Powerbook 15 question

[rkid021]

Hello. This is my first post in this forum so please bare with me. I'm sure this has already been brought up, but I need some help regarding the 15 inch powerbook. I am a current PC user and this will be my first MAC purchase. I have been reading up a lot on this powerbook and the new 12 and 17 inch ones as well. I am considering the 15 inch because it appears to be a powerful machine and the price range isn't to bad. After reading reviews from buyers it appears that its a pretty powerful machine and the specs seem to back it up. Then i stumbled upon this site and I noticed I seem to hear some negative things about this machine and the fact it may be updated.

I'm not one to stress about having the most current and best of the best, but I was wondering if you think the current Powerbook is worth the price. Im looking at the PB 15, 1 ghz, 1 gig ram, superdrive model which im finding for around 2800. My only concerns was the ram not being ddr, the video card which I found slight performs better than the gforce in the 17, the drive being ata 66 not ata 100 which doest seem to be a probelm to me either since u cant truly tell a difference.

some feed back would be great.

 

[macktheknife]

The 15 inch TiBook is perfect if you think the 12 inch is too small and the 17 inch is too excessive. Remember that this is a portable--you won't get the most powerful graphics card, biggest HD, etc. I currently have a 550 Mhz TiBook with 512 MB of RAM, a 30 GB HD, and a 16 MB video card--the current 1 Ghz TiBook with all its specs will almost be twice as better as my current TiBook. IMHO, I would avoid getting the superdrive unless you really plan on burning DVDs--it's too slow and consumes a lot of power.

BTW, I'm a switcher too (Dell laptop to TiBook a year ago), and with the exception of some speed issues, I have almost no regrets about my decision. Good luck!

 

[rainman::|:|]

In regards to an update. Others can be more specific on this one, but it's pretty much obvious that the 15" will be updated with Airport Extreme, bluetooth, possibly the backlight keyboard (doubtful), and the aluminum shell to replace the titanium one. It's hard to say when this will happen-- some people think a few days, some people think a month, some people think longer than that. I'd imagine it will go around the 1st of march or so.

it's up to you if you want to wait it out, or jump in. certainly you won't be disappointed with the current TiBook, it's a great machine. if you have use for Bluetooth, Airport Extreme, or a slightly more rugged case, you might consider waiting.

hard decision to make

pnw

 

[Das]

Well, I just laid down the cash for the 867 15" tibook. I chose it because of the wider screen (I mainly use director which has about 500 windows). Also, the current model still has os 9 for some of my olden plug-ins like for Quark(Jag will be the main os I use, but still it's nice to be able to choose) and the current crop has ATI's 9000 gfx card which has tight pixel shaders and is very powerful. The next update will probably go the route of the 420 or 440 which have strong Open Gl, but isn't as powerful (UT2k3 asbestos demo proves that, ouch). Another thing is that the next revision will probably have all of the ports on the side, not in the back like the ti's (judging by the new 17 and 12). I'm not that hip to wires on the side for all things like usb or video out, just a matter of preference. However, on the new revision, they will have the new keyboards, which kinda look cool, and if the keyboard lighty thingy is included, it will be cooler.

Has anyone heard how hot the 17 models get (like the demo units that stay on for a while?). Ah well, back to waiting for the campus to get the 15 in…

 

[Clark C]

I love it

I got the 867 mhz 15 inch for college. It is a great machine. It is amazing how much better the design is that all the other lap tops out there. People always question the Mac, but when I whip this out they are very impressed. It runs fast for all my apps, and has a really good battery life. I love it.

 

[g30ffr3y]

ive got one...

the gig tibook that is, with a gig of ram... i run all the usual mac user programs [ieverything, photoshop, dreamweaver etc...] without any problems even some games... i love it... again... i love it... i was a bit pissed after the new albooks were announced, but like you the 15" suits me the best of all... as far as waiting for a 15" update, i dont expcet one for a while the gig was introduced in november i think... everything you hear on this site or others are just rumors... though many are grounded and true, many are rumors... like the ipod ive been waiting for for three months... oh well... go buy the tibook, when you boot it the first time youll know you made the right decision... but thats just my seven cents...

 

[mymemory]

Personally speaking

I would consider a 12" PB and a 17" flat panel display.

If you really need to use the PB every where and spend hours with it you may get the 15". But if you use it a lot at home/office and you take it around often just to show things but not to work on it for hours I would recomend getting a new 17" flat panel display too, just to works graphics and menus in diferent screens.

I currendly have 2 powerbooks but the old ones, the black ones but 2 of the top of the line of that series. They have 14" that is a respetable size to do moth of the things.

I have a tower with a 17" CTR monitor and I never use it because I like compact things. Actually I'm selling them, the tower with a dual 500 Mhz processor with the monitor, and I'm keeping the peripherals.

Everything depends of what you are gonna do.

BTW,

The very good thing is that you can find my powerbooks in e-bay for $600, with G3 500, 128+ ram 30GB HD and they are as powerfull or a bit more then an actual iBook... just without the super drive.