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Which powerbook to keep?!

K

kmarketing

macrumors 6502
Original poster
Mar 26, 2004
416
0
Hi,

I will need your advice on this one: I currently have two powerbooks and I would like to only keep one. Hopefully, you will help me decide.

1. 15", 1.25ghz, 1gb memory, 80gb, etc. Mint condition. I bought this for $1700 (no tax or anything).

2. 17", 1ghz, 1gb memory, 60gb, etc. Mint condition. I also bought this one for $1700 - this still has 2 years of applecare left (the 15" does not).

Which one is good to keep? Please consider durability, power, resale value, etc.

In terms of portability, it does not make a difference, They are both fine.

Also, after reading some of the many problems of the 15" (currently mine is perfect), could these problems arise at a later date even though none of the problems exist now?

Thank you for all your opinions!!
 
Are there any other differences? Like, do they both have superdrives? Unless you really like the larger screen, I'd say go with the faster 15" model. Also, I believe the 17" one you have is a bit older, and probably doesn't have as good a video card as the 15".

Do you have a warranty for the 15"?
 
The powerbook 15 is from my company, so it is under warranty with them.
If the problems that are present with many 15" powerbooks has not existed in mine, is it possible for them just to occur in say a month?

The good thing about the 17" is that it has been fully tested with absolutely no problems.

Both have superdrives, although the 15" is 2x and the 17" is 1x.

Is speed that much different between the two?

In your opinion, which one is worth more?

Thanks!!
 
Stick with the 15. The dreaded white spot issue seems to have been cured. I had one of the first and had the screen replace, and there is no evidence that they will reappear. The 2x superdirve is well, twice as fast, which I presonally like. I also think that the 15 will be more durable. The size of the 17 makes it more prone to flex and what not. If you are basically using it as a desktop, then the 17 might be better, but if you take it out and about the 15 is easier to carry around and should be more durable. Finally, I think that the 17 does not have usb 2, but I could be wrong.
 
keep the 15, better specs, and i personally would rather have the 15 than the 17 if offered the choice...
 
Hi,

Is there really that big a difference in performance between the two?

How about in terms of resale value, it still seems that I can get more for the 17" than the 15"?

You are really making me think about keeping the 15" though!!

So you are reassuring me that if I don't have the problems with the 15" now, I probably won't have to worry about them right?

Thanks!!
 
I don't think that there is any reason to be concerned with th 15. And, I think the resale value will be better with the 15 as well, for all the issues I mentioned above. 17's are cool, and if it was a new 17, I would say flip a coin, and maybe lean toward the 17 depending on portability concerns. But, I have one of the first 15's. I had the screen replaced once they figured out the white spot issue, and it looks to be cured. I drag it back and forth to work every day, and have no issues. The 17 is cool, but I don't think I would want to lug it around that much, and would be concerned about durability. And also, think of it as a car issue. You have two cars. One is newer. Which one would you want to keep?
 
the 15" has better specs all around. Unless you really need a bigger screen, there's no reason to keep the 17". Nice choice you got there, though.
 
Hi,

You really make good points!!

I guess the whole "luxury" factor of the 17" is a great appeal. I just see that on ebay, these 17" go for more than the 15".

Now how about this - since the warranty is in the name of my company - I don't know if i can get it into my name. The apple care of the 17" is in my name - should that be a deciding factor in this decision?

In other words, if the 15" is perfect, and since I am so careful with it, do you think that this will be durable enough?

the applecare on the 17" gives me two years of worry-free (even though I would eventually look to sell both of them when newer models come out).

I appreciate your logical perspectives. This is really helping me in a tough decision.

By the way - I also got a free battery and ac adapter with my 15" deal.

Thanks!!
 
Oh yeah,

Maybe I should also add what I would like to use the powerbook for, that may help:

Not really games, but:
Photoshop
Illustrator
Some video editing (maybe with final cut?)
A little garage band

I know a g5 would be optimal, but in terms of the powerbooks, which would be better?

Thanks!!
 
Seems like is everyone is in agreement with the 15"

Except for my wife ;)

She wants me to keep the 17". She loves the screen.

