An Open Letter to the Apple Powerbook Team

Dear Powerbook Folks,

I know you hear this a lot, but I'm one of your biggest fans. I own two Apple laptops, a 15" Powerbook G4, and a 12" iBook G4. I love them both. They are self-marketing items. People come up to me and ask me about them. I have persuaded my friends and coworkers to consider, and often carry through with, becoming Apple customers. I'm a loyal fan, and I bring money to your honey pot. It's my pleasure to do so.

So let me offer a simple request: Make me the Perfect Portable. No biggy, right? Note that I didn't say the perfect laptop. The perfect portable would be a laptop, but I really want to emphasize the portability aspect, because it seems to be a decreasingly important feature. See, of my two beautiful laptops, the one I use the most is the iBook. This is because I spend a lot of time running on a battery, and when it comes to battery duration, the iBook wins hands down.

It saddens me, because I want to use the Powerbook. That screen, you see, is amazing. Breath taking. It swallows you in. The keyboard is a delight. And of course, power to spare. But there I go, rhapsodizing about the Powerbook again. Nonetheless, I rarely use the powerbook anymore. Because no matter how awesome a computer is, when it runs out of juice, nothing else matters.

So here's my wishlist: A big screen with a big battery. Everything else is secondary. Sacrifices would be necessary. Powerbooks currently prioritize being small, thin, sleek. That's fine by me. What I'm seeking is an option with the big screen and the awesome keyboard, but sleekness less valued. One option would be a retro option: external optical drive. For the amount of space my combo drives take up, they rarely get used. I burn a CD once in a while. I install an OS upgrade here and there. But mostly, I just download everything I need. Sure, a lot of people want, love, need that optical drive. But their options are plentiful. Mine is non-existent. With the space saved by having an externally attachable drive, we would have room for a great big battery.

Additionally, we don't need much in the way of horsepower. I've used G3's, G4's, and G5's. I'm a programmer, so I spend most of my time manipulating text. In my usage, I rarely run into a processor that underperforms. No, most of my problems are solved through generous memory allotments. I don't really need a G5 in my powerbook. I doubt I even need a G4.

Of course, if you kept the machine mostly as is, and simply made it thicker to hold more battery, I won't complain one bit. Sleekness is cool, but not nearly as useful when it results in a loss of functionality, indeed the ultimate functionality: turning on. Imagine a 15" laptop that lasted all day. Now that's a portable.

Sincerely, and with hope,

Andre Behrens