Powerbook buying advice please :-)

[ion]

Hiya all,

I'm new here so be gentle if what i am about to ask has been covered although i'm asking on a different angle probably..

I am just about to purchase a new powerbook and I have been looking at the 15" combo (a superdrive would be nice but i'm on a pretty strict budget) which retails at around £1379 (inc VAT) from AppleStore.

However, I just checked on cwonline.co.uk (a reseller I bought my current G4 466 from) and they are still selling the 'old' powerbooks.

The 'old' 15" combo retails at £1145 (inc VAT) also theres a price difference of around £130 between the new 15" superdrive and the previous model.

My work is mainly graphic design so i'm using the usual photoshop, illustrator, quark, some flash, imovie, bbedit etc.. I'm also going to be using it for music so i'll be running Reason and Logic.

I suppose my question really is, with a bit of saving to be had, is it worth considering getting an 'older' model as opposed to the new ones? Is there really such a big difference in performance?

Sorry to drag this on but i'm just starting my own business so I can't really afford to splash out too much.

Any feedback / comments most welcome.

Cheers,

ion

 

[Applespider]

Add in the cost of extra RAM for the older one (although you're likely to want more than 512 looking at the apps you want to run) - it might be better to get the old one and put in two 512 sticks (removing a single 256) than having to replace both 256 ones.

The Bluetooth 2.0 probably won't be that useful now but might be going forward - I guess it might depend on how long you plan on keeping the 'Book.

Are you likely to use the trackpad a lot or work with a mouse? The scrolling functionality sounds great and very useful but there are workarounds for older Powerbooks (although not quite so elegant)

 

[ion]

If i'm working at home, i'll be using a mouse and keyboard so the trackpad thing isn't really an issue..

 

[tykles]

it might be better to get the old one and put in two 512 sticks (removing a single 256) than having to replace both 256 ones.

He's looking at the 15". That comes with a single SO-DIMM, so it won't need to be replaced unless you want more than 1.5GB RAM. Another option if you want SuperDrive is to do what I did- get a SD BTO onthe new 15" Combo. I saved $170 and sacrificed a mere 170 MHz of CPU.