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PowerBook 12" or Low end G4 Tower?

adamfilip

adamfilip

macrumors 6502a
Original poster
Apr 13, 2003
841
1
burlington, Ontario canada
im going back to school this august.

im going back for a new media design course.
mainly Flash and interactive stuff.

i have already completed a Graphic Design course and practice
as a freelance designer.

the school is equiped with midrange g4 towers.

i dont currently own a mac.

i am planning on making a purchase shortly after WWDC this june

im not sure if i should get a Powerbook 12" base model
or a PowerMac g4 tower (base model)

either machine will have enough power to do what ever i want with it..

im use to running a g4 400.. and its fine.. so the 866 powerbook or 1gig powermac tower will just seem like its screaming fast in comparison.

so should i get the powerbook. or powermac.

the powerbook would be convienient.. i could take it around.. transfer files from school.. and have the convienence a powerbook offers..

once home i would connect the powerbook to my 21" Trinitron CRT and run dual screens.. for mega realestate..

i could also get a regular Mac keyboard and mouse.. so make it feel no differntr then a desktop system.

if i get the powermac tower. i would have a faster system with more expandability and a cooler home setup.

i would also like to get myself a 15gig ipod.. to backup my files and mp3's

after school is done i plan on using this machine as my main design station (ofcourse depending on my situation i could get an entirely new desktop/laptop) to supliment my other machine..

oh the delema.

i only wish the powerbooks came with apple 3 year warrenty inc.

its like $500 bucks. extra.. thats alot!

also im canadian..

anyways

any words of advice
 
well, your mind may change soon depending on what happens at wwdc. you said you were going to wait which is a good idea. there's a good chance the towers may get new 970 while powerbooks might not be updated till a little bit later. in which case, i'd go with a tower with 970 over a powerbook with a g4.
anyway, i like towers..... faster, more expandle, run cooler, etc

not to say portability hasn't crossed my mind on numerous occasions.
 
i d really go for the PowerBook the portability is a ( for me , and i suppose for you ) a very important feature. If the G4 400 is fast enough, you won t miss performance using the PowerBook.
 
Originally posted by evil
one plus for the powebook:
the 650 dollar price drop that was just implemented
Click to expand...
huh? it was just a 200 dollar price drop, unless your talking about a different currency.

iJon
 
desktop.

seriously.

personally, after months of toying back and forth, i decided (if i had the money), i'd go laptop.

but for design work, especially in flash, those palletes add up really quickly on a 12 inch screen.

seriously think about that. i've had to do that kind of work at 1024x768 after having like a 21 incher to work with, and there's no comparison. it's less of a pain to you and will make you more productive.

matt
 
Originally posted by iJon
huh? it was just a 200 dollar price drop, unless your talking about a different currency.

iJon
Click to expand...

yes. im talking about canadian currency.
the guy who started the thread is canadian. and, well, i live in canada
 
Student? Buy a 15" PB. Plenty fast for what your needs are, and plenty portable. You can always hook it to an external display.

12" is cute, and portable, but if you have the means, get the 15.
 
I would like to mention that after getting the 15 I'll probably never go back to desktops again. With Flash and stuff you wouldn't absoultly need a 970, so a Powerbook would suit you just fine. Though if you can wait until Panther comes out, get a Powerbook with Panther.
 
don't get me wrong, i'd give up quite a bit for a 15 or 17 incher (but apparently i just don't have enough to give... who knew?), but if you're planning on flash and the like, the 12's screen is going to be your limitation. unless, unless, unless, with the next rev, we see a little better video out support. then that would be fine, granted you grab yourself a decent monitor to go with.

side note... if you don't plan on using a digital display as your second display, and you don't mind a dongle, the 12 wouldn't be too bad... but keep your eye out for that update. if they don't have anything you 'need' to have in rev 2, then you can still score a great deal on the rev 1 machine.

matt
 
This one's tough. I work with Dreamweaver, Fireworks, and Flash myself, but on a 15" iMac. As a student as well, I really wish I had a laptop, but at the same time, I like the real estate the LCD gives me. On the other hand, I could really use MORE real estate, especially for Flash - ugh, the palettes, the palettes!!!!

If you're going with a 12" PowerBook, definitely spend the money on the monitor adapter so you can have two screens going at once. Put the pallettes on one monitor and work on the other monitor, that's sure to save your sanity.
 
Originally posted by adamfilip
why does the 12 need an $300 adapter to span monitors

it has a vga out port... not a dvi like on the 15 and 17
Click to expand...
your missing the point. if you want to hook up a "digital" monitor you have to have the 300 dollar adapter.

iJon
 
Originally posted by adamfilip
understood.. but im not hooking up a "digital" monitor
i just have a 21" CRT reg old analog connection
Click to expand...
then out of the box you are good to go.

iJon
 
Get $500 off purchase!!

