need suggestions - about to buy 15" powerbook...

There could be updates soon, but they won't be anything major. Stretch to the best specs you can afford because things like CPU and GPU cannot be updated further down the track. 🙂

swingline said:

Hi people,

I am about to go to a design school (majoring in advertising) and am thinking about purchasing a 15" powerbook. I am uncertain if I should get the 1.67 ghz or the 1.5. is there much of a noticeable difference for the extra money? or should I just put more money into ram and video card? I will be constantly using adobe cs (photoshop, illustrator, etc) and would like something that can handle the programs with ease. Another thing, I was looking at the buyer's guide on this site and it warned me to not buy:

Product: PowerBook
Last Release: January 31, 2005
Days Since Update: 191 (Average = 185)
Recommendation: Don't Buy - Updates soon
Not sure what to do. If you have any suggestions I would really like to hear them. Thanks!

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As someone who waited nearly 3 months for the most recent iBook updates, I would strongly advise waiting until the last possible moment before ordering your PowerBook. You will likely save a great deal of money by waiting (I've mentioned in other threads that my iBook would have been $300 more before the updates).

As far as the CPU goes, I have seen benchmarks showing that the difference between the 1.5 and 1.67 is totally negligible. Go with the marginally slower ones, and upgrade the GPU/HD/RAM (RAM from 3rd party of course).

I'm not sure if Apple will consolidate the line, like they did with the iBooks, but any update will be a win.

The VRAM is something you cannot upgrade later no matter what. So max out on that, as well as hard drive space (internal). CPU difference between 1.5 and 1.67 is negligible. RAM will make the difference though.

VRAM
HD
RAM
CPU

in order of future-proofing your computer.

If you need a computer now, get 1.5, otherwise wait till expo paris and then buy.

Get at least 1 gb ram (1.5 GB would be ideal)

eXan said:

If you need a computer now, get 1.5, otherwise wait till expo paris and then buy.

Get at least 1 gb ram (1.5 GB would be ideal)

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When is the Paris Expo?

I'm working as a freelance graphic designer/illustrator and am using the pb in my sig as my main tool. I think what you'll do will be about the same what I do, Creative Suite etc. I enjoy working with this machine and it handles the everyday work like InDesign Documents and Illustrator vector stuff really well. As the files get bigger (50-60 mb+) you get some waiting times, but nothing more than a few seconds. I'm currently thinking about adding another gb ram, as the 1 gb I have is already in one slot. The question is do you really need to have a portable? At design school you'll probably will have a computer there? For me it was pretty clear, as I work a lot for different agencies and have to bring my own computer along. It's also nice to sit in the yard and work in open air during summer. So if you want/need a laptop the pb is a good buy and a reliable machine. I'd go for the high end model. You can always add ram later, but you can't upgrade the processor.

get the 1.67 and 128 MB VRAM. should speed photoshop and the like up a fair amount...

byt he way the single best reason not to get the 1.5Ghz PB for you i would say, is that you can only get the 128MB VRAM in the 1.67Ghz.