Well, not quite a shootout, just a question from me about which to get. And a quick warning now that this is a comparitively LOOOONG post, but I would apprechiate it if you would read it, and give me your valuable opinion.
I'm looking for my first mac still, saving slowly but surely, and I am a bit indescisive . I was thinking the 14" iBook (see sig ) but these new PowerBook upadtes have changed my perspective. I know have all the iBooks to consider, and 3 of the new PowerBooks. These are the specs of the iBooks and PowerBooks I am looking at:
The 12" iBook is a BTO one, and its specs are as follows:
256MB DDR266 SDRAM (built-in)
80GB Ultra ATA drive
Combo drive (DVD-ROM/CD-RW)
AirPort Extreme Card
Bluetooth Module
Keyboard & Mac OS X - U.S. English
12-inch TFT XGA display
1.2GHz PowerPC G4
ATI Mobility Radeon 9200 w/ 32MB DDR video memory
The 14" Combo iBook is also a BTO one, and its specs are as follows:
256MB DDR266 (256MB built-in)
80GB Ultra ATA drive
Combo drive (DVD-ROM/CD-RW)
AirPort Extreme Card
Bluetooth Module
Keyboard & Mac OS X - U.S. English
14-inch TFT XGA display
1.33GHz PowerPC G4
ATI Mobility Radeon 9200 w/ 32MB DDR video memory
The 14" Super iBook is again, a BTO one, and its specs are as follows:
256MB DDR266 (256MB built-in)
80GB Ultra ATA drive
SuperDrive (DVD-R/CD-RW)
AirPort Extreme Card
Bluetooth Module
Keyboard & Mac OS X - U.S. English
14-inch TFT XGA display
1.33GHz PowerPC G4
ATI Mobility Radeon 9200 w/ 32MB DDR video memory
The 12" Combo PowerBook is as follows, non BTO:
512MB DDR333 (256MB built-in + 256MB SO-DIMM)
60GB Ultra ATA drive @5400rpm
Combo Drive (DVD-ROM/CD-RW)
AirPort Extreme Card
Keyboard/Mac OS - U.S. English
1.5GHz PowerPC G4
NVIDIA GeForce FX GO 5200 with 64MB DDR Video Memory
12.1-inch TFT Display
The 12" Super PowerBook, non BTO:
512MB DDR333 (256MB built-in + 256MB SO-DIMM)
80GB Ultra ATA drive @ 5400rpm
8x SuperDrive (DVD±RW/CD-RW)
AirPort Extreme Card
Keyboard/Mac OS - U.S. English
1.5GHz PowerPC G4
NVIDIA GeForce FX GO 5200 with 64MB DDR Video Memory
12.1-inch TFT Display
And, finally, the 15" Combo PowerBook, non BTO:
1.5GHz PowerPC G4 w/ 64MB VRAM
512MB DDR333 SDRAM - 1 SO-DIMM
80GB Ultra ATA drive @ 5400 rpm
Combo Drive (DVD-ROM/CD-RW)
AirPort Extreme Card
Backlit Keyboard/Mac OS - U.S. English
ATI Mobility Radeon 9700
15.2-inch TFT Display
With this mac, I will be: Wireless internet surfing, Email, iTunes, GarageBand with my electric guitar, Word Processing, iPhoto, Photoshop (not THAT intensive, I would guess), iMovie family movie editing, and I WILL be running multiple apps at a time, although I guess this is more of a RAM thing than anything else. With RAM, note that I do intend to add more after purchase. Also, this list of things could grow, as I get into more and more things, and more seriously, and I want this to LAST. This is why the PB 15"'s "FutureProof" if you like, set of ports looks good. I will be hoping to buy any of these setups in late March/early April, while I am on holiday in the US, and obviously, the cheaper the better, although I guess if I end up feeling the 15" PB is best for me, I just spend all my money.
The pluses I can immeadiatly see on ALL the PowerBooks are better design (IMHO), new trackpad, faster hard drives, safe dropping hard drives thing, core image compatible video card (Tiger, anyone? ).
Then, the advantages of particularly the 15" PB, backlit keyboard (handy and cool), FireWire 800, Gigabit ethernet (this is what I'm talking about with the "future proof" ports), better screen res.