Come on guys - give me more points for the 15"

Or do some of you agree with her and say keep the 17"

Thanks!!
 
kmarketing said:
Seems like is everyone is in agreement with the 15"

Except for my wife ;)

She wants me to keep the 17". She loves the screen.

Come on guys - give me more points for the 15"

Or do some of you agree with her and say keep the 17"

Thanks!!
Click to expand...

Keep them both. The faster 15" one for you, and the 17" for your wife. :D
 
Well my voice is going to be washed away here, but I would say keep the 17''. I like to have tons of space when I use photoshop, and the 17'' will definatly give you that. (So would the 15'' and an external moniter) And as you said before, the 17'' is the luxury model. Oh how I would love to have a 17'' PB just to play around with for a day. Everyone elses advice makes perfect sense, and the 15'' is prob the more practical decision, but man the 17'' screen is just do big!!! Droooooooolllll.

Just read the comment about the wife. Perfect reason to jusify keeping the 17'', you definitely want to keep her happy.
 
How about for the purposes that I will be using the machine?

Which will work better?

Thanks!!
 
K--

If you look at Barefeats, you'll get a sense of how much faster the 15" will be. In a word--much. That performance advantage will help the 15" hold it's resale relative to a slower 17". http://www.barefeats.com/ibG4.html

For what you're going to use it for, the 15" will be noticeably faster. From a reliability standpoint, if you haven't had any trouble with the 15" you're statistically unlikely to. And if it's warranted through your company (as in--your own company, or a corporation you work for?), the warranty can, as I read Apple's warranty, be transferred if ownership of the machine is transferred.

Best,

Bob
 
Hi,

I love these forums, everyone is so helpful.

I guess the main thing is the performance.

I'd like to work a little with:

photoshop
illustrator
final cut pro
garage band
idvd
And watching dvd's

nothing too heavy otherwise I would get a g5.

The truth is after reading all the information, I know that in a year or so a g5 powerbook is likely to come out. So I'm just looking for one to hold me til then, and then i hope to hold on to the one that will give me the best resale (I guess in a year).

The great thing about the 17" is of course the screen, and that it is in mint condition, and with applecare.

If the performance is close or manageable, I would probably hold onto the 17". If the 15" blows the 17" out of the water, I may have to reconsider.

I'll need your expertise!!
 
kmarketing said:
...
The truth is after reading all the information, I know that in a year or so a g5 powerbook is likely to come out. So I'm just looking for one to hold me til then, and then i hope to hold on to the one that will give me the best resale (I guess in a year).
...
Click to expand...
If the 17" is going for more now, it could be going for more later. The question is, is how much are the 2 machines going to change in resale value relative to each other.Also, the slower machine could drop in value faster. Who knows what the market will be like a year from now.

I say your main decission is based on 15" versus 17" and 1.25GHz versus 1GHz. The 15" has a larger hard drive, is this important for you?

For some of what you mention you will be running, mor ememory and a faster processor are both good. And for video editing, more disk space is also important.

I guess if you can't keep both and you don't care, follow your wife's suggestion.
 
Hi,

I guess you mention some key points:

Yes the 1ghz is slower, but how much slower. Several seconds to me here and there makes no difference to me, minutes may. But I just want to be able to AT LEAST run the applications that I mentioned before, at a speed that is relative and decent. So if the 17" can run the applications in decent speed in comparison to the 15", then I think the 17" will be the one that stays.

The hard drive may be an issue, but I plan on getting an external one for some of the bigger jobs, so the internal 60 vs. 80 may not be such a big issue.

How about the other differences: USB 1.1 vs. USB 2.0, L3 cache vs. L2 cache, and of course the video card. Are these major drawbacks for the 17" model? (I do know that I probably won't be using USB 2.0 too much, especially since I have the firewire 400 and 800 ports).

I guess it just comes down to if the speed is comparable between the two in working with the applications listed above, then I would love to keep the 17". I did get them for the same price, and both have the 1gb of memory. The 2yrs left on apple care on the 17" is also a plus factor.
Thank you for helping me through this tough decision.
 
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