Need some quick advice

[Magickmas]

Okay, I posted once before, but I changed my mind about a couple things... so here goes again.

I'm in the market for a laptop, and my goal is to get an Apple laptop of some sort, either the ibook or powerbook. I'm moving from a Pentium 4 2.0 GHz tower computer and looking for something near comparable performance wise, but if it is a bit lacking that's fine too.

I'm looking at the 12" ibook and 15" powerbook mostly and tentatively at the 14" 1 GHz ibook. The 12" is really appealing due to the small size but I'm not sure it has the speed that I need for it. The 15" I'm almost certain will be quite fast enough. The 14" looks good because of the speed increase compared to the 12" ibook but the small resolution is still bothersome.

(I'm not considering the 12" pb because it feels kind of pointless to get a pb that's almost the same as an ibook for roughly the same price with just a few minor differences)

I need screen real estate, so the larger pixel display on the 15" pb is also tempting.


I need the computer to be able to last a good 3-4 years for email, surfing, chat, writing, and Photoshop and Flash work.

So, what do you folks suggest I order?


Note: I cannot afford to wait for more than a couple days before I place my order.

 

[virividox]

nix the ibook, it wont be anywhere near ur 2 ghz

the 12 inch will still be slower than ur 2 ghz, but its size is really appealing.

i say go with the 15, it has good screen real estate, 1.25 will get you where you wanna go fast enough, and it should give you a good 3-4 years easy use. its more expensive with the rest, but with a larger ram capacity, faster proc, and possibly faster hard drive, as well as fw800 support you will be able to continue to use prosumer apps, like photoshop with ease.

 

[brhmac]

I just bought the 12-inch iBook

I too was tempted by the 15-inch PowerBook and had the same thoughts about the 12-inch iBook and PowerBook. Ultimately, I went with the iBook.

The 12-inch iBook starts at US $1100. The 15-inch PowerBook starts at US $2000.

I don't have much Flash experience so I can't say what kind of processor drain it would have, but the iBook seems as though it's up to everything you listed as important. Panther has a neat feature -- the name of which I can't recall right now -- that reduces all open window to thumbnails with a single button. You can then easily select the window you want.

That should address the screen real estate question, especially since the iBook has 1024-by-768 resolution.

 

[jxyama]

i think you answered your post yourself. get the 15" PB.

 

[Chip NoVaMac]

Been there done that...

I ended up doing the PB 12". The SuperDrive was the clincher. Never thought that i would use it much, but now find it more useful than I thought. Been able to make back-up copies of the DVD's that i own for road trips. Also the ability to use 1 DVD for may data backups is the best!

I ended up with the PB for several reasons. The SuperDrive being one. The other is that when the prices come down i will bump the ram to 1.2gb. I also wanted video spanning. The PB 12" is fast becoming my day to day system. While the iBook has a 1gb memory module available it is not officially supported. Same thing for spanning.

To save money you can take a class at your community college. This would qualify you for educational pricing. I was able to get my stock PB 12" at the Apple Retail store for $1399 (superdrive model) at EDU pricing. I don't know if this was special pricing or an error on their part.

 

[advres]

15 PB. I don't think there is any other answer.

 

[Magickmas]

Okay, thanks for the reassurance folks.

15" 1.25 GHz it is. No superdrive though, seems pointless and costly.