ibook purchase

[xalia]

Here's the story.
I am going to need a laptop this semester, and I was thinking about iBook 12”. Great price, real portable laptop because of it's size, and I think the G4 will cover my needs. Word processing, internet, sql/java programing. My question is should I wait for the new intel ibook? Will there be a significant difference?
Ps: I've never had a mac experience before.

 

[OldCorpse]

Here's the story.
I am going to need a laptop this semester, and I was thinking about iBook 12”. Great price, real portable laptop because of it's size, and I think the G4 will cover my needs. Word processing, internet, sql/java programing. My question is should I wait for the new intel ibook? Will there be a significant difference?
Ps: I've never had a mac experience before.

I bought the latest 12" iBook just a month ago (see my sig). Throw in extra memory, and you're good to go. Personally, I don't believe the new mactel iBooks will justify the wait (expect them in April) - see a big thread I started on this very forum "New iBooks - MAKE A PREDICTION" - the consensus seems to be that the change will not be dramatic compared to the change from current PowerBooks to the new intel MacBooks Pro... mostly due to the fact that to keep the price under $1000, Apple will have to use the Solo chip which is not as dramatic an improvement over PPC as the Duo is. Plus, why deal with the uncertainty of a Rev A product. For the needs you identified, the current 12" iBook is fantastic - and if you buy it off Amazon, you can get a $100 rebate, free shipping and no tax (depending on where you live). That's the way I went (though I got it from Amazon on a very special deal for $785). I'd vote get it now.

 

[allisonv7]

- and if you buy it off Amazon, you can get a $100 rebate, free shipping and no tax (depending on where you live). That's the way I went (though I got it from Amazon on a very special deal for $785). I'd vote get it now.

Anyone know if they'll be running that deal again?

allison.

 

[OldCorpse]

Anyone know if they'll be running that deal again?

allison.

No way to know that, but no harm in keeping track... just keep going onto the Amazon site, put it in your basket (to see the price), then just void it if it's too high, but if it's $899.00 *AND* a $100 rebate - that's the time to pounce... plus, if you use A9 for awhile (their search engine), you'll get an additional 1.57% discount - that's how I got to $785.00... first Amazon dropped the price from the standard $999.00 to $899.00, then there was the $100 reabate which brought it down to $799.00, then the A9 1.57% discount brought it to $785.00.

Amazon ran that deal twice - both times over a weekend. Also, Amazon regularly runs a Friday sale, so that's something to keep an eye on too. If you were really diligent, you could just check on a daily basis

 

[xalia]

Unfortunately I can't get it to such a low price, I live in Greece. Ibook is the only one small in size laptop I can find, all the pc ones cost something like 2000euros! On the other hand I've heard that ibook has a great battery life which is very important to me. I am going to need it for at least 3 hours of the plug.

 

[jadekitty24]

If you need an iBook now get one now. They are excellant machines which are established as dependable. We can't say as much for the upcoming models. Personally, I'm not about to drop a lot of money on a computer that just came out. Who knows how it will work? When I purchased my Powerbook I did a lot of research. I read lots of customer reviews, visited lots of forums and gathered a lot of info. No, my model isn't on the bleeding cutting edge, but my needs are simple. Yesterdays' machine is more than enough for me. The computer I choose was proven to be a depenable machine. Do you need to run PC programs? If not then the current models will be good for your needs. Might I suggest, keep an eye on Amazon for deals. You may even want to consider buying refurbished from the Apple store. I picked up my Powerbook for $1099 (you'de never know it was refurbished!). We may even see the prices drop a bit more as the intel switch takes place. Good luck on your decision

 

[Deepdale]

... I read lots of customer reviews, visited lots of forums and gathered a lot of info. No, my model isn't on the bleeding cutting edge, but my needs are simple. Yesterdays' machine is more than enough for me.

It is always nice to read something very sensible on a Monday morning. Once again, if the need for owning the latest release and the obsolesence factor weigh heavily upon you, remember that if your needs are straightforward and likely to be fully met for several years, the current hardware offerings are still attractive options.

 

[Abstract]

It is always nice to read something very sensible on a Monday morning.

Exactly. I always give people similar advice when they ask about speed and their "needs" and when I ask most people what they plan on doing with their computer, and they tell me typing documents, email, music, photos, and internet, I usually tell them that a 5 year old computer can do that, and even a 2.5 year old computer can do that well (ie: my 1Ghz 12" PowerBook), so yes, a new iBook will do all that and a LOT more, and much faster to boot!

