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Does the iBook cut the mustard?

Now, I've read some of the comments and I've read the original post. My opinion is.. unless you really need the 1.33 or 1.5GHz processing power, just go with the 1.2GHz iBook. If you have Firewire drives and an iPod and that with all of your stuff on it then hard drive space shouldn't be a problem. I think the iBooks are as powerful as the PowerBooks but not in processing speed and DDR SRAM speed. I would just get an iBook with at least 512MB of RAM. Thats my 2 cents and if you don't like it. Buy some candy with it that 2 cents.
 
"Thats my 2 cents and if you don't like it. Buy some candy with it that 2 cents."

Thank you for your 2 cents! In fact I got a lot of good cents and sense from this post. 2 cents from each person...at least 28 cents total. With a free side order of mustard. :p
 
1. Get an iBook, just up the ram to 640mb, it's a smooth worker and osX handles files somehow more efficiently than Windows.

2. Can't stand mustard, just plain old "dead horse" (tomato sauce) please, sorry, to translate for our American friends, ketchup (which in turn came from the word "cat-sup", presumably squashed and blended cats...)

Ozimax
President
Australian Cat Haters Association

Larry Fine - "I was stationed in Italy in 1942, eating hotdogs and waiting to be mustered out..."
 
Chip NoVaMac said:
You are so totally right, i meant WITHOUT.

Thanks, original post corrected. Need to do a better job at proof reading before posting.
Click to expand...

Hehe, no problem. Happens to everyone. :D I was just making sure I understood you. What size notebook did you have before? I have a 12" ibook and although I love it to death I am thinking about switching to a 15"pb rather than a 12" pb. This is killing me I am so torn.
Basically it is am I rather going to be unhappy about a potential lack of power and screensize or the fact that the 15" is a bitch to carry around compared to my 12". I guess I cannot tell till I have either one which is seriously driving me nuts since I need to order it in 10 days.
 
ozimax said:
1. Get an iBook, just up the ram to 640mb, it's a smooth worker and osX handles files somehow more efficiently than Windows.

2. Can't stand mustard, just plain old "dead horse" (tomato sauce) please, sorry, to translate for our American friends, ketchup (which in turn came from the word "cat-sup", presumably squashed and blended cats...)

Ozimax
President
Australian Cat Haters Association

Larry Fine - "I was stationed in Italy in 1942, eating hotdogs and waiting to be mustered out..."
Click to expand...

I don't know... if you want to do some video editing etc. I wouldn't recommend the ibook. When I have my standard apps open it has about 20MB of RAM free. And whenever I want to copy/paste QT-Stuff it craps out on me. 786MB is the absolute minimun I'd recommend when doing video editing photoshop and alikes. That said 640MB of RAM lets my ibook cruise along nicely if I don't do editing.
 
If you view the iBook series and powerbook series strictly from the specifications, naturally the Powerbook is a better machine. What I'd like to point out is, down the line, if you wish to trade up to a newer 'book (Perhaps G5?), then the Powerbook will have a greater resale value specifically because "it's a powerbook". Resale value is important to some of us, like me whom gets a new computer every 4-6 months and doesn't want to lose much money. I've owned G3 and G4 iBooks, and now this is my second powerbook I have now in a row. The powerbook line is built much..much...better than the iBooks. The build quality is excellent, and the 15" Widescreen I have now is absolutely gorgeous. Although I will most likely replace this notebook in a few months, I am never..ever...going back to the iBook line again. It's not that they're bad machines, far from it. After owning a powerbook, why would anyone want to own anything else for portability?
 
I have no experience with this, but I think I will have. I choose Powerbook to buy because I could always sell it for more $$ then I could with an iBook, simply because 'it's a powerbook'. It's weird, and not fair, but the truth. Offcourse I made the decision when I saw the €40 for 128MB ram instead of 64, and the ram capabilities.
 
Diatribe said:
Hehe, no problem. Happens to everyone. :D I was just making sure I understood you. What size notebook did you have before? I have a 12" ibook and although I love it to death I am thinking about switching to a 15"pb rather than a 12" pb. This is killing me I am so torn.
Basically it is am I rather going to be unhappy about a potential lack of power and screensize or the fact that the 15" is a bitch to carry around compared to my 12". I guess I cannot tell till I have either one which is seriously driving me nuts since I need to order it in 10 days.
Click to expand...

