Cube
EXPANDABILITY: It has none. However, an anonymous user makes good point: "If you want expandability Apple already makes a big empty box computer. The Cube was designed for long time Mac users who realize that they only ever need to upgrade RAM and occasionally a more capable HD or video card, all of which can be done with a cube. Criticizing the cube for lack of expandability is like reviewing a Porsche Boxter and saying it sucks because you can't fit 7 people in it, like you can with a Volkswagen bus! Just the rantings of a very happy Cube owner loaded with a 40 gig HD and 1000 megs of RAM! " Very, good point. But I still want a GeForce 4 in there :)
Titanium 15"
EASILY SCRATCHED CASE: The whole machine gets scratched easily. The beautiful thing looks like Titanium, which it is, but it is painted!
FUNCTION KEY ANNOYANCE: That little 'fn' button in the lower left hand corner where the Control key used to be. Some old time Mac uses just have that mentally programmed- lower left hand = Control key. Especially for gamers. Why not somewhere less obtrusive?
NO PRO SPEAKER SUPPORT: The round little Pro Speakers are not supported on the Titanium. Just think how great they would sound, and how nice they would look together. :-).
CRAP SPEAKERS: The Titanium speakers are even worse than that on the predecessors. Why Apple? Why! ;-)
BAD LATCH DESIGN: The latch which keeps the screen locked to the book is not that good at all. It is so small and sensitive it keeps opening. Not good when combined with the fact that opening the screen wakes the machine up. Strangely though, this is both intermittent and seems to become rarer as the machine is used. The read of the screen looks like metal but is plastic and wears through after extended use. Bad detail.
HINGE PROBLEMS: An anonymous reader writes in on the hinges. I have not verified this, but I do know Apple charged a lot for the hinges on the G3 PowerBook series, which PowerBook Parts did cheaper and with better quality hinges. That's not an ad, that's my bitter experience. Anyway, for the Titanium: "You might also want to mention that the hinges, which are said to be of plastic, break in some cases, and Apple charges about $1600 to fix them. They apparently refuse the simply replace them, but instead replace the whole titanium screen housing." It may be worth checking with www.pbparts.com to see if they have a solution for this. They fixed my G3 WallStreet beatufully and lot cheaper than Apple would.
My own Titanium 550 hinge broke. The machine is cared for like a puppy but too many openings was too much. Apple did a GREAT job of fixing it though.
TRACKPAD BUTTON: The lip, the part between the front of the case and the trackpad button is just too looooong. It means that you cannot comfortably rest your hand on your desk or lay and use your thumb on the button like you can with the wonderful G3 series. Instead, you need to hover, lifting your palm of the table, making carpal tunnel rush to greet you. It really discourages getting close to the machine and to your work. It encourages the typical PC portable stance where the user looks like she is afraid the machine is about to bite her! Update: After using the Titanium for six months, I really don't notice it much, my hand just stays further up upon the keyboard/trackpad area. Maybe because the keyboard is better than any other I have ever come across. Shows how prejudiced we become to our work environment. Habituation anyone?
EXPANSION BAY: An anonymous reader writes: "The Titanium is nice and light, but I miss the double expansion bays. Batteries on both sides, or battery and zip drive, zip and cd-rw, floppy and cd, whatever you wanted. Now instead of carrying around drives(okay, in cardboard cases), you carry around drives and cables, which means more weight and more stuff to lose."
Useful fix: PRINTED NAME RUBS OF & KEYBOARD MARS SCREEN: The name printed on the keyboard right below the screen rubs of easily. And the keyboard marks the screen. A solution is to put a chamois leather between the screen and the keyboard when it's closed. Maybe Apple should ship it with some leather? Personally, though it's another thing to do, it makes me feel the machine is even more precious doing this, it's like taking care of a nice pair of sunglasses or a great pen.
G3 Powerbook
RETIREMENT: This series is a great range. It is STILL great. Though slow and heavy.
Newton
STILL DEAD: They're not bringing it back. Can you IMAGINE what a Newton built with todays technology would be like?!
Duo
STILL DEAD: Please come back. SONY is doing well with docking concepts, why can't we Apple freaks have one?
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