Ever see those auctions on eBay selling information on how to get a big discount, but it's not the education discount? Well, I emailed one of the auction winners and he told me everything....for free! You have to be a student though. You just pay $100 for a student developer membership (info located under "developer" tab at www.apple.com) and then you get a one time hardware discount. I would suggest buying as much stuff as possible. Airport base stations are $50 off each model and iPod's are around $80 off each model. Anyways, it's an awesome deal that isn't advertised much. I would definitely recommend looking into it. I just got a 17" PB and 15 GB iPod. The 17" was $2699 instead of $3300! The 15's are only $2000. Or you could go with a tower and use the extra money you saved to upgrade the display size! Oh the possibilities! Hope this helps.:D
 
If you know you are not going to use the 12" lcd (rather hook it up to your 21 crt) to do most of your designing - then the powerbook is a good choice. I would go crazy designing on that small screen for any major project or a long period of time. As other's mentioned the 15" is nicer if you can afford it and not bad to do design on. Not saying it is great but much easier for longer periods of time. Before you buy the laptop, see if your design lab monitors can be easily disconnected. If this is the case, you the 12" PB would work great in design class and be perfect for your other classes where you might want to just use Word. Make sure you go wireless if you buy the PB!

Since you are waiting, if the 970 appears in the desktop line that might be worth going for based on speed. I know you said the G4 400 worked for you, and yes a G4 800 or 1Ghz would be noticably faster - but I wouldn't say scream. The 970 might have that scream factor.

My personal observation has been people that buy a tower always want the latest and newest about 12-18 months later. Powerbook owners seem to more content with their purchase for about 18-24 months. Nothing scientific, just a personnal observation.
 
interesting idea.. regarding the developer
except i cant see any prices when you are a developer so how would i know exactly how much i would save

also im almost 25 so if the student Dev needs under 18. well im out..
 
For a student (such as myself) the portability of a PB has been incredible. I have dual monitors set up at home and in my design lab at school, so screen real estate is never a problem, plus I tend to do a lot of visual presentation work in Keynote/Flash etc., so it is nice to be able to bring my own computer to hook up to a projection unit. I never have any problems connecting to the projector myself, but the people who have to rely on someone elses computer or one borrowed from the university for the presentation have tons of trouble hooking it up. I don't know if it is just inexperience with the equipment, or because the school only loans out windows machines, but I have sat and watched for long periods of time while some of these people have booted, rebooted, rebooted again, while I simply walk up with my computer asleep, connect it up, open it, and detect monitors. Bam. Takes me under 30 seconds to do what others take at least 3-4 minutes, or much much longer. Of course if you get a tower, you can set it up to fold. I don't use my laptop for that cuz it gets too hot from running all the time.
 
Good News for ya!

Originally posted by adamfilip
interesting idea.. regarding the developer
except i cant see any prices when you are a developer so how would i know exactly how much i would save

also im almost 25 so if the student Dev needs under 18. well im out..
Click to expand...

Age shouldn't be a factor. The requirement is that you have to be a full time college student and have to fax Apple a copy of your schedule with Student ID and number. That's it.

To check prices go to apple.com, developer tab, ADC Hardware Purchase Program, United States (or Canada in your case), the click on the ADC banner a little ways down. This will take you right into the wonderful world of Apple savings. You will save around $500 including the $100 membership fee you pay to join, depending on the setup you buy. You're actually paying for info about Apple and it's technologies. You'll get a newsletter every month or week (I can't remember), CD's and DVD's containing sample code, new programs, Beta programs, etc. Then as a bonus they offer a one-time hardware purchase. The only catch is that the ownership can't be transfered for one year, to stop people from buying and selling and making a huge profit.

If you want to take advantage of this go back to the developer tab, click on it, then go to Student Developer (should be below "ADC Hardware Purchase Program" link. Once in, you can browse around to see how to purchase it and read other info about it. This is their cheapest membership plan, and honestly I just joined for the hardware discount. I'm not a developer and don't know jack about sample code and the stuff they give me....but the great thing about this is you don't have to be!

To check your savings, open up the ADC Apple Store next to the regular Apple store, or Education store to see the savings.

If you have any questions please feel free to email me at jcrhino@hotmail.com as I don't check these message boards on a regular basis.

I hope this helps you get a sweet setup. Good luck!

Sincerely,
MUrhino
 
Re: Good News for ya!

Originally posted by MUrhino
Age shouldn't be a factor. The requirement is that you have to be a full time college student and have to fax Apple a copy of your schedule with Student ID and number. That's it.
Click to expand...

I didn't even have to send off any information to apple at all. Not sure if they were able to verify what I told them somehow, but all I did was tell them where I went to school. Just remember, you can only do this once per lifetime so unless you got a line on reincarnation or cloning yourself, make it a good one. Get as much stuff as you can afford, just realize the price reductions aren't as good on the consumer lines, the best discounts are on the pro lines. iPods are a pretty good deal too.
 
Re: Re: Good News for ya!

Originally posted by mactastic
Just remember, you can only do this once per lifetime so unless you got a line on reincarnation or cloning yourself, make it a good one. Get as much stuff as you can afford, just realize the price reductions aren't as good on the consumer lines, the best discounts are on the pro lines.
Click to expand...

Couldn't have said it better. Definitely get as much stuff as you can, and don't waste extra $$ on memory upgrades as you can do that later. I wouldn't get an Airport base station as there are cheaper 802.11g wireless routers out there that are cheaper than $200. Looking at your situation, I'd go Powerbook and iPod, or PowerMac and awesome display, or sacrifice the display size for an iPod. Just play around and see what you can get. It really is amazing, but keeping in mind what was said above, make it a good purchase.

After I graduate in two years, I plan on having one of my friends doing this for me again so I can buy a desktop once I settle down. Then I'll have a desktop and a 17" traveling companion. Although legally I won't own it for the first year:rolleyes: But hey, that's how I think. Anyways good luck.
 
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