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12" powerbook too small after a while?
- Thread starter Southbridge
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Kwyjibo
macrumors 68040
I thought I should throw my opinion in on this one seeing as I had a very similar decision to make and finally changed my mind.
In november 2002 powerbooks we're much more expensive than iBooks and an iBook 12" was my best option, I upgrade a year later to the 12" powerbook for college and it was ok .... it was the size I was used to and it was a little faster. It got pretty warm but this was a revA which are known to do so. It also seemed pretty heavy for its size. This past week I decided to sell my powerbook and get a 15" and I love it, I desperately needed this size and I did spend like $1400 + $239 (edu prices) for my laptop originally and got $1100 for it for basically chaning my mind a year and a half later ..... I paid about $900 more now because of my changed mind which is considerable but I love the new machine, it weighs a pound more than the 12" so it seems pretty light comprably. I strong recommend the 15" if you can afford it because it just seems like a more solid machine and the extra screen real estate is definitely worth it imo. if you have anymore question feel free to PM me.
In november 2002 powerbooks we're much more expensive than iBooks and an iBook 12" was my best option, I upgrade a year later to the 12" powerbook for college and it was ok .... it was the size I was used to and it was a little faster. It got pretty warm but this was a revA which are known to do so. It also seemed pretty heavy for its size. This past week I decided to sell my powerbook and get a 15" and I love it, I desperately needed this size and I did spend like $1400 + $239 (edu prices) for my laptop originally and got $1100 for it for basically chaning my mind a year and a half later ..... I paid about $900 more now because of my changed mind which is considerable but I love the new machine, it weighs a pound more than the 12" so it seems pretty light comprably. I strong recommend the 15" if you can afford it because it just seems like a more solid machine and the extra screen real estate is definitely worth it imo. if you have anymore question feel free to PM me.
h0e0h
macrumors 6502a
Southbridge said:
that may be a mistake... you never know when you'll miss it... especially if you have a vid project to do in some of your classes... i had to make one for a final in a freshman level class that wasn't even mass com. related... it was just a basic class. Man am i glad that i decided to go with the superdrive... it saved my grade... think about things like that and don't just go on price/impulse...
h0e0h said:
It works perfectly for me...
My dad purchased an external DVD Burner for himself and gave it 2 me when he purchased an internal dual layer DVD burner for himself.
It turns out it is fully compatible with Mac OSX, even though it doesn't say it on the site.
So I can plug it into a 12" powerbook when i get one and then burn DVDs there - make Images on the road, its convienent. 😀
h0e0h
macrumors 6502a
dotdotdot said:
the only problem there is for the person thinkin about buyin w/ or w/o the superdrive option is that if they need it they'll ultimately have to buy, or get lucky and be given, an external DVD Burner. But then if they need to use it on the go they'll have to lug it around... so i think that for my situation, and anyone in a similar one, the built in superdrive is the way to go, no doubt.
puckhead193
macrumors G3
i think both are good, I got the 15" because its was going to my only computer. I planed on doing FC with it havn't gotten to that yet 🙄 The 15" is very portable. What people look at when they go the store, is they see the 12 and the 15" and think the 15" is to big, if u look at sepretly it looks alot smaller. How much traveling around are going to be doing with it? If you travel with it everyday and walk alot of city blocks of course it will get hevy.
At first when i got my pb in the mail i thought it was huge, but i got used to it now it seems small.... You will get used to the size/weight
At first when i got my pb in the mail i thought it was huge, but i got used to it now it seems small.... You will get used to the size/weight
h0e0h said:
honestly I dont know when I'd ever have to put 4.7 gigs on a disc... I rarely use my CD burner as it is...
puckhead193 said:
I mean... I plan to walk around with the thing but I plan on getting a special backpack for it... I mean come on... 5.4 lbs is nothing.
h0e0h said:
um... ok... what is the issue? no I dont have a mac... but sometime this week I'll be a mac user...
