[fil327]

gday all

im in need of a brand new computer. at the moment i have a gateway solo laptop. 233mhz and 18GB harddrive. talk about old school...about a month ago the screen died and so i hooked up an old really crappy packard bell monitor from the late 90s that has started to go blurry.

anyway ive decided on buying a mac cuz the uni i go to uses them, and is good for the course i am doing, i will be using adobe illustrator CS2, photoshop etc.

anyways i got some questions to ask and would appreciate any help in anything.
as of now im tossing up between the 14" iBook G4, the 12" Powerbook G4 and iMac G5.

1) is it better to get a laptop or a desktop?

2) the 12" screen seems very small compared to most laptops on the market, is there a big difference in using them.

3) is it possible to get larger harddrives and RAM installed into 12" iBook and Powerbook?

3) is there a big difference between the 17" and 20" iMac G5's besides the size of harddrive? because theres a big gap between the prices (around $650 australian dollars)

4) of the 3 i am tossing up between, which one do u rekon is better? and what for reasons

cheers for all the help.

[Tuoder]

Originally Posted by fil327

gday all

im in need of a brand new computer. at the moment i have a gateway solo laptop. 233mhz and 18GB harddrive. talk about old school...about a month ago the screen died and so i hooked up an old really crappy packard bell monitor from the late 90s that has started to go blurry.

anyway ive decided on buying a mac cuz the uni i go to uses them, and is good for the course i am doing, i will be using adobe illustrator CS2, photoshop etc.

anyways i got some questions to ask and would appreciate any help in anything.
as of now im tossing up between the 14" iBook G4, the 12" Powerbook G4 and iMac G5.

1) is it better to get a laptop or a desktop?

2) the 12" screen seems very small compared to most laptops on the market, is there a big difference in using them.

3) is it possible to get larger harddrives and RAM installed into 12" iBook and Powerbook?

3) is there a big difference between the 17" and 20" iMac G5's besides the size of harddrive? because theres a big gap between the prices (around $650 australian dollars)

4) of the 3 i am tossing up between, which one do u rekon is better? and what for reasons

cheers for all the help.

1) It depends on whether or not you need to be portable. If you do not need to be portable, you will get more for your dollar out of a desktop.

2) 12" is small, 15" is available on the used market, and 17" is still available. All of the powerbooks will become unavailable soon, they will be replaced with macbooks (very strong prediction). You might not be too satisfied with the performance of photoshop CS2 on the macbooks. CS3 will run very well on them when it comes out (a while from now).

3) You can get the iBook with up to 1.5GB of RAM and a 100GB hard drive. You can get the Powerbook with up to 1.256GB of RAM and a 100GB hard drive. I am referring to the 12" in both cases.

3) (the second one) The iMac 20" comes with a faster processor and the option of doubling the RAM to 256MB for $75 (american)

4) The computers you listed all have different purposes. The iBook is designed to bo a decent, inexpensive laptop. The Powerbook is designed to be a powerful laptop. The iMac is designed to be a good, fast desktop computer. If you are considering your options as far as laptops are concerned, you should look at the MacBook that is already out as well as the ones that will be out soon. (The MacBook Pro also has a 15.4 inch screen)

[D'Espice]

In addition to what Tuoder said you may wanna consider an Intel Mac Mini. If you're not into heavy gaming that is

[quiklee]

personally, i like the freedom of a laptop . . no wires, no mess . .just lounging in any position you want

wait about a month . . . the 13inch iBook is supposedly coming out . . . built in iSight and supposed color schemes like the old school ibooks

i think the top of the line iMac vs. a MBPro . . . iMac just wins in HD size and Graphics

final answer . .here are you scenarios:

money's no object: MacBook Pro
money's an object: iBook

the only reason I would suggest an iMac is if you work in one place . . . . i.e Desk for doing all your work and that is the main place you like to concentrate and be productive.

[jasong]

Tuoder, If he is coming from a 233 Mhz PC, I don't think the Rosetta speed penalty is going to be a factor here. Other than that, I think the advice given is excellent. If you don't need mobility (and given that you have been hooked up to an external monitor for a while now, I would suspect that is not a make or break), I would recommend a Mini or iMac, more likely an iMac since it doesn't sound like you have a keyboard/mouse/display lying around.

If you go the PowerBook route, aside from needing to move fast before they disappear, the 12" screen is much more friendly than you would think, but I would recommend trying to see one in person. I would also wait until April and see if anything new comes out. You can play the waiting game forever, but something is coming out in April, so why not be patient and see what it is before buying?