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Dr. J

macrumors member
Jan 9, 2006
56
0
I would look around for awhile. I just picked up the latest 15" PB with 2gb and apple care for 1500. The screen does not even have the line issue, lucky I suppose.
 

ChrisA

macrumors G5
Jan 5, 2006
12,578
1,695
Redondo Beach, California
Try this

You need it NOW and you need it to work? OK go to the Apple store and buy something. Before you hand over the credit card ask them to set it up and turn it on. Leave it powered up for a while. after you see that it works put it back in the box, pay for it and take it home.

If they don't let you power up the machine go to another store.
 

typewriterchimp

macrumors member
Sep 30, 2005
48
0
well...

Dr. J said:
I would look around for awhile. I just picked up the latest 15" PB with 2gb and apple care for 1500. The screen does not even have the line issue, lucky I suppose.

if you feel uncomfortable revealing your source, I understand. but where, might I ask, could one find such a deal on powerbooks?

thanks either way

-c
 

Dr. J

macrumors member
Jan 9, 2006
56
0
You might think that this was not a very good idea, but I bought it on ebay. The guy bought the computer for christmas, and then the MBP came out. He had to have one, and listed the PB on ebay with a buy it now price for 1500. I bought it, and it is perfect. The apple care had not even been opened yet. Good deal for a poor student. The ram was even upgraded by apple. Look around and be careful. I had some fool from the UK try to scam me on a second chance offer. I turned him and his fake emails in.
 

typewriterchimp

macrumors member
Sep 30, 2005
48
0
thanks dr. j

Dr. J said:
You might think that this was not a very good idea, but I bought it on ebay. The guy bought the computer for christmas, and then the MBP came out. He had to have one, and listed the PB on ebay with a buy it now price for 1500. I bought it, and it is perfect. The apple care had not even been opened yet. Good deal for a poor student. The ram was even upgraded by apple. Look around and be careful. I had some fool from the UK try to scam me on a second chance offer. I turned him and his fake emails in.

I'll have a look around. How long do you plan on using your new machine? How long do you expect legacy software support?

-c
 

Dr. J

macrumors member
Jan 9, 2006
56
0
I don't know how long I am going to use it. I am going to go to law school, and most do not let you use a Mac. If they can get windows running on a MBP, I will buy one. If not I will keep the PB and buy a windows machine for grad school. I have no idea how long the apps will be available for a PPC. I would bet that it will be awhile.
 

tartsquid

macrumors regular
Jan 21, 2006
110
0
Reston, VA
Since apps being written for Mac are now Universal Binary and will run on both Intel and PPC, I think that holds promise for PPC being supported for a while now.

Also, I have to chime in and say that I haven't noticed any speed problems with Photoshop (CS2) on my Intel iMac, but I upgraded from a 1 ghz PowerBook with 512 mb of ram to this machine with 1.5 mb of ram, so there was bound to be a perfomance increase even with emulation.
 

ericssonboi

macrumors 6502
Mar 15, 2005
342
0
I'm interested to what people have to say as i'm in the same situation.

I'm debating on whether if i should get a IBM for its durability...
Or just an MBP based on its raw speed and performance.

Its sad how Apple didn't update the MBP and change Aluminum which IMO looks nice... but causes a lot of problems because its a laptop. Many users have dropped and dented their laptops only to have their warranty voided. Scratches and corrosion can be seen over time due to normal wear and tear.

Although many would say that you can "just be more careful", i would like to not worry for a day or two that my Powerbook or MBP for that matter... will be dented or scratched and drop the resale value of the item.
 

gnasher729

Suspended
Nov 25, 2005
17,980
5,565
localghost said:
travel to your nearest apple store and buy an ibook that’s ON DISPLAY, after you’ve checked it out.

sell it within the next year or whenever the revision b of the merom mac book pro is out.

Not commenting on your actual recommendation, but the important point that everyone should keep in mind: You don't buy one computer. You will buy a succession of computers over the next ten years, so try to find a strategy that will give you the greatest average value over the next ten years.
 

gekko513

macrumors 603
Oct 16, 2003
6,301
1
Chrispy said:
Those rebates on the 12" powerbooks are really nice. I just wish the 12" was using DDR2... sigh.
If you plan on getting a MacBook later when Adobe releases universal binaries you can use it then.
 