I just want to know what I should get! If you got this far, please lave your opinions. :
Thanks all!
-Jack
I'm looking for my first mac still, saving slowly but surely, and I am a bit indescisive . I was thinking the 14" iBook (see sig ) but these new PowerBook upadtes have changed my perspective. I know have all the iBooks to consider, and 3 of the new PowerBooks. These are the specs of the iBooks and PowerBooks I am looking at:
The 12" iBook is a BTO one, and its specs are as follows:
256MB DDR266 SDRAM (built-in)
80GB Ultra ATA drive
Combo drive (DVD-ROM/CD-RW)
AirPort Extreme Card
Bluetooth Module
Keyboard & Mac OS X - U.S. English
12-inch TFT XGA display
1.2GHz PowerPC G4
ATI Mobility Radeon 9200 w/ 32MB DDR video memory
The 14" Combo iBook is also a BTO one, and its specs are as follows:
256MB DDR266 (256MB built-in)
80GB Ultra ATA drive
Combo drive (DVD-ROM/CD-RW)
AirPort Extreme Card
Bluetooth Module
Keyboard & Mac OS X - U.S. English
14-inch TFT XGA display
1.33GHz PowerPC G4
ATI Mobility Radeon 9200 w/ 32MB DDR video memory
The 14" Super iBook is again, a BTO one, and its specs are as follows:
256MB DDR266 (256MB built-in)
80GB Ultra ATA drive
SuperDrive (DVD-R/CD-RW)
AirPort Extreme Card
Bluetooth Module
Keyboard & Mac OS X - U.S. English
14-inch TFT XGA display
1.33GHz PowerPC G4
ATI Mobility Radeon 9200 w/ 32MB DDR video memory
The 12" Combo PowerBook is as follows, non BTO:
512MB DDR333 (256MB built-in + 256MB SO-DIMM)
60GB Ultra ATA drive @5400rpm
Combo Drive (DVD-ROM/CD-RW)
AirPort Extreme Card
Keyboard/Mac OS - U.S. English
1.5GHz PowerPC G4
NVIDIA GeForce FX GO 5200 with 64MB DDR Video Memory
12.1-inch TFT Display
The 12" Super PowerBook, non BTO:
512MB DDR333 (256MB built-in + 256MB SO-DIMM)
80GB Ultra ATA drive @ 5400rpm
8x SuperDrive (DVD±RW/CD-RW)
AirPort Extreme Card
Keyboard/Mac OS - U.S. English
1.5GHz PowerPC G4
NVIDIA GeForce FX GO 5200 with 64MB DDR Video Memory
12.1-inch TFT Display
And, finally, the 15" Combo PowerBook, non BTO:
1.5GHz PowerPC G4 w/ 64MB VRAM
512MB DDR333 SDRAM - 1 SO-DIMM
80GB Ultra ATA drive @ 5400 rpm
Combo Drive (DVD-ROM/CD-RW)
AirPort Extreme Card
Backlit Keyboard/Mac OS - U.S. English
ATI Mobility Radeon 9700
15.2-inch TFT Display
With this mac, I will be: Wireless internet surfing, Email, iTunes, GarageBand with my electric guitar, Word Processing, iPhoto, Photoshop (not THAT intensive, I would guess), iMovie family movie editing, and I WILL be running multiple apps at a time, although I guess this is more of a RAM thing than anything else. With RAM, note that I do intend to add more after purchase. Also, this list of things could grow, as I get into more and more things, and more seriously, and I want this to LAST. This is why the PB 15"'s "FutureProof" if you like, set of ports looks good. I will be hoping to buy any of these setups in late March/early April, while I am on holiday in the US, and obviously, the cheaper the better, although I guess if I end up feeling the 15" PB is best for me, I just spend all my money.
The pluses I can immeadiatly see on ALL the PowerBooks are better design (IMHO), new trackpad, faster hard drives, safe dropping hard drives thing, core image compatible video card (Tiger, anyone? ).
Then, the advantages of particularly the 15" PB, backlit keyboard (handy and cool), FireWire 800, Gigabit ethernet (this is what I'm talking about with the "future proof" ports), better screen res.
I just want to know what I should get! If you got this far, please lave your opinions. :
Thanks all!
-Jack