 

[MRU]

Unfortunately I can't get it to such a low price, I live in Greece. Ibook is the only one small in size laptop I can find, all the pc ones cost something like 2000euros! On the other hand I've heard that ibook has a great battery life which is very important to me. I am going to need it for at least 3 hours of the plug.

Yep cheapest I can get here in Ireland is €995 with Edu Discount... Shame Amazon don't run rebates over here.

Apple Store never put refubished models on the Irish site either

It's the one thing that always amazed me. How Apple's ultra portable 12" laptops are considered the budget laptop versions to Apple and other pc makers like Sony & Dell charge far more for their 12" ultraportables??

Even chip speed, hard drive size and such are all comparable at this size, and still the Apple is much cheaper

 

[jadekitty24]

Yep cheapest I can get here in Ireland is €995 with Edu Discount... Shame Amazon don't run rebates over here.

Apple Store never put refubished models on the Irish site either

It's the one thing that always amazed me. How Apple's ultra portable 12" laptops are considered the budget laptop versions to Apple and other pc makers like Sony & Dell charge far more for their 12" ultraportables??

Even chip speed, hard drive size and such are all comparable at this size, and still the Apple is much cheaper

Don't forget to add-they are also soooo much nicer to use.

 

[Mitthrawnuruodo]

On the other hand I've heard that ibook has a great battery life which is very important to me. I am going to need it for at least 3 hours of the plug.

No problem! I used mine for note taking at university and when it was new I got well over 6 hrs battery life with reduced settings: Turn screen brightness down, use as few apps as possible and turn off AirPort and Bluetooth, or even about 4 hrs with Airport running most of the time (for those dull classes when it was more fun to just hang on MR, and just listen to the lecturer every now and then ).

Most of my lectures lasted 2 x 45 minutes with 15 minutes break (between the two halves but also to the next lecture) and my iBook always lasted me through 2 consecutive lectures (~4hrs) and, for the first year or so it could even last me 3 consecutive lectures (~6hrs) of note taking.

Most of the time I used TextWrangler to take notes, but I guess you should get just as good battery life with something like Word/AbiWord, too...

 

[xalia]

Just to list my needs
internet: browsing, chatting
programing: sql/java/php (through Oracle isql plus/mySQL)
word/excel/powerpoint processing
simple multimedia tasks: watch a dvd or another video file, like divx, xvid

that's all!I do no want to play games, making movies/music or whatever.

About the hard disk. How much the MacOS occupy? Out of the box how much space will be available for me?

 

[TBi]

I'd say go with a current iBook if you really can't wait. No one knows for certain when the new iBooks will be out so you might be kicking yourself for not waiting, or kicking yourself because you are still waiting...

The 12" is a lovely model. Very portable, good battery life, powerful enough for all normal computer tasks with the joy of having OSX. I love mine, but i really want something more powerful for WOW. If i hadn't started playing WOW i wouldn't even be thinking about upgrading. Well not until the Intel iBooks came out

 

[jblock]

Another thumbs up for the iBook. I bought mine in December from Amazon with the rebate and it was a great deal. I had bought a refurb., but was able to return that to Apple with no loss of cash.

I use my iBook 12 for work, running mail, safari, Word, Powerpoint and more. Never had any issues yet. I upped the RAM to 1GB which definitely helped. The only things I need to do is keep track of Safari and Powerpoint if I have a lot of apps open. I just empty the cache of Safari now and then. Powerpoint also has tendency to eat RAM.

It's a nice little machine.

 

[Mitthrawnuruodo]

About the hard disk. How much the MacOS occupy? Out of the box how much space will be available for me?

On my 60 GB HD I have 55.88 available space (take any HD size in GB and multiply with 0.93 to get the actual size), the initial OS X install (with iLife and bells and whistles) takes A LOT. If space is a concern then just reinstall OS X once you get the iBook and remember the "Custom" button to just install what you want (turn off additional languages and printer drivers you'll never use, and if you're not a big GarageBand user than the loops and whatever for that program alone takes several GBs). Then the initial OS X install, including Developer Tools but a heavily trimmed iLife, should probably just take 6-8 GB (not sure haven't made a clean install in ages ).

My advice, if you're short on cash, get the biggest HD you can afford, and upgrade RAM later. The 512 MB RAM you get is adequat for most things and RAM is very easy to upgrade yourself and much cheaper to buy from a 3rd party supplier. The HD is not impossible, but very hard to replace yourself (you could get a service center to do it, but they'll probably charge you 1 or 2 hours work for it). And you really want as big internal HD as possible, as it's no fun to drag an external around (even if having one at home for backup and long time storage is a good idea).

