Probably buying an iBook.

[Tom Morello]

As I'm only planning to use it for music, messengers and internet etc, I've decided to go for the iBook as a Powerbook would probably be overkill.

Does this sound like a good decision?

Anyway, along with a standard iBook I was going to put a BT module in it and get a BT mouse, iWork 05 as a word processor.

I'm going to buy a GB of RAM and an external hard drive when I manage to save up some more money, but the 256mb and 30gb will do me for the meanwhile.

Another question is exactly how does Airport work? What would I need to buy? Is there an Airport chip already in the iBook or do I buy it seperately?

Is there anything else I'm missing out? I probably won't have too much extra money so don't even mention another display, lol. Thanks.

And it'd be a wise decision to wait for Tiger, yes?

 

[iGary]

By the time you add all that stuff, you might as well had bought a PB.

Technology is never overkill if you can afford it (within reason, folks).

 

[CaptainCaveMann]

As I'm only planning to use it for music, messengers and internet etc, I've decided to go for the iBook as a Powerbook would probably be overkill.

Does this sound like a good decision?

Anyway, along with a standard iBook I was going to put a BT module in it and get a BT mouse, iWork 05 as a word processor.

I'm going to buy a GB of RAM and an external hard drive when I manage to save up some more money, but the 256mb and 30gb will do me for the meanwhile.

Another question is exactly how does Airport work? What would I need to buy? Is there an Airport chip already in the iBook or do I buy it seperately?

Is there anything else I'm missing out? I probably won't have too much extra money so don't even mention another display, lol. Thanks.

And it'd be a wise decision to wait for Tiger, yes?

Why dont you just custom order one with a bigger hdd? The reason i say this is because if you plan on having a lot of music your gonna want that extra hdd space. The install of the mac osx leaves only 19-20 gigs of actual free space on a 30 gig hdd. The rest of it sounds like a good idea. Bt is cool for wireless input devices. I ordered a 12 inch myself and its shipping on or before 3/31/05 so not to long of a wait. I paid 1217 and some change for a 1.2 12 inch 80 gig hdd and bt. With student discount. If you go ahead and order with the bigger hdd you will not regret it. Also the airport card is your wireless internet. Osx automatically detects a wireless network. So as long as you have the card installed(and the new ibooks come with it already installed) and you have a wireless network then youll be all set for wireless internet. Hope that helps. About Tiger; I wouldnt and didnt wait. I wanted another ibook now. And with student discount i can upgrade to Tiger for a reasonable price. As far as i can see the only thing i find reallllly useful in Tiger is Spotlight. But Apple claims they have over a 100 new features in Tiger and im sure they all have their uses. Its really all up to you. Just figure out whats most important to you.

 

[Tom Morello]

I would like it to last a good few years so I wouldn't be against saving a little bit more to buy a PB.
If you added all I mentioned together it'd come to the price of a 12'' PB, but then it has less ram/hd space than my upgraded PB.
Would it really be worth spending all that extra on what seems to be a faster processor? Or are there other differences?

 

[mersea]

Airport cards are included in all iBooks now, Bluetooth isn't so you'd have to pay extra to have it included.

And iBook would do find for what you're wanting to do with it, although I've heard that iWork's Pages isn't the best for word processing..

 

[Tom Morello]

Why dont you just custom order one with a bigger hdd? The reason i say this is because if you plan on having a lot of music your gonna want that extra hdd space. The install of the mac osx leaves only 19-20 gigs of actual free space on a 30 gig hdd. The rest of it sounds like a good idea. Bt is cool for wireless input devices. I ordered a 12 inch myself and its shipping on or before 3/31/05 so not to long of a wait. I paid 1217 and some change for a 1.2 12 inch 80 gig hdd and bt. With student discount. If you go ahead and order with the bigger hdd you will not regret it. Also the airport card is your wireless internet. Osx automatically detects a wireless network. So as long as you have the card installed(and the new ibooks come with it already installed) and you have a wireless network then youll be all set for wireless internet. Hope that helps.

I had my eye on one of those nice Lacie external harddrives but I suppose cost wise they'd be the same per GB (roughly)
So I'd just need to buy an Airport base?

 

[Tom Morello]

Airport cards are included in all iBooks now, Bluetooth isn't so you'd have to pay extra to have it included.

And iBook would do find for what you're wanting to do with it, although I've heard that iWork's Pages isn't the best for word processing..

Yeah, but iWork is only £50 compared to Office which is a fair bit more expensive just for a Word Processor (that's all I'd use it for)

 

[iGary]

I had my eye on one of those nice Lacie external harddrives but I suppose cost wise they'd be the same per GB (roughly)
So I'd just need to buy an Airport base?

Any old 802.11G router will work.

The Airport is just sexy.

And expensive.

 

[CaptainCaveMann]

I had my eye on one of those nice Lacie external harddrives but I suppose cost wise they'd be the same per GB (roughly)
So I'd just need to buy an Airport base?

