I need some Advice

[mattroberts]

I spent the past several day helping my Best friend on his Dual G5 with 2 Gigs of memory and a 23in HD display - for use with video editing.

After that I just can't go back to my win2k desktop. This coincides wonderfully with my desktop nearing the end of its lifecycle and my need for a portable machine. SO now for the questions please bear with me as I have done as much readings as possible but haven't found all the answers.

I'm currently between the Ibook G4 (14in) and PB 12in, cost is a factor (it always is) but i would be willing to go for a PB 15in if there were good reasons.

- Graphics cards - this machine will be playing games. and i hope to use it for the next three years. What the heck is the difference between the ATI 9200(ibook), GE FX 5200 (12in) and the ATI9600(15in) I haven't been able to get any nice graphs ;-) to show me the differences. AM i right in considering that this is the only difference between similarly equipped ibook(14in) and PB 12in is the video chips?

- L2 cache - do i need it? the smaller alotment on the ibook, is this a big deal? Is there any L3 cache?

- Video editing - I will be doing home movies, nothing like final cut pro 4 that some do- can the ibook handel it?

-RAm- will i be left out int eh cold 2 yrs from now when my ibooks ram is maxed out? should this be a major issue for games, etc?

- Screens - am i right in thinkng they are the same? in terms of quality?

- Bluetooth/Wifi - MY t616 has it and i want to use. Does the BT option for the ibook stay internal? (i can't find any info on this) i don't want an adapter. I will be getting the wifi card for access at school.

-Battery life - any ideas of what to expect on the new ibooks? any realworld experiences on the PB 12in?

- Included Programs - I'm a student is there any big difference between the bundeled software on the two?

- Hard drive - any thought on the faster hard drive option avaiable for the PBs? is this a big deal?

Thats about it, If i think of anything else i'll let you guys now ;-)

cheers
matt

 

[madru]

In my opinion, you should either go for either 12" or 15" PB. I wouldn't get an ibook unless you are on a really tight budget, or already have a more powerful system to rely on and want something to carry around. An ibook really isn't a desktop replacement. Howerever, if portability is a major concern, get 12" PB. If you want to play games, you should defenitely get 15" PB as it has the fastest GPU of the three portables in question, not to mention CPU, memory (both main and video), and front side bus. Also, if you are planning to use built in screen for gaming, than obviously 15” screen will be much better than 12” or 14”. By the way, 14” ibook screen will not give you any advantage over the 12” PB screen, as they both render at the same resolution. Objects will simply appear bigger, which isn’t necessarily better.

Given that you want to play games, video editing, etc, it sounds like this will be a desktop replacement. I would recommend getting 15” PB. If budget is really, really tight, get either 12” PB or 15” 1Ghz PB. Just don’t be mislead by performance of your friend’s dual G5, any laptop you get, you won’t even come close.

“L2 cache - do i need it? the smaller alotment on the ibook, is this a big deal? Is there any L3 cache?”

GENERALLY, L2 cache will make more difference than L3 cache. The closer the placement of cache to main processor, the faster your computer will be (this is of course a generalization). You can see this by observing that new 15” powerbooks (no L3 cache) are faster than 15” Ti PB (L3 cache). And no, there’s no L3 cache in any of the newly released Apple portables.

“Hard drive - any thought on the faster hard drive option avaiable for the PBs? is this a big deal?”

You can custom order a 54K rpm drive. I don’t have any experience with those, but it should speed up reads/writes, as well as decrease battery life.

 

[iJon]

bluetooth will be internal on the ibook, but only if you have in installed at time or purchase, it can never be added internally after you have bought it. if games are going to be serious to you i would get the 15" with the 9600. a very supurb card and should play games nicely. but it also depends on your needs and wants when it comes to games.

iJon

 

[crazzyeddie]

You really need the 15" it sounds like. The 9600 Mobile is a very nice mobile card and will give you great frames.

I would go for the 1.25ghz PowerBook with one 512MB SO-DIMM. This way you can add either a 1GB or 512MB chip after you buy it to get 1GB or 1.5GB easily.

 

[mattroberts]

I'm a big gamer. Though i have a PS2 as my primary gaming platform.

I'm thinking that the ibook is justa a no go at this point. my only worry on the 15in is portability. I really will be lugging this thing back and forth daily and its most walking :-(

how will my back hold up under these conidtions?
Plus i'm primarily a lap typer how will the heat/size do on my lap ?

thanks
matt

 

[mattroberts]

Thanks for all the advice and email people

I ordered a 12.1 inch PB (Super) Today. I really thought long and hard about the 15in but with a 17 in LCD purchase in the future (19inhopefully) i think the screen size can be taken in stride for now. JUst wish it had a better video card

Thanks again for all the advice !

cheers
m