Sidebar Sidebar
Become a MacRumors Supporter for $50/year with no ads, ability to filter front page stories, and private forums.

PB G4 12 or wait it out...

Moxiemike

Moxiemike

macrumors 68020
Original poster
Jan 1, 2002
2,437
0
Pittsburgh, PA
What to do, what to do!

I'm trying to lighten my Mac load by getting rid of some older stuff and I'm left with a sort-of laptop dilemma.

I was remembering my old lombard... it was SUCH a road hog.

I just don't feel that with the 15" ti that I have. It feels, well, weak. I'd NEVER leave it out in my car while i download pics, carry it without a hard case, etc etc etc.

I just remember that rubber and stuff on the lombard.. it felt substantial.

I love the design of the ti... but it doesn't feel road worthy to me. And that's be evident in how much work I do on the road!

So I'm thinking it might be time for the ti to go bye bye and buy an AL 12 inch. But i'm wondering what y'all think.

It's SO darn compact and rugged looking.... i was tossing one up and down in my hands at the COMPUSA the other day. Seems sturdy. :) :) :)

I'd like to hear from designers out there-- from doing small layouts (inDesign, quark) to some photoshop and some Dreamweaver stuff... how do you like the 12 inch screen?

Remember, i'm working on a 17" LCD at home, and a Dual Gig... So I DO have a bit of flexibility.

But that said... would i hate the 12??????
 
have you seen em in person? i would say check one out in person and decide that way

i mean, it's not your primary computer. so it'll be primarily transferring pics and some simple design work... getting things started...

i'd say it would work out pretty well... but i haven't seen one in person either.

my bro's considering the same question... though fcp instead of quark/indesign... so yeah. check one out and if it's bearable... then shizzle mo fizzle.
 
Originally posted by jelloshotsrule
have you seen em in person? i would say check one out in person and decide that way

i mean, it's not your primary computer. so it'll be primarily transferring pics and some simple design work... getting things started...

i'd say it would work out pretty well... but i haven't seen one in person either.

my bro's considering the same question... though fcp instead of quark/indesign... so yeah. check one out and if it's bearable... then shizzle mo fizzle.
Click to expand...

i played with them a bit in compusa.. but it's tough to decide there, when you have like, 15 minutes to play as opposed to sitting in a coffee shop for hours.

I guess the thing is.... it's 1024x768, which I used to design on with my lombard for almost two years, then moved to the ti, which is 1152x768... so it's just the physical size.

Especially considering my current display is 1280 x 1024... not that much bigger.

hehe. i'm selling myself here. ;)
 
I've used the 12" iBook lots, and that's the same size. I found that moving to that from my TiBook wasn't that nice really - too cramped in the real estate for dreamweaver expecially, and Pagemaker layouts were really small at full page size.

Having said that, I'd rather have a 12" Al now as I've got a Dual 1.42 on order which will be my main machine, so I'd rather have a small laptop for when I do my photography projects on the road, and for email/web/ical etc.

The main annoyance for me with the 12" Al is the lack of FW800 and DVI - it seems that although it's new, it's still just an iBook with a G4. Tests I read online had the 12" iBook faster anyway!! (sorry, can't remember the link).

I think Rev.2 of the 12" PB will be MUCH better, but by then, we might have G4 iBooks/eBooks... who the hell knows?

I didn't help did I? :) :confused:

H
 
Originally posted by gotohamish
I've used the 12" iBook lots, and that's the same size. I found that moving to that from my TiBook wasn't that nice really - too cramped in the real estate for dreamweaver expecially, and Pagemaker layouts were really small at full page size.

Having said that, I'd rather have a 12" Al now as I've got a Dual 1.42 on order which will be my main machine, so I'd rather have a small laptop for when I do my photography projects on the road, and for email/web/ical etc.

The main annoyance for me with the 12" Al is the lack of FW800 and DVI - it seems that although it's new, it's still just an iBook with a G4. Tests I read online had the 12" iBook faster anyway!! (sorry, can't remember the link).

I think Rev.2 of the 12" PB will be MUCH better, but by then, we might have G4 iBooks/eBooks... who the hell knows?

I didn't help did I? :) :confused:

H
Click to expand...

Hehe. Yea. You helped a bit. I know that most of the layouts I might be doing on it will be simple ads/posters, and the RES is enough... but you're right about the screen.

Regarding the caches and stuff... I played with it and an iBook (friend has the 800 ibook) and the iBook was SOOOO doggedy slow. But it could be that she has only 128mb of ram.

And i'm used to a dual gig with 1.5gb of ram... etc.

I plan on, if i work on it at home, hoooking it up to a 40gb FW hd. Which should help with speed. And i'm also gonna max it out at 640 if i go that route. Should be plenty snappy at that point.

I also thought about DVI-- but with the tower, i'd NEVER hook it up to an external monitor-- I have a network here, and i can just swap files that way, ya know? Then vie wthem on the big screen.

Its a tough call. FW800 doesn't bother be yet. I didn't get into firewire until 2000-2001, when it debuted on the G3's in 1999.