 

[xalia]

Then the initial OS X install, including Developer Tools but a heavily trimmed iLife, should probably just take 6-8 GB

6-8 just for the OS??? oh my! my desktop pc needs 8.6gb for the OS and all the apz I need. oh well I will still have 30+ gb free
The only ibook12" I can find in greece is with 40g hard disk and 512 ram

 

[Mitthrawnuruodo]

6-8 just for the OS??? oh my! my desktop pc needs 8.6gb for the OS and all the apz I need. oh well I will still have 30+ gb free
The only ibook12" I can find in greece is with 40g hard disk and 512 ram

No, no... The OS with all the usual software, that Apple provides with the OS/new machine, like Safari, Mail, iLife (sans GarageBand), Office Test Drive, etc. etc.

Just Developer Tools takes 1-2 GB, including all documentations and "stuff" (I trimmed my Developer folder down to ~95 MB, but lost all documentation, extras, sample code and other goodies in the process).

My system (if you combine the /System/ and the /Library/ folder) is "just" 2.7GB (and that's on a more than 2 year old install). I guess on a fresh install (with most languages and printer drivers customized out) that it would be about 2 GB (+/-).

Also I've installed fink, and that occupies almost another GB, including the stuff I installed throug fink (mostly Lyx related).

 

[xalia]

I have a lot to learn for a fresh installation

 

[jadekitty24]

Not particularly. Go on the Apple website and read up on the software that comes with your new iBook, and decide what you think you will need, or don't need, for starters. These will be some of the things you could selectively install if you chose "Custom" when you do your re-install. It's actually pretty straight-forward. The installer will walk you through the whole process. If a dummie like me can do it with no hitches, you should be fine.

 

[xalia]

I really want to thank you all! You helped me clear up some things. However I am not so sure about the ibook. I have an adsl at home connected to a windows pc. If I buy a wireless router will the ibook recognize it? I do not want to network the pc with the mac, just to take advantage of the adsl and the printer.

 

[Mitthrawnuruodo]

However I am not so sure about the ibook. I have an adsl at home connected to a windows pc. If I buy a wireless router will the ibook recognize it? I do not want to network the pc with the mac, just to take advantage of the adsl and the printer.

The wireless shoudn't be a problem at all. All iBooks come with an AirPort Extreme (aka WiFi aka 802.11g) card preinstalled so unless you have a very special wireless router or has sat it up in a totally crazy way, the iBook should be able to recognice and join it in mere seconds.

The printer I don't know, but if you set the PC to share it I would think that, too, is a piece of cake...

Edit: I cannot decide for yoo, but just want to point out that the iBook would be a very good machine for your needs. I do a lot of web programming, myself (freelancer at the moment, a nice word for unemployed, but I get some jobs, mainly php/mysql programming) and a more than two year old 12" iBook G4@800MHz is my main (and only) computer. I love it, and wouldn't change it for anything (well, except for the at any time newest rev, of course ).

Edit2: The AirPort Express might be a nice choice if you want to get a wiress router. It cost a bit more than the cheapest options, but ease-of-use, AirTunes and a USB port for printer sharing wil, IMO, more than make up for the price difference...

 

[in2themystik2]

yay for 12 inch iBooks!

I too am a college student and will be attending graduate school next year, and I was going through the same dilemma as you. Whether or not to wait before purchasing my iBook. It is my first Mac and I decided that with all the positive talk about this model, that I would take the plunge and go for it. I still have much to learn, but I love it so far! It's my prescious baby and I try to protect it with my life right now. Haha. I'm not a Mac expert, but I have had a good experience so far and I recommend going for it!

 

[luminosity]

I bought an iBook just over a week ago, and I've pleased with it so far . I got it in part because of OldCorpse's great post on it in a thread similar to this one, and I haven't been disappointed with it.

 

[xalia]

Well, I study a little about the Airport Express Base Station. If I am not mistaken, I have to connect it to my existing adsl modem? I found it in Greece for 140euros!
I am so skeptic about the ibook because I've never had a mac or a laptop before!

 

[Mitthrawnuruodo]

Well, I study a little about the Airport Express Base Station. If I am not mistaken, I have to connect it to my existing adsl modem?

That's how mine is connected, yes.

I am so skeptic about the ibook because I've never had a mac or a laptop before!

Don't be. My former Mac was a Pismo (ie. last generation PowerBook G3), probably the best laptop Apple ever made (for its time) and I still love my iBook more... durable, reliable little workhorse...