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i dont see how core image would would help the average user (non pro). All i can see it doing is speeding up and getting a better image when using photshop and other similar apps and because the ibook is sold as the non-pro laptop in apple's line i carnt see this as a good reason to choose a powerbook over an ibook. And the rotating sticky effect in dashboard works on the ibook but the ripple effect seems not to work.
 
fedora said:
i dont see how core image would would help the average user (non pro). All i can see it doing is speeding up and getting a better image when using photshop and other similar apps and because the ibook is sold as the non-pro laptop in apple's line i carnt see this as a good reason to choose a powerbook over an ibook. And the rotating sticky effect in dashboard works on the ibook but the ripple effect seems not to work.

The general consensus is that CoreImage is necessary to get all the eye candy that tiger will offer. That is what I am picking up...
 
chugach said:
I would hope that the boxed, new iBooks are currently shipping with 'good' logic boards...
The logic board problem only affects G3 iBooks, current G4 models have no known logic board flaws.

The PB warping problem is pretty rare I think, at least the serious warping. A friend of mine has a 12" Rev A. which though it hasn't warped and become unstable, the aluminium has started to separate in a couple of places around fame edges. I think that's the mostly likely problem to occur and less likely with the current models since they're reinforced.
 
chugach said:
I see many articles/posts regarding the PB overheat/warping problems, and the iBook recall to replace the logic board.

Both of my friends have 12" powerbooks, never any heat issues. Sometimes it just gets a little warm.

I think the heat issues refer to Rev A or the old TiBooks
 
From what Ive been hearing here and elsewhere, this is a good time to buy an apple laptop. Theyve reached maturity as products. The next round of laptops will probably be a major update that will get a lot of people buying, but not me. My revC pb is running beautifully. It's wise to wait until Apple's line evolvs a bit after a major change. That's where it is right now.

As to whether you ought to get an ibook or pb . . . well many people claim to have been able to treat their ibooks terribly and have them live through it all. The casing is rock solid and while it wont remain beautiful, it will definitely take a beating. But on the other hand, the powerbook feels much more solid to me when Im using it. The keyboard is much much nicer than that of the ibook.

The powerbooks has plenty of perks, so unless you need the extra eternal-durability of the ibook, I say go for the pb.

charlie
 
oingoboingo said:
It wouldn't surprise me at all if the GeForce FX 5200 didn't do as good a job as something like a Radeon 9600 or 9800. After all, the FX 5200 isn't exactly what you'd call a stellar performer when it comes to OpenGL gaming. I was just wondering if you had some information that showed the FX 5200 running CoreImage acceleration like a total dog. Oh well...leisurely CoreImage hardware acceleration still has to be better than no hardware acceleration at all.

I agree with you and that's why I personally wouldn't buy any new Mac today that didn't have a CoreImage compatible GPU. But that's just my opinion. :)
 
svejar said:
As for programs, I'm using:

  • Dreamweaver
  • Photoshop CS
  • Office 2004
  • InDesign CS
@


Good luck!

i dont know...i guess the performance of a 12 powermac isnt that much more but if i were running InDesign i would want the fastest computer i could afford..assuming one was using it with large images for business purposes.
sorry i use InDesign all the time at work and couldnt imagine trying to get anything done with that program on an ibook OR a 12 power mac. that app is dog slow if you dont have a work station.
 
Cordless_Drill said:
Unless you really have a boner for the PB -- and I'd certainly understand if you did -- I'd go with the iBook. It's 95% as good for less money.

Buy a 512 ram module and an express with the "savings".

I disagree. The ibook is not 95% as good. The differences in specs, while modest, are not insignificant. I have a rev. B powerbook, which is nearly identical in specs to the current ibook, and I think the rev. C powerbook is a significant improvment on the rev. B. $217, while not cheap, is not really all that much money when you're talking about buying a computer that could last you years. 1 Ghz is really the bottom of the spectrum now, and requirements are always going up. You're better off spending a little more and having it last longer.
 
chugach said:
...I see many articles/posts regarding the PB overheat/warping problems, and the iBook recall to replace the logic board...I understand that the Rev C PB's have less issues with heat than it's predecessors (although I am now reading about people installing latest sys updates experiencing higher temps after the upgrade)...How many of you are covered by extended Apple Care?

Ex Ap Care is probably a good idea, especially on laptops and LCD displays. My iB logic board was not covered by the original logic board recall, but ended up in the 2nd group. That was a moot point, though, because well before that I had replaced it and sold it as a parts ball to a buddy. I would guess the great majority of those iB's will not ever take advantage of the replacement program for similar reasons, although knocking mine off a desk just before it died probably would have disqualified mine anyway.

