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glay

macrumors member
Original poster
Sep 1, 2004
60
0
Hey everyone,

Firstly I'd like to thank you all for helping me out whenever I have had any mac related questions! After reading this forum I have been convinced to make the switch, I was looking at getting a Powerbook 12" Combo drive. I just have a few questions before I make the swtich, I am sure some if not all of them have been asked before but if you could help me out that would be really great. Thanks! Anyway here goes:

1. I am planning to use the Powerbook for the basics (Net, Music, Photos, Word processing) so would it be sufficient enough?

2. I would like to get into DJ mixing .etc in the future, so would would the powerbook be powerful enough to hand that?

3. Is it worth sticking with iLife or getting Office 2004?

4. I live in Melbourne, Australia and we don't have any official Apple Stores here at the moment. We only have resellers. Would it be better to purchase from a reseller or the Apple Australia store online?

5. How long would delievery take from Apple Australia online?

6. How does the warranty work from purchasing from the Online store? What happens if I have a problem with the laptop, what do I do? And how long are warrantys on powerbooks valid for without buying any additional applecare?

7. Should I hold out for the Pentium Apples? Are they going to be much more superior? And will Apple continue to support the PowerPC based macs?

Thanks! :)
 

vtprinz

macrumors 6502
Nov 30, 2004
395
0
I have a friend that does electronic music shows live on his powerbook, so I'd say they're powerful enough for DJ work

From what I've heard, iWork is good for what it's intended for, which is NOT an MSOffice killer. The big question at this point is whether or not you need a spreadsheet app (ala excel), as iWork doesn't have one at this point.

I don't know about the rest.
 

Toreador93

macrumors regular
Sep 14, 2003
190
0
glay said:
Hey everyone,

Firstly I'd like to thank you all for helping me out whenever I have had any mac related questions! After reading this forum I have been convinced to make the switch, I was looking at getting a Powerbook 12" Combo drive. I just have a few questions before I make the swtich, I am sure some if not all of them have been asked before but if you could help me out that would be really great. Thanks! Anyway here goes:

1. I am planning to use the Powerbook for the basics (Net, Music, Photos, Word processing) so would it be sufficient enough?

2. I would like to get into DJ mixing .etc in the future, so would would the powerbook be powerful enough to hand that?

3. Is it worth sticking with iLife or getting Office 2004?

4. I live in Melbourne, Australia and we don't have any official Apple Stores here at the moment. We only have resellers. Would it be better to purchase from a reseller or the Apple Australia store online?

5. How long would delievery take from Apple Australia online?

6. How does the warranty work from purchasing from the Online store? What happens if I have a problem with the laptop, what do I do? And how long are warrantys on powerbooks valid for without buying any additional applecare?

7. Should I hold out for the Pentium Apples? Are they going to be much more superior? And will Apple continue to support the PowerPC based macs?

Thanks! :)


- 7.
I'm sure PPC macs will be supported for some time. It's known that people hold on to their macs for a long time, and I'm sure Apple wouldn't want to anger their fan base.

I'm guessing it'll be near a year before we see Pentium powerbooks. They will be more powerful, but I doubt you'd see a huge improvement for your purposes. Wait only if you think you can hold off for a year. You could always get an iBook off eBay to tide you over until then.
 

jmufellow

macrumors regular
Jun 17, 2005
215
0
1. A powerbook is the best mac notebook you can get. I am in the Media Arts and Design major at my school and the highly recommend all students in this major to own a powerbook for using professional apps (like final cut pro) to edit video. The power in the 12" powerbook will definitely be sufficient (if not over and above) your needs.

2. See above :)

3. You mean iWork? iLife is the multimedia tools like itunes, imovie, iphoto, etc. But anyway, if you can afford it, get microsoft office because it's nice to have an app. that will open word documents. You can of course wait it out after buying the powerbook to see if you really have a need for Office.

4. I don't know anything about resellers in Austrailia but I think it would be safer to go with buying directly from Apple.

5. Don't know. Perhaps check the website or call Apple?

6. I believe (correct me if I'm wrong) an applecare plan lasts 3 years. I bought one for my eMac when I bought it last fall. I still have yet to use it but it's a great thing to get if not for anything else, for peace of mind.

7. Apple will of course support their PPC computers for a long time. (If they didn't they would have a lot of faithful customers mad at them.) It's up to you but if I were you I'd go ahead and buy one now...I'd be afraid to be one of the first buyers of the intel macs...I like to wait until things settle a bit. I guess I'm not an early adapter type.

Anyway, I hope something I said helps! You will not regret switching.
 

glay

macrumors member
Original poster
Sep 1, 2004
60
0
I also wanted to know, once I recieve a powerbook from Apple, do I need to reformat it before I install my stuff or can I go straight ahead and load everything on? Thanks!
 

sw1tcher

macrumors 603
Jan 6, 2004
5,288
17,880
glay said:
...do I need to reformat it before I install my stuff or can I go straight ahead and load everything on? Thanks!

