Please Help- Which PowerBook (again) -Please Help

[EJBasile]

Hello Everyone

I was almost definate I was going to buy a 15" Combo PowerBook. I can't stop thinking if thats the right choice- If I'm going to be spending a lot of money on a MAC I want to make sure I get the one that fits me best. I will mostly be using my new Mac for lots of word processing, e-mail, multimedia- (iLife + Final Cut Express), maybe some photo editing (photoshop elements).

My Choices (with edu discount )

-PowerBook G4 15" Combo 1.33ghz/256/60gb/Stock new
$1799

-PowerBook G4 15" Super 1.25ghz/512/80gb/Stock refurb
$1899 (MAX of Price range)

-PowerBook G4 15" Super 1ghz/512/60gb/Ti/Stock refurb
$1699 at apple refurb store- wow great deal

-PowerBook G4 15" Combo 1ghz/256/60gb/al/Stock refurb
$1599

-PowerBook G4 12" Super 1.33ghz/256/60gb/Stock new
$1599 +maybe ram upgrade to 512


DO I NEED A SUPER DRIVE- SHOULD I UPGRADE LATER IF I FIND I WILL REALLY NEED ONE? SHOULD I PUT MY MOVIES ON VHS?

 

[Rod Rod]

Hello Everyone

I was almost definate I was going to buy a 15" Combo PowerBook. I can't stop thinking if thats the right choice- If I'm going to be spending a lot of money on a MAC I want to make sure I get the one that fits me best. I will mostly be using my new Mac for lots of word processing, e-mail, multimedia- (iLife + Final Cut Express), maybe some photo editing (photoshop elements).

My Choices (with edu discount )

-PowerBook G4 15" Combo 1.33ghz/256/60gb/Stock new
$1799

-PowerBook G4 15" Super 1.25ghz/512/80gb/Stock refurb
$1899 (MAX of Price range)

-PowerBook G4 15" Super 1ghz/512/60gb/Ti/Stock refurb
$1699 at apple refurb store- wow great deal

-PowerBook G4 15" Combo 1ghz/256/60gb/al/Stock refurb
$1599

-PowerBook G4 12" Super 1.33ghz/256/60gb/Stock new
$1599 +maybe ram upgrade to 512


DO I NEED A SUPER DRIVE- SHOULD I UPGRADE LATER IF I FIND I WILL REALLY NEED ONE? SHOULD I PUT MY MOVIES ON VHS?

Apple stores will also sell you brand-new 15" combo drive Aluminum PowerBooks with educational discount for $1599.. same price as the refurb, but not a refurb.

A good strategy for saving your movies is to put them onto miniDV tape. Since you're working in DV anyhow (in Final Cut Express) this is the best way to archive your movies. The best ways to share your movies, of course, are on VHS and DVD.

One of my friends got a Superdrive PowerBook four months ago. He hasn't burned one DVD yet. Superdrives have advantages (convenience, no extra things to plug in, works with iDVD without using the easter egg), but they also have disadvantages: CD burning is slower, iTunes music importing is slower, and they cost $200 more than combo drive models.

In the past two days I had a very similar choice to make, between a bunch of the machines you listed. I finally decided on the combo drive 12" 1.33GHz PowerBook. With educational discount it was $1399+tax.

The LaCie 8x DVD+/- r/rw external FireWire drive sells for $169 at the Apple education store (online). You could also get a Pioneer 107 (8x DVD burner) for $103, shipped, and put it in an external FireWire enclosure ($35-40). OS X will work seamlessly with either (no drivers to install). Employ the iDVD easter egg and you'll be burning DVDs at will, while also having faster CD burning and iTunes ripping inside your PowerBook.

One more thing: it's a good idea to have money left over to upgrade your RAM.

 

[invaLPsion]

-PowerBook G4 15" Combo 1.33ghz/256/60gb/Stock new
$1799

-PowerBook G4 15" Super 1.25ghz/512/80gb/Stock refurb
$1899 (MAX of Price range)

-PowerBook G4 15" Super 1ghz/512/60gb/Ti/Stock refurb
$1699 at apple refurb store- wow great deal

-PowerBook G4 15" Combo 1ghz/256/60gb/al/Stock refurb
$1599

-PowerBook G4 12" Super 1.33ghz/256/60gb/Stock new
$1599 +maybe ram upgrade to 512


DO I NEED A SUPER DRIVE- SHOULD I UPGRADE LATER IF I FIND I WILL REALLY NEED ONE? SHOULD I PUT MY MOVIES ON VHS?

Without a doubt go for the 1.33 at the top.

Personally, I hate superdrives, they slow down the speed at which you can burn CDs.