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I'm trying to talk my friend into a powerbook, but she's worried about the resolution

BiikeMike

BiikeMike

macrumors 65816
Original poster
So one of my good friends had her apartment broken into and her Dell was stolen. This was the week I got my new Powerbook. I told her she should look into it, and that I really liked it. She has now narrowed it down to a Dell XPS M170, or a Powerbook. There are two big things holding her back. She doesn't know much about macs (which I can fix) and she is worried about the Resolution.

The Dell she is looking at has a max res of 1920x1280, and Pbooks have a max res of 1280x854. She does a lot of Photoshop work, and I guess just has a thing for high resolution.

Can anyone here offer her any advice? (I'm sending her a link to this thread)
 
since when do the powerbooks have that low of a resolution, that 17" seems to have a lot more than what you are saying.

And honestly you need a second monitor if you are doing "a lot" of photoshop work. Which is why i have my 2005FPW.
 
eva01 said:
since when do the powerbooks have that low of a resolution, that 17" seems to have a lot more than what you are saying.

And honestly you need a second monitor if you are doing "a lot" of photoshop work. Which is why i have my 2005FPW.
Click to expand...

uhh the 17" also has a pretty hefty price tag
 
dornoforpyros said:
uhh the 17" also has a pretty hefty price tag
Click to expand...

was there any comment of price anywhere in the OPs post?

I bought a dual G5 and a 2005FPW for my web design and graphic art, and am getting a second monitor.

You want to do the work you pay the price, in my opinion
 
One of the things many people are hoping for in wednesdays confrence is higher resolutions powerbooks... see what happens on wednesday and then make your decision. Although I love my 12" powerbook That 17" screen on the XPS is very nice.. and its also a very powerful system.. its possible that it maybe the better solution for what she needs to do... it is a very large, heavy laptop though
 
Duff-Man says...well, of course you want to wait until you see what the announcements are this week. Some of the rumours out there regarding new Powerbooks say that the resolution will be increased along with the "speed bump" everyone is expecting.

I personally find the rez on my Powerbook to be just fine for what I do. And at work, where I support about 150 Dell laptops with higher rez I find that the majority of users crank the rez down as they find it too small and unusable at the native rez. Of course, that is not for *everyone* but with a smaller market share Apple is going to cater to the majority....oh yeah!
 
Just out of curiosity, what is the max res a Powerbook will support on an external monitor?
 
dornoforpyros said:
uhh the 17" also has a pretty hefty price tag
Click to expand...

Yes, but if he's going to compare a 17" Dell to a 15" PowerBook, then it's not a similar comparison. Granted, the 17" PB still has a lower resolution (1440 x 900 pixels) than a 17" Dell m170 (1920x1280 pixels), but I wouldn't want such a high native resolution on a 17" screen. It would be hard to do the day-to-day stuff, like read text. She'd be better off getting a Dell 23" external LCD if she wants such high resolutions, regardless of which laptop she gets.

Also, that Dell XPS m170 is thick, heavy, and ugly as sin. It looks like they got a sheet of aluminium foil and glued it to the top. However, it does have much better specs than the 17" PowerBook. But I'm the type of person who wants a balance. Sure, Apple COULD stick a faster CPU in their Powerbook, but they would need to make it 1.7" thick, 8.6lbs in weight, and it would NEED to have a 17" screen, and a few big fans thrown in as well. Thats what the Dell XPS laptop is. 😛 Personally, I want a fast machine that also must be a decent size and weight, even if that means I give up a bit in performance.

I'm assuming you're American. If you lived in Australia, IBM/Lenovo has a Thinkpad Z-series that would be perfect for your friend. 🙂 The Z-Series notebooks offered on the US site doesn't have the higher resolution model on the Australian site.
 