Whether or not you need an airport base, depends on what your wireless network consists of at this present time. Whats your wireless set-up right now?

 

[CaptainCaveMann]

I would like it to last a good few years so I wouldn't be against saving a little bit more to buy a PB.
If you added all I mentioned together it'd come to the price of a 12'' PB, but then it has less ram/hd space than my upgraded PB.
Would it really be worth spending all that extra on what seems to be a faster processor? Or are there other differences?

I honestly wouldnt buy a 12 inch pb right now. I think the ibook is a better value and more durable but thats just me. I like the idea of being able to toss my ibook around and have it on my lap for a while without discomfort. I think the build quaity is excellent on the ibooks. And for your needs it will last you plenty long. Plus with the money you saved getting the ibook when the next big powerbook revision comes you can spring for one of those bad boys pretty easily.

 

[Tom Morello]

Whether or not you need an airport base, depends on what your wireless network consists of at this present time. Whats your wireless set-up right now?

I have a 802.11g router that I use for wireless internet on this computer (Windows), that'd work?

 

[Mitthrawnuruodo]

By the time you add all that stuff, you might as well had bought a PB.

Technology is never overkill if you can afford it (within reason, folks).

A Bluetooth module is hardly "all that stuff"... and an iBook is more than enough for many (like me), I actually downgraded my order from a PowerBook to an iBook when the first iBook G4's was announced...

And Tom Morello, yes, all iBooks have Airport Express built-in... you need a basestation, too if you gonna use it at home, there's lots of options partly based on your internett access...

More on Airport (aka 802.11b/g aka WiFi) can be found here or, of course, at Apple, e.g .Airport Express, which, by the way, is the base I have connected to my ADSL router and use to network wirelessly with my iBook...

 

[eleveneastgate]

So I'd just need to buy an Airport base?

Not neccesarily, I use SBC/Yahoo as my internet provider. They sent a 2Wire wireless router when I signed up. My iB & PB have no trouble finding it.

BTW, I agree with what others have posted. If you're going to get all that extra stuff for iB, you might get all that stuff in a BTO iB.

I did w/out BT, and opted to max out the RAM* & HDD instead.

Don't forget to set aside some funds for AppleCare.

* RE: RAM. DO NOT buy RAM from Apple, you can get RAM from Crucial or OWC for much cheaper!

 

[Mitthrawnuruodo]

I have a 802.11g router that I use for wireless internet on this computer (Windows), that'd work?

Your iBook (or PowerBook) should connect to that, yes...

...but there are some brands of WiFi routers that bend the rules a little and make equipment that are not Apple compatible (or with any other brands, really...)

But chances are it will work just fine...

 

[Tom Morello]

Nice, you've saved me a bit of £££ there.

I've read a thread saying that 256mb of RAM isn't enough for multiple iLife programs, what are your feelings on this? I thought it was ok on my iMac, but I'll probably buy some more RAM down the line.

And does anybody have a better alternative to iWork?

 

[Mitthrawnuruodo]

My iBook came with 2x128MB RAM (this is an iBook G4 Rev A) with a 60 GB HD BTO, and the first thing I did was replace one of the of the chips with a 3rd party 512 MB chip, giving me 640 MB total... The iBooks today come with 1x256MB IIRC, leaving a free slot for you to upgrade with nice cheaper 3rd party RAM. I would get a 512 MB chip, giving you 768 MB RAM, which I think is the sweetspot between price and performance (256 is usable but VERY slow, 512 is fair enough and 1280 is too expencive).

Also, get the biggest HD you can BTO, it's totally worth it, my 60 GB is just too small...

 

[Tom Morello]

Cheers

 

[NtotheIzoo]

Yeah, but iWork is only £50 compared to Office which is a fair bit more expensive just for a Word Processor (that's all I'd use it for)

You could always go w/ Open Office...

 

[ldburroughs]

You could always go w/ Open Office...

Both OpenOffice and NeoOffice/J are great for the price ... free! Pages is great for the price but is more of a replacement for Microsoft Publisher than it is for Word. There are some pretty basic functions it is lacking that any of the alternatives provides. I picked up a student version of MS Office off a seller on eBay for about the same price I paid for iWork with the student discount. If you are going for strictly for word processing ... MS Office wins hands down. I have both and use Pages for newletters and flyers. I use MS Office for note taking and just about everything else. As for the open source alternatives, they are great for the price but not quite up to par with MS Office. Visually there is no contest. MS Office v. X or 2004 look great. OpenOffice and NeoOffice/J look like they are from an old Windows based machine. They have come a long way and are an excellent option for someone where money is an issue.

Bottome line ... you can't find a decent, good looking program combo to replace Microsoft's Word and Excel but iWork has done a number on PowerPoint. Hopefully the next release of iWork will allow me to drop Microsoft once and for all on my Mac machines.