Apple Powerbook Laptop M8858LL/A (867-MHz PowerPC G4, 256 MB RAM, 40 GB Hard Drive)

by Apple

Product Details

Product Manual [9.56mb PDF]

• Product Dimensions: 9.5 x 13.4 x 1 inches ; 5.4 pounds
• Shipping Weight: 11 pounds
• Shipping: Currently, item can be shipped only within the U.S.
• ASIN: B00007EMC8
• Item model number: M8858LL/A
• Average Customer Review: 4.1 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (8 customer reviews)
• Discontinued by manufacturer: Yes
• Date first available at Amazon.com: November 6, 2002

Product Description

Amazon.com Product Description

In keeping with Apple's goal of providing a convenient technological hub to accommodate the modern Mac user's digital lifestyle, the newest PowerBook G4 with the DVD-ROM/CD-RW combo drive lets you edit movies, watch DVDs, and burn CDs anywhere. They've kept the sleek exterior as stunning as ever, but on the inside is a whole new architecture: faster PowerPC G4 processors, powerful new graphics capabilities, more RAM, and the world's most advanced operating system combine to deliver off-the-charts performance.

Inside is a screamingly fast 867 MHz PowerPC G4 processor with Velocity Engine and 1 MB of on-chip level 2 cache running at the same speed as the processor. The cache adds high-speed, short-term memory that boosts system performance by providing quick access to data and instructions en route to the processor. In other words, it adds up to wicked-fast performance.

The unit comes with 256 MB of RAM, expandable to 1 GB of RAM--twice the capacity of most full-featured portables on the market. This lets you run several RAM-hungry applications simultaneously or store an entire graphics project in main memory for fast image manipulations. Its 40 GB hard disk uses the high-speed Ultra ATA/66 interface, which enables video professionals to quickly transfer large video files in real time directly from a DV camcorder.

The PowerBook's slot-loading DVD-ROM/CD-RW combo drive plays CD-ROM, audio CD, DVD-Video, DVD-ROM, and DVD-R discs. Want to burn your own music CDs? That's easy: use iTunes to burn audio files and the Disc Burner feature in Mac OS 9 or Mac OS X to burn data CDs.

This PowerBook has all the subtle refinements and esthetic touches that made it the most coveted full-featured notebook computer on the planet: 1-inch thickness, 5.4-pound weight, five-hour battery, AirPort, 15.2-inch megawide screen, and pure-grade titanium body. The system also features an ATI Mobility Radeon graphics accelerator and 32 MB of Double Data Rate (DDR) video memory.

Product Description

Apple Computer POWERBOOK G4-800 MHZ 40GB 512MB 15.2 WIDE CDRW/DVD GB ENET FIREWIRE AirPort Card

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

15 of 15 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Watch out, you will convert, November 27, 2002

By 

Clark C. "c--man" (Orem, UT USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Apple Powerbook Laptop M8858LL/A (867-MHz PowerPC G4, 256 MB RAM, 40 GB Hard Drive) (Personal Computers)

I bought my first Mac (a G4 Quicksilver tower) a little over a year ago after using a PC all my life. I used to make fun of people who used them but since I got one I have convinced my Dad, brother, sister, friend, and others to buy one for themselves. Why do you think Mac users are so passionate about their computers? You just feel good when you use one. Maybe it's because you spend less time banging your head against a wall trying to get your computer to work. Or maybe it's because Macs are just beautiful, from the packaging to the operating system. Once you go Mac, you can't go back.

When this Power Book came out and it was faster and had the same size hard drive as my desktop, I knew it was time to trade in. I am so glad I did! I LOVE this computer. It is so fast and smooth and the DVD player is sweet. Even watching the gorgeous visuals that come on iTunes is mesmerizing. Apple has the best of the most important software, like iPhoto, iTunes, iMovie, iCal, etc., that are hands down the best programs on the market. Even Word looks and works better on a Mac. I have only one complaint- Mac support. They don't go out of their way to offer you help. Luckily, you rarely, if ever, need it.

9 of 9 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Great for fun AND productivity, January 6, 2003

By 

Jonathan Fingas (Ottawa, Canada) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Apple Powerbook Laptop M8858LL/A (867-MHz PowerPC G4, 256 MB RAM, 40 GB Hard Drive) (Personal Computers)

I'm a university student finishing up my degree, and when the winter 2002 term's workload practically mandated a laptop, I went out and got the least-expensive major-brand laptop I could at the campus store: a Toshiba Satellite 1800-4K1. Like so many regard their laptops, I treated it like I would an economy car: it did what I needed, nothing more, and I certainly didn't care about it any more than what it took to keep it working. In that respect, the Toshiba did its job admirably for almost a year.

But the more I used it, the more I realised that I wanted something which would be genuinely nice to use (I was also getting a bit disillusioned with Microsoft, but that's another story). Something that would *encourage* me to be away from my desktop system. So I started looking at more serious laptops, and (as you might imagine) settled on a PowerBook.

So far, I'm not regretting the decision one bit, even though it's the only Mac in a Windows-centric household. What shocks me are the sheer number of ways in which it's superior to not just my older, low-end Toshiba, but a number of current high-end laptops as well.

