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TheMasin9 said:
CHECK ALL THE COUNTLESS OTHER IBOOK VS POWERBOOK THREADS!!!! THERE IS BOUND TO BE SOMETHING THERE FOR YOU!!! STOP WASTING TIME WITH NEW THREADS ON THE SAME EXACT TOPIC!!!
He's a fricken newbie. Scare 'em away would ya?! 12 POSTS! :rolleyes:

:mad:
 
Anyway, back on topic. If I were you, I would get the 14" iBook. I have one and love it!

Welcome to MacRumors, by the way! :)
 
Yeah, this 14" iBook is wonderful. LOVE LOVE LOVE it.

Not as "precious" as my powerbook, which I like to leave stationed on a desk because I'm so afraid of dropping/scratching/bashing it.

Speed is just the same for most functions on iBooks; the one thing that is slightly different is that it is nice to have the wider screen at times on the PB, but for writing papers in school???? Hey, the secret is that the 14" screen is much more scrollable for paper writing than the PBs. Taller screen somehow!

Also, you get an educational discount on whatever you buy, right? Wait a few weeks and you might luck out and get a sale on the iBook. I did.
 
I admit I opted out for the much more expensive option of getting a powerbook. However, in retrospect I think I would saved the cash and got an ibook. Power is serously not an issue for most college users, like myself, and I would love to get 5 hours or more out of my battery life. I would miss the keyboard and smooth metal finish, not too mention the wide 15" display, but for the grand I would of saved..I am sure I could of made do. Just dont get a powerbook because everyone lust after them, they are way too expensive and unecessary for many users including myself....but we live and learn.
 
power vs i

I bought a maxed out 15" PB, then a week later my school (teacher, not student) decided to buy us all 14" iBooks. I seriously considered selling my Powerbook, but ultimately decided not to. Here's why:

- wide screen, I like to watch movies
- 64MB graphics card, better WOW, better Tiger, better overall
- DVD burner (you can get a Superdrive on the iBook, I know...mine is combo)
- 1.5 GHz processor...ok, not that big a deal

biggest reason:

- My school also bought us 15" LCD monitors...with the iBook you get a mirrored desktop, with the PB you get a second desktop. To me, this is a huge deal, especially since we have a new web-based e-mail system (bleh)...I have my mail on one screen, everything else on the other. Edit: and nothing's cooler than two different black and white desktop pictures, one on each monitor, and different screen saver pictures on each...

Now I use my iBook with my
interactive whiteboard. Sweet, sweet technology... :D
 
Get the iBook!

If you're not sure what you want, get the iBook -- you won't regret it. People who buy PowerBooks typically "know" they "need" PowerBooks for whatever reason. The speed and drive capacity of iBook's is so darn close to that of PB's now it's not even worth mentioning. I bought my first Mac -- a 14" 1GHz iBook G4 -- two years ago and I've been 100% satisfied with it. Every day I am more and more impressed with OS X ad the wide range of amazing software that's out there. Three of my friends have since bought iBooks too, and they all feel the same way. You'll love it!
 
iBook!

There is no reason for you to go Powerbook unless you have to have a widescreen display. The iBook is perfect for your needs.
 
huck500 said:
Now I use my iBook with my
interactive whiteboard. Sweet, sweet technology... :D
We have them at school. They seem neat at first, but then they get old. I guess if you have good lesson plans to use with them they're interesting. Plus moving them is a pain because of recalibration. When my computer teacher took over, he used it for a bit but know he's just got a twisted pair diagram written on it in regular whiteboard ink. Same think in our research lab, used as a giant, expensive, mobile whiteboard. Kind of sad when you consider what that money could have been better applied to...
 
