PC ever again, I want nothing to do with Windows.
Rating: 
Summary: Customer Service extremely rude and unhelpful
Review: I purchased this 15 inch powerbook with all the features, and dvd burner and I spent $2500.00. You would think for that price they would help you with problems. You would be wrong!
Its been a year since I purchased the computer and it worked fine at first. Then, it would not accept my password to log on even though I knew I was typing correctly. After repeatedly shutting down and trying again and again for about 3 days, it finally let me in. Now I'm scared to shut it off for fear I won't be able to get into my computer again.
As if that wasn't bad enough the drag and drop features that apple is just so proud of, no longer work at all. I can't even move files from folder to folder, much less move pictures or music.
My cd burner also does not work anymore, as it keeps giving me errors.
Understand I did not do anything to this computer. I am a fairly advanced computer user, and have done absolutely nothing that could cause this problem. The only thing I even use the stupid thing for is internet and email, and there is no way I could have gotten a virus or anything to cause this.
So I call customer service. They tell me, "your warranty runs out today" so I told them, well can you help me, it is today. And the man said, "oh your warranty only covers hardware not software" so I asked him if I could describe the problem, because I do not know whether the keyboard is reading incorrectly which would make it a hardware problem. He listens to me, and then says "no, I am not going to help you with that unless you spend $349.00 to buy the applecare protection plan, or $49.95 for OVER THE PHONE CUSTOMER SERVICE. You have to be kidding me. $2500 doesn't get you ten minutes on the phone without spending another $50.00
Before this all happened, I would have said to choose apple in a heartbeat. Now, I say go with Dell. You can custom design your computer, you can still get wireless internet access, and they won't hang up the phone on you when you have a problem!
Rating:
Summary: Apple Support more than adequate
Review: I read a couple of reviews about Apple support and would like to share my experience. We had a hard drive go down on Monday, called Apple Support on Tuesday and arranged a (free) pickup the next day, they came and picked up the computer on Wednesday late afternnoon, they returned the computer completely repaired first thing Friday morning (again with free delivery). Thats right, ONE DAY TURN AROUND. Yes, Apple warranty does not cover cases where you break your computer yourself but what warranty does? Did that reviewer think he should be able to to drive his car over his computer and then have it fixed for free? Apples stores are now available all over the U.S. At apple stores they have something called the "Genius Bar" where experts are waiting to help you with your problems for FREE. Especially in the case of a laptop, if you have a problem or wish to learn how to do something, just take your Mac to your local Apple Store and get all your questions answered. Instant Gratifaction.
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