in the market for 12 in. ibook G4

nela said:

I plan on buying an 12 in. ibook G4 to replace my dell and will be working a lot with graphics. I plan to buy a larger moniter for in home work. any suggestions for when buying the moniter or the ibook?

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also have well would an 12" ibook maxed ram handle final cut pro?

Every mac today will handle final cut well. The minumus reqs are G4 350MHz..
I would get an external HD, since the internal 4200rpm will be a bottle neck, both in size and speed.

There will always be something new, so why wait (well, wait untill MWSF..)

Would suggest waiting till the iBook gets updated with a video card that takes advantage of Tiger's Core Image Technology.

Chip NoVaMac said:

Would suggest waiting till the iBook gets updated with a video card that takes advantage of Tiger's Core Image Technology.

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It will most likely get the hand me down 12" PB video card in ~mar-apr 2005.

nela said:

what's MWSF? What would you recommend getting for an external HD? Also, does anyone know if the ibooks have problems when connecting to an external moniter?

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You can either buy your own HD and FW enclosure and assemble them or buy one of the prebuilt systems from the likes of FWdepot, OWC, LaCie ..

You'll need to apply a patch to get extended desktop on the iBook since officially it only does mirroring ..

External displays on iBooks don't work well

Beware! Even with the hack installed you will still face the problem of having the graphics memory split 16MB for laptop display and 16MB for external display. The powerbook has been getting a lot of heat lately for not having updates and not being a good value. However, the fact of the matter is..... if you are going to be using an external monitor most of the time go with the powerbook. It will support clamshell mode (ability to use laptop while closed with all graphics memory dedicated to external display) and you can select whatever resolution you monitor supports. My advice would be to wait and see if there are powerbook updates at MWSF and go with a 12" PB. Just my opinion tho.

I must say tho. The 12" iBook with memory upgraded is one heck of a machine. If you do not NEED to output to your monitor at a resolution higher than 1024x768 then go with the iBook. Best of luck in your decision

I bought an iBook today. I feel good. Sure Apple will release new models but the iBook G4 is a great deal right now. Since I don't need an extra display the iBook G4 works perfectly.

nela said:

what's MWSF?

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MacWorld San Francisco.

It is next week Mon-Wed.

Chrispy said:

Beware! Even with the hack installed you will still face the problem of having the graphics memory split 16MB for laptop display and 16MB for external display. The powerbook has been getting a lot of heat lately for not having updates and not being a good value. However, the fact of the matter is..... if you are going to be using an external monitor most of the time go with the powerbook. It will support clamshell mode (ability to use laptop while closed with all graphics memory dedicated to external display) and you can select whatever resolution you monitor supports. My advice would be to wait and see if there are powerbook updates at MWSF and go with a 12" PB. Just my opinion tho.

I must say tho. The 12" iBook with memory upgraded is one heck of a machine. If you do not NEED to output to your monitor at a resolution higher than 1024x768 then go with the iBook. Best of luck in your decision

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Wow... feeling burned are we? Geesh, you've posted the same thing in 10 different places.

hcuar said:

Wow... feeling burned are we? Geesh, you've posted the same thing in 10 different places.

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Haha. Yeah I am feeling a little peeved In all fairness I have only posted that exact quote in two places... however different version of it have appeard in the classifieds

nela said:

I plan on buying an 12 in. ibook G4 to replace my dell and will be working a lot with graphics. I plan to buy a larger moniter for in home work. any suggestions for when buying the moniter or the ibook?

Click to expand...

More RAM is a must. The stock 4200 rpm drive is too slow for anything. Video apps will run but not well with it. 5200 rpm is fine, and I believe that also scores you a couple of extra GB.