Performance is a bit of a given when you consider the time differential between the laptops I've had, but what's pleasant is the degree to which the PowerBook 867 feels considerably faster than its clock speed suggests. Apple might exaggerate the performance, but not by as much as you'd think. Furthermore, you don't have to scale back your performance to get decent battery life: I can use the system at full speed whether plugged in or not, while a Pentium 3 or 4 laptop can scale back dramatically (I've heard a 2 GHz Pentium 4 scales back to 1.2 GHz!) while still not saving you much power.

The design is definitely what you should buy the PowerBook for, though. It's very thin, so it has a better fit in your laptop bag (and on your wrists), and it's more "shallow" than other large-screen laptops (important when you're using it on a plane or a restaurant table). The widescreen display is also very attractive and useful - so much so that I'd rather use the PowerBook's 1280x854 resolution than something higher on a conventional-ratio laptop.

Battery life is also important for me; what's the point of having a laptop if you can't use it away from a wall socket for very long? While Apple's "up to 5 hours of battery life" claim is indeed a bit much, practically speaking I can get 3.75 to 4 hours out of my PowerBook while doing relatively normal work (typing up class notes, web browsing on wired Ethernet, etc.). Even when I'm using my wireless networking and listening to an Internet radio stream, I can still get over 2.5 hours. In either case, that's a full hour more than the considerably slower laptop I had before, and from what I hear is better still than most of Apple's "desktop replacement" rivals.

Catches? The PowerBook itself is fairly durable (I've heard of someone who had their PowerBook drop off a table and still function normally), but if you want to avoid dirt and scratches you'll want to be a bit more careful than usual. Make sure that it gets put in a bag with a smooth, lint-free surface, wipe the screen using a similarly-textured cloth, and don't decide to sprint to the bus stop with the PowerBook bouncing around like mad. A basic piece of paper placed on the keyboard when you're done should help keep the screen clear.

In short, though, the system is good enough that I'll almost certainly be selling the Toshiba, and probably won't miss it at all. Consider a PowerBook if you want a fast, long-lasting laptop that just happens to be incredibly appealing to the eyes.

7 of 7 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars The best of all worlds, January 16, 2003

By 

Bob "Bob" (Bob) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Apple Powerbook Laptop M8858LL/A (867-MHz PowerPC G4, 256 MB RAM, 40 GB Hard Drive) (Personal Computers)

The way I see it, the 867 mhz setup is the optimum macintosh powerbook configuration.

Firstly, the speed - more than enough. The difference between 867 and 1 ghz - though 1 ghz is a nicer number - is minute, for a 500 dollar price difference.

The DVD/CR-RW drive: while everyone is fawning over Superdrives for the new powerbooks, what they're overlooking is that the CD rewrite speed is actually SLOWER in a superdrive (6x as opposed to 8x). Burning DVDs, of course, is a very cool concept. But the drive itself is an extra 200 dollars, and, in terms of media storage, you simply don't need that much. 700 megabyte CD's go for about a twentieth of the cost of one DVD. So if you're planning on using alternate media to transport data, CDs are cheaper and faster to write with. "But I need to transport my whole hard drive from my powerbook to my new computer." In which case, simply hook up the firewire from your laptop to the computer. Firewire is ridiculously fast.

In addition, the DVD drive itself works well, and the CD-R/CD-RW drive is equally easy to use. If you think that buring DVD's is a great alternative to simply buying them, than think again - at least for the meantime. Ripping a DVD is nowhere near the same as ripping a CD, and besides, with most DVD movies nowadays encompassing more than 4.7 gigabytes, you need a high-density (i.e. more expensive) 9.4 gigabyte DVD to rip it onto.

If, in all honesty, you need to use your powerbook for creating your own DVD's - which not many people do... but if you're one of them, then god bless - then go for the superdrive.

In addition, this model is perhaps the best middle-of-the-road laptop there is. The new 17" laptop starts at 3300. The 12" ones end at 1900. So if you want a 15 inch screen, and the actual titanium casing (the new ones are aluminum), stick with this one.

Something else to remember. Macs, as great as they are, tend to be very flawed when they're first released. The original Titanium powerbook took almost three years to perfect (the old DVD drives used to break very easily). The G4 cube didn't even last a year before it was discontinued. The first G4 towers had to take a speed cut (they were supposed to be released 400, 450, and 500mhz models, but instead were 350, 400, and 450). Macintosh OSX was terrible for a year, before 10.1 fixed all the bugs. The original iBook's design had to be revamped within a year (because they looked like toilet seats). Perhaps wait a little before throwing your trust into a brand new design, as neat as it looks.

Also, Titanium components themselves are getting much, much less expensive. DDR ram (used in the new laptops... and standing for "Double-Data Rate) is necessary only in very, very high end computing; and, if that doesn't convince you, it costs over twice as much as the TI powerbook's PC-133 RAM, so if you feel like upgrading from 256 to 512, it's going to cost about three times as much to buy one 256 DIMM of DDR-RAM.

The overall design of the TI powerbook, after 3 years of remodeling (mostly internal remodeling) is finally at its best. It can handle all games, can upgrade to a lot of RAM inexpensively (and remember, 1 gigabyte of PC-133 RAM is still faster than 512 Megabytes of DDR-RAM), and, most importantly, is very solidly built. The monitors are great-looking, and very high-quality.

I would happily buy this again.