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Notebook for college

N

nikeballa09

macrumors member
Original poster
May 22, 2004
39
0
Hi, I am planning on switching to an apple for college. Personally I am tired of windows always crashing. My questions is what would u guys recommend I get. I'm on a budget so i can't spend too much. Right now I am looking at getting the 12in powerbook with 1.33ghz processor or a 14in ibook with the 1.2ghz processor because they are similar in price. I am going to major in business and will be doing mostly word processing and using a spreadsheet. Also I may be doing some web page design, and some work with photoshop.
Thanks for the help!
 
If you are going to college and presumably attending lectures and bringing your notebook with you then I would suggest the iBooks as they have the longest battery life. The 14" iBook has the same screen resolution as the 12" iBook, so you could save yourself some cash and go for the 12". Don't forget to

1. Add extra Ram in your budget, as 512 Mb is considered the minimum to get good performance out of the OS.

2. You will be eligible for educational discount. I would suggest you max out on the HD, as the 30 Gb model on the 12" will fill up very quickly with those wonderful iLife Apps.

3. Budget for a copy of MS Office 2004 (student edition) you will find it useful if you are doing a business course, most of the spreadsheets you will be working with will be Excel based.
 
Would you guys recommend getting the 3yr Apple Protcetion Plan or is that just a waste of money? Should I order ms office student and teacher edition when I order my computer or should I buy it from a store?
Thanks again!
 
Get Apple Care! If you're getting a lapbook, especially get it. If i hadn't had Apple Care, i'd have a broken G3, but I now have a 800 G4 since they replaced the old one.
 
Get the 12" iBook, and get it from you college computer/book store. Use the iBook for a year then decide for yourself whether you need apple care (1 year warranty's included w/ new Macs). iBook comes w/ Apple Works, but it's no MS Office. Get MS Office Student/Teacher Ed. from the book store too. The iBook comes w/ 256MB, get another 512MB stick from Crucial.com.
 
I'm graduating from high school this year as well, and I bought a Rev. A 12" iBook G4, but will be selling it this summer in time for college so that I can get a PowerBook. Before I aquired my iBook, I had a Rev A. 12" PowerBook G4, and I can say that hands down the PowerBook is the better machine.

You will spend a bit more, but you really can tell the difference when it's in your hands. The PowerBook is smaller and lighter and more powerful, and it leaves open the option to really get some great performance out of your machine if you ever decide you want to do more demanding work.

All this year, I've been taking a video production class, and convinced my close friend to switch to mac about the same time i got my iBook G4, and she got her 12" PowerBook G4, and we both were just as hard on our computers, throwing them into and out of our bookbags just wrapped in a towel or pillowcase at times, running around with them in the hallways, needing to do on-site editing, and of course using them at home, and her PowerBook has actually held up just as good as my iBook build wise, and definitely beats my iBook cosmetically. My iBook is full of scratches and shows dirt easily, her PowerBook looks brand new. (and no, it's not because I am just a dirty boy lol) The keyboard (space bar, enter key, the keys that get hit the most) along with my trackpad show very obvious wear and tear, as they have been worn down to a shiny smooth finish as opposed to the usual flat white.

I'll be selling my iBook G4 to get another PowerBook G4 for college (12" probably, but if i can, go for the 15") and I would advise u avoid the iBook and get the PowerBook as well. Of course, "performance wise" for just Word or spreadsheets the iBook G4 is fine, but the PowerBook is lighter, smaller, faster (especially when doing more processor intensive tasks if you ever need to use them), and built better, Hope this helps! :)

–LMV (Class of 2004)
 
Some good points made.

I have an additional question for you all. What if you want to completely max out on a laptop but still have awesome portability. The 17' is too big, and so it leaves the 12' and the 15'. What would be worth getting 110% maxed out? If i buy the 12' i could probably pick up a 20" display so i can convert the system to a desktop at my desk... any thoughts?
 
LaMerVipere said:
I would advise u avoid the iBook and get the PowerBook as well. Of course, "performance wise" for just Word or spreadsheets the iBook G4 is fine, but the PowerBook is lighter, smaller, faster (especially when doing more processor intensive tasks if you ever need to use them), and built better, Hope this helps! :)

–LMV (Class of 2004)
Click to expand...

I'm in the process of moving my files from a G3 iBook to my new G4 PowerBook and I agree with LaMerVipere. I was happy with the iBook - it sure beat the bubble iMac I was using before, and I was intending to upgrade to a G4 iBook, but I saw this discontinued model PB in the store for such a good price, I couldn't pass it up. It's just a bit smaller, but the keyboard feels more solid, the trackpad is much more accurate and it just feels like a more solid machine.

Of course I've only had it for a couple of days and comparing a G4 to a G3 really isn't fair, but I think I made the right choice.

M
 
I am also going off to college, majoring in Computer Information Sciences which is in the bussness dept at Wnec. Im considering the 12" iBook, do u think this will do a good job covering my major or should i consider the 12"pb?

-Neal
 
I love my ibook and I am in college. Hell, it is nice to be able to take your laptop to the library to do you essays. ALso, the battery is awesome! I can get five and a half hours with the battery settings set to provide the longest life :) That means means only a word processor running, and no itunes (that's why I have the ipod though).

edit: also, I bought mac:eek:ffice at the student store. Microsoft has a deal with them and I got it for $75!!! TOtally made my day and save me from spending 125 at amazon.com.
 
