ibook or imac?

[kingcrowing]

I'm going to have around $1200-$1300 to spend on a new mac, i don't have a display so my options are an iBook or iMac G5, (possibly the old powerbook G4 w/super drive, 12" on the closeout section of apple) i have the education discount, so the imac is $1200, or $1266 w/ 512MB RAM, and theres a refurb 1.8GHz for like $1100, but it'll probably sell out bye the time i get anything. my second option is an iBook G4, its $950 for the 12" w/ combodrive, and then like $1100 w/ 80GB HD and 768MB RAM, is the iMac really going to be that much better? i have a Dell laptop, and i had a 867MHz powerbook which i loved, but i'm not sure if the imac is soo much better that its worth it, what do people think about this?

 

[Darwin]

You simply have to ask yourself

Power or Portability?

That will narrow down your choices 🙂

 

[dsharits]

It really depends on how much you value the portability of your Mac. If you don't need the portability, get the iMac. If you do, get the iBook.

Daniel

 

[Xeem]

If you have to buy now, I'd go iBook; iMacs really aren't all about power anyway (cough, cough, FX5200!!, cough, cough). You also might want to consider that Think Secret claims that new iMacs and eMacs are arriving in April. Either way, I'm sure you'll be happy.

 

[JzzTrump22]

If you travel or just like to walk around the house with your computer get the iBook. If you want more power, get the iMac.

 

[gallivant]

The video card in an iMac may not be supergreat, but 1.2ghz G4 vs 1.8ghz G5 is a *huge* processor difference, plus I'd imagine the bus speed's a helluva lot faster in the iMac.

 

[kingcrowing]

Well, i guess here is my situation: the best mac i've ever used very seriously was a 867MHz G4 powerbook w/ 128MB RAM, 32MB GeForce4 i found it to be great, i never did much photoshop on it, but i thought it was great. I love laptops, i will take it with me on trips (a few times a year), but mostly i just use them as desktops, but i love to lean back in my chair and plop it on my lap, or lie in bed and watch DVDs. But i do have a Dell laptop (yuck...) so i can do that either way, but i'd rather do it on an apple, however, I am willing to give up some of that portability if the performance is really spectacular. As i said, that powerbook is the best i've used and i found it nice to use, is the 1.2GHz iBook (with 512MB or 768MB) going to seem fast, or just moderatly faster? and then, how would a G5 compare to that...

EDIT: I was just looking around, and i could get a Mini 1.42GHz, 1GB RAM, superdrive, 80GB, and a 17" LCD from newegg for under $1200, it's got more ram and a superdrive... that might be worth it...