15" Powerbook Question

[tmart]

I am purchasing a 15 PB next week. Is it worth the extra $ to upgrade the video memory and the hard drive? Any other advice would be appreciated.

 

[zelmo]

I am purchasing a 15 PB next week. Is it worth the extra $ to upgrade the video memory and the hard drive? Any other advice wood be apreciated.

Depends on what you'll use it for. I have a stock 1.33 15" (only upped the ram to 512), and it suits my needs fine. If I had a few extra $$ laying about, I'd have gone for the faster 5400 rpm drive for a nice speed boost in launching and booting.

 

[virividox]

id get the bigger hd 😉 and if u can afford it the video card

 

[cluthz]

A faster HD is always a good thing, but its a bit pricey. I think you can get an external HD for only a few $$ more than the upgrade.
More VRAM is great for gaming, motion and if you plan to use an external display.
Anyway, more RAM is the most important you can get, if you can affort it, get atleast 1 GB.
Don't buy your RAM from apple, they are too expensive. I'd recommend Crucial.com, but others think they're too expensive too. Its cheaper than apple and very high quality.

 

[Elan0204]

You'll want to upgrade the RAM, but don't buy from Apple. Get your RAM from Crucial or Other World Computing (OWC) instead.

The performance boost between a 5400rpm drive and 400rpm drive should be pretty nice. The hard drive really becomes one of the biggest bottlenecks in the PowerBook, so I'd aoid the 4200rpm drive if possible.

VRAM can't be upgraded later, and if you plan on keeping your PowerBook for more than a couple years I think it would be a good investment. It won't be the end of the world if you don't get the extra VRAM, but if you can get the extra money together I think it is worth it.

If it comes down to picking between the VRAM and the hard drive, upgrade the hard drive. I think it will offer a more noticable performance boost in day to day use of your PowerBook.