[morebyte]

Hello,

I want to buy myself a PB, but i'm still thinking witch one to buy the 12", 1,5ghz or the 15" 1,67ghz.

While surfing some reviews, I found out that apple uses two kind of screens for its PB series. Cheap ones(phillips) for the 12" and more expensive(better!) ones for the 15" and 17".

Can somebody confirm this? Or did they fixed this problem after the last revision???

Thanks, :smokey:

MOreByte

[atomicbartbeans]

Welcome!

I don't know what brand screens Apple uses, but I can tell you that I notice no difference between the quality of 12" vs. 15-17" PowerBook screens. All are very crisp and high-quality.

[DMBand0026]

I own a 12" PowerBook and use it as my main computer, the screen is great. Yes, a 12" screen is inherently less bright because of the fact that it's smaller, but it's not all that noticeable of a difference. Images are still crisp, text is easy to read...no problems at all for me.

[Franz Josef]

I own both. It's never struck me the 15" is better. They're both excellent. Whether you buy a 15" or 12" really ought to be determined by whether you need the extra portability.

[Kyros]

The screen on the 12 inch is fine if you are the one using it. The viewing angle is very weak, however, so you will probably have to turn the pb to face whoever you are trying to show something. That's the only way I've found it to be worse than the 15/17 inch screens. Some people say the 12 inch is dimmer, but I find the 12 inch one to be bright enough, and haven't put it next to a 15 or 17 inch to see if there is a noticeable difference.

[rasmits]

Go to an Apple Store and try one.

[Swing]

I use a 12" PB as my main computer spanning to a 21.3" Samsung. Other than the 1024 x 768 resolution I think it is fine. Were I to use the PB alone most of the time I would have gone with the 15" PB due to its greater 1280 x 854 resolution; the 15" also has the benefit of greater RAM expandability and FW800.

Since I use the 12" PB with the other screen I prefer its smaller size and am not bothered when using it alone on the road; in fact I appreciate its better portability and so still prefer it over the other PBs.

[Satchmo]

Or perhaps wait a month and see if any of the rumoured 13" widescreen PB's shows up at MacWorld Paris.
Would be great having a tad larger screen yet still have the portability.

[Mikester]

On the spanning question can someone confirm whether it is possible to have the bar on the top of the screen on the monitor plugged into the laptop, rather than on the laptop screen itself, when using screen spanning doctor? If so, how?

[Brad]

Yes.

System Preferences -> Displays -> Arrange

Also, why would you use the Screen Spanning Doctor on a PowerBook? The PowerBooks all support spanning out of the box and don't need any modifications. Only the iBooks need this hack.

[stonyc]

I have a 15, my wife has the 12... and I can't tell that much of a difference in quality between them besides the screen real estate. Basically the decision comes down to portability: do you need it, or not? My wife is a resident and needs to give presentations, while at the same time having to carry her PDA, pager, doc bag... so she wanted the portability. I on the other hand work in a lab, take my PB to work and plop it on a desk.

[Mikester]

Originally Posted by Brad Yes. System Preferences -> Displays -> Arrange Also, why would you use the Screen Spanning Doctor on a PowerBook? The PowerBooks all support spanning out of the box and don't need any modifications. Only the iBooks need this hack.

Actually, I do have an iBook - it just occurred to me whilst I was reading this thread and I thought I'd ask, rather than starting a whole new thread.

[madmaxmedia]

I have had a 12" iBook, a 12" PB, and a 15" PB.

The 12" iBook and 12" PB screens are supposed to be identical, but I found the 12" PB screen to be signficantly brighter.

I like the 15" screen the most of all, but didn't find a big difference between it and the 12" PB screen. Both were sufficiently bright enough and clear enough for me.