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Dell Mini 10v, or 12" Powerbook?

r6mile

r6mile

macrumors 65816
Original poster
Feb 3, 2010
1,004
505
London, UK
Hi guys,

I'm in the middle of a dilemma. My loved 13" 'early 2008' Macbook has died on me (logic board issue, needs replacing) and I can't afford a new board. Therefore I have thought of buying a new laptop for the meantime.
Dell has the Mini 10v on offer (£199 instead of £249, plus free colour upgrade), and it is very easy to install Snow Leopard on it, which would give me a nice little apple machine, perfect for taking to university and taking notes. I can stick the RAM from my Macbook, and it will have 2GB. I know it's a netbook and has no optical drive, but I've got a desktop (eMac 1.25Ghz, 1.5GB RAM) already.
The other option is to get a used 12" Powerbook, which would be more like a real computer (optical drive, etc.), but it would be second-hand, stuck with Leopard (and no possibility of ever upgrading that), and it would also be more expensive than £200. I don't want anything bigger than 13" by the way.
What do you guys think I should do?
I'm open to any other suggestions by the way.

Thanks!
 
My advice is to think about how you used your Mac, list the programs you used regularly and then check to see how well the mini runs them. While you say you only want to take notes (which the mini does fine even out of the box); you may find there are other tasks you that you want to do once you get the mini up and running.
 
I would go with the Mini 10v. The Hackintosh process seems to have been nailed down to a T by now, and even the last model of Powerbook G4 is almost 4 years old by now.
 
another vote for the mini10v, the powerbook is just too old... as long as you have that emac, you can make due for now without an optical drive, and if you really needed one you could get an external...
 
The dell mini is easy to hackintosh, just make sure to get the right model(10v).
I installed several apps(fce and others) and they worked! I installed illustrator and aftereffects(before I hackintoshed it) just to see if it would run and it did. So for your uses it will be just fine, plus you get very good battery life(I got 6hrs with the stock battery)

So there's no qualms about getting it, just look for refurb or on dell site for specials sometimes for it.
 
One more vote for the Dell Mini 10v. I have one and it runs great.

In regards to the lack of an optical drive, I haven't missed it at all. I think it's possible to use the optical drive on your eMac by enabling Remote CD (just like how the MacBook Airs do it).
 
I'd go with the Dell. I don't think it's worth investing anything in a PowerPC-based Mac at this point.
 
The Dell is the best buy UNLESS you get a 12" PowerBook really cheaply - i.e. if you're not 'investing' any significant resources in the laptop.

Those 12" PBs are really fantastic machines for occasional use, and the better models (887MHz+) are only just starting to show their age in terms of struggling to play some of the new video formats.

I gave my PB to my mum when I bought a MacBook a few years ago. Now that I've moved on from that I'm considering getting her a MacBook so I can have the PB back (despite the dents that have now appeared on it).
 
Go with the 10v. I have been using mine for about 2 months now and it is a great little machine. The boot time is slow but once it is up and running it is snappy. Everything works webcam, sdcard, wireless, ethernet, usb, and bluetooth.

After using it for the last 2 months I just wonder what Apple could have done...

I run Safari, Evernote and iTunes at the same time with little problem.

I have not ever bothered to upgarade the ram to 2gb yet.

I put a 40gb Intel ssd in it also.

I am current on 10.6.2
 
Remember upping the ram to 2gb requires you to take apart most of the computer. There is no ramdoor you have to take most everything out of the case.

Check on you tube for videos.
 
I have a 1.33Ghz powerbook and a netbook. Honestly, the powerbook is too slow to us on the internet and other things. im typing this on it now and its just not as fast as the netbook. I think you should get the netbook. Mine even plays San Andreas! :) (on low) ;)
 
fun173 said:
I have a 1.33Ghz powerbook and a netbook. Honestly, the netbook is too slow to us eon the internet and other things. im typing this on it now and its just not as fast as the netbook. I think you should get the netbook. Mine even plays San Andreas! :) (on low) ;)
Click to expand...

Your post does not make sense, very contradicting. OP, I'd say netbook, a powerbook is just too dated.
 
Another vote for the netbook.

I had a 12" PowerBook. Loved it to death (almost literally). Leopard was just a touch too slow on it, though, it seemed to like Tiger better.

Remember too that if you're buying a PowerBook, it's going to have a used battery. Mine got 5+ hours when it was new, but by the time I sold it, the battery was only good for 45-60 minutes. If you buy a PowerBook, you may have to factor in the cost of a new battery. A new netbook, on the other hand, will have a much better battery life (my Asus EEE PC can do 9 hours on a charge).
 
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