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Soon to be a student question

Rob587

Rob587

macrumors 6502a
Original poster
Jul 4, 2004
801
1
Orlando, FL
I am currently a light PC gammer but I mainly listen to music and put stuff on my ipod and I am sick of windows so I want to make the switch. I cant decide btwn a maxed out powermac or a maxed out 17" powerbook. Portability isnt really a huge issue becuase I wouldnt take the 17" anywhere but to and from school and home. I wouldnt use it in class, but I am still extremely drawn to it becuase of how it looks I guess and that I could take it home, but should I sacrafice the looks and go with the power? thanks for your help.
 
if you plan on gaming anytime on your mac, the g5 would prolly be the better choice, but if its not that big of a deal/can handle lower fps, portability while at school rocks. you'd never think about it, but its just soo nice being able to walk around with all of your files, lay in bed while typing, etc. Its easier to get it lifted (how conspicuous is it when someone is trying to run off with a g5 tower?), but again, if you care about gaming, its better to go tower.

i think anyway. shortly, there'll be about 10 people who disagree with me, so take it for what its worth :)
 
Buy an Xbox for gaming. I play UT2k4 on my 17" Powerbook with no problem, but don't count on having a great selection of games.

Get what you need to do computing, both are fantastic computers. Portability is nice.... :D
 
Sounds like you have some funds to burn so I would say get a nice PowerMac either dual 2 or 2.5 and max it out. Then just get a baseline 12in powerbook for portability and looks. You could get the pb quite cheaply, it would not even need the superdrive.
 
If your a serious gamer get the G5. If you don't mind your games being a little slower then why not buy the sexiest notebook ever made? If you max out the ram in the powerbook your games will run fine. Get the 17 with like 1.5 gigs of ram, 128 vram, 5400 rpm HD. That would be an awsome setup to run games. Plus you can take our games wherever you go. Built in airport is awsome if you want to play games on the net wirelessly. But like i said before, if you are a "serious" gamer, then get the G5.
 
Like I said, I rarley play games, but when I do I want them to run ok. I kinda like the idea of getting a 2.0ghtz G5 with maybee an Ibook, but then again it would be nice to have a perfect 17" or a perfect Powermac, and on top of that, Im not Bill gates :D . And the notebooks are so pretty. Gosh, I still dont know. :confused: anyone else have any more good ideas?
 
Since you seem to have money to burn, and I'm going to assume you're not a graphic arts major, I would get a slightly below the top G5 (Dual 2.0, perhaps going without the BIGGEST HD or the MOST RAM, but something on the higher end), then use the money you saved on the CPU, HD and RAM to get an iBook or PowerBook.

Portability is more wonderful than you might realize, but a powerful desktop is also nice.
 
When I was an incoming freshman, I had the same decision to make, but on the PC side (not enough money for a Mac). I chose a laptop. Why? Because...

1. Portability is incredible. I love being able to take notes in class on my laptop...or surf the web if the prof's just boring.
2. Less to take apart when it's time to go home for the summer.
3. Dorm rooms are tiny. Have you seen your dorm room yet? It may not leave you with much of a choice...

That's been my experience, YMMV. Good luck in freshman year, don't study too hard, and you'll have a blast!
 
mac games in the uk are seriously hard to find and when you do find the one you want they usually cost £10-£20 more than on PC, not to mention that most games don't even get ported. (i would imagine its the same in the US) i would get a powerbook and then get a cheap PC to thrash for games. (if you havent got a ps2 or xbox)

i wouldn't expect battery life to be too good on a 17" if you play games on it.
 
like i said b4, i only do limited gaming and all the games i love are made for macs.. so thats not a problem, and i really dont have the money to buy two machines. any other ideas? :confused: And I am also debating on majoring in somthing in computers, but I am not sure what yet, so that could be somthing to factor in.
 
I would get the dual 2.5 G5 maxed out as much as you can and then maybe later like next year you could get a powerbook. By then the G5 PB might be out which would be a good time to buy and would last a long time.
 
