New ibook or keep toshiba

[nikeballa09]

Hi, in late august my dad bought me a toshiba laptop with centrino 1.5ghz. i get about 4 hours battery life while using wifi, aim, ms office, a few internet explorers, and listening to online radio. Now that the new ibooks have come out and i got a job im thinking of buying one and giving my dad the toshiba. i would like to know if i buy the ibook would it be slower then the toshiba. i would also like to know how much battery life i could expect out of the new 12in. mine is a 15 in and its not bad carrying it around, its just a little annoying in my lecture classes. i would also like to know if airport extreme thats built into the ibook will get the same reception as my toshiba cause i leech wifi from neighbor.

Thank You very much for feedback.

 

[LifeIsCheap]

I've got a Toshiba Satellite 5200 (2Ghz) and a 1Ghz 12' iBook. The Tosh has a bigger screen and is much faster, but I invariably end up using the iBook. Although it's got 768mb memory and feels slightly slow to respond sometimes, the iBook always wins out. It's portable, the wifi reception is better than the Tosh, I get about 5 hours battery life and I prefer OSX to Windoze.

More than anything, the iBook just works.

Go the iBook.

 

[Mechcozmo]

iBook. I get 5.5 hours of battery life on my PowerBook, maxed out, and I would guess around 5 with AP Extreme on.

The iBook will, in the end, need less repairs, need less time spent repairing it (cleaning out viruses), and be nicer in general.

 

[solvs]

I might be a little bit slower than the PC. But with what you're doing, you probably won't notice the difference. Max it out with all the RAM you can afford (if you're in the US, I recommend Newegg.com with Crucial RAM. If cheaper, read the reviews to see if it's Mac worthy). Eventually, for speed, you might want to upgrade to a 5400 or 7200 RPM drive. But have a certified rep do it. It's a little complicated and can void your warranty if you mess it up. The 4200 is fine in the mean time, and probably what your Toshiba has, unless it's a higher model. Even then sometimes.

You didn't mention what model you had, so I'm not sure what video card it has. If it has intergrated video (if it shares the RAM), the iBook will be faster. That Intel Extreme crap, or whatever it is, negates the small benefit of the Centrino. Plus, the iBook comes with AppleWorks, but you might want to think about getting Office for X, Student and Teacher if you qualify. It's much cheaper. Battery life is about the same. Up to 5 on the 12", 6 on the 14, means about 4-4.5 if you aren't doing anything too harsh. Third party batteries do even better.

I'd check out a new iBook in person at a local store. Have them reboot (otherwise they are dog slow, thanks to all the people coming and going) and remember you will be adding RAM. That'll give you a better idea. Just so you know, I played with a G5 iMac at an Apple Store and the 1.8 with 512MB seemed slower than the 1.6 with 256 I played with at CompUSA later on for some reason. Go figure.