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Ibook & Imac OR Pbook???

F

flahiker

macrumors member
Original poster
I believe this has been considered before so please forgive me. I am looking to make the switch finally and am wondering what configuration to buy.

14" Ibook with superdrive, and later a 17" Imac with superdrive, or wait and buy a single 15" Powerbook with superdrive?

Me, I plan on doing some moderate photoshop with larger files, some lite video editing, lite sound editing, office stuff, taxes, accounting and some gaming. I need a portable though.

I have 2 kids, who would love a nice video game machine. They beg for an Xbox, but i am not as excited about one.

I figured the Ibook would do for mobile needs and even do some heavy lifting, and the Imac would be good for the serious stuff down the road.

Suggestions????
 
What kind of games do your kids plan on playing? Macs are not the best gaming solution out there. I suggest getting a PS2 or Xbox for your kids. With either, the cost is only $149, and there are tons of games to be had for $20. That will leave more working capital for your laptop, anyway.

As for your needs, while the iBook will serve you well enough, the 15" PB would certainly suit better, particularly for the better screen resolution in PhotoShop with all the tool pallettes. The more RAM the better, and if you really want to do games on your portable, the PB is your best bet. Go for the 80GB hdd and upgraded GPU memory, too.

Either way you go, welcome to Macland.
 
flahiker said:
I believe this has been considered before so please forgive me. I am looking to make the switch finally and am wondering what configuration to buy.

14" Ibook with superdrive, and later a 17" Imac with superdrive, or wait and buy a single 15" Powerbook with superdrive?

Me, I plan on doing some moderate photoshop with larger files, some lite video editing, lite sound editing, office stuff, taxes, accounting and some gaming. I need a portable though.

I have 2 kids, who would love a nice video game machine. They beg for an Xbox, but i am not as excited about one.

I figured the Ibook would do for mobile needs and even do some heavy lifting, and the Imac would be good for the serious stuff down the road.

Suggestions????
Click to expand...


i bought a 15"PB this May and I'm happy with it. But if you are not the only user, an expensive PB is not a good solution. Also the 12"ibook is more portable than the 15"pb (and less expensive if you drop it).

i paye about $3000 for my PB. if I had the choice again i would go for a 12"ibook with 512 mb, app for $1348.- plus a 20" imac (512 mb and APP) for $2143.
so i would get a lot more computer usability for $3500 than i have now for $3000.

my 2 cents,

andi
 
Kids are 6 and 8. They are not going to be allowed to play games like Doom III and such.

The only drawback to the Ibook I see is the screen resolution. I wouldn't mind a few more pixels. That was why I considered it and an Imac.
 
flahiker said:
Kids are 6 and 8. They are not going to be allowed to play games like Doom III and such.

The only drawback to the Ibook I see is the screen resolution. I wouldn't mind a few more pixels. That was why I considered it and an Imac.
Click to expand...

You really ought to get to an Apple Store or reseller where you can check out the laptops and the iMac in person to compare. If you are serious about using PS on your laptop, I think you will ultimately be disappointed with the iBook.

You may also consider going with a GameCube for the kids. There are lots of kid-friendly games, and the platform is only $99.

If you can do without the portability for now, forget the console and go for an iMac, then wait on the next major overhaul to the laptop lines, which may happen as early as WWDC this summer.
 
Ok, I took the GF to compusa last night and took a look at their "Apple Store". I really need to make a trek to the Orlando Apple store, cause compusa SUX! They really don't do much to try to sell Apples.

She was asking me why do I want an apple? They aren't compatable are they? No one uses them. Oh when are you gonna fix my Dull PC. It has so much spyware and viruses that I can hardly use it. I don't understand why my PC in unusable after only 18 months!

I told her that Apples are not susceptable to those problems. That and I am tired of having to rebuild my PC. BTW, I am very competent, have designed RAID cards for Adaptec, run several Linux servers, and such.

Anyway, I looked at the portables. Ibook was nice, not as much as the Pbook. I was drooling over it! But the Ibook looked like it would do for almost anything I need.

Then we went and looked at the 17" Imac. It was hooked up to JBL creature speakers. We looked at the Nanosaur game to demo the machine. She lost it right there! The display was absolutely amazing. The sound was as good as her Bose surround system.

So the end result is 14" Ibook, superdrive from Amazon with the rebate. I will follow with the Imac in a couple of months. I would have bought a refurb yesterday, but I really need the portable now.

My current machines are:

Gateway P75, 40M Ram, 1 GB HD, win 98, (retired)
Homebrew 1.4G Athalon, 256M Ram, 80GB, XP Pro
Compaq 12" laptop, 550Mhz K62, 128M Ram, 6G HD.

The homebrew is mostly kinda stable. Still can't get USB 100%. Fighting with the wireless card. And Why do I have to run XP as an administrator to make programs work right?!

The compaq had the power plug break on the motherboard 2 years ago. I performed surgery and it was kinda ok for a while. Now, it has pretty much become unusable. It can't be moved for fear it will never come back on.
 
flahiker said:
Ok, I took the GF to compusa last night and took a look at their "Apple Store". I really need to make a trek to the Orlando Apple store, cause compusa SUX! They really don't do much to try to sell Apples.

She was asking me why do I want an apple? They aren't compatable are they? No one uses them. Oh when are you gonna fix my Dull PC. It has so much spyware and viruses that I can hardly use it. I don't understand why my PC in unusable after only 18 months!

I told her that Apples are not susceptable to those problems. That and I am tired of having to rebuild my PC. BTW, I am very competent, have designed RAID cards for Adaptec, run several Linux servers, and such.

Anyway, I looked at the portables. Ibook was nice, not as much as the Pbook. I was drooling over it! But the Ibook looked like it would do for almost anything I need.

Then we went and looked at the 17" Imac. It was hooked up to JBL creature speakers. We looked at the Nanosaur game to demo the machine. She lost it right there! The display was absolutely amazing. The sound was as good as her Bose surround system.

So the end result is 14" Ibook, superdrive from Amazon with the rebate. I will follow with the Imac in a couple of months. I would have bought a refurb yesterday, but I really need the portable now.

My current machines are:

Gateway P75, 40M Ram, 1 GB HD, win 98, (retired)
Homebrew 1.4G Athalon, 256M Ram, 80GB, XP Pro
Compaq 12" laptop, 550Mhz K62, 128M Ram, 6G HD.

The homebrew is mostly kinda stable. Still can't get USB 100%. Fighting with the wireless card. And Why do I have to run XP as an administrator to make programs work right?!

The compaq had the power plug break on the motherboard 2 years ago. I performed surgery and it was kinda ok for a while. Now, it has pretty much become unusable. It can't be moved for fear it will never come back on.
Click to expand...

Congratulations on your decision. I'm sure you'll love your iBook. I can't even imagine not having a portable anymore.
 
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