When I got my PB, AAC had just come out and I somehow neglected to get about 1/4 of my mp3 library off the iB HD, so I just decided to re-encode all 200 CDs in my collection over the July 4th (2003) weekend. Within 3 days of that I noticed that the case had warped from heat, probably from the high use. There were no warnings that I might be able to prevent this by not doing this setting on a futon and using a hard desktop instead, and no indications that if I downloaded a power management update and trashed the one that shipped I also might have avoided this. Too late. Sorry, sucker.

I don't think the iB had a fan. If it did, it was a whisper fan running at low air volume. The PB fan is stronger and louder, which I assumed was because the G4 produced more heat than the G3 in my iB. Now that iB's have G4's they may have louder fans as well.

Some of the discrepancies we are seeing here about speed issues are possibly based on RAM or whether particular apps are Altivec accelerated. I have only 384 in my PB (as I did in my iB) and it seems much faster (G3 700 vs. G4 900 +Altivec). In both cases, however, once you get more than a few apps loaded there is a lot of VM paging going on...a starling amount if you open the activity monitor and check. Apple did such a superb job with VM that very little slowdown is noticeable, and I have had 9 or 10 apps open with no problems or warnings. Since all newer iB's are G4's, there might not be a lot of speed differences between new models of iB vs, PB.
 
fedora said:
i dont see how core image would would help the average user (non pro). All i can see it doing is speeding up and getting a better image when using photshop and other similar apps and because the ibook is sold as the non-pro laptop in apple's line i carnt see this as a good reason to choose a powerbook over an ibook. And the rotating sticky effect in dashboard works on the ibook but the ripple effect seems not to work.

Since the CoreImage functions are going to be available to every single application running on Mac OS X, I think we'll start to see CoreImage-derived functionality turning up all over the place, not just in 'pro' apps like PhotoShop. I suspect we'll see non-pro apps like iPhoto, iMovie and iDVD gain a lot of extra functionality. Why would they not? With only a few simple API calls, developers will be able to implement impressive hardware accelerated image and video processing effects. This is not even mentioning whole new Mac OS X-wide features like Dashboard which take advantage of the huge leg-up provided to developers for free by the CoreImage/CoreVideo API framework. This will not be limited to 'pros'. For that matter, why wouldn't every second freeware screensaver start using fancy CoreImage effects? I think CoreImage is going to be widely spread across many classes of apps in the next few years.

The difference bewteen the specced-up 12" iBook and the 12" PowerBook is only a few hundred dollars. Personal preferences on appearances aside, a couple hundred bucks isn't much of a saving when Apple has already made it clear that a potentially core feature of Mac OS X in the future isn't going to run optimally on the iBook (not to mention the advantages that an extra 32MB of VRAM, extra 333MHz of CPU core speed, 167MHz FSB bus vs. 133MHz FSB bus, DVI-out versus VGA-out, and built in audio-in jack bring). But that's just me.
 
I had a similar dilemma 6 weeks ago. iBook or Powerbook. My observations so far are:
Get more memory: Currently I only have 256M and it is not enough. So if budget is critical get the iBook and more Ram.
Style: Very subjective but I am replacing my iMac Blue Dalmation with my PB, and the new monitors match the PB, older ones for the iBook.
Word processing, again this comes to budget the Powerbook does not have Apple Works (Big omission Apple) The iBook does. So if you need to do WP then it is a copy of Apple Works or MS Office. Either way more $'s. I didn't realise and now have to shell out.

Finally I judge from your post that you are not in the UK but in response to
chugach said:
How many of you are covered by extended Apple Care?
If you buy your new computers from John Lewis www.JohnLewis.com you get a free 2 year guarantee, less money than Apple Care.
 
beatle888 said:
sorry i use InDesign all the time at work and couldnt imagine trying to get anything done with that program on an ibook OR a 12 power mac. that app is dog slow if you dont have a work station.

I'mnot gonna argue with you on that, since you seem to use it on a far more professional level than me. All I can say is that I've used it to produce leaflets at work and it's no problem. Might have to do with the fact that it's mostly text and smaller image files. Actually, I find the resolution a far bigger problem than the speed.
 
I was having this problem too. So I went to the CompUSA and played around with the machines. I was dead set on getting a 14" iBook before I went (lower cost, larger screen, "prettier") but it only took me 5 minutes of tinkering before I had changed my mind. The PB was so sleek compared to the iBook (the iBook in person didn't look as good as it did on the website) and the crispness of the PB screen just blew away the iBook. So two days later I ordered the 12" PB and I really really glad that I did.

My advice would be this: go try them out and then make your decision.
 
oingoboingo said:
Since the CoreImage functions are going to be available to every single application running on Mac OS X, I think we'll start to see CoreImage-derived functionality turning up all over the place, not just in 'pro' apps like PhotoShop...

Ah, I never thought about that. I was only thinking it would be for superfluous visual effects mainly.

Thank you for that insight.
 
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