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PB G4 -Its been discussed - But Tease me

L

Lapdance Jockey

macrumors newbie
Original poster
The Story:

I have a Sony Vaio GRZ600 that has been in the shop once already b/c the power connection decided to stop working - that set me back $700+... and its now fritzing out again.

So - i have to get a new laptop -

I had been a Mac user since my Centris 610 through my 8600/300 Champ.

I've been reading all of your posts which i have found to be extremely helpful. In light of the G4 being tired and the uncertainty of the first generation of g5's (or whatever comes next) im really torn.

I want to come back to the Mac - seriously - so i've been weighing the options.

Decked out IBM Thinkpad with the headaches of windows
or
Gorgeous Mac with a processor that's already on its rockingchair

opinions?

much appreciated

😎
 
My dad's Vaio has been crapping out and I convinced him to get a pb too. Remember, no virii, no XP shenanigans. Applecare is cheap and good.

And the G4 isn't tired, it's "refined." I love the speed of my 12 for games, graphics, and a little video.

I wouldn't bother waiting for the G5 PB because there was just a PB update, besides the G5 will have all the fun and bugs of a first gen processor.

You might want to wait for Tiger.
 
ah yes "refined" 🙄

ok - on a personal note - what do you say to the people who tell you that your paying 2600+ for a computer thats slower than the one that you're retiring
 
anotherjeff said:
My dad's Vaio has been crapping out and I convinced him to get a pb too. Remember, no virii, no XP shenanigans. Applecare is cheap and good.

And the G4 isn't tired, it's "refined." I love the speed of my 12 for games, graphics, and a little video.

I wouldn't bother waiting for the G5 PB because there was just a PB update, besides the G5 will have all the fun and bugs of a first gen processor.

You might want to wait for Tiger.
Click to expand...
There may not even be a g5 powerbook. So you could be waiting quite a while 😉
 
Lapdance Jockey said:
ok - on a personal note - what do you say to the people who tell you that your paying 2600+ for a computer thats slower than the one that you're retiring
Click to expand...

it comes down to software. You buy a Mac for the OS and nothing else. Beautiful with seamless integration of media, OS X just blows Windows out of the water. OS X is why Apple is still in business today.

Im sure you can find a PC with better hardware, faster chips, all the good stuff. But I've said it before and I'll say it again... Hardware & Software is like Ying and Yang of a computer. You can have a speedy computer but with crappy software its useless. At the same time a slow computer with great software is no fun either.

So the hardware on the thinkpad might be great... but the OS sucks...

On a mac the hardware is still pretty good, and the OS is great. And honestly its fast enough for anything you'll throw at it.
 
its not that hard to decide a PB or iBOOK

i've owned both

ibook = more everyday use, travel etc..light applications

powerbook = more heavy applications / graphics and able to run smoother and quicker... at the cost of a few hundred more

in the end u will lose money but only so much...

all you need to do to an powerbook is MAX THE RAM and your all set!

does everyone agree with me?

btw, hey cap, long time no see! remember before the rev D was released ?
we had those threads everyday / agruements and etc..

hehe, those were the days...its been awhile since i came back to here..

what are u using now?
 
I just purchased a PowerBook G4 1.67 GHz 15" with 1.5 GB of RAM, and to be honest in normal use I really can't see much difference between the PowerBook and my Dual G5 1.8 GHz, now I'm sure if I got in to processor intensive stuff on the PowerBook I'd notice it damn quick - but for a machine with a processor already on its rocking chair as you say all I can say is WOW what a kick a$$ notebook! I love my PowerBook it's the nicest notebook I've ever used, I wouldn't swap it for anything - and I'm definitely glad I didn't wait for the holy grail of notebooks the PowerBook G5. I can't recommend the PowerBook G4 highly enough, for a notebook it's fantastic!
 
Lapdance Jockey said:
ah yes "refined" 🙄

ok - on a personal note - what do you say to the people who tell you that your paying 2600+ for a computer thats slower than the one that you're retiring
Click to expand...

I don't know about paying that much for a machine. I was looking at two machines recently--a 14 inch widescreen HP with Pentium-M and 15.2 inch PowerBook. I needed a lighter machine since my backpack is already heavy. I ended up with the PowerBook (a refurb) because it wasn't much more and it had better graphics hardware although it's only got a combo drive.

Considering the horror stories on the Windows side, I don't mind a slower machine, esp. when it's not slower in getting the job done. What's ultimate speed if you're wasting more time fixing things than doing things?
 
anotherjeff said:
And the G4 isn't tired, it's "refined." I love the speed of my 12 for games, graphics, and a little video.
Click to expand...
what games do you played on your 12" pb ? just curious
 
I was astonished to find that I could run Halo well with a lot of detail. Every now and then deathmatches can get a little laggy but I'm also connecting to the internet via wireless so that's a toss up.

That's probably the most intensive game I've played on this machine.


Speed is not something your really going to notice unless you are pushing your machine pretty hard, and there's always things to help it along like ram and a faster hd.
 
The G4 processor is not in its "rockingchair". That line has been steadily improved from inception and the latest PB updates show that there is still room to grow (and perhaps more room for prices to drop). Yes, they have been around for a while now, but I assure you that they are some of the most powerful machines out there currently.

This whole G5 PB hype is seriously ridiculous. Apple is no closer to releasing a G5 PB than they are a dual 4GHz PM. I understand it's exciting to anticipate these future releases but this banter about a G5 PB has been going on to exasperation.

Also it's important to remember the advantages of the G5 in perspective: 64-bit processing. And how many 64-bit software applications are out there? How does 64-bit help people who use their computer daily for internet browsing (perhaps a MacRumors post here and there), iTunes, and iChat?

