suggestions from the all powerful?

[blackvirus00]

im looking into a mac for art school, and i wanted something nice and portable with a punch...so i figured, THE 12' PB! why not right? but the kicker is, am i doing justice for myself in getting it...

for any owner of a 12' PB, how does it handle for you? and is it worth it?..i would upgrade the ram, but do you think it would be stable enough for me, im going into illustration. thanks alot for anyone who has acouple words of wisdom, and i look forward to being a greatful member of this community!

happy mac'ing :)

[mcarnes]

A 12 foot powerbook should be enough for anyone. I've only got the 15 inch version and it seems big to me. Add another 10 feet 9 inches and yours will be plenty, imo.

[saabmp3]

A 12 foot powerbook should be enough for anyone. I've only got the 15 inch version and it seems big to me. Add another 10 feet 9 inches and yours will be plenty, imo.

Wow, he wants a 12 foot PB, and your suggesting he get a 12 foot, 2 inch PB? Man, when will apple stop?

BEN

[blackvirus00]

lol. sounds like a plan, i herd the "foot" collection was a must-buy. :p

[mcarnes]

Hey blackvirus, on a serious note, I use a 12" iBook regularly, which as you know has the same screen as the 12" PB. Sometimes I do feel that the screen is just too small. It gives kind of a claustrophobic feeling after a while. My wife has a 14" iBook, which has the same resolution as the 12", and it is much nicer to use. The screen colors are more vibrant and everything is bigger (due to the same resolution but larger screen size).

I find that I don't push my head forward as much with the 14" iBook. I do this a lot with the 12" just to make out the smaller print or pictures. It eventually gives me a headache and I need to visit the chiropractor to get that pinching pain out of the base of my skull (I kid you not). This is my experience, your mileage may vary.

As to your other question, any newer Mac running Panther will be plenty stable. Miles ahead of the best windoze box.

Good luck.

saabmp3, you need to take math over again.

[blackvirus00]

oh ok, thanks alot for that tidbit of info...now on another note, would you think it would be better to get a 14" ibook with a gig of ram and a 80g hard drive...than a 12" powerbook with 768mb ram?

all these questions! sheesh i dont know how i live with myself

[mcarnes]

oh ok, thanks alot for that tidbit of info...now on another note, would you think it would be better to get a 14" ibook with a gig of ram and a 80g hard drive...than a 12" powerbook with 768mb ram?

all these questions! sheesh i dont know how i live with myself

I think 1.25 GB of RAM in an iBook is a little overkill (you can go 768 MB or 1.25 GB, nothing in between). If you must spend more money, get a 15" PB with 768 MB of RAM (or more if you want). My opinion.

[blackvirus00]

haha believe me im not dieing to unload my wallet, i just want to be confident with what i buy and make sure im pleased in the long run with my purchase,
like before thanks for the help

and btw, when you recieve your 'book does it come with a power adapter?

[mcarnes]

and btw, when you recieve your 'book does it come with a power adapter?

Yes. It's a Mac and you'll be surprised with how much free stuff is included (software too).

[Abstract]

Firstly, I don't believe that the 12" PB is worth the price difference right now, but that's a small point if the PB is what you want. It's just an opinion, anyway.

Secondly....

My wife has a 14" iBook, which has the same resolution as the 12", and it is much nicer to use. The screen colors are more vibrant and everything is bigger (due to the same resolution but larger screen size).


... everything is bigger because the screen is bigger. I have had zero problems looking at a 12". I adjust the zoom on MS Word and Preview (when viewing PDF files) to 133% to make text easier to use, while everything else has been perfect. If you're my stepfather, then you get the 14", no question, as his eyes aren't great. Also, since the 12" and 14" have the same resolution, the 14" iBook shouldn't really look as sharp since you're either spreading the pixels out further apart, or pixel size is bigger. Either way, the 12" iBook screen should be better.

The 12" PB screen is better than the 12" iBook screen. They used to carry the same screen (eg: rev B 12" PB....the one I own now), but not anymore. It got replaced with a better screen, but the 12" iBook kept the same screen. Don't know how much this is worth to you, but again, I don't think the price difference is worth paying for the 12" PB right now. You get a lot from the 12" iBook. Hell, you could get one now and get your next computer sooner with the amount saved by getting an iBook. It won't support CoreImage in the future, though.

And get a 1GB stick of RAM from OWC or newegg.com if you're going to Art school. :)

[mcarnes]

the 14" iBook shouldn't really look as sharp since you're either spreading the pixels out further apart, or pixel size is bigger. Either way, the 12" iBook screen should be better.

Well this just goes to show you shouldn't believe everything you read on the internet.

I use both the 12 and 14" iBook daily. Let me tell you that the 14" appears every bit as sharp as the 12". Theoretically, the 12" should appear sharper. But it is not. The 14" screen in noticeably brighter and has a much wider viewing angle than the 12". Text *appears* to be the same sharpness on both, but much bigger, brighter and easier to read on the 14". These are both the latest generation of iBooks (1.2 and 1.33 Ghz).

Now I'm not telling you to go for the 14". Get whatever you want. I'm just telling you my experience from using both.