Are iBooks less prone to breakage than PB's?

[ITASOR]

I have been meaning to post this for a while, and reading the thread about all the people who had their lower RAM slot fried in their PB's convinced me that what I am thinking might be true.

I see a lot of people with both iBooks and PowerBooks on MacRumors, however I see much more people with broken PB's than with broken iBooks. I'm talking hardware, not software.

Is this because more people just have PB's or because they just are more prone to breakage than iBooks? I really like the new PB's look, but I would rather have a less powerful iBook than a PB that needs to be sent in every month.

I would really like to know what you guys thought about this.

-Ryan

 

[slooksterPSV]

I have been meaning to post this for a while, and reading the thread about all the people who had their lower RAM slot fried in their PB's convinced me that what I am thinking might be true.

I see a lot of people with both iBooks and PowerBooks on MacRumors, however I see much more people with broken PB's than with broken iBooks. I'm talking hardware, not software.

Is this because more people just have PB's or because they just are more prone to breakage than iBooks? I really like the new PB's look, but I would rather have a less powerful iBook than a PB that needs to be sent in every month.

I would really like to know what you guys thought about this.

-Ryan

With power comes fragility. Think about it like this, it's easier to dent a PowerMac G5 - Aluminum case - than it is to dent a Mac mini. I think the powerbooks are made out of aluminum for cost purposes, whereas the iBooks' are a little more because of the space age poly-plastic material (i think its a poly plastic, not sure what they really call it). If iBooks were in Aluminum casing, they Might go for 800 rather than 1000

EDIT: Plus bigger thinks break easier, where smaller things don't break as easily. - As for the RAM issue, its because there is more juice going through it to support the processor & ram & screen & yeah.

 

[ITASOR]

Hello,

I wasn't really talking about the casing, but you bring up a cool point. I like the Alumium case better! They should just make PowerBooks instead of iBooks as well. They could just be the low, low models. That would be cool to have an $800 Mac laptop!

I see what you mean though, how more power is more things to break.

 

[mkrishnan]

I don't know that I buy the power/quality relationship.... FWIW, in the previous generation, the major, major hardware problem was with the G3 iBooks (logic board failures) and not the earlier gen powerbooks.

 

[slooksterPSV]

And that point, we catch another flaw of logic - thinks that are smaller and contain more heat (that just made me think of this) will wear down quicker, but that holds true for bulky items and less bulky. The logic board problems are related in a deeper diff. sub area, not really to this topic, but in sense could be if we traversed that far. I do understand what you're saying, but that could have been because of the new hardware for the iBook rather than the PB's.

Does anyone know if they are the same (and anyone who knows this will know what I'm asking) motherboard or completely different? in an iBook and Powerbook??? I know they are different, but I mean in a diff way.

 

[ITASOR]

And that point, we catch another flaw of logic - thinks that are smaller and contain more heat (that just made me think of this) will wear down quicker, but that holds true for bulky items and less bulky. The logic board problems are related in a deeper diff. sub area, not really to this topic, but in sense could be if we traversed that far. I do understand what you're saying, but that could have been because of the new hardware for the iBook rather than the PB's.

Does anyone know if they are the same (and anyone who knows this will know what I'm asking) motherboard or completely different? in an iBook and Powerbook??? I know they are different, but I mean in a diff way.

I would also like to know the answer to your last question...why not make a thread!

 

[mcarnes]

I've had several iBooks and they are very rugged. They resist dents better and scratches are less noticeable. I've dropped mine a couple times with no significant damage. As a side note the battery life is also better on the iBook.

Having said that, the PBs are better built and of course have better specs. They are lighter than the equivalent iBook. If you closely compare the details between the PB and iBook you will immediately notice the superior build of the PB. The thing is gorgeous and has to be one of the best made notebooks out there.

 

[mad jew]

From a hardware perspective you could say that the PowerBook is relatively cutting edge and therefore slightly more prone to niggles and faults however the iBook technology is pretty much tried and tested in the older PowerBooks so Apple has effectively had a longer development period and therefore there is less chance of a hardware-related problem. Having said that, things are never that simple because although a large proportion of the iBook technology has been seen in the older PowerBooks, there are still many differences which put the development time of both laptops on par.

Also, the PowerBook is a pro computer and therefore it's more likely that it'll be pushed to its limit and subsequently break. This is in general terms only because I realise that there are power users with iBooks and relatively speaking there are PowerBook users who's biggest request of their hardware is Word.

This is really just my opinion and I can't find anything solid to back it up.

 

[mkrishnan]

And that point, we catch another flaw of logic - thinks that are smaller and contain more heat (that just made me think of this) will wear down quicker, but that holds true for bulky items and less bulky. The logic board problems are related in a deeper diff. sub area, not really to this topic, but in sense could be if we traversed that far. I do understand what you're saying, but that could have been because of the new hardware for the iBook rather than the PB's.

Well, not really. The logic board example is like the fried lower ram slot example...if lots of people have the same failure mode, then it is often either the result of design deficiency or a systematic aspect of manufturing deficiency. The likelihood of the PB ram slot failure issue might not be high enough to warrant the attention and recall that the iBook got (so far), but those are potentially very similar examples.