h0e0h
macrumors 6502a
Southbridge said:
well, when i bought mine i said... well, since i have it maybe i'll dive off into iMovie. well from there it has heavily progressed to FCP HD and a soon to be powermac. The superdrive, and having the ability to burn dvds, is part of the reason. I love it because i've been able to do so many things with it. I made my parents a DVD slideshow for their 25th wedding anniversary. And my girlfriend loves it when i pile pictures together of us that we've taken over the past couple of years and burn them to a DVD as a slide show for her to play at her house, because she doesn't have a computer worth a crap, or to show other people how wonderful her boyfriend is to her. I mean, we send slideshows to her grandparents who live out of state and stuff like that too. And i've even done some slideshows for a class project that i played on the DVD player instead of having to hook up my powerbook and then fiddle with the projector settings and things like that. It REALLY is worth it in my opinion, even for a new switcher. I mean, you do what you have to do, but backing up files is by far not the sole reason for a superdrive.
hope that helps...
h0e0h said:
yeah... no I mean thats cool and all but I dont think it's worth the extra $326 for one...
h0e0h
macrumors 6502a
Southbridge said:
I'm sayin that i LOVE my 12" (but i guess there's no point in saying that, because every person who owns a mac loves it) and i wouldn't trade the size of it for anything. Maybe you should check out some pics and make your decision from there or something. I love my config and here's a link to my pics... http://homepage.mac.com/h0e0h and be sure to check out the 'new'er setup link at the top of the page too. I really have the ideal situation for me, going to and from class and being here at home... i LOVE it!
BTW... good luck man...
h0e0h said:
uh... I think I can tell you like your 12"... I dont think I've ever seen someone put a webpage full of photos dedicated to their computer... um... thats kinda scary... I forgot what I was going to say... oh yah... wait... but if you're doing video editing and stuff like that isnt 12" a bitch?
h0e0h
macrumors 6502a
Southbridge said:
actually i took those pics for this thread (now there's some crazy ppl in there) and no, the editing isn't that bad because usually when i edit i do it on a 17" CRT (because the response time and sharpness are better). The only time really i've edited on the 12" is when i was on a bus one time and the people i was traveling back with from Orlando wanted to have a copy of the vid to take with them... so we all stopped in the mall in orlando and they bought DVD-Rs and put their names on them and by the time we got back to Louisiana (16 hours) i had finished my vid and burned 16 copies. It was really cool... and you can see it on that link of pics even though its small.
And i really like the battery life of the 12" because on that same bus ride i took a 2 hour break to sleep and let my PB charge while i was sleeping and when i woke up it was ready to rock again... and so i did all that in a matter of like 10 hours...
h0e0h said:
yeah... I think you should keep that webpage on the d-low... as for the powerbook I dont think I'm going to be hooking it up to another screen, because I want to keep my PC as my main computer, but I still want to do some editing on the powerbook, so I'll probabaly need a bigger screen.
btw that thread is kinda creepy... which begs the question am I buying my way into a cult? 😕
h0e0h
macrumors 6502a
Southbridge said:
yeh, if you surf that entire thread you'll see that i'm not the only wierd one. And you can still keep your PC as your main computer and hook up the external monitor w/ a KVM switch. Belkin makes a nice one and you can get it from newegg.com. When i bought my PB i thought that i was gonna keep my PC as my main computer and now seriously all i use it for is solitare and posting in these forums...
notjustjay
macrumors 603
I really like my 12" Powerbook being used as a desktop replacement, driving an external 17" LCD which is my primary monitor.
You really should check both out.. especially sit down and type and actually use the computer. My sister has a 15" Powerbook and for some reason after getting so used to the 12", it just doesn't feel right to use her 15". Typing on its keyboard feels so incredibly different, even though they're the same identical keyboards. Something about that edge around each side of the keyboard... plus when I use my thumb to tap what I expect to be the trackpad button, on her 15" I end up hitting bare metal. Oops!
You really should check both out.. especially sit down and type and actually use the computer. My sister has a 15" Powerbook and for some reason after getting so used to the 12", it just doesn't feel right to use her 15". Typing on its keyboard feels so incredibly different, even though they're the same identical keyboards. Something about that edge around each side of the keyboard... plus when I use my thumb to tap what I expect to be the trackpad button, on her 15" I end up hitting bare metal. Oops!
hechacker1
macrumors member
i have a kick ass pc in my dorm already. Athlon 64 3500+ @ 2.4GHz. 1.5GB of ram, dual layer dvd-rw, 6800 Ultra It has windows and linux running.