I had a Toshiba 15" unit that is a monster when compared to the PB 12".

The only reason that I can see going with the 15 or 17 inch models is because of 2gb RAM capabilities.
 
Chip NoVaMac said:
I had a Toshiba 15" unit that is a monster when compared to the PB 12".

The only reason that I can see going with the 15 or 17 inch models is because of 2gb RAM capabilities.
Click to expand...

Yeah, I know those. Some people in my classes have those. Those are humongous. Oh well, screen size does matter to some people. Second you'd get 1GB of RAM without having to buy the expensive 1GB module like you'd have to with the 12". Another factor is gaming... some like to game on their pbs, although I admit buying this machine purely for gaming purposes is just nuts anyway. I agree that the 12" cannot be beaten in portability and it is quite fast now. The things that bother me are the graphics card, which sucks hard, and the screen size when I am gone for longer than a week. At home you can always plug in a bigger screen, but if you're away for a couple of months... that's when it starts to get annoying.
 
justin216, interesting point. Resale value. Hadn't thought about that one.

It's a hard choice but a good one, because all options seem to be valid.

From what I've read on this and other threads, it sounds like...

14" iBook: Longer battery life, cheaper, better airport, more rugged, ok screen, lower resale value, runs cooler (slightly).

15" Powerbook: More powerful, more expensive, cooler, so-so battery life, super screen, better speakers, higher resale value, runs hotter (slightly).
 
I keep seeing mention of higher resale value. But don't you guys think that could have something to do with the much higher sale price?
 
Darius said:
I keep seeing mention of higher resale value. But don't you guys think that could have something to do with the much higher sale price?
Click to expand...
yes, thank you. the resale value doesn't mean nearly as much as the rate of depreciation.
 
zimv20 said:
yes, thank you. the resale value doesn't mean nearly as much as the rate of depreciation.
Click to expand...

I think that the rate of depreciation is lower than for Intel/AMD based PC's.

It also goes to the Mac systems having a longer life span of use for many people.
 
Regards your question, I don't know. I'm not sure which I'd opt for myself. Prior to the last updates, it would have been a PowerBook, but the new iBooks seem to rock.

Before GarageBand, I wanted a PowerBook pretty bad. Since GarageBand, a dual G5 is looking pretty good.

That's all blathering. The real reason I posted was to agree that your tunes are some of the best GarageBand efforts I've heard. Hard to believe you got tone that good from the iMac's built-in microphone.

Cheers,

Crikey
 
PB vs iBook

I had a 12 inch PB and thought it a bit small and upgraded through a 933 ibook then to my current 1G ibook. I even upgraded the hard drive to 7200RPM
However, the grpahics seem to slow to play a basic game like Lord of the Rings
I don't see much difference with the faster hard drive
Audio conversion seems to take a while. I found the patch on line for making the ibook do video spanning - but my Digital LCD is not happy with regular vga out.
I LOVE the large 14" screen.
All that said - I plan to sell it and upgrade(down?) to a 12 1.33 PB.
I spend most of my time it as my main mac and so screen size is not a great issue. I want the DVI out, Faster CPU/BUS and Graphics.
The smaller size and weight w/ be a bonus.
 
"Hard to believe you got tone that good from the iMac's built-in microphone."

Garageband is one of the coolest programs I have ever used.

Not that it really matters in the big scheme of things, but I decided to go with the iBook 1.2 w/ superdrive. Thanks again for all the helpful advice both pro iBook and pro PB. I truly appreciate it!!!

I found out today that my 4 year old son needs glasses. I'm sure he will appreciate seeing EVERYTHING with the $ I saved by getting the iBook!

As a side note, tonight a very helpful salesguy at the Apple Store in the Grove offered to sell me a display model 1.25 15" PB for $2000. It had a couple of scratches and two minor "bright spots" on the display. I said no thanks, but perhaps someone else might be interested. It's still there!
 
I bought the PB 12/1.33 last night and am supremely happy.
Fast, Quick, Quiet, Cool, Kewl, DVI out - woo hoo!
I get an Ed Discount, so it was the same price as the iBook 1.2 - so no comparison there.
I mostly run an external montitor and the 12" screen is ok for me.
The keyboard IS the same size, but the extra room on the sides of the 14 ibook is nice .
but not worth the extra size/weight IMHO

:)
 
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