Apple iBook G4 (14-inch) review

That said, the 14-inch iBook G4 showed improvement over the previous generation in our battery-drain tests. It played our DVD for 4.1 hours before petering out (the old 14-inch iBook lasted a shorter 3.9 hours). The 12.1-inch iBook G4 lasted an even longer 4.4 hours, largely because a smaller screen requires less juice.

iTunes MP3 conversion
(Shorter bars indicate faster performance)

In seconds

PowerBook G4 (1.67GHz, 17-inch)

29 

PowerBook G4 (1.67GHz, 15-inch)

30 

PowerBook G4 (1.5GHz, 12-inch)

34 

iBook G4 (1.33GHz, 12-inch) 

36 

iBook G4 (1.33GHz, 14.1-inch)

37 

Photoshop CS
(Shorter bars indicate faster performance)

In minutes

PowerBook G4 (1.67GHz, 17-inch)

9.7 

PowerBook G4 (1.5GHz, 12-inch)

10.3 

PowerBook G4 (1.67GHz, 15-inch)

11.35 

iBook G4 (1.33GHz, 12-inch)

12.9 

iBook G4 (1.33GHz, 14.1-inch)

28.31 

Unreal Tournament 2004
(Longer bars indicate faster performance)

In frames per second

PowerBook G4 (1.67GHz, 17-inch)

19.47 

PowerBook G4 (1.67GHz, 15-inch)

18.8 

PowerBook G4 (1.5GHz, 12-inch)

17.54 

iBook G4 (1.33GHz, 12-inch) 

16.06 

iBook G4 (1.33GHz, 14.1-inch)

12.78 

DVD movie battery-drain test
(Longer bars indicate longer battery life)

In hours

iBook G4 (1.33GHz, 12-inch)

4.4 

iBook G4 (1.33GHz, 14.1-inch)

3.9 

PowerBook G4 (1.67GHz, 17-inch)

3.6 

PowerBook G4 (1.5GHz, 12-inch) 

3.1 

PowerBook G4 (1.67GHz, 15-inch)

2.7 

System configurations:
iBook G4 (1.33GHz, 12-inch)
OS X 10.4.2; PowerPC G4 1.33GHz; 512MB PC2700 333MHz DDR SDRAM; ATI Mobility Radeon 9550 32MB; Fujitsu MHV2040AT 40GB 4,200rpm

iBook G4 (1.33GHz, 14-inch)
OS X 10.3.8; PowerPC G4 1.33GHz; 256MB PC2100 266MHz DDR SDRAM; ATI Mobility Radeon 9200 32MB; Fujitsu MHT2060AT 60GB 4,200rpm

PowerBook G4 (1.5GHz, 12-inch)
OS X 10.4.2; PowerPC G4 1.5GHz; 512MB PC2700 333MHz DDR SDRAM; Nvidia GeForce FX 5200 64MB; Hitachi Travelstar 5K100 80GB 5,400rpm

PowerBook G4 (1.67GHz, 15-inch)
OS X 10.4.1; PowerPC G4 1.67GHz; 512MB PC2700 333MHz DDR SDRAM; ATI Mobility Radeon 9700 64MB; Fujitsu MHT2080AH 80GB 5,400rpm

PowerBook G4 (1.67GHz, 17-inch)
OS X 10.4.2; PowerPC G4 1.67GHz; 512MB PC4200 333MHz DDR2 SDRAM; ATI Mobility Radeon 9700 128MB; Seagate Momentus 5400.2 120GB 5,400rpm

Edited by Justin Jaffe
Additional editing by Nick Hide