Got a tip for us?
Let us know
Become a MacRumors Supporter for $50/year with no ads, ability to filter front page stories, and private forums.
I have 1500 what laptop should i get
- Thread starter skeet
- Start date
- Sort by reaction score
abhishekit said:
Thats what u would say to do as well. Except i would save more money and go for a 15" Powerbook. But definatly wait another month to see what the powerbook updates are going to be. If you can't wait go for a 12" Powerbook or either 12" or 14" iBook. It really doesn't matter for the ibooks because there both the same screen resolution.
Well, I'd say hold out for a couple of weeks and see what happend with the powerbooks, but otherwise the answer depends on what kind of notebook you are interested in...
Do you want a desktop replacement type machine? Or somethign basic to compliment a home machine? Or somethign in between?
For $1500, the "best" laptop you can get is going to be a 14" iBook with a SD, or a 12" PB for $100 more. On the other hand, a 12" iBook is only $1000, is very comparible to the 14" in specs, and with the 'extra' $500 you could get some add-ons and also have an 'ultra portable' laptop. If I had absolutely no more than $1500 to spend on a laptop setup AND I didn't have a desktop, I would get:
12" iBook with 60GB HD upgrade ($1074)
512mb SODIMM from Crucial - 768mb total RAM ($140)
Apple Keyb and a 3 Button mouse ($50)
17" Dell UltraSharp LCD ($275)
Total: $1539+tax on Apple products.
If I already had a desktop, I would get a 12" PB most likely.
Rob
Do you want a desktop replacement type machine? Or somethign basic to compliment a home machine? Or somethign in between?
For $1500, the "best" laptop you can get is going to be a 14" iBook with a SD, or a 12" PB for $100 more. On the other hand, a 12" iBook is only $1000, is very comparible to the 14" in specs, and with the 'extra' $500 you could get some add-ons and also have an 'ultra portable' laptop. If I had absolutely no more than $1500 to spend on a laptop setup AND I didn't have a desktop, I would get:
12" iBook with 60GB HD upgrade ($1074)
512mb SODIMM from Crucial - 768mb total RAM ($140)
Apple Keyb and a 3 Button mouse ($50)
17" Dell UltraSharp LCD ($275)
Total: $1539+tax on Apple products.
If I already had a desktop, I would get a 12" PB most likely.
Rob
I'd go with the 12" Powerbook if I were you, in fact I did just that when I bought mine a few months back. It was my first Apple computer and I couldn't be happier. Can't really see myself buying a Windows PC again. Do as others of have said and wait as it's very likely that there will be updates within the next two weeks, maybe even this Tuesday.
Thanks
I have really come close to getting the 12" ibook with combo drive, but I hate to not get a DVD burner. In one year, those will be very common. So, it is expected that powerbook upgrades are coming, possibly even tuesday. I know this and I almost bought back in october but did research and realized that i should wait. Recently, however, i feel that even if pb upgrades come out I wont be able to afford them at 1500. Do you think I could get an old pb sd for 1500 on closeout prices if these new upgrades come out.
thanks for the help
I have really come close to getting the 12" ibook with combo drive, but I hate to not get a DVD burner. In one year, those will be very common. So, it is expected that powerbook upgrades are coming, possibly even tuesday. I know this and I almost bought back in october but did research and realized that i should wait. Recently, however, i feel that even if pb upgrades come out I wont be able to afford them at 1500. Do you think I could get an old pb sd for 1500 on closeout prices if these new upgrades come out.
thanks for the help
12" iBook, 1GB of aftermarket memory, and an external (Lacie, or such) DVD-R drive. Hell, you could even get a portable Archos drive... it's good to have spare cash hanging around for the extras. And you'd have a lot of spare cash...skeet said:
You can be safe in the knowledge that since the Mac Mini comes with the same video card, Tiger will be taking best advantage of it, and a 1.2GHz G4 loaded with memory is a pleasure to use. Don't be swayed with the 14", it's just the same machine with a crappy LCD, in a bigger case.
edit: of course, assuming nothing spectacular happens with the PBs tomorrow ...
If a DVD-R is only a plus, I'd recommend going for the 12" iBook and buying an external DVD-R later.skeet said:
Summary
768MB DDR266 SDRAM (256MB built-in & 512MB SO-DIMM)
80GB Ultra ATA drive
Combo drive (DVD-ROM/CD-RW)
AirPort Extreme Card
Bluetooth Module
Keyboard & Mac OS X - U.S. English
12-inch TFT XGA display
1.2GHz PowerPC G4
ATI Mobility Radeon 9200 w/ 32MB DDR video memory
Subtotal $1,399.00
If you want a SuperDrive built in, you're going to blow your budget.
They really need to up the PB line. The 500-600 price difference between the 12" iBook and the 12" PB is not worth the minimal extra features. Wow, 32 MB extra VRAM, Radeon 9200 and GeForce 5200 are pretty identical, and 30 extra GB of HDD space, 133 MHz extra processor speed (Faster DDR doesnt matter, since G4 really doesnt support DDR), oh, and aluminum. Do these factors REALLY make the price a whopping 1,600 for the 12" Powerbook over the 1000 dollar iBook? I dont think so. Besides, if they dont release a new model soon, to put the iBook in its place, they will continue to lose sales on the Powerbook 12". Plus the EOL and the ship dates everywhere is pretty much pointing to new PBs on Tuesday. Why they didnt do this before xmas is beyond me, but Apples weird like that sometimes. Only time will tell.
Go with the 12" PowerBook. If you look in the 'Special Deals' section you can often find these at $1349 with Combo Drive or $1549 with SuperDrive.
If you decide against the PowerBook go with the 12" iBook. This way you could buy a 1GB stick of RAM and bump up the hard drive and upgrade to a SuperDrive or buy an external Dual-Layer DVD burner.
If you decide against the PowerBook go with the 12" iBook. This way you could buy a 1GB stick of RAM and bump up the hard drive and upgrade to a SuperDrive or buy an external Dual-Layer DVD burner.
as always, if you can wait, do it, updates coming soon, at least that's what some teens at TS say, plus 2/3 weeks for shipment, maybe it's worth the time you wait, you never know, I'd wait and get the 12" PB Combo-drive, a lot of RAm and then get an external DVD Burner, actually I think is what I'm going to do.
hope we may.
hope we may.