So yea. I'm slowish to change. ;)

But it's tempting.... if they made a dual 15 or dual 17, i'd replace my desktop. But while I need a desktop for the RAW SPEED i'm thinking that, the PB 12, despite its shortcomings, is for me.

Hrmmmmmm
 
Originally posted by jelloshotsrule
sounds like you're sold

now do it to it
Click to expand...

hehe. now i have to find a way to sell my in-new condition rev b tibook 667, with airport card, 512 mb of ram, 30gb of hd, dvd, 15.2" screen, long battery life, power supply and 2 years of a 3 year CompUSA warranty.....

And try and get like, $1699 for it. ;)
 
Originally posted by Moxiemike


hehe. now i have to find a way to sell my in-new condition rev b tibook 667, with airport card, 512 mb of ram, 30gb of hd, dvd, 15.2" screen, long battery life, power supply and 2 years of a 3 year CompUSA warranty.....

And try and get like, $1699 for it. ;)
Click to expand...

I sincerely wish you the best of luck with your puchase. Order the 12" now to avoid the wait!!
 
i use my g3->g4 upgraded B&W with 2 19" CRTs at 1280x1024... lots of space. But, I find, except for FCP, that most of the time, the second monitor just shows my mail, itunes, a couple palettes, etc. Now, I have an iBook with the same 12" screen as the PB12, and I have no problem. I thought I'd be cramped, but I find I just change my workflow to match the screen (i.e. fewer windows open, etc.) I love the portability of the iBook more than I like the big, beautiful screen of my gf's TiBook.

From what I've seen in my local computer shop, the 12PB feels great, like it's machined out of one big chunk of aluminum. Not plasticky like a PC laptop and not 'twisty' and fragile like a TiBook.

Oh, and with 640MB a 700MHz iBook flies, even in FCP and Photoshop. Man, I love that computer.
 
The 12" AlBook doesn't have L3 cache then again MoxieMike, I don't think your TiBook has L3 cache either. The TiBook with DVI has L3 cache.

This might not be that bad an exchange for you with the faster processor. You may want to order it with the 60GB drive instead of just taking an off the shelf one.

Of course if you haven't decided yet what you want to do, you could see what the 15" AlBooks are going to have in them.
 
I just tried a new 12" PB today and I wasn't really impressed with it's speed. It doesnt feel faster at all compared to my G4 450 tower.
And not faster than the 800 Ibook.
I want to buy a new laptop for audio uses but the 15" is too big....
I think i'll go for the ibook.
 
Originally posted by iwantanewmac
I just tried a new 12" PB today and I wasn't really impressed with it's speed. It doesnt feel faster at all compared to my G4 450 tower.
And not faster than the 800 Ibook.
I want to buy a new laptop for audio uses but the 15" is too big....
I think i'll go for the ibook.
Click to expand...

Yeah. The memory sub-system is better. That's about it.

Not worth the $400 extra IMHO.

Just max out the memory/hdd on the iBook and you will be fine. That is what my g/f did with her 800, and it's good to go. 10.2.4 did not make it any faster however...
 
Originally posted by Bear
The 12" AlBook doesn't have L3 cache then again MoxieMike, I don't think your TiBook has L3 cache either. The TiBook with DVI has L3 cache.

This might not be that bad an exchange for you with the faster processor. You may want to order it with the 60GB drive instead of just taking an off the shelf one.

Of course if you haven't decided yet what you want to do, you could see what the 15" AlBooks are going to have in them.
Click to expand...

Yea. That's been something i'm thinking about... since I have 3k in a laptop... and say i sell one worth 1500 bucks... and buy one worth 1700... in the same time, i might have like, 1000.

I dunno. I like the 12. played with it a bit more. it's nice. quick enough (no dual gig. but....)

argh. anyone wanna buy my tibook????

:)
 
Originally posted by Moxiemike
argh. anyone wanna buy my tibook????
Click to expand...

what do you mean by CompUSA warranty? Is it AppleCare that you bought at CompUSA, or the CompUSA service warranty?

how much?
 
Originally posted by yzedf


what do you mean by CompUSA warranty? Is it AppleCare that you bought at CompUSA, or the CompUSA service warranty?

how much?
Click to expand...

It's a CompUSA warranty. i dunno if they still do these... but it covered the screen when AppleCare didn't used to... so if you, say, lay a pencil on your laptop and close it... and kill the screen... you get it replaced for like, a $30 deductible or something.

How much do i want? i dunno. Probably enough to get the the low end 12 inch without adding a ton... maybe around $1900?

www.everymac.com has then listed at $1900-$2000 US.

It's not got any problems with the paint, no chipped paint... was babied... and that warranty is nice.

It's the 667 ti with 30gb drive, airport card and 512mb ram.....
 
$1900???

That is the suggested retail value, ie buying it from a store.

eBay is listing several in the $1200 range...

Thanks anyways.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Register on MacRumors! This sidebar will go away, and you'll see fewer ads.
Top Bottom
Back