12" Powerbooks still worth it?

[JHNguyen]

I'm currently on a macbook pro, but due to me being so clumsy.. I don't/can't bring this with me to school and work and what not.

So I'm considering a small laptop to bring with me. Basically used for homework, emailig, web browsing.. maybe a little more, but nothing too daunting. I have my MBP at home to do everything else. But one thing I need is a cheap laptop. Something that I won't baby too much.. Looking to spend >$400..

Here's what I've gathered so far:
1. Asus EEEPC - Have one, but gave it to my girlfriend. A little too small
2. Thinkpad X series - Saw these in person, but didn't get to try it out.. I like the look a lot.
3. 1.1 GHZ 12" PB - I want this because the aesthetics.. but, I had an old ibook 1.0 ghz G4 and I hated it. It was too slow. But it could've been because it was getting so old, or me banging it around so much. Not sure if their will be a huge difference between these two.

Any other suggestions?

 

[thechidz]

Wirelessly posted (Mozilla/5.0 (iPhone; U; CPU like Mac OS X; en) AppleWebKit/420.1 (KHTML, like Gecko) Version/3.0 Mobile/4A102 Safari/419.3)

I use to do exactly that when I still had my pb12. Loved it

 

[iSee]

The PB will be somewhat faster than the iBook you used to have, but not a whole lot... unless the iBook was short on RAM (and you make sure the PB isn't).

If the iBook had 256BM-512MB, chances are the lack of RAM was a serious bottleneck and a PB with 1GB+ will be a whole lot faster.

 

[0007776]

Max the RAM in the powerbook and it will still be good for what you want it for.

 

[QCassidy352]

a 1.5 or even 1.33 ghz 12" powerbook with 1.25 GB RAM (the max) would still serve you well for word, mail, safari, etc. But the caveat is that they resell for waaaay too much these days because people like the form factor. So good luck getting one for what you're looking to spend.

 

[JHNguyen]

The PB will be somewhat faster than the iBook you used to have, but not a whole lot... unless the iBook was short on RAM (and you make sure the PB isn't).

If the iBook had 256BM-512MB, chances are the lack of RAM was a serious bottleneck and a PB with 1GB+ will be a whole lot faster.

The ibook was 1.0ghz w/ 1.25 gigs of ram.. 4200 rpm HD.

 

[catachip]

a 1.5 or even 1.33 ghz 12" powerbook with 1.25 GB RAM (the max) would still serve you well for word, mail, safari, etc. But the caveat is that they resell for waaaay too much these days because people like the form factor. So good luck getting one for what you're looking to spend.

I know! It was great for me... Last summer I sold my 1.33 Ghz 12" PowerBook with 1.25 GB of RAM and SuperDrive for $900, put it towards the 2.4 Ghz MacBook Pro I have now. Awesome resale value on those machines.

 

[Luigi239]

Another suggestion would be the HP Mininote 2133. It's not the fastest thing in the world and it is a little expensive, but it's really nice. A family member has one and it is really nicely built with an excellent screen and keyboard. You can get it with either Suse Linux, Vista or XP. The one I used was the top of the line $750 model (they start at $500) and it runs Vista decently. (not lightning fast, but good enough for basic stuff)