Apple PowerBook Laptop 15" M9422LL/A (1.50-GHz PowerPC G4, 512 MB RAM, 80 GB Hard Drive, SuperDrive)

by Apple

Product Details

Product Manual [1.91mb PDF]

• Product Dimensions: 9.5 x 13.7 x 1.1 inches ; 5.7 pounds
• Shipping Weight: 14 pounds
• Shipping: Currently, item can be shipped only within the U.S.
• ASIN: B00022HXOW
• Item model number: M9422LL/A
• Average Customer Review: 4.4 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (35 customer reviews)
• Discontinued by manufacturer: Yes
• Date first available at Amazon.com: April 19, 2004

Product Description

From the Manufacturer

Fully loaded with a powerful G4 processor, built-in AirPort Extreme, FireWire 800, DVI and Gigabit Ethernet, the 15-inch PowerBook G4 boasts features few notebook computers can match.

With a processor speed of 1.5 GHz, 512 MB expandable DDR RAM capacity up to 2 GB, and weighing just 5.7 pounds, the 15-inch PowerBook gives you the ideal balance between power and portability. Work and play in millions of colors on a stunning 15.2-inch (diagonal) widescreen display with 1280 by 854 pixel resolution that's ideal for watching movies in their original wide-screen format. Naturally, you can also make movies of your own with the included iMovie software, or get Apple's Final Cut Pro HD for more advanced video editing, compositing and special effects. And thanks to its built-in DVI port, you even have the option of connecting your PowerBook to Apple's line of all-digital flat-panel displays.

	Leading-edge Industrial Design The sleek exterior is as stunning as ever. The 15-inch PowerBook G4 comes with all the refinements and esthetic touches that make it the most coveted full-featured notebook computer on the planet: 1.1 inch thick, 5.7 pounds, AirPort Extreme, aluminum design, an elegantly engineered slot-loading 4x-speed SuperDrive and a 4.5-hour battery. On the inside, faster PowerPC G4 processors, powerful graphics capabilities, up to 2 GB of RAM and the world's most advanced operating system combine to deliver off-the-charts performance. Speed-optimized Architecture Inside the 15-inch PowerBook G4 is a screamingly fast 1.5 GHz PowerPC G4 processor with Velocity Engine. Advanced processor design and memory architecture are among several core advantages that enable the PowerBook G4 to pack such a tremendous wallop. Exremely Fast Wireless Every 15-inch PowerBook comes standard with AirPort Extreme built right in, so you're ready for 54 Mbps wireless networking out of the box. And with thousands of wireless-enabled “hot spots” in hotels, airport lounges, coffee shops and bookstores around the world, you can get online from practically anywhere. What's more, you can use your PowerBook G4, AirPort Extreme and Rendezvous (which seamlessly recognizes and links computers and digital devices to each other) to create your own secure wireless network. Wireless Internet Everywhere AirPort Extreme uses radio waves to communicate. This works to your advantage: Unlike infrared signals, which require an unobstructed line of sight between the remote unit and the base station, radio waves can pass through solid objects from up to 150 feet away. Which means that you can take your PowerBook G4 into different rooms or onto different floors of a building and still maintain your active network connection -- and surf the Internet through walls. 4x SuperDrive Your PowerBook G4 with SuperDrive (DVD-R/CD-RW) comes loaded with iDVD software. Use it to burn DVDs that can be played in most consumer DVD players. You can also use iTunes to burn your own CDs, or the Disc Burner feature in Mac OS X to burn data CDs. The SuperDrive reads DVD titles at 8x and writes to 4.7GB DVD-R discs at 4x speed.
Powerbook model M9462LL/A features a 17-inch TFT widescreen display.
Powerbook models M9421LL/A and M9422LL/A feature a 15.2" TFT widescreen display.
Powerbook models M9183LL/A and M9184LL/A feature a 12.1" TFT display.

Sizzling Graphics Processor The 15-inch PowerBook G4 comes turbocharged with the new ATI Mobility Radeon 9700 graphics processor with 64MB of DDR SDRAM. The Mobility Radeon 9700 features a number of cutting-edge graphics technologies, including programmable pixel and vertex shading for lighting and shadow effects. It dramatically enhances all aspects of your visual experience in every application, perfect for photorealistic 3D games and cinematic-quality video. Fast FireWire 800 and USB 2.0 The PowerBook G4 features FireWire, for connecting external hard drives and DV cameras, and USB, for connecting graphics tablets, digital cameras, printers and scanners. With more than 30 times the bandwidth of the popular USB 1.0 peripheral standard, FireWire 400 has become the gold standard for high-speed data transfer. And Apple ups the ante, effectively doubling data throughput, with FireWire 800. The new 15-inch PowerBook G4 has two FireWire ports -- one for the hundreds of FireWire 400 peripherals already available and the other for the coming generation of FireWire 800 peripherals. In addition, the PowerBook G4 offers the fastest connection to USB peripherals with two 480 Mbps USB 2.0 ports.

