Just to clarify--the wife is fine, this is not a life threatening issue or anything.
The top reason for the iBook is the price. I'd like to get both a laptop and a desktop (the desktop will likely be an eMac, but I'm waiting a few weeks on that). There was no way to do this with a powerbook...I just don't have the money.
Obviously the PowerBook has a lot more power (hence the name, right?). But there are certain things about the iBook that make me like it more. For example, I definitely want a 12", but the 12" pb screen looks dull to me. Comparing them side-by-side in the Apple Store tonight (hehe), the iBook looked much more vibrant. At first I thought the 1024 was going to be a limitation, since I do a lot of video editing (I do my real work on PowerMac G4s that are owned by my company), I wanted to be able to run FCE just for grins and giggles for light editing both for work and for home vids. BUT, after playing around with expose, I realized that the desktop space should be plenty, and I'll gladly sacrifice that for portability. The main reason for purchasing is that I need the portability for hummin' around campus working on my thesis...I think the iBook will meet that requirement perfectly. When it comes to doing more intensive stuff, like Final Cut and Garage Band and the like, I'll have the slightly more robust eMac at home (maybe they're getting a bump this week...?) that should handle that fine. I've run photoshop on an eMac at work, and it certainly wasn't as fast as our PowerMacs, but it was still quite nice and smooth. At this point, Final Cut Express will definitely be the only app I run that will really tax the processor (Garage Band too, probably), because I won't be getting any of the Adobe products anytime soon--if I were planning to use After Effects on this machine, I definitely would have to opt out for the PowerBook.
Like I said, budget is the top concern, as I'm a student. Hopefully when I land that teaching gig after my PhD a few years from now I'll graduate to the powerbooks (could be G6 by then!), and the eMac (which technically will be my wife's computer) will be replaced by an iMac or a PowerMac.
Finally, I have this weird quirk--I like to do things from the ground up. For instance, whenever I find a band that I like, I like to get their first album first, and buy things chronologically. I KNOW THIS SOUNDS A BIT OCD AND WHACKED OUT. Anyway, I think it'll be nice to work my way up the Mac ladder--a few years from now when I can afford that PowerBook (God willing), I'll really appreciate it.
Sweet, Barton Creek, I wonder when that's opening (I'm probably only going to be in Austin until August, and then it's off to the next school).
Thanks all!
Just thought I'd add that this iBook and eMac will be replacing my current P2 600 mHz that I've had for 4 years now. So, I think I'm making a MAJOR improvement on that. Consider that I run PhotoShop on that all the time...haha...these new machines should be a breeze!