Seasought

macrumors 65816
Nov 3, 2005
1,093
0
ericssonboi said:
Although many would say that you can "just be more careful", i would like to not worry for a day or two that my Powerbook or MBP for that matter... will be dented or scratched and drop the resale value of the item.

I can agree with that. The blend of the durability of the iBook's design coupled with the more elegant appearance of the MBP/Powerbooks is what's missing. It's a problem for those who aren't too impressed with the iBook look but want the durability.
 

chaos86

macrumors 65816
Sep 11, 2003
1,006
7
127.0.0.1
fyi: according to friend of a friend info (adobe guy -> leo laporte on twit -> me) CS2 will never be universal. we'll be waiting til CS3 for the adobe for intel apps.

im not optimistic about performance of CS2 in rosetta. if SJ is pesimistic enough about it to say its not great but its ok at the macworld keynote, then it must be bad.
 

AJBMatrix

macrumors 6502
Feb 6, 2006
252
0
Athens, Georgia
Well, CS2 really runs just as fast in Rosetta as it does on a PB G4 1.67. CS3 is supposed to be coming out by the end of this year. So it all will be converted in the next several months. My point was to save money. If a possible slight slowdown is too much for you then the PB would be best but it you are not going to worry about it possibly being slightly slower then you would save money by going with the MBP.

You would have lost money with the Windows Computers already. Then you will have lost money when upgrading from a PB to MBP later. I say just cut your losses once.
 

MattyP

macrumors member
Dec 13, 2005
71
0
San Francisco
Mac of all Trades

I feel your pain... I know that the Dell's have had lots of problems. There are some places to get your Mac on for not a lot of money tho, Wegener Media has a 1.25 GHZ 12" Powerbook for $739, and Mac of all Trades always has good prices and a 30 day warranty.
 

Chrispy

macrumors 68020
Original poster
Dec 27, 2004
2,269
517
Indiana
macconnection has a 12.1" PowerBook G4 1.5GHz 512MB 60GB Combo on sale for $1199 after rebate. Would you all consider this a good deal. The superdrive model is $1349 after rebate but it is still $150 more than the macconnection one.

EDIT: If I was to go for a 12" notebook would I be better off with an iBook for Powerbook? There is a $300 price difference but I'm not sure the speed increase would be worth it. Your input would be apprecaited :)
 

FFTT

macrumors 68030
Apr 17, 2004
2,952
1
A Stoned Throw From Ground Zero
I would do a daily search at Apple's refurb site for a current model 12" iBook 1.33 GHz or current model 12" PowerBook 1.5 GHz and jump when the gettin's good.

OR......

Just buy new with education discount if you're eligable.

Hopefully your luck has changed and you'll be good to go.
 

nospleen

macrumors 68030
Dec 8, 2002
2,719
1,560
Texas
Chrispy said:
macconnection has a 12.1" PowerBook G4 1.5GHz 512MB 60GB Combo on sale for $1199 after rebate. Would you all consider this a good deal. The superdrive model is $1349 after rebate but it is still $150 more than the macconnection one.

EDIT: If I was to go for a 12" notebook would I be better off with an iBook for Powerbook? There is a $300 price difference but I'm not sure the speed increase would be worth it. Your input would be apprecaited :)

I think you will regret the 12". The screens are terrible, plus you have owned the 15" before. But if you must choose, go for the ibook.
 

Chrispy

macrumors 68020
Original poster
Dec 27, 2004
2,269
517
Indiana
nospleen said:
I think you will regret the 12". The screens are terrible, plus you have owned the 15" before. But if you must choose, go for the ibook.

Yeah.. I will probably sell this laptop after the Intel macs get going for a year or so. The 15" powerbooks just seem to be a fairly expensive investment for technology that will be completely out of date soon enough. If I'm doing graphics work, will I notice a big difference between the 4,200RPM of the iBook and the 5,400RPM of the Powerbook on the hard drive? Thanks again!

