12" IB or PB, for the average user?

[Nameless]

I'm not gonna play games on it, except maybe the oldies like Baldur's gate and such. I just need a light 12" laptop that I can carry to work, college, or around the house easily. I'll be doing only basic tasks, like writing up esssays, viewing pictures and movies (of the normal variety ;P), surfing the net and such.
I can pay the differance but I'm leaning towards the Ibook more because of it's better battery life. So, which one?

Also, is apple works a good substitute for MS office? 786MB ram is more than enough, right? And if I want to partition the drive into a system partiotion (where the OS and software go) and data partition, how much does the system need?

Thanks in advance ;)

[wPod]

go for the iBook. The only reason for the PB is if you want to do more technical things than simple tasks you mentioned. Also the PB nativily supports monitor spanning (two monitors with different images rather than two monitors with the same image (that is if you ever plan on using an external monitor)) the iBook is also a good choice b/c it is durable. iBook also gets better wi-fi reception!!

Appleworks is not the best substitue for Word. If you want a cheap/free alterntive look into Open Office, its a Unix based program that can run in OS X.

786 MB of ram is great for your use. you would want more if you were to do more intese activities, but then youd probably want a PB also.

what would be your reasoning for a seperate data and system partition? are you new to macs? that sounds like a PC sort of thing to do. OS X using a unix-like file structure keeps your data very seperate from critical system data. I do not see a reason for a sepearte partion, but maybe you do and could explain further.

[abhishekit]

Currently the 12" iBook is definitely a better buy than the 12" pb. A more elaborate discussion here
http://forums.macrumors.com/showthread.php?t=100581

As per appleworks, I haven't used it much. I use M$ word. I think Appleworks is not enough and you would have to get either M$ word or openoffice.
For partitioning, I think the system and library folders come to about 5-6 GB.

[Nameless]

Yep, caught me :p I want use the pc as a main desktop and the mac as a laptop. I've given linux a try before; the file structuring was very neat! Thanks for the advice.

Another thing, should I wait for the 10.3.7 update or just download it later?

[cluthz]

Go for the iBook. For those task 768MB RAM would be enought, also if you want the 12" ibook upgrade the HD from 30GB to 60GB (should cost about $75).

Apple Works isn't good if you plan to excange files with windows users. OpenOffice is good and free, but the still the MacOSX version isn't mature yet, for text editing (MS Word compatible) I would recommend AbiWord, which is also free.

If you are a student you can buy MS Office for Mac for $149.

Don't wait for the 10.3.7 update, it is free and can be dowloaded later.

As for partition, there is no reason to have seperate partitions, except if you need some kind of scratch disk for highend media apps or multiple OSes.
(There is really no need for multiple OSes on MacOSX either, since you can run GNOME/KDE under x11 in macosx..)

[munkle]

I think current Macs come with 10.3.5 installed so you're going to have to download it regardless. It's only an update, nothing to revolve the purchase of your computer around. However, Tiger (10.4) is scheduled to be released during the first half of 2005, so you might want to wait for that if you're in no rush. I say go for it! Use the money you save on buying an iBook and upgrade to Tiger when it gets released.

And as others have said, go for Office 2004, Appleworks really isn't a good enough alternative in my opinion.

[Jsmit]

Don't wait for the update (10.3.7). It is so easy to update when it comes out, that the extra wait wont be worth it. After the update it takes sometime for it to be preinstalled on new machines. A new machine may not have the latest software, so you will likely have to update your software whenever you purchase.

[Nameless]

hmm, I guess IBook it is :) What about battery life? how many hours should I expect?

[betsbillabong]

I think if you're just exchanging word docs with Windows users, Appleworks is fine. I am a graduate student who recently upgraded from a G3 iBook, and I used Appleworks for two years while in school. No problems, you just need to remember to save as Windows-compatible. Yes, it's more of a pain than MS Word, which is automatically compatible. But to me, it was worth saving a few hundred bucks to do so!

[Solafaa]

Get the iBook its cheaper and is great for what you will do with it, if you can and want to pay more then get the PBook but for what you will do its an overskill.

[maya]

hmm, I guess IBook it is :) What about battery life? how many hours should I expect?

Though the Apple site claims the iBook will get 6 hours of batter life it actually gets 5-5.5 hours of batter life its the best compared to the PowerBook which gets about 2-4 hours depending.

If you look at the power requirements the 12" iBook has it all it takes less power to do the work.

If you are not going to use WiFi I suggest you turn it off you will extend your computing time.

If you require a list of components and pricing you will see that Apple makes almost nothing on the 12" iBooks. :)

P.S. buy ram from here:

http://shop4.outpost.com/product/4158153

max the ram you will be a happy camper and at that price you cannot go wrong. If you want screen spanning use the hack, it will void your warranty however as long as you are careful with the "claim-shell" mode you will be fine.

All the best to you. :)

[wPod]

If you want screen spanning use the hack, it will void your warranty however as long as you are careful with the "claim-shell" mode you will be fine.

All the best to you. :)

I dont know if you want to push your luck, but when i had the hack on my old iBook (it ended up having the video card problem) i sent my computer in 3 times. each time it would come back w/o the hack. no mention of it, it was simply gone, all other file structure and changes were still there, just no more spanning monitors.

[maya]

I dont know if you want to push your luck, but when i had the hack on my old iBook (it ended up having the video card problem) i sent my computer in 3 times. each time it would come back w/o the hack. no mention of it, it was simply gone, all other file structure and changes were still there, just no more spanning monitors.

Are you referring to the iBook G3 white models. I know they had logic board issues however I believe its has been sorted out as of recent, Apple cannot afford to change the logic board for many many customers.

They must have re-flashed the the hack since I spoke to a Apple tech 3rd party certified and he said they do a FULL check on it, meaning they flash everything to factory setting except the HDD so it might have removed the hack. I know many people who have tried it they have not had issues, though I will add to be careful with the "claim-shell mode" that is dangerous if you leave the computer unattended for extended hours.

[deltrotter]

Thanks Maya

I've just ordered that 1gb of Ram for my new 12" iBook.

Lets see how long it takes to get to the UK. Before Christmas I hope!

Cheers

Del

[Nameless]

Drats!! Apple and Ecost.com won't ship internationally nor to P.O.Boxes. Do you know of any sites that would?

[maya]

Thanks Maya

I've just ordered that 1gb of Ram for my new 12" iBook.

Lets see how long it takes to get to the UK. Before Christmas I hope!

Cheers

Del

Your welcome. :)

It took me 2.5 days (not counting the weekend) to arrive. I am happy now this should extend the life and not need any future upgrades for quite some time. :)

[deltrotter]

Hi Maya

The RAM arrived this morning. Ordered on Wednesday UK time.

I'll fit it later.

No tax to pay - so my credit card was charged £96 in total. Not bad for 1gb!

Cheers

Del