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On the 20th of July I got my new powerbook g3. As a somewhat first time Mac user I didn't know a lot about it, other than what I learned about Macs from using them at school. I have used Windows 3.X, 95, 98, RedHat Linux 6, BeOS R4.X and MacOS 8.X. So far the easiest to use is still MacOS, with BeOS running a close second and Linux (if you have the right hardware) running a slightly distant 3rd if you use KDE 1.1.X. At a technological level I am not very impressed with MacOS because it lacks pre-emptive multitasking and protected memory. However I am very impressed with how it just *works* when you plug it in. The only IBM PC OS that comes very close to this is BeOS, and even BeOS still needs some work.

For such a small laptop, the Powerbook G3 333 is a really powerful little beast. It is more responsive than my desktop which currently only has Win98. My powerbook has 192mb of ram, 128mb more than the standard models. Yet I cannot but notice how most MacOS programs require very little ram to run. I was very surprised at how a 333mhz powerbook could work as well as my 450mhz desktop computer. Everytime I go to places like circuit city I play with the laptops, and none of them have ever been as powerful as a powerbook.

Currently the Powerbook G3, like all laptops, does not make a good game machine because it lacks a 3d accelerator which is a requirement for many games availible now and most games that are coming out in the future. It remains to be seen whether games like Quake 3 will be able to run on it because it lacks a 3d accelerator, but games like C&C 2: Tiberian Sun should work just fine once they are ported to MacOS. Also the Powerbook's PPC processor isn't as good at floating point operations as an IBM PC's x86 processor, but the PPC is the best choice for anything that relies mainly on integer operations like office suites.

The only problem that I have experienced with my Powerbook is that its modem doesn't perform in some cases as fast as even my desktop's winmodem! The same hotline servers that I average 4.5kb/sec on my desktop only give me around 2.5-3.5kb/sec on my powerbook. I tested it once by getting off my desktop when connected @ 4.5kb and immediately connecting to the net then to the hotline server. The same download was around 1.2-1.5kb slower and there was the same number of users and downloads going on as when I was on my desktop.

I don't have any benchmarks to back up my claims. I speak only from an end user point of view. Currently no one can agree on a standard set of benchmarking tools, therefore I will do my best to refrain from quoting from any in product reviews. Apple is notorious for quoting from bytemark tests, which were supposedly more optimized for the G3/G4 than the PII/PIII. The only solution here is to get some open source coders together and have them write a set of benchmarking tools under a license like the GPL. That way we can make sure that the results are unbiased andtruly reflect the performance of the hardware.

I bought my Powerbook from Mac Connection for arround $3000. That included a free zip drive, a 128mb of ram upgrade (I have 192mb of ram) and a warranty where my laptop will be replaced with a new one of the same value (but in a future Powerbook series) if my Powerbook dies and another 333mhz model can't be found. So far I have yet to see an IBM PC laptop that can match the quality of a Powerbook G3, so I would recommend that anyone who is looking to buy a new computer give a Powerbook or iBook some serious consideration. Just my $.02.