Unless she'll be doing most of her work away from home, I whould get an external screen and not worry about the resolution of the laptop screen.
 
eva01 said:
And honestly you need a second monitor if you are doing "a lot" of photoshop work. Which is why i have my 2005FPW.
Click to expand...
Honestly, i dont need a second monitor. And last time i checked, a 2005FPW didnt fit in my laptop bag.

The powerbooks resolution sucks, period.
 
I'm a digital artist and how anyone could accurately use Photoshop or any other such application efficiently on a 12" laptop of any kind blows my mind.

I use a CMV CT-726D 17" LCD external 16.7 M colour display and ensure that both my screens are properly calibrated.
 
slipper said:
Honestly, i dont need a second monitor. And last time i checked, a 2005FPW didnt fit in my laptop bag.

The powerbooks resolution sucks, period.
Click to expand...

You don't need a second monitor until you use one. I know...

Bern said:
I'm a digital artist and how anyone could accurately use Photoshop or any other such application efficiently on a 12" laptop of any kind blows my mind.
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I'm kinda insulted! 😛 12" is great for the extreme portability it offers with the extreme battery life, but with an external monitor, you can do all the photoshop/video editing/etc. you could want!
 
Mechcozmo said:
You don't need a second monitor until you use one. I know...
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I'll second that ...
Just started using a second monitor with my PB. Not for PS & graphics, but for Office & iWork - Word, Powerpoint, Pages, somtimes Excel.
V-E-R-Y useful!
 
This is the Think Secret post about PowerBook upgrades next week.

Updated PowerBooks expected next week will sport higher resolution displays, sources have said. Although specific resolutions are unknown, sources expect the number of pixels packed into the displays to increase by about 15 percent on the 15- and 17-inch models.

Both updated Power Mac and PowerBook systems are expected to use DDR2 memory, delivering performance improvements beyond the typical processor speed bumps. At least one Power Mac G5 configuration will feature IBM's PowerPC 970MP dual-core processor, while PowerBooks are expected to see their PowerPC 7447A processor replaced with a slightly faster 7448 model.
 
My advice is this DONT BUY A POWERBOOK UNTILL THEY UPDATE one right now they are very very very overpriced for what they are. Graphics cards are becoming increasingly outadated, screen resolution is kinda bad, they cost a whole lot. Wait unleast untill next weeks updates If it was me Id wait till intel books rev b but sounds like you cant wait to long so Id buy with the next update which could be soon. And with talk of higher res screens this could be a significant update they might even lower the price 😱
 
Mechcozmo said:
You don't need a second monitor until you use one. I know...
Click to expand...
LOL actually i do have a second monitor but i almost never use it. I hate being stuck to the desk, id rather be working with the TV next to me in the living room.

but back to the topic, the powerbooks resolution sucks.
 
AP_piano295 said:
My advice is this DONT BUY A POWERBOOK UNTILL THEY UPDATE one right now they are very very very overpriced for what they are. Graphics cards are becoming increasingly outadated, screen resolution is kinda bad, they cost a whole lot. Wait unleast untill next weeks updates If it was me Id wait till intel books rev b but sounds like you cant wait to long so Id buy with the next update which could be soon. And with talk of higher res screens this could be a significant update they might even lower the price 😱
Click to expand...


Well, I just got mine, and I like it, SO THERE! 😀
 
BiikeMike said:
Well, I just got mine, and I like it, SO THERE! 😀
Click to expand...

But BiikeMike, how can you be happy with an obviously obsolete piece of garbage like the PowerBook?

If I were you, I'd just throw it away and wait for the update, it's not like anybody else would want one of those antiques anyway.

😉 😉 😉 😀
 
Really, given what's available out there right now, she should look into getting a Thinkpad. They're much better than a Dell or the current line of Powerbooks.
 
Uhh. I have the 17" PB... And the resolution does not suck at all. People think it sucks because there are laptops that have higher resolutions, but in reality, 1.2+ million pixels is plenty for photoshop. And being photoshop, sure a higher resolution would be nice, but by all means, it does not suck as it is now...
 
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