The Purchase Debate

Re: The Purchase Debate

Originally posted by esbod
I'd like some advice / input. You see I'm an old time user (had a 128K mac) and currently crawling along with a PowerMAc 6500.

I've not keep up with the portables. So... I'm debating between the 800 12" and 14" - any suggestions. I'm not a "power user" like so many of you so I'm not looking at the superdrive model.

Also - what about the G4 867Mhz model? I've hear the OS X runs slow with a G3 with low RAM - would I make a hugh mistake by not going to the G4 now? I'm looking to hold on to the laptop for 3 - 4 years.

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OSX runs slow on any computer with low ram. No matter what processor. Whether or not you want the 12" or 14" iBook or a G4 Powerbook really depends on three factors.

1) Price. How much are you willing to spend?
2) Performance. How much heavy cpu use do you do.
3) Size. Is the size of the computer important to you?

If all your doing is surfing and text editing I highly doubt that you will notice much difference between teh Powerbook and iBook. Also If you are wanting pure portability the 12" iBook is hard to beat. It really comes down to what you need and want.

Re: Middle of the road use

Originally posted by esbod
Regarding your comments - I don't spend my day waiting for photoshop filters to work their magic. Mostly I plan on using MS Office and surfing. I plan to go wireless around the house via airport and a linksys wireless router. Like many users I'm planning on using the CPU for digital photos and CD buring. Next desktop is the "soon to be released, I hope" faster 19 inch LCD iMac.

Right now I think the overall best portable for the "average" mac user is the 14 inch ibook with a 512K memory upgrade to max out the Ram at 640mb, add the airport and surf away in the hot tub!

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I really feel that the 12.1" is a much better deal than the 14". The 14" gets you a bigger screen without a higher resolution. It gains you an hour of battery life thanks to its bigger battery. But it also weighs more, which is a deal breaker for me.

My 12.1" iBook (500Mhz, DVD, 384MB) is fantastic. Small, with plenty of juice for what I want to do with it (Word, Excel, Powerpoint, surfing, the occational Photoshop/Illustrator file, playing DVD/DivX movies).

You cant go wrong with the 12.1" . I've never seen the point of the 14". Its just bigger for biggers sake. No bonus in my eyes.

YMMV.

the 14" advantage

There are two advantages to the 14" iBook.

1) Bigger screen means less eyestrain at 1024x768
- Your age may likely be a factor in how imporant this is to you

2) The bigger battery gives a bit more life.
- This might be important to you if you like to walk around with the 'book unplugged


But, yes.... I have a 12" and I wish it were even smaller. I'd never trade it for the 14" model.

first off I wouldnt recommend using a computer or any other types of electronics while in the hot or bath tub, it's simply not safe for you or your iBook. heh. as far as the decision goes, if your planning on getting an iMac soon then this iBook isn't going to be your "main" computer in which case you really don't need the 14" screen, the 12" is much more compact even though it would seem that they should be that much different in size. the iBooks also run os x damn fine even with a G3 in them, I would suggest you go to a apple store or compusa and check them out for yourself to see which one suits you more.

I'd also have to go with the trend. The 12" iBook is for me the ultimate portable notebook, I just can't see the point of the 14", as has already been said, you get no screen res improvement, and it's bigger and heavier to cart around, and you also pay quite a bit more for it.
Go with the iBook 800 12" maxed out RAM for a great OSX experiance; you won't be dissapointed.