Toggle sidebar Toggle sidebar
Become a MacRumors Supporter for $50/year with no ads, ability to filter front page stories, and private forums.

People, is this a good deal for a switcher?

B

bopat

macrumors newbie
Original poster
Hi all,

I was looking for a nice mac 'book to replace my ugly Dell laptop. Do you think 865$ is is a good price for this system?

Powerbook G4 12" (Aluminum)
867Mhz
640MB RAM
40GB Hard Drive
Built-In SuperDrive (CD and DVD Burner)
nVidia GeForce4 MX Graphics Card (Supports Dual Monitor)
Built-In Airport Extreme Wireless Card
Built-in Bluetooth Adapter

I thought so. Just want a second opinion. I will be buying from a local seller so will have t he opportunity to check out the system.

All thoughts welcome.

Thanks from a soon-to-be machead.
 
If you want the SuperDrive and Bluetooth, then it's a good deal. If you don't plan on making use of those, and you'd rather more speed, I think a new iBook could be significantly faster for a couple hundred dollars more.
 
Hmmm.... Yes, I was thinking about getting a faster Ibook. Yesterday I did a wee bit of research on the RAM issue with the 867 PBs. I found (on the apple support site) that people have been putting 1GB RAM sticks into the (only available) RAM slot on these powerbooks and have had no issues with that so far. So, this kinda swayed me towards the PB.

What do you think of this solution? Surely it might help speed things up?? Any thoughts. I will not be using the 'book for heavy audio/video or photo editing stuff. I am a biologist who is going back to grad school so I'll be using the PB for mainly Word, Stats, maybe Grass Gis and some modelling programs (I hope to find some!). Also, for SHOWING OFF !! 😀

What are your opinions about using Virtual PC along with an older Windows (like 2000) for Windows only applications? I am hoping 1.12 Gb for RAM might just about cut it??

Thanks a lot for your earlier replies. I might be checking out this PB this evening so I'm hoping to make up my mind before that. 🙄
 
bopat said:
Hmmm.... Yes, I was thinking about getting a faster Ibook. Yesterday I did a wee bit of research on the RAM issue with the 867 PBs. I found (on the apple support site) that people have been putting 1GB RAM sticks into the (only available) RAM slot on these powerbooks and have had no issues with that so far. So, this kinda swayed me towards the PB.

What do you think of this solution? Surely it might help speed things up?? Any thoughts. I will not be using the 'book for heavy audio/video or photo editing stuff. I am a biologist who is going back to grad school so I'll be using the PB for mainly Word, Stats, maybe Grass Gis and some modelling programs (I hope to find some!). Also, for SHOWING OFF !! 😀

What are your opinions about using Virtual PC along with an older Windows (like 2000) for Windows only applications? I am hoping 1.12 Gb for RAM might just about cut it??

Thanks a lot for your earlier replies. I might be checking out this PB this evening so I'm hoping to make up my mind before that. 🙄
Click to expand...

If it was me I'd go for the new iBook. They are good machines and buying it new gives you a warranty. You can also find refurbished iBooks from time to time on the Apple web site for under $900.00 with new warranty.
 
I think that is a great deal for that, but if you are planing on maxing out the ram anyway the iBook might suit you better. Go to amazon and use their rebate and get a new one for 900 bucks. Then get ram from outpost.com if they still have that 1gb stick for 159.99. The iBook also has the benifit of a 1yr warranty and also available for apple care. The powerbook also has a superdrive and bluetooth which, if you plan on using them, are great to have. So I am sure I just confused you even more, but what ever system you get I am sure you will be satisfied. 🙂
 
Lfielder,

Hahaha ...now I am totally confused!!! I initially wanted to spend only a little more than what I was seeling my peecee for (550$ ...hopefully this evening!!). But then I saw this PB, which got me thinking that I might just be able to pull of spending 300 bucks more and still be able to get something better than the Dell (P4 1.7 Ghz). I figured that the 867 PB would be comparable to the Dell's speed (if not a tad bit faster). But buying a new Ibook pushes me more and more away from my inital budget of 650$ !!! 🙄

I thought with the Superdrive ( I can see myself buring large TIFFs, satellite imagery type files) and BT, I might be future-proofing myself as best as I possibly can withough spending too much moolah. I will do the RAM upgrade later as it already has 640 MB which should suffice for the time being.