The Bluetooth Connection In addition to AirPort Extreme, you'll also find Bluetooth built into the new 15-inch PowerBook G4. Bluetooth lets you connect digital devices wirelessly. For example, you can use iSync, which comes bundled with all PowerBook G4 configurations, to synchronize your personal information among various Bluetooth-enabled devices, such as your PowerBook, mobile phone and Palm OS-based handheld. And Bluetooth lets you take advantage of GPRS connectivity to check your email from anywhere -- a benefit that comes in handy on those occasions when an 802.11 wireless hot spot isn't available.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

78 of 81 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Like driving BMW, July 3, 2004

By 

Mirrorguy (USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Apple PowerBook Laptop 15" M9422LL/A (1.50-GHz PowerPC G4, 512 MB RAM, 80 GB Hard Drive, SuperDrive) (Personal Computers)

Like it or not, I've used Windows/PC for the past 12 years. Macintosh occasionally appealed to me, but I didn't get it partly because it's expensive, partly because of compatibility. At work and at home, I owned: Dell Inspiron, Thinkpad, Dell/HP Desktops, running Windows 98/2000/XP. Also I tinkered with Sun workstations running UNIX (I'm an EE guy and have a respect for UNIX).
After 12 years of Microsoft (and blue screens), I made a bold switch to Apple Powerbook 15" with 1.5GHz/512RAM/80Gb, and I'm so happy with this system that even 5 stars are not high enough.

- The sleek aluminum chassis and the wide screen generate Wow! effect.
- This 15" machine is lighter than my old Dell laptop.
- It's very quiet during operation, but the bottom side may occasionally become hot.
- The keyboard has a good depth and touch, and the backlit keyboard is simply cool.
- Using the built-in microphone, you can play the bundled 3-D chess game via OS X's voice-recognition. Isn't that futuristic?

About software compatibility (from EE guy's viewpoint):
- MS Office 2004 for Mac became my favorite patch of programs. Even better than the XP version - a very important factor in my decision to switch.
- Math tools, especially Mathematica 5 and Matlab, run well on Mac.
- Favorite design tools, Adobe Photoshop and Carrara 3, work well. After all, Mac was built for them.

- There are tons of open source programs you can use: GIMP, A/G BLAST, ...
- Some layout and CAD tools are not compatible. I have to use old PC. For those number-crunching jobs, however, I don't use laptop anyhow.

As much as I enjoy steering this elegant silver machine, I love to navigate through the Mac OS X. As Sun's Bill Joy said during an interview, "Mac OS X is rock solid". I like the idea of using UNIX commands on my Mac, although I can do everything with the user-friendly Mac interface.

Yes, Powerbook is more expensive compared with Dell and other PCs, but you get what you pay for: top-quality components, futuristic functionality, eye-catching design, and the enormous joy of owning a rock-solid elegant machine (like BMW!). You'll definitely like this one!

73 of 76 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars This is THE Laptop, July 25, 2004

By 

Macauley86 (California, United States) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Apple PowerBook Laptop 15" M9422LL/A (1.50-GHz PowerPC G4, 512 MB RAM, 80 GB Hard Drive, SuperDrive) (Personal Computers)

I've had this computer for almost three months now. I upgraded to the 128MB videocard and 1GB ram. I also installed Abobe Creative Suite CS, Office 2004 for Mac, Virtual PC 6 with Win2000 and Red Hat Linux, and Macromedia Stdio 2004. I also have lots of IBM-made Windows XP Pro laptops and workstations. Windows XP drives me nuts most of the times. As an Italian, I do appreciate beauty and aesthetics, and I certainly agree with Steve Jobs when he says about Microsoft, "They have no taste." When you compare the elegance of MacOS with WinXP, it's like comparing a Michelangelo painting with a six-year old kid's drawing. And I won't even mention the beauty of the machine itself or even the attention to details in the packaging of the unit.
The OS is rock-solid. I may have Photoshop, InDesign, Dreamweaver, iPhoto open at the same time, and the OS hums through all that like a Lexus at 65mph on the I5. This my not be the fastest PC out there, but it certainly does not feel any slower than my 3.0GHz, 1GB, 80GB, 7200rpm IBM intellistation. It is surely more stable though (and quieter too). The thing is, this machine, unlike a Windows box, does not require a Norton or McAfee Internet security suite to bog down your system resurces. To give you an example, my virtualPC win2000 was fine until I installed McAfee Internet security suite, which slowed it down a bit (well, maybe five bits). It is actually amusing to use virtual Win2000 on top of MacOS. When you see the sloppines of Windows-based programs, unwanted balloon tips popping up all the time bragging about the new exciting features of the OS or warning you about a new virus and so forth, it is a pleasure to go back to Mac OS and just do whatever you need to do with ease. The Apple Mail program has a better spam filter than Outlook on my IBM. The machine goes to sleep in one second and wakes up from sleep in two seconds, and even when on, it's whisper quiet. When the processor is working at full blast, you can hear the noise, but it's still much quieter than my IBM Boeing-747-take-off kind of noise. Safari is fast and reliable, iLife is a pleasure to use, when inserting a previously seen - but unfinished - DVD into the slot, the DVD player asks you whether you want to start watching the movie from the beginning or from where you left off. Isn't that what every DVD player on the planet should do? Yet, not only do Windows-based DVD player not do that, they either have some of the ugliest interfaces in the software world (WinDVD) or install a lot of crapware on your system that makes ad windows pop up all the time (real player). Mac OS never crashed in three months of intensive use, nor did the applications, with the exception of Word 2004 (it does it all the time when selecting Italian as the language in the TOOLS menu... maybe Bill Gates does not like Italy) and iPhoto once.
Switching from Windows to Mac was a walk in the park, I think I took 10 minutes to figure out the big picture, and one day to master it at an intermediate level. if you are a developer, you'll love the xCode and python programs too. They come free with the machine.
The machine is not perfect, though; hence only four stars. Text looks crisper to me in Win XP than it does in Mac OS, even though Microsoft drives me nuts with its persistence in using small size fonts in this day and age. Sure, I know i can select extra large fonts in Display Panel, and I can change font size within specific applications, but it's still a pain in the rear and time consuming. Fonts on the Mac are already of the perfect size (Apple, unlike MS, seems to grasp the concept that we are not using 640x480 screens anymore) and a pleasure to read, even though they could be a bit crisper (that could be a subjective thing, though. Some people swear by the smoothness of Mac fonts...). BTW, you will have to know how to set up the Clear Font option in Win XP because it's not active by default, which makes text in Win XP horrible. Again, what is Microsoft thinking? Sloppy people. The second complaint about this powerbook is relative to the lid hatch that lets the lid pop open sometimes. I know there's a DIY way of fixing it. I just didn't go the Apple discussion board yet, to read how to implement it. overall, unless you are into gaming, you should definetly ditch Windows in favor of Mac OS. It will be like leaving the Venetian casino in Vegas and going to Piazza San Marco in Venice. When you see the real thing, you will be asking yourself, "Why was I at the Venetian in the first place?"