Unless you think a Rev. D powerbook would be the way to go haha... I don't know. Maybe the iBook is the best choice I just don't know about hard drive speed. I have a 7,200 RPM hard drive that I could put in there but I am afarid to atempt anything like that haha.
 

FFTT

macrumors 68030
Apr 17, 2004
2,952
1
A Stoned Throw From Ground Zero
Just try to accept this purchase strictly as a hold over machine that will
be more for handling needs vs. wants.

$799.00 for a refurb 12" 1.33 iBook plus a extra GB of RAM and you're good to go.

Otherwise , just forget the laptop for now and buy yourself an iMac Core Duo
FOR NOW and save up for a better portable as they become available.
 

typewriterchimp

macrumors member
Sep 30, 2005
48
0
Chrispy said:
Yeah.. I will probably sell this laptop after the Intel macs get going for a year or so. The 15" powerbooks just seem to be a fairly expensive investment for technology that will be completely out of date soon enough. If I'm doing graphics work, will I notice a big difference between the 4,200RPM of the iBook and the 5,400RPM of the Powerbook on the hard drive? Thanks again!

Unless you think a Rev. D powerbook would be the way to go haha... I don't know. Maybe the iBook is the best choice I just don't know about hard drive speed. I have a 7,200 RPM hard drive that I could put in there but I am afarid to atempt anything like that haha.

ibook and 12" powerbook are really close in terms of performance. sure, the powerbook 12" still wins, but only by a few seconds here and there:

http://reviews.cnet.com/Apple_iBook_G4_12_inch/4505-3121_7-31466301-2.html?tag=nav

basically, you are paying an extra 3-400 dollars for a few seconds here, a couple of minutes there, and a frame and a half per second on ut2004. don't forget the awesome metal case that costs 800 bucks to fix if you drop it (like I know I would).

the external dvi is the real kicker. pb12" kills the ibook as a desktop replacement on that front. I say, in harmony with what others have said, just accept that this is a transition purcahse if you are really in to graphics work. sell it off when cs3 comes out, and drop some coin on a nice merom macbook!

btw, do you need the portability? cuz if not, mac mini is about like the ibook and much much cheaper.

-c
 

nospleen

macrumors 68030
Dec 8, 2002
2,719
1,560
Texas
Do you have an Apple store nearby? If so, just call them every hour until they get the MBP's in stock. You may only have to wait another week or so.
 

FFTT

macrumors 68030
Apr 17, 2004
2,952
1
A Stoned Throw From Ground Zero
You might want to take a look at the Macrumors photoshop test page to see
what you could live with.

If you are using your computer to generate income, you may be better off
with a PPC 2.0 dual core G5 tower with 2 GB RAM as your primary workstation FOR NOW.

Adobe won't be ready with their Universal Binary version of CS till fall, so
you may be better off production wise sticking with a PPC.

If you do buy a Core Duo, you'll absolutely want to add as much RAM as you can afford to counter act Rosetta's need for RAM.
 

ITASOR

macrumors 601
Mar 20, 2005
4,398
3
So...you got an iBook...and put a new HD in...let's hear the story! Did you put it in yourself?!
 

Chrispy

macrumors 68020
Original poster
Dec 27, 2004
2,269
517
Indiana
ITASOR said:
So...you got an iBook...and put a new HD in...let's hear the story! Did you put it in yourself?!

Yeah got the iBook and put the 7,200 RPM hard drive in myself haha. It was SCARY and I would not want to do it every again haha. Thankfully the procedure was successful :)
 

Chrispy

macrumors 68020
Original poster
Dec 27, 2004
2,269
517
Indiana
I have been using the iBook for a bit now with the new hard drive in it. OMG! The thing is so much faster than before. Adobe InDesign CS and Photoshop CS open in 6 seconds and 10 seconds respectively. It just blows me away how much faster a 7,200 RPM hard drive really is! If you have the nerve then you should do it. It makes a huge difference and I can barely notice any additional heat.
 
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