Home > Consumer Reviews > Apple PowerBook Laptop 12.1" TFT M8760LL/A (867-MHz PowerPC G4, 256 MB RAM, 40 GB Hard Drive, DVD/CD-RW Drive)

Forget the negative reviews, this powerbook is great.

Yes it gets hot, but I never use it on my lap so that is fine. The battery life is decent, but it takes close to 4 hours to charge a fully drained battery.

Mac OSX is a breeze to use, and I was able to create a local area connection with my PCs to share files and printers in no time.

If anyone is looking for a light notebook with ample performance, there is no better option than the powerbook G4 12 inch.

I got a the 12" G4 as a great bundle deal at famous online auction. Mine included max out ram, airport extreme card and base (the modem/antenna one) and 3 year apple care + 15Gig Ipod for a fraction of retail.
This is my second laptop I had an Ibook 500 which I gave to my dad when I upgraded.
I use my laptop mainly for surfing the net, online banking, a lot of word processing and getting live online international tv/radio broadcasting (You get a better resolution with DSL or Cable modem though)
itunes/ipod rock, I was getting so sick of carrying all my cds around!!!
iphoto is amazing and yet such a simple way to manage of all your photos.
With a firewire webcam I use Yahoo IM to keep track of friends and family.
There is some heating on the left hand side below the keyboard but I never use the laptop on my lap and when I type the heat is does not bother me on my left wrist at all. It is not a big deal at least for me.
I have used Windows in school but I find that Jaguar is so much more user friendly. I find that for my needs, the programs I use come in both Windows and Mac versions so I do not feel at a "disadvantage" like some windows user might feel.
This is a cool, portable and versatile machine well worth the investment especially if bought at auction or on sale!

I've long been a devotee of highly-portable notebook computers and Macs. I was doubly pleased, then, to see Apple introduce the 12" PowerBook in January 2003. Here at last was the computer that combined a travel-worthy form factor with a reasonably powerful Mac.

I didn't get my hands on one until more recently, and I am very happy with it. The computer is powerful enough for all of my general productivity tasks, with a nice keyboard feel and a bright, readable screen.

I've had great experiences connecting via the all of the various networking technologies built-in. I use Bluetooth with my phone and PDA (including wireless connections to use my phone as a GPRS modem), AirPort for WiFi connections, dialup when there's no broadband or GPRS available, and the built-in 10-BaseT networking at the office.

Battery life is decent, though not extraordinary at around 4 hours on a full charge. The power management is unobtrusive, and as with other Mac notebooks running Mac OS X I love the instant sleep/wake capability.

I have one complaint with this machine: heat. All notebooks emit some, but this computer seems to be particularly hot. I've used it once or twice on my lap while wearing shorts, and frankly found it uncomfortable.

Other than that, this computer comes as close to a perfect portable as I've seen.

My 12" PowerBook:

OS X 10.2.6
640MB
867 MHz PowerPC G4

I purchased everything available as an upgrade, including the DVD burner and the Airport Extreme card. I spared no expense.

You may have heard this before, but I will repeat it here. This laptop is beautiful. Its the perfect size. The screen is top notch. OS X is the best new OS on the market and it will only get better.

However, beware and be warned! This laptop gets HOT HOT HOT and it is SLOW SLOW SLOW.

The heat under my palms, especially the left, is enough to cause discomfort and redness. Its like holding on to a piping hot cup of coffee. This may prove to be beneficial in the cold winter months, but during the other three seasons it will become almost unbearable.

The performance is awful. Launching an application can take an exceedingly lengthy amount of time. Even small applications seem to suffer as much as the large ones. I have watched icons in the dock bounce 40 to 50 times before the application launches. I have waited and waited for an application to respond to seemingly simple tasks while I am rewarded the dance of the spinning wheel. You will become accustomed to the spinning color wheel of death and the bouncing icons from hell. I am told this is due to slow hard drives used in this production line and the fact the G4 in the 12" doesn't have any L3 cache. Whatever the reason, do not buy this box if performance is paramount.

i am an apple user from way back (15 years!) who has also had plenty of windows experience. i never got the windows thing. my last laptop was a powerbook G3 400 firewire. After a month of use, i can say this 12" pb is lovely! i don't like reading small print, but have found no discomfort with the size of screen (and websites and documents are easily zoomed, but i have only needed to do this once this month).

i have noticed "the heat thing." but i have to tell you, i almost never find cause to sit with a laptop ON MY LAP, which is uncomfortable for me personally, and so, if like me, you usually use these things on a table or airplane tray or whatever, you will have no problems with the heat.

the cd burner is effortless, Jaguar (OS 10.2) is fabulous (this is my first time on OS X too) and intuitive. i don't know why anyone would prefer classic OS 9 to jaguar, but if you do, it is here and you can use it any time, to run old software, for example. it is so much easier to use than even classic OS 9.2, my previous system software.

enjoy this attractive, extremely portable machine!

Update (2006): after a year, heat did cause the aluminum case to warp. 3.5 years on, the machine works great! Cosmetically, though, the heat did take its toll.

Another Update (2008): five years out, still works fine. I upgraded to 2G RAM so it's much swifter. The warping did not get any worse.