Arg plans ruined!

[Makyz]

Well, I was planning to buy a Powerbook 15 inch superdrive BTO. It all came out to about 2,500 and with tax 2,700. This was supposed to be my college notebook.

Sadly though the money is not coming in right now, and my parents have opted to buy me a cheaper laptop (around 1500) then next year ill get the state of the art one.

I gave in seeing that its a family financial situation. and i pretty much could not do anything about it. My job goes towards my tution, etc so no elbow room for laptop $$$

My question now is what should I get?

I design heavly: web design and image design, and watch alot of movies, and need alot of space. Can anyone recommend me a good laptop that will last me a good year? It doesnt have to be Mac but I really do design alot, so I am leaning towards this.
I should be able to shuttle it to class, and seminars easily etc

All comments are welcomed, hopefully I can gain some insight on what to buy.

 

[jxyama]

for $1500, i don't think you have much choice.

either get a cheap PC and soup it up, refurb 12" PB or a rev. A 12" PB, or a fully loaded iBook.

i don't know how designing apps are for PCs, but i'd tend to go for a fully loaded 12" iBook.

EDIT: actually, now that i think about it, if it's only for a year, save a few bucks and get a used 15" Ti at around 600 Mhz... it will run everything an iBook can, maybe slightly slower, but will last a year for sure. and it should be a grand or less. save the money now and go all out for the new machine when you have the money?

 

[iJon]

well i get by on a rev a 12 inch powerbook doing photoshop, indesign, golive, final cut, dvd studio pro, and other high end stuff. even though i have a g5 to work on, that 12" powerbook goes a long way with a good amount of ram, i would take a look at one.

iJon

 

[Gymnut]

Well that always sucks to have your hopes dashed like that but look at it this way, next year, hopefully, you'll be sitting with a PB G5. Either way, you'll still have a new computer. Make the best of things until next year.

 

[joker2]

Student Discount?

Do you have your acceptance letter for your college? If so, you can qualify for student discounts, making the 12" PB as low as 1399 with combo drive. Extremely portable. Space can be a bit of an issue, but I would suggest playing with one before dismissing it.

Otherwise, a refurb 'book sounds like a good idea, whether from apple.com or another reseller such as smalldog.com.

 

[cubist]

Offer someone who's thinking about the trade-in $800 for their older Powerbook! Get a used machine, then you won't feel too bad about replacing it in one year.

 

[dongmin]

Re: Arg plans ruined!

Originally posted by Makyz
I design heavly: web design and image design, and watch alot of movies, and need alot of space. Can anyone recommend me a good laptop that will last me a good year? It doesnt have to be Mac but I really do design alot, so I am leaning towards this.

Why not a 12" PB and a cheap 17" monitor to hook up to? You'll get the best of both worlds: maximum portability and large desktop space when working at home. The only issue is ram. If you plan on using Photoshop heavily, you'll need lots of it. So it'll cost you ($100 for a 512MB module). This puppy should be more than good for a year; you could probably sell it after a year and make a decent profit.

The other option is to get a Thinkpad. My school, for example, as a deal with IBM where I can get the T40 for $1500. It's a lot of machine for that much money. That is, if you don't mind using Windows XP.