Current ibooks and research expeditions

[Angelus]

Hey everyone, i'm looking for a few suggestions from you good people.
This coming summer i'm doing my medical elective in expedition medicine in Honduras for roughly 6 weeks. I'll be helping the qualified medics provide 1st aid to researchers who are trying to collect jungle and marine data so they can apply for a preservation grant.
Should be really cool, i'll be spending alot of time trekking in jungle, learning to scuba dive at the marine research sites and various other outdoor adventure things.
Now the organisation running the program suggest that if you have a laptop to bring it cos they only have a limited number of computers at base camp.

Currently i have a 667 tibook and it really has been a work horse for the last 3+ years. Only problem is that the battery is crocked and while the hinges are perfect right now, i hate the hinges cos i think they are quite flimsy and therefore i'm not sure if the display would be up to travel particularly jungle backpacking etc.
Recently, i had been considering giving the tibook a much needed speed boost by buying a new battery, hard drive, more ram etc but even if i do that, the tibook is still pretty fragile.
With that in mind, i'm now considering buying a ppc 12" ibook. It's really small, has a much stronger single hinge and would suit my computing needs perfectly. I can get a significant discount from an apple friend and the resulting computer would have more ram, a bigger hard drive and a better battery than my current laptop. I don't care bout intel's cos alot of my software will need rosetta and besides i don't like rev A's.

So after that lengthy exposition, my question is: How durable is the ibook?? Laptop bags are impractical and a magnet for thieves so I would hope to just put it in a neoprene sleeve, chuck it in my backpack and forget about it til i needed it. Just so we are clear i'm not gonna be handing out serious punishment to it but i'd like to know that it could take the odd scrape, knock. Is this feasible? Would the more expensive 12" powerbook be more(or less) durable??
Oh by the way my main uses will be to keep a journal, download photos, email/web, make powerpoint presentations and hopefully try my hand at some kind of med student in Honduras blog or podcast or something.

i know this message is kinda packed with info and all over the place so i apologise for the structure.

Any suggestions would be greatly appreciated.
Thanks

 

[DaveP]

With regards to durability, I would think you would be ok as long as you didn't throw your bag around too much. I haven't had any problems with my iBook in a sleeve and then thrown in my book bag. I didn't trash it or anything, but I wasn't always incredibly gentle with it.

 

[Angelus]

Thats good to hear. I'm not looking for the "hulk" of laptops, its just that anytime i take out my tibook i worry bout pressure on the hinges and the fact that the display is thin enough to be easily warped.

Cheers, keep em coming

 

[yankeefan24]

I remember the TiBook. My first Mac laptop. The hinges did seems flimsy and like a could break them with some force. But, BEWARE OF BATTERY EXPECTATIONS, on my year old powerbook g4, currently at 95% charge it will only last me 2:20 with everything off except airport and better battery life selected. I have had worse in the past though. the 12" ibook will be a good machine. It can get cracked ( i hear) but it shouldn't be a major problem. But, i would wait as long as possible because they will probably be updated April 1. Have fun on the expedition.

 

[OldCorpse]

Well, funnily enough, that was one of my major considerations in buying an iBook (see my sig). I wanted something durable. Originally, I was going to go on a trip to the south of Mexico and then cross the border into the north Guatemalan jungle. I wanted something durable, that I could download my photos into, that had good battery life and which I could still use for email, word processing and such. I looked at the whole market, long and hard, including the PC market. I decided that given those requirements, the 12" 1.33 iBook is really ideal - way, way, way better than anything else on the market. It has better durability than all other PCs of that size, better battery life than almost any laptop, and comes at a price none can even come close to (those subnotebook PCs are expensive, fragile and often limited without a CD burner). Since then, my trip has fallen through, but I don't regret getting the iBook for one second. I love it. I'd vote - go for it!

 

[myshoeshurt]

I don't (yet) own an iBook, but have used one and the first thing I noticed was that when you pick it up and open it, it feels solid as a rock. No creaky hinges or anything, and I wouldn't worry about warping the screen... correct me someone if I'm wrong, but the durable plastic and magnesium frame should prevent any accidental warping. When I played around with one, I felt comfortable setting it down and carrying it around like a textbook (although I do hate textbooks...), and didn't feel the need to baby it. If you have the chance to test drive one, do it. Again, this is all coming from a guy who doesn't own one (YET!).