Dual Display

mduser63 said:
I've got a 12" PowerBook, and I love it. However, for what you want to do with your computer, I'd say the iBook is the best choice for you. It is almost as powerful as a PowerBook, and much cheaper. For me, the PowerBook's audio in port, slightly better graphics card, and dual monitor capability, along with the slightly faster performance were enough to make it worth it for me. If you're not going to be doing a whole lot of heavy multimedia stuff, the iBook will be fine. You should know that in order to get a DVD burner (Superdrive) in an iBook, you have to buy the 14" model, and that narrows the price gap between the PB and iBook quite a bit.

Did you know that the iBooks actually are capable of dual display except that it is disabled? Do a search -- there is a free utility that restores this capability. I know, I looked into it when I was considering a new purchase several months ago.
 
ahhh, i still dont know, because with the upcoming powerbook updates, im wondering if they will be a better deal. I guess we will have to wait and see
 
I recently switched from pc to mac a couple weeks ago, i bought a 14" ibook and i love it!. the powerbook is almost exactly on par with the ibook except for the extra 80mhz and 32mb video ram, but thats it. Also the ibook is more durable aswell! A final note, if you choose to get more ram, buy from crucial not apple they charge too much for their ram Crucial is like 56$ for a a 512 stick, from apple its 150$!!!!! for that price you can buy a 1gig stick from crucial. whatever your choice maybe, i would like to welcome you the world of macs! :)
 
I need advice on this topic too, so instead of starting a new thread, I'll pop in here.

First of all, this is what I need a Mac for:

I'm a high school senior and I'll be going to college next fall, so I need it to do the basic student stuff (word processing, Internet, music). But I also have an affinity for video editing. I want to use Final Cut Express (I have experience with it from school). I'm guessing I need a good amount of RAM and an external HD. Should I upgrade RAM directly when I order my Mac or buy it somewhere else and do it myself?

Buying times:
My birthday is next month, followed by Christmas in December. I can sort of kick things up a notch by having my Mac as a present for both occasions. I hear PB updates are arriving in December. Are these major updates, or little technical things that an average computer user like me wouldn't recognize?

Overall, I'm looking for something that fits my needs and costs $2,500 or less.
 
SurfinSHELL23 said:
We have them at school. They seem neat at first, but then they get old. I guess if you have good lesson plans to use with them they're interesting. Plus moving them is a pain because of recalibration. When my computer teacher took over, he used it for a bit but know he's just got a twisted pair diagram written on it in regular whiteboard ink. Same think in our research lab, used as a giant, expensive, mobile whiteboard. Kind of sad when you consider what that money could have been better applied to...

I use mine with second-graders (8-year-olds)...

Activities like http://edheads.org/activities/simple-machines/ are so fun on the smartboard...and I can display their work up there, have them help me edit movies that we made, the possibilities are endless. I can see how it wouldn't be as great for older students or adults, I guess.

Edit: Mine is not mounted, so I understand the calibration concerns...but my students are very aware of the issue, and they politely chastise one another on the rare cart-bumping occasions.
 
TheMasin9 said:
CHECK ALL THE COUNTLESS OTHER IBOOK VS POWERBOOK THREADS!!!! THERE IS BOUND TO BE SOMETHING THERE FOR YOU!!! STOP WASTING TIME WITH NEW THREADS ON THE SAME EXACT TOPIC!!!
Dude, the only time you are wasting is your own in typing a rediculous post. Leave the dude alone. He is new and looking for help. All you are doing is discouraging a new member from looking for additional help in the future. RELAX!!!!
 
Wow, i'm glad that no one was so rude to me when *I* first joined Macrumors and asked a couple of questions..... Whew!

It's not necessary to be rude to someone when they are obviously new and when they maybe aren't that familiar with how to use a web-based forum. The word "search" doesn't exactly leap out in neon lights when someone is looking at the MacRumors screen for the first time..... and it might not occur to someone to do a search, anyway. People are used to asking questions in real time, so the natural thing to do would be to ask a question online....not realizing that forums are archived and that threads do tend to repeat themselves and that answers may already be available.

I hope this young man did get his new computer, whether it be an iBook or a Powerbook and that he wasn't scared away...

OTB
 
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