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Polycarbonate iBook vs Aluminum PowerBook?

A

aleccj1

macrumors newbie
Original poster
Apr 17, 2009
7
0
The interweb thing
I'm getting a laptop soon, but I want to stay away from Intel (by brother can get pretty sneaky, one day I could have OS X, next day I could boot up into Windows, it's happened b4...). Here's what it has come to:
iBook G4- 14 inch, 1.45 GHz, 1.5 GB RAM, Combo Drive, $660
OR
PowerBook G4- 15 inch, 1.67 GHz, 2 GB RAM, Combo Drive, $700

I could go either way, so it has basically come down to these questions:
1. Which is more durable- Aluminum or Polycarbonate- I'm pretty OCD when it comes to my electronics, so this is just from YOUR experience.
2. Do the last gen iBooks (like one listed above) stain yellowish brown on the palmrests like the white MacBooks?

My only uses for these would be web browsing, email, and word processing. I really would not take this laptop out of my house- only once in a while.
Opinions are appreciated.

EDIT: I will not get an INTEL
 
I'm pretty sure I have OCD, but I would definitely get the PowerBook.
The design of the iBook and white MacBook gets old quickly. Whereas I still appreciate the design of the PowerBook/MBP/uMBP.

Thats just me though.

PS: Thats a pretty bad reason to not buy an Intel......
 
Sorry, but why are you looking to get a machine with the PowerPC architecture? They're not even going to be supported much longer. If you're worried about your brother installing Windows on an intel just set a firmware password.

Anyway, my vote is for the Aluminum powerbook.
 
The bigger screen slightly faster CPU, and additional ram are all well worth the difference in cost - I would get the Powerbook...

That said, for about $150 more, you could get a refurb white MacBook with a full factory warranty., that would be MUCH faster and last MUCH longer than any of the PowerPC machines.

$700 seems a bit steep for the PowerPC machines...

What about a firmware password to keep your brother out? Isn't there a way to do this on the MacBooks?
 
aross99 said:
The bigger screen slightly faster CPU, and additional ram are all well worth the difference in cost - I would get the Powerbook...

That said, for about $150 more, you could get a refurb white MacBook with a full factory warranty., that would be MUCH faster and last MUCH longer than any of the PowerPC machines.

$700 seems a bit steep for the PowerPC machines...

What about a firmware password to keep your brother out? Isn't there a way to do this on the MacBooks?
Click to expand...

Yeah, well, my brother and I are both major computer nerds. He is a diehard Windows fanboy, while I am a diehard Apple fanboy. I set up a pass, he always finds ways around it, i find a new way to block him, it goes on forever...
 
aleccj1 said:
I set up a pass, he always finds ways around it, i find a new way to block him, it goes on forever...
Click to expand...

Get a Safe, heh

really though you can get a first gen macbook for under 600, i would never pay that much money for a G4, you wont even run youtube on leopard without video lagg. Not worth the money

PS: If you buy a G4, that means your brother won!!
 
The iBook is a very durable machine. We still have one that we use every day (we bought the last revision of the iBook, 1.5 GHz, before Apple moved over to Intel and the Macbook). The fact that PowerPC will not be supported for much longer is, however, something to think about.
 
aleccj1 said:
I'm getting a laptop soon, but I want to stay away from Intel (by brother can get pretty sneaky, one day I could have OS X, next day I could boot up into Windows, it's happened b4...). Here's what it has come to:
iBook G4- 14 inch, 1.45 GHz, 1.5 GB RAM, Combo Drive, $660
OR
PowerBook G4- 15 inch, 1.67 GHz, 2 GB RAM, Combo Drive, $700

I could go either way, so it has basically come down to these questions:
1. Which is more durable- Aluminum or Polycarbonate- I'm pretty OCD when it comes to my electronics, so this is just from YOUR experience.
2. Do the last gen iBooks (like one listed above) stain yellowish brown on the palmrests like the white MacBooks?

My only uses for these would be web browsing, email, and word processing. I really would not take this laptop out of my house- only once in a while.
Opinions are appreciated.
Click to expand...

With all due respect, this is one of the stupidest things Ive ever read. So you're going to buy a laptop that is obsolete so your brother 'can't install windows on it'? And you're willing to pay $700 for a computer that is 5 years old, with a completely outdated architcture that the next OSX may not even support?? Seems like a piss poor way of using your $$, but whatever floats your boat. It's your computer- your brother has no right to screw around with it (especially installing a new OS), and you should make that clear.
 
Slurpy2k8 said:
With all due respect, this is one of the stupidest things Ive ever read. So you're going to buy a laptop that is obsolete so your brother 'can't install windows on it'? And you're willing to pay $700 for a computer that is 5 years old, with a completely outdated architcture that the next OSX may not even support?? Seems like a piss poor way of using your $$, but whatever floats your boat. It's your computer- your brother has no right to screw around with it (especially installing a new OS), and you should make that clear.
Click to expand...

Yeah, but I kind of mess with his stuff too.:D
 
I have a 14" ibook powerpc, like you mentioned above. I do have a bit of staining on the palmrests. It's not that bad though, so don't let that be a reason to get or not get this model. However, it runs video very slowly. Flash video runs in slow motion basically.

I have loved this computer though. it's been very reliable. it's just becoming a bit outdated and slow. If you don't have to do any hardcore computing like video, flash, adobe software, etc. then this is probably fine. Otherwise, I'd get a newer model.

I'm actually probably gonna buy a new mac this week, so I can have more speed. The Adobe programs are running very slowly on this.

By the way, i had a powerbook before this and hated it. It was a 12" powerbook and it had major overheating issues and kernel panics. i've been much much happier with the 14" ibook. I'll probably get one of the new macbooks.
 
I hope you realise it's against the forum rules to post what is pretty much the same topic more than once.
 
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