In day-to-day use, the new PowerBook does indeed last longer on battery, though I didn't see a full hour of improvement. I managed to get an extra half hour to 45 minutes on battery power, which is still substantial. But I also tend to keep the screen brightness all the way up, and I turn off most of the battery-saving features in the energy saver control panel unless I'm really away from a power source. Even the earlier model lasted substantially longer than the superhigh-resolution 17-in. Sony Vaio I bought earlier this fall. I'm lucky to get an hour and a half on that one.Speaking of that Sony, I was curious to see how the new PowerBook stacks up against my Vaio behemoth. In short, the Sony has two things going for it: the XBrite screen and the Intel processor. With a 1,920-by-1,200-pixel resolution, I can squeeze a lot of windows and Web pages onto what is a very bright screen. And with a 2-GHz Pentium processor tucked inside, it's certainly a zippy laptop.

It's also ungainly, heavy, sucks electricity like a Hummer drinks gas, and runs Windows. Sitting on a desktop, it's fine. Slung over my shoulder in a case, it feels very heavy at 8.8 pounds -- and it's about twice as thick as a PowerBook. So while it's fun to dabble in the Windows world and enjoy that higher-resolution screen, I still have my last-generation 17-in. PowerBook.

So should you buy one of these PowerBooks? Simple question, easy answer. If you need one, buy it. You're getting a great deal on a solid setup. And if you're buying, do yourself a favor by opting for the faster 7,200-rpm drive Apple offers as an option. You give up 20GB of storage space, but the faster drive will certainly make a difference in some operations.

If you don't need a PowerBook right away, then do as I'm doing. Wait a bit.

With its latest model, Apple has partially closed the hardware gap between its laptops and those that run Windows. Sure, I'd love to see a 1,920-by-1,200-pixel screen on my next PowerBook, but I won't hold my breath -- and the current model is already high enough for those who wanted more on-screen real estate.