iBook vs Powerbook

riggers said:

I then found some performance stats comparing the iBook 1 GHz to the PoweBook 1 GHz and I can no longer see any compelling reason to buy a PowerBook unless I go for the 1.25 GHz PowerBook.

Does this all sound right?

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Barring the usual cries of 'wait, and update is coming tommorrow/next week/before we die,' I think that you're probably going to be alright with the iBook if there's even any question in your mind. Short of cache-intensive tasks, the two are pretty comparable, and you could even take the difference and buy a faster hard drive and slot it in the iBook.

Oh, and the numbers look reasonable to me.

If you go for the powerbook you will have more upgradabillity. Like for example you can upgrade the memory to 2 gig and the ibook maxs out at 640mb. You can also get a 7200 rpm hard drive for the powerbook. I am not sure if you can get a faster hard drive for a ibook. And also the powerbook has a larger cache memory which is 512 kb compared to the ibooks 256kb. I hope this helps

working for a reseller I get this question alot, besides the more options to upgrade as just mentioned, the powerbook has the option of a superdrive, and it has bluetooth built in. Also, keep in mind how and where you will be using it, because the shells are two different materials and that can come into play. If you are looking at the 15" don't forget about the illuminated keyboard on the 1.25 ghz and the widescreen looks pretty darn good when watching DVD's. Just a couple things to think about.

doesn't G4 ibook also have the internal bluetooth module?

ibook G4@800 matches powerbook G4@667 pretty much equally. that's how much better internal structure the power series has (+20%) over the consumer line - so if you use applications that drive cpu load constantly over 50% [pro audio & video] then you'd be happier with powerbook. but if the most intensive task you can imagine would be applying some photoshop filter, then ibook will do fine.

superdrive is for powerbook only, so if that's a must, then it will be easy choice.

If you are interested in saving money, and getting an iBook. I would suggest maybe even dropping down one notch further. The 933 MHz iBook. If you don't need the extra 20 GB of hard drive space, the performance reviews have been remarkable similar with the 933 MHz and 1 GHz iBooks. As may be expected, since the processor is only 7% faster on the more expensive model. You said that you have done some research. Have you looked at the Xbench results comparison site? This might help in comparing the 933 MHz and 1 GHz iBooks. Some people have posted the titanium Powerbooks in the iBook section, so don't use those when comparing the iBooks. You can see the results of the larger level 2 cache in the powerbooks when comparing laptops at this site. The Powerbooks are faster, but as you already know more expensive.

JFreak said:

doesn't G4 ibook also have the internal bluetooth module?

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It's optional, must be bought on purchase, can't be retrofitted.