I really don't need the superdrive, or to do gaming on this powerbook. I may do some photoshop work, but as far as I can tell, the specs (FSB, cpu, ram) are essentially the same on the 12" and 15". When I get the powerbook, i plan to put at least 1GB of ram. The screen estate is not that big of a deal. Almost everything is fine under 1024x768, i used that resolution for so many years before I got my newer Samsung 710T (17"/12ms/DVI). So i guess I can always hook it up to the powerbook.
I think I am going to go with the 12" after this dicussion, it has really helped a lot from a student perspective.
@the person who made a comment about students bringing their laptops:
I actually find that a lot of people bring laptops in my classes. Perhaps that is because the teachers hardly allow time for writing anything down, and yet we are expected to take notes verbatim. I know for one that I can type a whole lot faster than I can write. The unlit keyboard on the 12" shouldn't be a problem as long as it follows standard pc config which I have memorized completely.
I actually hope to use this laptop for java/c++ programming too, because it will simply be more convient when I have 1 hour breaks between classes and going back to my dorm is counter productive because by the time I get back it's already time to leave. that is another reason why I am waiting for Tiger (java 1.5)
that reminds me, my whole campus is wireless enabled. how is the 12" or 15" reception? does the size make a difference in the atenna they use?
Thanks everybody in the mac forums.
I really don't need the superdrive, or to do gaming on this powerbook. I may do some photoshop work, but as far as I can tell, the specs (FSB, cpu, ram) are essentially the same on the 12" and 15". When I get the powerbook, i plan to put at least 1GB of ram. The screen estate is not that big of a deal. Almost everything is fine under 1024x768, i used that resolution for so many years before I got my newer Samsung 710T (17"/12ms/DVI). So i guess I can always hook it up to the powerbook.
I think I am going to go with the 12" after this dicussion, it has really helped a lot from a student perspective.
@the person who made a comment about students bringing their laptops:
I actually find that a lot of people bring laptops in my classes. Perhaps that is because the teachers hardly allow time for writing anything down, and yet we are expected to take notes verbatim. I know for one that I can type a whole lot faster than I can write. The unlit keyboard on the 12" shouldn't be a problem as long as it follows standard pc config which I have memorized completely.
I actually hope to use this laptop for java/c++ programming too, because it will simply be more convient when I have 1 hour breaks between classes and going back to my dorm is counter productive because by the time I get back it's already time to leave. that is another reason why I am waiting for Tiger (java 1.5)
that reminds me, my whole campus is wireless enabled. how is the 12" or 15" reception? does the size make a difference in the atenna they use?
Thanks everybody in the mac forums.
hechacker1
macrumors member
hmmm, i just visited my schools website and they offer the superdrive for $1499, and the combo for $1399. Kinda weird considering I though apple gave $200 discount for students. the superdrive model gets the discount, but the combo only gets $100 off. The super drive is more enticing now for the "gotta have it" factor... although I really don't need it.
Lacero
macrumors 604
The one thing I don't like about the 17" PB are the extremely wide trackpad button. The 12" PB button is perfect size and makes a great clicking sound. The button on the 17" is so wide that sometimes pressing the button doesn't register as a click. That's my biggest pet peeve with the 17".
Southbridge said:
Which begs the question; why are you so critical? I doubt many of us care too much whether you buy your way into the 'cult' or not. If he wants pics of his computer, let him. If I spent that money, I'd want pics - and have damn well taken pics - to remember the thing by. It won't be around forever. His reason is a fine one.
andy.
Far from being "scary" I find pictures of setups/sizes most helpful when making decisions. Other users experiences weigh things up for me and, believe it or not, these forums are here to help/advise people.
iGary
Guest
If you can affford t he 15" I would certainly go that route - especially if you plan on doing any Photoshop/Graphic work.
I find if I have to do any Photoshop work on the road when shooting, that the 12" is a real pain (but that's not why I got the 12" - I wanted portability).
There are times I would like 15, but I have a 40-pound camera bag as it is, the last thing I want is more weight, which is why I chose the iBook 12".
Good luck - it's all about what you'll be using it for. 😉
I find if I have to do any Photoshop work on the road when shooting, that the 12" is a real pain (but that's not why I got the 12" - I wanted portability).
There are times I would like 15, but I have a 40-pound camera bag as it is, the last thing I want is more weight, which is why I chose the iBook 12".
Good luck - it's all about what you'll be using it for. 😉