There is simply almost no difference in the basic applications. I have used Photoshop intensively on both the G4 and the G5 - there is just no fascinating advantage of the G5 as of now. However, I would agree for those desiring a G5 if they have work in the High-def media fields or use programs like Logic Pro or Maya extensively. Logic Pro is great on a G4, but superb on a G5. Maya is basically only workable on a G5 because it still hasn't been perfected for OS X (Maya has been a Windows app since the dawn of time and there are still many things to work out with the Mac edition).

Anticipating the G5 PB is a bit futile at this point. Well, no, it's not futile, it just gets on a lot of people's nerves to see myriad posts about "G5 PB NEXT TUESDAY!!"

Go for the G4 PB, especially since the other option is Windows 🙂 My 1GHz PB serves me well every day.
 
Lapdance Jockey said:
ok - on a personal note - what do you say to the people who tell you that your paying 2600+ for a computer thats slower than the one that you're retiring
Click to expand...

They'll be so busy 'ooh-ing' and 'aah-ing' at OS X's eye candy they may not ask!

Seriously though, there are many people out there with P4 2.4+ processors who never use more than a fraction of its power in what they do on a daily basis. Whoop-de-doo, it's got a slower clock speed. Stick in a GB of RAM and for most tasks, you won't really notice the difference.

I've got a 2.8Ghz P4 at work with 512MB of RAM and a 1.25GHz PB at home with 1.25 GB of RAM and unless I'm running a huge calculation (40,000 rows with 18 columns and formulas in 8 columns)in Excel, there's really very little difference in normal tasks. (Note I'm not playing games on it or rendering complicated images on the work one). I perceive my Mac to be faster since I'm more productive on it - I can produce and layout the Excel workbook on my Mac more quickly (about 10-15% faster) although the calculation will be slightly faster on the PC.
 
Southbridge said:
it comes down to software. You buy a Mac for the OS and nothing else.
Click to expand...


Well, to be fair, some of us buy for the hardware -- especially when switching.

What prompted me to switch was that I could get an iBook G3 for a lot less money than any decent Dell or Gateway as of 5/03. As for the OS, I knew that it wasn't unlike Linux and I was okay with that. Turned out I liked the OS better than I thought I would, but the hardware was still the impetus to transition.
 
I've posted about this before, but I just need to chime in that the G4 is a fine CPU for a laptop. I have used Pentium-M-equipped PC laptops with higher clock speeds and quad-pumped FSBs and experienced the same or even worse performance than my wimpy G4. Now, I am NOT saying that the G4 is faster/better than a P-M, not at all, I am saying that a computer's performance depends on many variables, of which clock speed is but one. It's easy to get distracted by the numbers and ignore the reality of comparable performance in many if not most use situations. And oh yeah, OS X.

Lastly, if you haven't used a Mac since your 8600, trust me, it's a different world now.
 
To spend 2600+, as you say, you would have to get the high-end, desktop replacement 17" PowerBook. A very fine 15" 1.5 GHz will only set you back 2k; actually to spur sales despite many people waiting for/anticipating a G5 PowerBook, the current PowerBooks are the *cheapest* PowerBooks ever, and by a significant margin. And they really *are* refined: there has never been a sleeker, sexier and above all *quieter* laptop on the market. Buy now, those 'books are a steal. (And yes, I do have one on order 😀)
 
I can understand why you're worrying about the G4 being "tired" as it's an older processor, but it's actually faster than the G5 at most, if not all tasks, at the same clockspeed. Which means that the 1.67GHz Powerbook can hold its own against some of the G5s.

I recently moved from a 1.8GHz 20" iMac G5 with just about everything maxed out, to a standard spec 17" Powerbook. I was a bit worried that performance would be worse, as it would be my main machine, but from my experience it has actually been faster than the iMac G5 in everything other than disk access. (the drive in the iMac was very fast, and laptop hard drives have always lagged behind)

The one app I use the most is Photoshop, and it's definitely a little quicker. 3D Performance is much faster at the screen's native resolution, but then the card in the iMac is pretty awful.



That benchmark shows a 1.5GHz Powerbook G4 pretty much even with the 1.8GHz iMac G5, but you also have to remember that the new 1.67GHz Powerbooks are 10-12% faster.
Of course it doesn't beat the iMac in all tests, but when you factor in that extra speed from the latest revision, you're getting roughly the same if not better performance for most tasks.



I can't say how it will compare to a Pentium-M based laptop; I would assume it's slower, but using a computer isn't just about raw speed. I'm at least twice as productive on my Mac than any PC, because it's actually enjoyable to use. In general, things just work. I used to work in a PC shop building and troubleshooting PCs, and used to do a lot of tweaking etc, so I knew what I was doing with them. I had never had a virus or spyware on my systems, but with a Mac you don't even have to worry about them.

OSX doesn't get in your way when you want to get something done, and its window management etc is far better than anything on Windows. So yes, a Pentium-M laptop may be faster, but the Powerbook is far from being a slow machine and is worth every penny in my opinion.
 
Thanks for the input -

i just needed you all to help me feel better 😛

My Viao has officially died. I mean, it wont even turn on. So last night i orderd my PB 1.67 128video 1gig ram

Down side is it doesnt ship until the 15th! That hurts - i had to go to the well and dig out my mothers old iBook with OS 9.2 on it =) Its the grey one from back in the day when they were orange and green etc.

Thanks again,

🙂
 
Congrats! Now, as you have the dual-dvi card, let's talk you into getting the matching 30" Cinema Display... 😀
 
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