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Is Powerbook worth for design ?

alebar14

alebar14

macrumors regular
Original poster
Jul 14, 2007
180
0
Auckland CBD, New Zealand
Hi guys, I want to buy a secondhand laptop for mac. I do design in Photoshop, Illustrator, iNdesign, and Acrobat CS.

Is Powerbook still worth it to do as part of my daily basis (freelance) ?
 
alebar14 said:
Hi guys, I want to buy a secondhand laptop for mac. I do design in Photoshop, Illustrator, iNdesign, and Acrobat CS.

Is Powerbook still worth it to do as part of my daily basis (freelance) ?
Click to expand...

They're still capable machines for regular work but as RW/C says, it's all dependent on how much work, what price you get and what machine it is.
 
From trademe.co.nz:

The Powerbook ranges from
1.0 Ghz - 1.25 ghz - 1.33 Ghz - 1.5 Ghz - 1.67 Ghz.What's this number make any difference ?

If I buy 1.33 Ghz, is is till worth to buy to keep atleast 1-2 years ahead ? What d'ya think ?


I probably going to install Adobe Suite CS 3

So give me more suggestion guys...!
 
alebar14 said:
From trademe.co.nz:

The Powerbook ranges from
1.0 Ghz - 1.25 ghz - 1.33 Ghz - 1.5 Ghz - 1.67 Ghz.What's this number make any difference ?
Click to expand...

Aside from the fact that the 1.67 's processors is 67% faster than the 1.0Ghz, no.. ;)
 
alebar14 said:
So I should just stay with Adobe Suite CS 2 ?
What are you suggestion getting this Processor powerbook between 1.0 Ghz - 1.5 Ghz ?
Click to expand...

I think you really need to do some research and consider what it is you want to do with a laptop. Sounds like you're not sure at all and you need to really have some idea of what it is you want, why, how much you want to spend etc.

A good combo would be a 1.5-1.67 PowerBook, with Max (2GB) and Adobe CS, maybe CS2.

Anything else is going to feel real slow, real quickly.
 
Powerbooks are old machines. Not too terribly old for a Mac, but you really can't expect it to last too long. It's been gone for 2 years now I believe. I'd get one as a collectors item, not to actually do computing on. You can, you just don't want to in the end. Buy a refurb MB or something along those lines... nothing wrong with a PB, you just won't be impressed.
 
alebar14 said:
I guess I'll go for 1.5 Ghz Powerbook and boost up the highest RAM.
I like Mac book Intel's capability, but I prefer the sexy Aluminium-based Powerbook.
Click to expand...

Macbook Pros use the practically the same enclosure. So looks are more important than work efficiency? But you want second hand and cheaper? To each their own, enjoy.
 
I still use the powerbook in my sig for my design work. It's been running for 10+ hours almost every day for the past 2 years, and it's not slow at all for the stuff I do. I use it for photoshop, illustrator, indesign CS2 and light cinema 4D work.

Definitely get 2 gb ram, you really notice the difference. But while I plan to keep my pb for at least another year, I wouldn't buy one now. Do you have an external monitor? The macbooks screen is pretty small for doing design work on it imo.
 
I'd recommend you don't get a 2nd hand powerbook - they are very overpriced and pretty slow nowadays. An old G4 just can't hope to compete with a Core Duo or even a Pentium M. Only thing its got going for it is a dedicated graphics card, which probably isn't that much use to you.

I'd recommend a cheap macbook or something. Get a refurbished one if necessary, it will be miles ahead of a powerbook at a surprisingly similar price.
 
What are you lot going on about CS3 running dog slow on a 1ghz G4?? I've ran it on my 500mhz G4 Pismo (processor upgrade) and 768mb of RAM and it was pretty bearable. It wasn't much intense work, though, mostly some logo designing, a bit of photo editing, etc..
 
The comments made here about Aluminium G4 PowerBooks is just wrong. Well, most of them. CS3 runs as good, if not better than CS2 on my PowerBook G4 1.33Ghz, with 1.5GB Ram. I also own the latest C2D iMac and MacBook and for everyday work there is not much difference. The G4 takes a couple more bounces before apps open, sure, but thats really not the best indicator of performance.

If you can find a relatively recent PowerBook at a good price, don't hesitate. Go for it. Ignore the recently converted Mac fanboys that have no idea of the real power of a G4.
 
discodave said:
The comments made here about Aluminium G4 PowerBooks is just wrong. Well, most of them. CS3 runs as good, if not better than CS2 on my PowerBook G4 1.33Ghz, with 1.5GB Ram. I also own the latest C2D iMac and MacBook and for everyday work there is not much difference. The G4 takes a couple more bounces before apps open, sure, but thats really not the best indicator of performance.

If you can find a relatively recent PowerBook at a good price, don't hesitate. Go for it. Ignore the recently converted Mac fanboys that have no idea of the real power of a G4.
Click to expand...

Well... I've used powerpc's since my 450mhz G3 and I am NO fanboy. I prefer windows as I play a lot of games. But I have to say, in processing power/dollars the macbook leads the way unless you have specialised graphics requirements (e.g. gaming :D).

I'm just saying that you probably won't find a recent powerbook at a great price. I've been looking on ebay and have found that some newish macbooks are actually cheaper. 2nd hand apple products have a long history of being overpriced (probably due to stupid buyers...). You end up paying new-mac-money for a used mac. Doesn't that seem a bit senseless?

And lastly (again)- I am NOT a fanboy. I just understand the true value of a G4, and it doesn't compare favourably to a modern budget priced core 2 duo.
Sure the G4 systems still have some 'Go' in them, but if you can get something faster for the same price, why wouldn't you?
 
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