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Run in terror! Another whinny, cliched, n00bie IBOOK V. PBOOK thread!

R

Ryvius

macrumors member
Original poster
May 4, 2004
78
0
Now that I've killed any chance of getting some valuable feedback, here's some details... ;)

I bought an iBook in 2002 and loved it. Dragged it to class, played games, typed papers, used my first iPod on it.

I use a PC for desktop work. I can't stand desktop Macs. I cannot, however, stand PC Notebooks. Therein lies the greatest contradiction of my being.

Or whatever.

Anyway, my iBook is beloved. It's also old. And given that I'm probably going to sell it and attempt and buy a new one I'm faced with a problem.

Love the iBook format, glad to see it has a new video card (mine had 8megs of video ram), but daaaaamn those PBooks are pretty sweet. I was over at the Apple Store the other day and they have to be the sleekest thing in world. Especially the 12" one, I always go for the compact models.

Anyway, price isn't really a problem. Both are about the same, few hundred dollar difference max.

But I question whether or not I really "need" it.

Basically this computer needs to do the following:

-- Be a reliable backup to when my PC crashes. (well duh)
-- Be extremely portable (12" model or bust)
-- Be able to do light word processing, photoshopping and gaming. (I'm a writer and love C&C Generals)
-- Be durable (I don't drop my machines, I have a special backpack for labtops, but fragile pieces of glass scare me)
-- Good battery time and good WiFi support (I travel a lot, need the wireless hookup!)

Your thoughts and opinions on my life-altering decision are appreciated.

My fate hangs in the balance.

With meldramatic respect,

Ryvius
 
Quite honestly the line is pretty blurred between the 12" PB and iBook. Now days i would go for the ibook, its cheaper and plenty fast. If portability is a top concern tho i'd go with a powerbook, my pb doesnt look that much smaller than my girlfriends 800mhz g3 ibook, but when traveling you can really tell the difference in size and weight.
 
LOL... WOW !!! You really are a tortured soul ;-)... Just out of curiosity, what do you hate about mac desktops?... Does the iMac not take up enough room on your desk, too quiet, what ?... eMac not crash enough to justify it's $ 799.00 bargain basement price ?... Powermacs too upgradeable ?..lol.. I'm teasing you, of course, seriously I don't know what C&C generals, is but for everything else you mentioned an iBook would be great... Though the 12 " PB is sweet... I'm not helping at all am I? ...lol...;-)
 
I'd also like to know what you dislike about Mac desktops...

I never thought i'd have a Mac desktop, but only because i needed to have a portable. Well, a year ago my job offered to buy me a desktop mac, so I pitched them on the dual G5. Now it kills me that I don't have one at home...(don't get me wrong, i love my powerbook) but this thing is amazing, handles everything I throw at it. I never have to shut it down. Just awesome...
 
The iBook would be perfect for everything exept C C Generals. I would ask in the game forum if anyone has the game and the iBook you are looking at. I powerbook is a great computer too though. I really enjoy mine.
 
For everything but C&C you could probably get away with the iBook. Even with the powerbook (which I would get anyway because it's so much cooler) it's still probably going to spank it and just laugh at you trying to run it. I've tried running it on a PC with 512 meg of ram, a 1ghz athalon, and a 64 meg video card, and it got about 6 seconds per frame. That's not 6 frames a second, which would still suck, but 6 seconds per frame. Unplayable. Granted, it was a pci video card makes a pretty big difference. However, I currently have a PC with an amd 2400+, 512 meg of ram, and a 128 meg ati 9000 pro for the video card. It runs well enough, but again, if you even add one medium or hard enemy into a multiplayer game it goes so slow you can just about make yourself a snack by the time your tanks make it across the screen.

I'm still personally a little biased toward the 12" powerbook though, since I bought one a week ago. However, after only a few days the latch stopped working, and it's currently in CA getting some apple TLC. One evening though I got myself a demo of wolfenstein to test out the gaming prowess of my new machine, and after about a half an hour of play I determined that it definitely got the job done if you leave the resolution in the 640x480 to 800x600 range without any crazy details. It played at 1028x768 with high details, but no more than a few frames a second. It was pretty cool to see on my lap, but it wasn't worth playing at that. I should also add I could have fried a frigging egg on the wrist rest by the time I was done with this little test.

If you're really set on playing games you're going to have to go to at least the barebones 15", and if you've got the coin go ahead and custom order one of the 1.5ghz 15" models, make it a 128 meg 9700 video card for another 50 bucks, and drop the superdrive for a savings of 200.

I hope that all helps, but I'm afraid if you want some portable RTS action you may have to stick to warcraft or some of the older C&C games.
 
You will be able to play C&C Generals on a Powerbook 12" (64DDR) but the iBook would run it very slowly with the 32DDR 9200, which is a conservative mobile card to say the least.
 
I'm in the exact some boat as this guy(or girl.) My advise would be to go to the Apple store and buy the one you fall in love with. It sounds like thats gonna be the powerbook, so dont worry about the extra $$$.
p.s how big of a diffence does the 64mb of video ram over the 32 on the ibook make. Important for games like Sim City 4? Or even general use?
 
Yup, I'm in the same boat too although my mind is just about made up. I've got a desktop replacement PC laptop but am sick of the size of it and really want something more compact that just does what I want it to do (and not what it wants to do - crash, mysteriously go slow etc.).

I thought of defecting to the 12" iBook especially since they've just had the spec upped. So off I went down to my local Apple Centre to check it out. Well, it kinda looks okay but as my friend pointed out, the equivalent PB is sooooo much better looking and feels slightly lighter despite having a (widely discussed) hefty price premium.

So my mind's made up? Nope. I did some research on these forums and found that on the main criteria for me choosing which one to go with, the iBook seemed to come out ahead. Now, remember that this is just from what I have read so no practical experience but apparently the battery life on the iBook is slightly longer, the WiFi reception better and the case is more durable. Put these together with the cheaper price (even when specced up with AE and BT etc.) then the iBook for me is the winner despite being the gawky kid brother of the grown-up PB.

So why haven't I bought yet? Well, I don't *need* it, but I *want* it. I've just got to justify (or try to blank out) to myself the AU$2k it's going to cost! Shoudln't be too tough I reckon ;)
 
What do I dislike about Apple Desktops? All the technology I need for gaming, work, and school I primarily find on WinXp. I hate PC notebooks so much because of poor quality, style, and other oddities. Is there any PC notebook that compares to Apple's line? I haven't found any, not even Alienware's Area51m (arguably the most stylistic notebook PC has) doesn't hack it.

Both relationships are born our of need and conditioning.

Anyway....

How rugged is the Pbook? I've heard it isn't as rugged as the iBook which confuses me somewhat. I'm not going to purposely damage the thing, drop it or whatever. But durability is important.

And I don't want to open my Targus backpack one day to find it was damaged by pushing it into the overhead compartment of an airline.
 
well... for games, the PB is going to be a much better choice.

But other than that, it sounds like an ibook would easily do what you want. ibooks also have markedly better wifi range and battery life, both of which you said were important. The ibook is also certainly more durable.

Look, bottom line is that if cost is not an issue, the PB is a better machine. Faster processor, faster RAM, faster bus, option of a 5400 RPM hard drive, DVI out, audio in, smaller and lighter, twice the video RAM, higher quality screen. The ibook might well be the better value, but the PB is the better machine.

So if cost isn't a problem... go PB, unless you *really* care about an extra hour of battery life and better wifi range.
 
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