 

[OldCorpse]

I don't (yet) own an iBook, but have used one and the first thing I noticed was that when you pick it up and open it, it feels solid as a rock. No creaky hinges or anything, and I wouldn't worry about warping the screen... correct me someone if I'm wrong, but the durable plastic and magnesium frame should prevent any accidental warping. When I played around with one, I felt comfortable setting it down and carrying it around like a textbook (although I do hate textbooks...), and didn't feel the need to baby it. If you have the chance to test drive one, do it. Again, this is all coming from a guy who doesn't own one (YET!).

Yep, the iBook is solid. Sure, the fit and finish is a bit sloppy but the basic design and materials totally make it durable. Remember, they were designed to take a beating - the target market are students. Students throw their iBooks into backpacks with a bunch of textbooks and throw the backpack around. Apple knows this. Look at how they handle the hardrive. It is set on rubberized mountings to protect it, and even when it is in use, there's software that senses sudden motion (like the laptop fallin!), and safely parks the HDD head so that it doesn't damage the drive and you don't lose data. All the way around, it says: rugged, solid, durable. That was the design, and I love it. Durability was one of the primary reasons I got it over the 12" PowerBook (other reasons: PB is MUCH more expensive for what you get, shorter battery life, and runs too hot on the lap!). Get it, for the purposes you mentioned, you can't do better, and you won't go wrong.

 

[stevep]

The hinges on my iBook gave out after 11 months of extremely careful use. Apple refused to honour the warranty. The hinges are too stiff, which is why they failed, and the Apple Service Provider I took it to for repair said its a common problem. The repair is a difficult one as you have to dismantle the screen and the lower casing to get at the clutch cover. Apple will always blame it on customer abuse, which is rather insulting when you know you've been the proverbial 'one careful owner'.
I'll never buy another iBook.

 

[devilot]

Would the more expensive 12" powerbook be more(or less) durable??
Oh by the way my main uses will be to keep a journal, download photos, email/web, make powerpoint presentations and hopefully try my hand at some kind of med student in Honduras blog or podcast or something.

I went from a 12" 1.33GHz PB to a 12" 1.33GHz iBook and I'd never go back. As a student, the perks of an iBook far outweigh the sleek chic of the PB. I didn't need any of the extra 'power' of the PB (especially since these two particular models are very close in specs).

What do I love about my iBook?

• better wi-fi (full reception in the exact location that my PB would struggle to get one or two bars)
• better battery life (both w/ BT off, screen dimmed, uncessary apps turned off-- my iBook reads close to 6 hours compared to my PB's 4ish)
• it's cheaper: I won't feel as bad if it gets scratched or whatnot so I actually bring it around more, I end up making the most out of my purchase that way

Angelus since you seem rather level-headed in regards to upcoming Intel machines, then by all means, go for a new/refurbished iBook G4. It's an awesome machine!

 

[Angelus]

I went from a 12" 1.33GHz PB to a 12" 1.33GHz iBook and I'd never go back. As a student, the perks of an iBook far outweigh the sleek chic of the PB. I didn't need any of the extra 'power' of the PB (especially since these two particular models are very close in specs).

What do I love about my iBook?

• better wi-fi (full reception in the exact location that my PB would struggle to get one or two bars)
• better battery life (both w/ BT off, screen dimmed, uncessary apps turned off-- my iBook reads close to 6 hours compared to my PB's 4ish)
• it's cheaper: I won't feel as bad if it gets scratched or whatnot so I actually bring it around more, I end up making the most out of my purchase that way

Angelus since you seem rather level-headed in regards to upcoming Intel machines, then by all means, go for a new/refurbished iBook G4. It's an awesome machine!

Thanks devilot, yeah its definitely looking like the current ibook alright. My friend in apple will give me his annual major discount which is somewhere from 25-30% so i should get it with a gig of RAM and 80GB HD for round 850€. Sounds like a bargain if ever i heard one. I'm getting really excited now. I've ordered my college transcripts today so once they are sent off, i should hear confirmation of my place on the expedition in bout 3wks. Man i'm psyched!!
Thank you to everyone who replied. June's still a long ways away but i promise i'll post loads of pictures when i get back in August

 

[galstaph]

My iBook is great. i go to university and put it in my bag everyday. i still remember a few months back shortly after getting it how i had my bag on the back seat and took a corner a little faster than i thought and sent by bag along with books and iBook across the car into the other side door . I got home thinking my iBook was toast (it hit hard), not a scratch, no damage, just woke up all bight screened and ready to go, like nothing happened. These little books are great for everything i do. I've even done some video editing and it faired well enough (aside from the fans kicking in... loudly). I vote for an iBook, you won't regret it, I didn't