Is my thinking warped?? 😕
 
i still love my 12" 867 powerbook

I think this would be awesome. I like the aluminum case very much. However, I would be very interested in an new iBook because it would come with iLife 05. All in All, I think the powerbook 867 is an awesome machine.
 
You can get an amazon rebate brand new iBook 12" 1.2ghz for $895 with no tax in most states.. so, no.
 
While the processor is indeed slower than a new iBook, that PB has more HDD space, built-in Bluetooth, much more memory, and a Superdrive. To be honest, I couldn't choose, but that Powerbook is much more full featured than a new G4 iBook, which would ship sans Bluetooth, with only 256MB memory, and without a Superdrive.

If it's full-featured you want, for that money you can't go too far wrong - it's a ready made notebook which you wouldn't need to update at all to do pretty much everything you want. The iBook you'd have to add more memory at least, possibly also Bluetooth and stuff if you want it, which makes it quite a bit more than the $895 others have mentioned.
 
Ok well seeing as your initial budget was 650 or so I think the powerbook would be perfect. It already has upgraded memory so you accually dont have to upgrade anything on it, until a later date when you want to max out the memory. I vote for the powerbook.
 
Thanks again for all the replies,

At this point, I think the PB makes more sense even with the slower processor. I will let u all know which way I go. I am just excited about the whole Mac experience.

Cheers 🙂
 
bopat said:
What are your opinions about using Virtual PC along with an older Windows (like 2000) for Windows only applications? I am hoping 1.12 Gb for RAM might just about cut it??
Click to expand...

Just a note about Virtual PC: Fagedaboutit! I got my Mom a new 1.8 Ghz iMac with 1 gig of RAM with VPC so that she could play her darn games (by Hoyle). It's too slow even for simple games and any command we give to the system or any application within VPC is painfully slow. Get it only if you REALLY need it and you have some patience. I can't figure why they'd even bother producing such a thing when it's performance is so sluggish, at least that's been my experience.
 
More confusion...!!!! .... please help!!

Guys/Gals,

"Yesterday, all my troubles seemed so faaar away" .......
I was almost set on buying the above mentioned PB (see first post), but then I found another PB, same Specs but WITHOUT SD:
12" Apple Powerbook G4 - 867 Mhz,
256 MB RAM,
40 GIG HD,
Combo drive,
Bluetooth.
Upgraded with Airport Extreme card

The buyer is asking for 775 but I may be able to talk him down to 750. Apart from the lack of RAM (640 MB in the other one) and SD , the systems are identical.

Any thoughts/suggestions/opinions are most welcome. I might try and meet one or both sellers today.

Thanks 😀
 
I guess that depends on whether or not you think you'd use SD, which I assume is SuperDrive. I wouldn't want to run on anything under 512 for RAM so you'll need to invest in the memory anyway. 90 bucks ( the difference between the two Macs) for a DVD burner and RAM sounds like a good deal, so why not the first machine? If you don't want the SuperDrive then max out the RAM and be happy. 🙂 By the way, did anyone check what that model might go for on ebay?

(I assume spending another 300 bucks to get a new, basic iBook is out of the question??...there's always that option, but again, no SuperDrive.)
 
I still think you should go for the first one. It has a superdrive and even if you just use that for back up purposes it is well worth it. It also already has the ram upgraded so you don't have to do anything (not that it is difficult). But after you upgrade the ram to 640mb it only costs you an extra 40-50 buck and you can get the superdrive model. Again I still think the first one is the better deal.
 
So much for that .....

🙁

Just found out from the first seller that somebody came buy and picked up the PB yesterday!

This has always been my luck......... 🙁

Why did I wait? I just sold my Dell peecee late last evening and was hoping to buy the PB with SupDrv today. Just heard back from the seller 2 minutes back. Oh well, .... I was looking forward to the SD but I might just go with the 2nd seller. If any of you know some pointers to people who are selling their macs, lemme know.

Ebay, here I come ...... (uggghh).....

Thanks all taking the time to chip in.
 
sorry to hear about that..... 🙁 mother effin apple just shipped me applecare, extra batt and bt mouse but not my comp, i am ticked!!!
 
bury,

Thanks man. I feel ur pain. 🙁
Looks like for the both of us, NO apple today to keep the doctor away!! 🙄
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Register on MacRumors! This sidebar will go away, and you'll see fewer ads.
Top Bottom
Back