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xmozx

macrumors newbie
Original poster
May 4, 2005
5
0
All of the threads that I've been seeing that compare the new iBooks to the Pbooks reference the 12". I am wondering if the the price warrants the difference between a loaded 14" iBook and a loaded 15" Pbook? I am down to the wire for making a decision for school. Thanks in advance.
 

Chundles

macrumors G5
Jul 4, 2005
12,037
493
xmozx said:
All of the threads that I've been seeing that compare the new iBooks to the Pbooks reference the 12". I am wondering if the the price warrants the difference between a loaded 14" iBook and a loaded 15" Pbook? I am down to the wire for making a decision for school. Thanks in advance.

Mate, if it's down to the wire, get the best you can afford. A fully loaded 15" PowerBook is going to destroy a fully loaded 14" iBook.

Get the PowerBook, no question.

The only reason they compare the 12"ers is because spec-wise they are very close. When you start lookiing at the widescreen PowerBooks however you gain much in terms of added features that the iBooks and the 12" PowerBook doesn't have.

So, if you are umming and ahhing over a 14" iBook and a 15" PowerBook, there is really no problem - PowerBook all the way.
 

FocusAndEarnIt

macrumors 601
May 29, 2005
4,624
1,063
It really depends on what you are doing... If you are just doing word proccessing, Safari, and iTunes, the iBook is the way to go.

ALL THE WAY FOR A iBook G4 14"! [I had to put a vote for the iBook since I just bought one, lol]
 

cube

Suspended
May 10, 2004
17,011
4,972
CanadaRAM said:
For me, the 15" Powerbook all the way: PCMCIA slot, better screen, higher resolution, 2 Gb RAM possible, FW800.

DVI (dual-link option); better graphics; gigabit Ethernet; lighted keyboard; faster, bigger, easier to upgrade hard disk.
 

mpopkin

macrumors 6502
Nov 14, 2003
298
3
Chapel Hill, NC
i had a 15" pbook and loved it, but the 15" pbook will not "destroy" the 14" ibook, they both function in a similiar fashion, the only major differences other than the fact that 15" widescreen is much nicer in my opinion than a 12" inch screen stretched to 14" inches, that is an opinion. The only real performance difference now is
1) 200 mhz(in osx the only way youll notice it is if u run xbench or final cut pro, in which case u should have a powermac or pbook anyway)
2) 5400 rpm vs 4200 rpm: again, only final cut will you notice a major difference, u should have a pbook if u use final cut
3) outputs and inputs(gigabit vs ethernet) this is not a performance difference.
4)mem difference is 2.0 gb vs 1.5 not a big difference even with final cut

i personally love the 15" pbook and had one, but need a smaller laptop, i have a powermac g5 to handle my final cut uses. I used to think there was a big difference between pbook and ibook and right now there just is not a large difference. it comes down to if you want to pay a 1000 dollars more for only 200 difference in value, or if you want to buy that and a cinema display or some other cool gadget.



Chundles said:
Mate, if it's down to the wire, get the best you can afford. A fully loaded 15" PowerBook is going to destroy a fully loaded 14" iBook.

Get the PowerBook, no question.

The only reason they compare the 12"ers is because spec-wise they are very close. When you start lookiing at the widescreen PowerBooks however you gain much in terms of added features that the iBooks and the 12" PowerBook doesn't have.

So, if you are umming and ahhing over a 14" iBook and a 15" PowerBook, there is really no problem - PowerBook all the way.
 

amin

macrumors 6502a
Aug 17, 2003
977
9
Boston, MA
I just bought a new 15" PB, basic model. The main reason I chose it over the iBook was the higher-res, brighter, wide-screen display. I also like the PB looks more, and prefer the feel of the keyboard (plus the lit keyboard is sweet since I often use the PB in bed at night). I don't really need most of the performance comparative perks, though I may want to digitally output to a reasonably-large LCD in the near future. Without the display difference though, I would have saved the money and gone for the iBook.
 
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