29 of 30 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Quite simply, the best in the world., August 18, 2004

By 

C. Mancini (Rochester, NY) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Apple PowerBook Laptop 15" M9422LL/A (1.50-GHz PowerPC G4, 512 MB RAM, 80 GB Hard Drive, SuperDrive) (Personal Computers)

Don't be afraid of taking the step and getting an Apple notebook. The other ones aren't worth it. I've had a Dell and a Toshiba, and both have failed me. I don't even want to mention my grandma's HP. Powerbook is quite simply the best. Its design blows the mind, with no little doors or anything that could get caught on something. The Apple Experience starts when you open the box. Its incredible. Apple is the BMW of computers. Its beatiful. When you finish calibrating the battery the way they say, you're ready to have fun. The apple logo lights up in back. You don't notice it, you're having so much fun. A plenthora of the latest ports (Apple didn't bother with the old ports nobody will use), you can hook up your USB 2 and Firewire devices. Inside Apple has given you the best software. Dell will load your laptop up with cheesy shareware software, where you have to buy it after 15 days. Apple gives you the finest--included. iLife 04 with iTunes (manage music), iPhoto (manage photos), iMovie (edit movies), iDVD (make DVDs), and GarageBand (MAKE/edit music) blows away any software from the Windows world. OmniGraffle is a really cool drawing program, and GraphicConverter is a great graphics program. Mail, iCal, Address Book, Safari, and the other built-in apple programs are very nice. Safari is better than Internet Explorer for browsing, and Mail is far nicer than Outlook Express.
Worried about not having enough software for Mac? Forget it. There's piles of high quality stuff for Mac. There is literally nothing you can do on a PC that you can't do on a Mac, often far better. Even with games, where the Mac is slightly lacking, you can get Command and Conquer, Warcraft 3, Myst, Age of Empires, and many more popular titles.

Mac OSX was rated the best operating system according to PC World magazine, and its not hard to see why. I was smitten. You will be smitten too.

Mac simply don't get viruses, spyware, and randomly crash right when you're writing the most important report of your career. This is probably one of the biggest pluses. No more blue screen of death.

The built in wireless was a great plus. When I plugged in the mac, it found our wireless network instantly. Did you know, we had not been able to figure out how to do file sharing with our PCs. We plug in the mac, and it found our other PCs right then and there. I was file sharing in minutes!

The backlit keyboard is sooo cool. Its automatic, and it is just stunning.

Watching DVDs is great. The battery actually lasts long enough to finish the movie, and the controls aren't fussy and impossibly tricky. There's no CD tray. Its a slot-loading drive (see picture in product description)

Overall, you can really tell someone was thinking when they made this computer. What a winner!

I don't want to sound like a salesperson, so there are some cons:
-Won't run your windows software. You will have to look around for some replacements. Most of the commonly used stuff is built right in, so you can read (and create) PDFs, manage your digital stuff, get mail, surf the web, read Word documents, and much much more. You may have to find some more specialized programs for Excel and Powerpoint files, Graphics editing, etc...
-ummm.....
-The mouse has just one button
-umm.....
-Mac OSX takes a little getting used to, but then you'll figure it out after a day or two

You will be sorry if you choose to buy a Wintel (Dell, Compaq, HP, Gateway, Sony, etc...)notebook. When you spend the first 10 hours after you buy your computer on tech support, you will remember this review. You have been warned.