:confused:

Why do you think you'd need to reformat the HDD before installing apps? Just install and use.
 

NicP

macrumors 6502
Jun 14, 2005
481
0
glay said:
4. I live in Melbourne, Australia and we don't have any official Apple Stores here at the moment. We only have resellers. Would it be better to purchase from a reseller or the Apple Australia store online?

Arent the Apple Center stores official stores? I know there is one on glenhuntly rd in elsternwick
 

glay

macrumors member
Original poster
Sep 1, 2004
60
0
sw1tcher said:
:confused:

Why do you think you'd need to reformat the HDD before installing apps? Just install and use.

I have had a windows laptop before, and when I got it it was filled with 3rd party programs, which were installed on each laptop. I was wondering if powerbooks had the same deal?
 

Ugg

macrumors 68000
Apr 7, 2003
1,992
16
Penryn
glay said:
I have had a windows laptop before, and when I got it it was filled with 3rd party programs, which were installed on each laptop. I was wondering if powerbooks had the same deal?

There's a few things but nothing that clogs the hard drive. Besides, with applications, all you have to do is drag them to the trash and they're ALL gone.

Apple Care extends the 1 year warranty to 3 years. If you want it, you need to buy it no later than 1 year after you buy the machine.
 

DJY

macrumors 6502a
Dec 20, 2003
843
0
Canberra AUST
glay said:
1. I am planning to use the Powerbook for the basics (Net, Music, Photos, Word processing) so would it be sufficient enough?
Most definitely! I now only use my PB - I gave away my PC, and my Pb is now my only system!

glay said:
2. I would like to get into DJ mixing .etc in the future, so would would the powerbook be powerful enough to hand that?
I'd think about a Superdrive as well... even if it means you can move large numbers of songs / files around - especially if you are going to play with lots of music files!

glay said:
3. Is it worth sticking with iLife or getting Office 2004?
iWork I haven't really used much... Keynote is nice, Pages I think is not quite there yet - especially as everyone else, and my work setup is Windoze... so Office for Mac is GREAT! I'd definitely get this... and iLife - that also is a compulsory buy in my mind!

glay said:
4. I live in Melbourne, Australia and we don't have any official Apple Stores here at the moment. We only have resellers. Would it be better to purchase from a reseller or the Apple Australia store online?
Either are good... if you want a truly BTO then Apple online is your only option. I bought from my local reseller, got EDUC prices and extra RAM, but if you want to upgrade video / hard drive then Apple online is your only option.

glay said:
5. How long would delievery take from Apple Australia online?
It varies alot depending on the product you want, the options you are asking for and the availability... the website give estimates... and then from what mates have noticed - just add a couple of days.

glay said:
6. How does the warranty work from purchasing from the Online store? What happens if I have a problem with the laptop, what do I do? And how long are warrantys on powerbooks valid for without buying any additional applecare?
I haven't had to use my warranty yet... but buying either from an athorised reseller or online is ok - as any authorised apple service centre is your first port of call... then regardless of where you bought it - depending on the problem - you might need to send it away.

glay said:
7. Should I hold out for the Pentium Apples? Are they going to be much more superior? And will Apple continue to support the PowerPC based macs?
Buy now! Pentium Apple's won't get here till... next year maybe? why wait?! Whilst I'm no techie... but they will be slightly different - but for most of us users I don't think we will notice the difference at the front end... the Mac OS X will be the same, all the applications will be the same... and jump now and switch! I didn't regret it - and I haven't met anyone yet who has! There will be support for PPC for years to come!
 

FFTT

macrumors 68030
Apr 17, 2004
2,952
1
A Stoned Throw From Ground Zero
Ugg said:
There's a few things but nothing that clogs the hard drive. Besides, with applications, all you have to do is drag them to the trash and they're ALL gone.

.


The default applications that come with your Mac are generally quite useful.

Most will recommend that you run your Mac completely default until you're sure everything is operating correctly.

If you want to clear up hard drive space afterwards you can drag any unneeded applications ( like Internet Explorer ;) ) to the trash.
If you have already installed and run ANY application, you may remove most of the files by dragging it to trash, but you'll also need to delete any related preference files from your Home/User/Preferences folder and check your User/Applications support folder as well.

Advanced users still may want to clear the maximum amount of space from your hard drive.

You can use your OS Install Disc and custom install, removing unnecessary
Printer Drivers and Languages and so on. This alone clears plenty.

Another seriously handy share ware app. "Pacifist" allows you to open
any .pkg installer and custom Extract and Re-Install selected files as long as you are booted from your OS Install Disk.
So if you really screw up one of the default applications badly.. ( Like MAIL)
, it allows you to extract just that application from the OS install Disc
and replace the damaged application.

IF you run a full re-install, keep in mind that you can also custom configure your Hard Drive partitions at this time before you begin to re- install all your daily use 3rd party applications and software updates.

Enjoy!

BTW you"ll love system wide spell checker.
 
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