I have read that previous versions of the ibook have had prolems with the logic board. I would like to know if the newest versions may eventually show up with the same problem, what do u guys think the probability of this happening is?
 
I'm also going off to college next year, and I wanted to get feedback on my computer plans.

I'm planning on getting the 12" powerbook with the superdrive. I thought the powerbook might be better than the iBook because it will become obsolete less quickly. I thought the superdrive was good also because it's a good way to backup my files. I figured it was about the same price as getting an extra hard drive. Plus, I can burn other things. Am I right in this thinking?

I realized that the 12" is pretty small, especially for page layout, which I use in journalism stuff. So, I was thinking that I'd buy an extra 15" monitor, which is actually less expensive than just buying the 15" monitor, even with an iCurve, keyboard and mouse.

How does this all sound to you guys?
 
jsupetran said:
I can get five and a half hours with the battery settings set to provide the longest life :)
Click to expand...

Don't know what I'm doing wrong, but my iBook batter is only good for a few minutes. Even at it's peak, it was only good for about 1/2 an hour. Guess I should have complained, but I never ran it on the battery anyway so it didn't matter to me at the time.

I love this PowerBook. It just feels to much more stable. :) :) :)

m
 
Do u guys think that apple is going to upgrade the 12in ibook or 12in powerbook before august or september? I would like to know because that is when I plan on purchasing an apple notebook for college.
Thanks!
 
nikeballa09 said:
Do u guys think that apple is going to upgrade the 12in ibook or 12in powerbook before august or september? I would like to know because that is when I plan on purchasing an apple notebook for college.
Thanks!
Click to expand...

Yeah thats the main thing im afraid of buyng one in aug then a month or 2 later brand new ones :(. Though as long as i get one i will be happy :)

-Neal
 
zulgand04 said:
Yeah thats the main thing im afraid of buyng one in aug then a month or 2 later brand new ones :(. Though as long as i get one i will be happy :)

-Neal
Click to expand...

Based on current update trends new ones may appear in October/November time. Whether or not they'll be G5 is another matter... When buying computing equipment there's never a good time to buy... there'll always be something new just round the corner. Guess you've just got to buy when you need it. Even if you get the ones which are on offer now you should be set for a good while with it!
 
Yeah goodpoint that theres never a good time to buy one. All i need to figure out is if i should get a ibook or go with a pc for my major, Computer Infirmation Systems. Now if VPC 7 is as good as the rumors are i'll def go with the ibook.

-Neal
 
alohafish said:
I realized that the 12" is pretty small, especially for page layout, which I use in journalism stuff. So, I was thinking that I'd buy an extra 15" monitor, which is actually less expensive than just buying the 15" monitor, even with an iCurve, keyboard and mouse.

How does this all sound to you guys?
Click to expand...

That would be a waste because the 12" power/i book has the same resolution of any external 15" monitor. I would get a 17" LCD or CRT display; that way you will be able to fit more on the screen instead of just having everything appear bigger
 
If you're doing graphics work of any sort, you may appreciate the larger size of the 14" iBook screen. The resolution between the 12" and 14" iBooks may be the same, but the screen itself is physically 2" larger, and you actually get longer battery life out of the 14 incher.

And the iBook is a perfectly suitable system that won't become "obsolete" any faster than the 12" PB. Look at how closely specced they are! They'll both become obsolete at the same time, technology-wise. Also, computers don't become obsolete unless they're no good to use for what you're doing anymore. In your cases, it sounds like both the iBook and PB are both good choices, and they will probably NEVER go obsolete for what you do. How can your computer become unsuitable for MS Office and a little bit of PS?

The one thing I love about my 12" PB is the keyboard. Its one of the best in the business. The iBook keyboard is a bit springy. However, the iBook has killer battery life, whereas my PB gets 3h30min if I set my screen brightness to a bit higher than half (or 5 notches below full brightness). That ain't bad, but that isn't anywhere near the iBook's life. Anyway, you may appreciate the 64MB of video RAM you get on the 12" PB, so that's just something to think about. Take advantage of your student discount, and don't write off the iBook as being inferior to the 12" PB. It isn't really worse. The aluminium casing is actually more fragile than the iBook's plastic. Notice how one of the first thing Mac'cers check for when they get their PB is screen and lid warping? You should never treat the PB as harshly as the iBook. The iBook should take more abuse, being a more durable plastic. Yes, maybe the PB be less scratched up, but it can't be as durable as the iBook when you consider what its made with.

It IS pretty, though. :)
 
nikeballa09 said:
How exactly does Virtual PC work? Do u guys recommend getting it?
Click to expand...

VPC emulates a intel based processor on ur mac. Its a pretty good program if your not useing verey high demanding software, because all parts of the emulated system are useing your process or not your video card ect. So video games are def out. I have VPC 5 with winows xp running on my imac 700mhz, i usally use it for aol 9.0 and Visual Basic, Aol gives it a pretty good workout, its not so bad its not usable but its nothing like a real pc. It all depends on the software your gonna use it for and how pacient u are. Now VPC 7 is suposed to be out sometime this year and the rumors sofar are hardware based graphics and much improved performace. So VPC 7 looks like a good alternative. I hope thr rumors are true. Well i hope i helped you out with your question, i prolly did't explain it fully so anyone else fill in the holes lol.

-Neal
 
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