Best Upgrade from 12" G3 Ibook - powerbook 15?

[starfish]

hi,

I currently own a 12" Ibook which I use to do webdesign, photoshop work and word processing for Uni. My degree is music based so I require to use lots of power thirsty apps, of course my ibook being only 900mhz G3, 640mb ram doesnt run any music programs, even peak! The webdesign runs ok but I would benefit from larger screen size.

So getting to the point! The ibook is in need of a change and I obviously plan to wait till tiger comes out. Idealy the Powerbook 15 with superdrive with 1gb of ram would be the one I would go for but the only thing thats stopping me is the possibility of the G5 or dual g4 powerbook coming out.

Would the Powerbook 15 hold its value better than say an ibook 14?

Is the powerbook 15 the best one to go for instead of a powerbook 12" with more ram or something?

I have a desktop already but the laptop would get used a lot over the next year or 2.

Should I also wait until september/october this year to buy one, in case they upgrade them again? because I wont need a laptop much over the summer

sorry about my badly structured post!

thanks

mike

 

[JzzTrump22]

I would recommend the 15 powerbook because of the bigger screen. It's the perfect balance between power and portability. Definately get 1 gig of ram. If it doesn't matter when you get it then don't get it untill you need it. But these powerbooks did just get upgraded and i don't think there will be many more revisions, and if there are, it will just take longer and longer for the next revisions to come out. So i would buy now if i were you, but if it really doesn't matter, then wait untill you need it.

 

[CanadaRAM]

The Powerbook has:
- Better screen
- PCCard slot for expansion
- More RAM capacity
- FireWire 800 jack
- easier to upgrade hard drive
- better keyboard

The downside:
- Airport reception on AlBooks can suck
- Costs more

 

[ericssonboi]

The Powerbook has:
- Better screen
- PCCard slot for expansion
- More RAM capacity
- FireWire 800 jack
- easier to upgrade hard drive
- better keyboard

The downside:
- Airport reception on AlBooks can suck
- Costs more

With the downside of the:
- Airport reception on AlBooks can suck

this can easily be fixed...
Since it has a PCMCIA slot (15" and 17")... you can buy an wireless card and solve this problem. Yea.. it seems like a waste of money since it has an airport extreme card already in it...

But since it has a PCMCIA slot compared to the ibooks.. mind as well use it if you need it.

 

[starfish]

hi,

thanks for the replies so far, I think the powerbook 15 suits my needs perfectly, HOWEVER i have a small dilema on my hands.

My ibook g3 900mhz is 1 year old next month (bought it very late through PC world...they had an offer to staff) anyway....

my ibook is rapidly decreasing in value, and I have a friend who would like to buy it from me as her first mac at a good price.

The thing is, im not sure if I should go and buy a powerbook now and then find out that in a year or so that they bump it up to a G5. Also the taking it to uni, I would hate to see it damaged in my backpack. Im thinking should I buy an ibook g4 top spec 12" when they revise them soon, with tiger so I can play with that and use the Uni's dual 2.5ghz for my music coursework. Then after I finish uni get a powerbook hopefully g5?

does this make sense?

also how well does a powerbook hold its value if well looked after?

sorry for the 101 questions!

cheers guys

mike