new powerbook to replace 733Mhz powermac g4

[saurabhbatra]

guys i have a 733mhz g4 powermac which is starting to perform more and more sluggishly everyday so i wanna replace it with a powerbook well the first question i have is what kind of speed boost will i see with 12inch powerbook and viz a vi 15 inch powerbook. I mean is there a too much diff in performane of 733 and 1.33 or may be even 1.5 processor?

Ok now i am a software developer basically a java dev so i will be running programs like Eclipse Idea etc and really like the portability of 12inch but if there is too much diff in performance then i might shift to 15inch

Now the other consideration i have is to wait for G5 but it seems that would take about an year from now, is it worth the wait and i know it is too early to say but will apple bring the G5 powerbook in the same price range or the prices will go up and will we see a G5 in 12 inch notebook.

 

[atari1356]

Nobody really knows when the G5 PowerBooks will come out... but most guesses seem to point to late this year/early next year.

8 or more (probably more) months is a long time to wait, so if you need the PowerBook now, buy it now.

Here are some speed comparisons to give you an idea of how the new PowerBooks perform:

http://www.barefeats.com/pb11.html

You could also run XBench on your old computer and compare your scores to the ones people have posted in this thread to give you an idea of how much improvement there would be:

https://forums.macrumors.com/threads/69418/

 

[Steven1621]

a colleague of mine that does software development has a 17in PB with the 1.33 G4 and hasn't complained about the performance. that model is fairly compatible with the new 12in PB's. as always, it is best to get as much ram as you can for any sort of development.

 

[BrianKonarsMac]

unless you have cash to burn, get the 12". G4's in their current state are pretty old tech, and these are suspected to be the last iteration of a G4 powerbook. Get the 12" now, and when the Rev. B G5 Powerbook comes out (18-20 months from now) you won't be kicking yourself for buying the top of the line G4. Plus on a 167 Mhz FSB, I think 1.33 Ghz is sufficient, the 1.5 will probably be a hair faster in bench mark apps, but in real life usage, i doubt it would be noticed (unless your super anal). if you have any interest in gaming however, i'd consider the 15 with a 128MB card (the GeForce FX Go is garbage).

12" to tide you over until Rev B G5 Powerbook.

 

[Bhennies]

I would get the 15" combo drive Powerbook. The screen real-estate is much larger, plus you get Firewire800 and a PCI slot. Not to mention a better graphics card. It's only 200 bucks more than the 12" Super, and you can always get an external DVD burner. I don't think that the PB g5 is going to be coming out for a long long time- probably shipping by NAB next year. Then you have to wait for revision B- 18 MONTHS! OUCH!

p.s. the 15" 1.5 ghz PB is very close in performance to the single 1.6 g5 (according to Barefeats and x-bench).

 

[saurabhbatra]

thanks so much guys

xbench was a good idea my system scored 82.9. New PowerBooks are scoring around 130s so i will see a 50% boost but really i am sold out on the idea of a g5 so i am gonna resist the temptation... and hope g5powerbooks make it to market by the end of the year... You know its been killing me not have g5 till now and my notebook will be the only chance of me having it antime soon or else ill have to wait more than 2 years to get my g5..

PowerBook G5 hopefully 2GHz 1GB ram... call me a dreamer but iam not the only one