Decide on the major I guess

I think it won't matter what Mac you get. My 2 cents. Difference is just performance. If you decide on graphics desing then I suggest go all the way, that will give you the power you need for classes, work and other things. I bought a 12" Powerbook around xmas and its phreaking awesome. I'm A CS grad student and it does everything and anything I need it to do. But like someone mentioned. If you want go all the way on a G5 2.5 or 2.0 and then you'll be able to add either an iBook or a Powerbook. I'm trying to get a G5, but I plan to get something affordable. Looking at refurbs for the past 2 days now. For gaming all you'll have to do is get a better graphics card, that might help your games more than the processor. Again this is my 2 cents, use them or not is your decision.
 
I am still unsure of the major, but no matter what I think a maxed out powerbook can handle most of whatever it is I choose, although I could be wrong. The desktop sounds more practicle, but everytime I think about settling on it, I picture myself with a 17" powerbook and I become confused again. They are both so pretty. I need some solid reasons to get one or the other. Anyone have any?
 
You're not going to get "solid" reasons to get either of those computers. Plenty of people work with much slower computers, and get a lot done. If you step back, you may realize that there is something else you would rather have, and you could split your funds between a lower end mac and something else (even, gasp, not computer related).

That said, since you seem sold on top of the line, so here's my advice:
Get the desktop for the beautiful 20" or 23" screens
(You don't have to sacrifice looks!)
 
wow, that was some pretty solid advice right there! I think ur right. I just have to decide on my own.
 
go with a 2.5 g5 not maxed on hard drive or ram, but with the 6800 and then get a 12" powerbook (only 1400 with edu pricing) the best of both worlds. wish i had that kind of money...
id probably end up with a combo emac lol :D
 
A powerbook full up on ram and HD will be able to do whatever you need. It will take a bit more to render if you are working in, say, Maya, but the portability is a great tradeoff. I'm sitting five feet away from my desk with my feet up by the TV, and in a couple hours, I'll take my powerbook to bed. The confort, and sexy laptop factors beat out quick DVD burns or Renders the few times I need them.

Besides, rendering video gives an excuse for a quick beverage break ;)
 
man, I wish I could test drive this stuff for like a month and see which one im more happy with, b/c no matter what, u just cant put the computer in the store up to what u do in everyday life for a month. I like the laptop mainly b/c its so attractive but I dont want to get it and after a year of using it become less carring about its looks and start wishing i had a faster G5(or maybee that wouldnt happen at all). God, I just dont know! (sigh) :(
 
I'd check with the CS department of the college you'll be attending. I was a CS major and some of the courses I took required us to write code in Windows. I'd say this is actually less prominent now (Linux has made Unix so obtainable) but still you should check.

Assuming you don't need Windows, I would go for the Powerbook in your case. Laptops were quite the luxury when I was in college, but I know that portability would have been a huge asset. It seems like you're always on the go go go in college. And while the desktop/iBook combo would be cool (I love it), you don't want to waste time administrating 2 boxes.

That's my $0.02
 
Good point

jcook793 said:
I'd check with the CS department of the college you'll be attending. I was a CS major and some of the courses I took required us to write code in Windows. I'd say this is actually less prominent now (Linux has made Unix so obtainable) but still you should check.

Assuming you don't need Windows, I would go for the Powerbook in your case. Laptops were quite the luxury when I was in college, but I know that portability would have been a huge asset. It seems like you're always on the go go go in college. And while the desktop/iBook combo would be cool (I love it), you don't want to waste time administrating 2 boxes.

That's my $0.02
Click to expand...

hey, awesome advice. but one point we might be missing. If the CS department does a lot of windows programming let them buy the windows system and the Visual Studio. That's why I go with Mac from now on. Get me a $150 OS that comes with the Programming environment. Not a $200 with just something. I have a 12" Powerbook, it can take all the time it wants doing it's job. This is my portable desktop that fits on my backpack and I can take it in the plane. :cool:
 
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