Okay all you powerbookers, I see that your thread is taking its time catching on, so I thought I'd help out. I just posted this in the ibook thread, and so I'm posting it here to get your side of the story.
I cant' really afford a pb, but let's pretend I could. I seem to recall reading that powerbooks were less durable, had poorer battery life, and worse airport reception than ibooks. If powerbooks were in every way vastly superior to ibooks, I'd be tempted to just go ahead and max out the ol' credit card and buy one. But I'm sure as hell not going to do that if it means paying $500 to get a machine that runs a abit quicker and has some nifty features, but doesn't do the things that I need it to do most (surf the internet in my back yard so I can do research and write papers outside).
CAR ANALOGY WARNING! THE FOLLOWING TEXT CONTAINS CAR ANALOGIES!
ibook = older Japanese car, does everything you need it to do with very little trouble, and gets great gas mileage; powerbook = fancy italian sports car, goes really fast, handles like a dream, but sacrifices fuel economy and reliability.
So, since you all are so convinced that powerbooks are so great, tell me why. I've never owned either an ibook or pb, but I want to learn all I can. Does anyone have any realworld experience with both in terms of battery and airport? Is there something I don't know? Illuminate me, oh powerful ones!