Hi guys,
I've been lurking here for a little bit and have found a lot of useful info. I am currently in an iBook quandry.
My current production machine is a 12" iBook G3 600. It has, over the past 3 years, been upgraded with a 60GB 5400 RPM Hard Drive, 640 MB of RAM, and a Slot-Loading 8x SuperDrive (my CD-ROM died, so I figured "What the hey!"). It does everything I need very well under 10.4.3, with good speed. I would love a 15" PowerBook to get me some more screen real estate, but I can't justify the expense yet.
I am a teacher in a city school district. We have all just been given 14" iBooks. These iBooks are ours to use as long as we are at this particular building (not the district as a whole). They left off a lot of the good software that comes on the iBooks (and failed to give us any of the software CDs), and pre-loaded a bunch of stuff I don't need. Example - they installed most of iLife '05, but not iDVD; they also left off all non-apple software that came pre-loaded.
First off, a feature comparison. The new iBook has a faster processor (1.42 GHz G4 vs. 600 MHz G3). It has a better graphics chip with 32 MB VRAM, instead of my 16. Its hard drive is the same size as mine, but slower (4200 RPM instead of 5400). It has 512 MB RAM (I have 640). It has the same speed SuperDrive that mine does.
The screen is an issue. It's brighter than mine, but I don't like the size. I like the tight and crisp resolution of the 12" screen. I don't like working on the 14" screen, which seems to big (though that may just be what I'm used to). In addition, I carry a lot of stuff, and the 14" adds a lot of bulk.
The 14" is definitely faster. For the things I do, however, the extra speed doesn't seem to really make that much of a difference. Tiger runs nice and speedy on my system.
The biggest issue, however, is that the 14" isn't mine. This may seem a small thing to some, but my iBook contains my life: Photos, music, work - everything. It is mine to do anything I please. If I have some sort of big failure and need to reinstall OS X, I can do that. The work iBook leaves me as soon as I leave the building (which might happen in a few months). If there is anything wrong with it, they simply wipe the hard drive and replace it with a fresh disk image. If I need more memory, I can't buy and install it.
The basic question I have is this: I can either stick with my old production machine which has served me faithfully for years and is mine, or I can use the newer machine that is not mine. My gut tells me to use my old one for now. I've tried using the new one, but something just felt wrong. Am I, as my wife has suggested, being a bit silly? Any advice would be appreciated.
Thanks in advance!
I've been lurking here for a little bit and have found a lot of useful info. I am currently in an iBook quandry.
My current production machine is a 12" iBook G3 600. It has, over the past 3 years, been upgraded with a 60GB 5400 RPM Hard Drive, 640 MB of RAM, and a Slot-Loading 8x SuperDrive (my CD-ROM died, so I figured "What the hey!"). It does everything I need very well under 10.4.3, with good speed. I would love a 15" PowerBook to get me some more screen real estate, but I can't justify the expense yet.
I am a teacher in a city school district. We have all just been given 14" iBooks. These iBooks are ours to use as long as we are at this particular building (not the district as a whole). They left off a lot of the good software that comes on the iBooks (and failed to give us any of the software CDs), and pre-loaded a bunch of stuff I don't need. Example - they installed most of iLife '05, but not iDVD; they also left off all non-apple software that came pre-loaded.
First off, a feature comparison. The new iBook has a faster processor (1.42 GHz G4 vs. 600 MHz G3). It has a better graphics chip with 32 MB VRAM, instead of my 16. Its hard drive is the same size as mine, but slower (4200 RPM instead of 5400). It has 512 MB RAM (I have 640). It has the same speed SuperDrive that mine does.
The screen is an issue. It's brighter than mine, but I don't like the size. I like the tight and crisp resolution of the 12" screen. I don't like working on the 14" screen, which seems to big (though that may just be what I'm used to). In addition, I carry a lot of stuff, and the 14" adds a lot of bulk.
The 14" is definitely faster. For the things I do, however, the extra speed doesn't seem to really make that much of a difference. Tiger runs nice and speedy on my system.
The biggest issue, however, is that the 14" isn't mine. This may seem a small thing to some, but my iBook contains my life: Photos, music, work - everything. It is mine to do anything I please. If I have some sort of big failure and need to reinstall OS X, I can do that. The work iBook leaves me as soon as I leave the building (which might happen in a few months). If there is anything wrong with it, they simply wipe the hard drive and replace it with a fresh disk image. If I need more memory, I can't buy and install it.
The basic question I have is this: I can either stick with my old production machine which has served me faithfully for years and is mine, or I can use the newer machine that is not mine. My gut tells me to use my old one for now. I've tried using the new one, but something just felt wrong. Am I, as my wife has suggested, being a bit silly? Any advice would be appreciated.
Thanks in advance!
