Tiny TinBook: First Impressions

[Doffie Rotter]

My BTO 12" PB arrived on Friday, and I've been working on it/with it 
ever since.  For anyone who might be interested, these are my thoughts 
so far:

Feels well-made and very solid.  Love the screen hinges and the fact 
that it opens like the iBook (which I sold to buy this).  My TiBook 800 
is plagued with the screen-marks problem.  My iBook never had those 
and, so far, neither does the TinBook.

It does get hot, both underneath and to the left of the trackpad, where 
the hd is housed.  I would say that it gets noticeably hotter than my 
TiBook 800.  However, I don't find resting my hand on the machine is 
uncomfortable.  Certainly not a "show-stopper" for me.  (On the other 
hand, I wouldn't be able to use it on my lap without "protection" if I 
were wearing shorts.)  I ordered mine with the 60 gig (4200) hd, but 
similar reports about heat are coming from people with the standard hd 
configuration.

The keyboard is outstanding.  MUCH better feel to this one, compared 
with both the iBook and the TiBook keyboards, because this one doesn't 
lift up as those do.  A more substantial feel, possibly my favorite 
keyboard ever, and very quiet.

Airport reception is as good as it was with my iBook, which is very 
good indeed.

Sound is better than it is on the TiBook, probably the result of the 
extra speaker and the speaker placement.

Haven't used the SuperDrive to burn any DVDs yet, but the drive 
mechanism seems to work fine and is quieter (upon CD or DVD insertion) 
than it is on my TiBook.  DVD play is smooth as silk, no hiccups or 
hesitations.

Speed: Surprisingly zippy.  Finder operations, loading apps, Internet 
apps, iMovie (version 2, since my experience with iMovie 3 has been 
very disappointing and I'm waiting for Apple to fix stuff) --- all work 
great and plenty fast, no perceivable difference when compared with the 
TiBook 800.  I did max out the RAM to 640, but was worried that 
performance would be harmed by the RAM limitation and by the lack of an 
L3 cache.  Haven't tried many games yet, but Civilization III, which is 
fairly graphics-intensive, plays well.

Overall: I think this is an extremely nifty little computer, and it 
will be a joy for travel around town or on vacations.  With the G4 
processor and SuperDrive, it seems like a whole lot of computer for a 
very reasonable price.

       Doffie