POWERBOOK advice???

i recently picked up a 12" 1.5 ghz powerbook w/ 1.25 gb ram. i love this thing. since i've gotten it, i really don't use my mbp anymore. my powerbook isn't the fastest, but it does fine for what i use it for (ms word, email, internet, a movie). compared to my mbp and my sisters mb, it does feel a somewhat slower.

the size is it's best attribute. i used to own a 15" mbp and didn't really like the portability, and decided to upgrade to 17" mbp as a desktop replacement and get a 12" for the portability. this thing is perfect to lug around anywhere and the size makes it really easy to take anywhere. i think if you're looking at the powerbook to use around the house, look at the 12. i know the 12 doesn't come wit a backlit keyboard.

I have a 12'' iBook 1.33ghz 1.5gb ram and it's a great machine. It runs Leopard just as good as it did Tiger. It's great for internet and word processing use. You could even look for an older model if you're looking for something cheaper. I would say either a PB or iBook would suit your needs well.

TopGear300 said:

Thanks so much for the advice... still learning about the machines...watched a 15" 1.5ghz SD w/ APX 80gb HDD and it went for $650. Not bad... a little high but i might swing that. I now will look at the 12" a little closer BUT and a huge BUT i really want that backlit keyboard haha. I know i know and im sorry but its just too sweet not to have. My biggest thing right now is the titanium/ vs. aluminum dilemma... what was the difference??? Thanks for talking

TopGear300

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Well, the titanium is older, and besides the different form factor it doesn't have the backlit keyboard. I'd go for a 15" model, since you have a big screen on your iMac the 15 incher will be easier to put on a coffee table or the couch etc. AND it will save you some money. The 15" alu PowerBooks ranged from 1,25-1,67 ghz if I remember correctly. For your uses it doesn't really matter which one you get. Check for the backlit keyboard though (again if I remember correctly) low end models of the 15" only had that as an option.

12" PBs are not backlit Get the last 1.5ghz model. It's driving my 23 inch Apple Cinema Display and full sized keyboard as I type. Get a 100gb 7200rpm hard drive (fastest) and make sure it has the full 1.25 ram installed.

They are the best little lappies Apple has made so far. I don't care for the wider screen of the macbooks and don't need a built in camera.

My second fave machiine is the 12" 1.33ghz iBook. It takes more ram than the Powerbook 12 for some reason and so it is just as fast, sometimes faster in some apps. slightly larger than the 12" in overall specs (by like a quarter of an inch) but great machine.

It'll burn Dual Layer DVDs

Go with a 15' Aluminum, buy the fastest you can afford.

I have a 1GHz G4 17" PowerBook and a iBook G4 1.42Ghz. Huge difference in speed running Leopard (iBook running Faster). My suggestion is get the fastest you can afford with these older laptops.

One more thing..

For longevity of your future PowerBook get one that supports Core Image. This speeds up the Leopard interface among other things. So, at a bare minimum if you get a 15" PowerBook get on that is at least 1.25GHz these have Core image compatible video cards (Radeon Mobility 9600).

Powerbook

If you really want to save money, I have a Powerbook 180c that still works. I think it has 4 MB RAM and maybe a 40 MB hard drive. OS 7.6. Also lots of connections: 14.4 modem built-in, serial, ADB, a mini-SCSI port. Best of all, a floppy disk drive! The battery doesn't hold much charge, so you would need to lug around the power brick. It has only 3 applications besides the OS on it: AppleWorks 5, claris emailer, and Netscape Navigator. What more does one need?

OK, so I'm teasing! But this thing still works. I had great fun booting it up recently. Bought it in 1994, I think. I wonder what kind of laptop we will be talking about 14 years from now(?)

PS. And no, it's not for sale.

dbwie said:

If you really want to save money, I have a Powerbook 180c that still works. I think it has 4 MB RAM and maybe a 40 MB hard drive. OS 7.6. Also lots of connections: 14.4 modem built-in, serial, ADB, a mini-SCSI port. Best of all, a floppy disk drive! The battery doesn't hold much charge, so you would need to lug around the power brick. It has only 3 applications besides the OS on it: AppleWorks 5, claris emailer, and Netscape Navigator. What more does one need?

OK, so I'm teasing! But this thing still works. I had great fun booting it up recently. Bought it in 1994, I think. I wonder what kind of laptop we will be talking about 14 years from now(?)

PS. And no, it's not for sale.

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Got to love a 8.4" 256 color screen
I have one and yes it still works. If my signature could be bigger there would be at least 15 more motorola 680x0 and 60x macs on there.

None for sale... ever

I've got a 15" 1.25GHz PowerBook with 2GB of RAM, and a TravelStar 7200 RPM 60GB HD. It's running Leopard just fine. In fact it runs leopard about as fast as it did Panther. I'm using it right now

Works great. Plenty speedy for most basic stuff. I can even run Logic Pro 8 with it, which it does alright with as long as I don't go overboard with virtual instruments or too many effects.

I have a 1.67 15" PB (the final PPC PB before they switched to Intel) and 1.5 gb of ram. I love it - Runs great for pretty much everything I use it for. Handbreak encoding is the only time it really feels slow to me, but I don't do that much anyway. Also runs Leopard nicely.

I have owned a 12" Powerbook G4 (1Ghz/768mb) for over 4 years and have been using it mostly everyday. It is simply the best computer I have owned and is still running great. The only problem I had with it is a hard-drive failure recently for which I did a replacement myself (HDs are really cheap now) and it is fine as dandy now. I partitioned the HD so I can dual-boot with either Tiger or the latest Leopard. Both run fine.

For portability, I would definitely recommend the 12". I take it to the office and back home each day. It is perfect for me and, hence, I have not felt the temptation to upgrade to any of the intel machines. Amazingly, most of the work I do on this Powerbook is professional work (photoshop cs, indesign cs, illustrator cs) while linked to a 20" Apple monitor. It really manages fine for me.

But since you really want ‘backlit’ then you would need the 15". For longevity, try and get the very last release of the 15" with the fastest processor and max the ram out in it. I know you are on a budget, but if you can stretch it a little more then I think you would get better value in the long-term. As for combo or superdrive, it really depends on what you do on the laptop. I have the Combo, but sometimes I really wished I had the Superdrive to be able to burn some DVDs or backup some very big files.

As a last note, I even made my 12" PB’s combo drive into region-free (have a search on the net on how to do this). So basically, my 12" is also a super DVD player where I can watch any DVDs from around the world.

Good luck on getting that Powerbook!

TopGear300 said:

Im just curious if the market is still there for the PowerBooks

They were arguably one of the best laptops ever made?

Am I the only one who is looking to buy one??

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If I had need of another laptop I'd definitely be looking for one. But my macbook does what I need it to do and more, so no need for a powerbook.

TopGear300 said:

Anyone who can describe core imageing? Sounds important at least haha??

THANKS GUYS... good discussion so far?

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Core Image capable video cards are going to free up your cpu processor on some graphics routines. Not get real technical but the cpu will send graphics routines to the video card's gpu to process, thus freeing up your cpu to processor other stuff. You will see a dramatic improvement in the Leopards UI (user interface). Iphoto and other programs will also benefit from a core image capable video card.