the greatest vintage apple-collection

Aluminium-Design

After three years of titanium, Apple presented a completely new PowerBook generation in 2003 – this time in an aluminum casing. In retrospect, this was a pivotal moment: This design has accompanied Apple's MacBook line ever since.

The aluminum PowerBooks continued to run on G4 processors, as the G5 was simply too power-hungry for mobile use. The G4 itself, however, proved to be a dead end, which was ultimately one of the main reasons for Apple's departure from Motorola and the later switch to Intel processors.

Nevertheless, in 2003, the G4 was the benchmark. Apple offered the aluminum PowerBooks in 12", 15" and later even 17" – an impressive product range. What Apple achieved here was remarkable both technically and aesthetically.

I was inevitably reminded of the PowerBook Duo and initially opted for the 12" PowerBook G4. It was light, very sturdy, and felt great in the hand. There was actually nothing to complain about – except for one thing: after years of working with a 15-inch screen, 12 inches is simply too small. So I switched back to the 15-inch model.

And here came the low point. With the last PowerBook G4 with a 1.67 GHz processor, Apple installed a high-resolution 15.2-inch display with 1440×960 pixels, which showed fine vertical lines in the image. For me, that was unacceptable. I returned the device immediately. Apple refused to acknowledge any problem.

It wasn't until many years later that I realized these lines were only visible if you had exceptionally good eyesight – a skill that apparently not everyone involved in quality control at the time possessed. In any case, I wasn't the only one who returned this model.

For me, 2005 marked the last time Apple perfectly balanced quality and performance in the PowerBooks. The subsequent Intel MacBook era felt more like a lottery again—similar to the earlier iBooks, especially regarding graphics chip failures.

After more than 20 years, the PowerBook G4 models show hardly any noticeable signs of age. The aluminum casing is extremely durable, and the displays are also in good condition—even if they can no longer compare to the brightness of modern panels.

These devices impressively demonstrate that good design and solid construction can be timeless.