[emfjeff]

We are considering a new laptop for our home. The rev. b imac is being corrupted by our 3.5 yr old. We are tossed about either the iBook or Powerbook. We surf the web on our 56k (too cheap for cable or DSL, I have it at work) email, appleworks, quicken and the such, not much into heavy gaming, some digital photography. We want a computer that is going to last Which would you choose

a)
14.1 iBook 1499.00
900MHz G3
40GB / Combo
640MB ram +150.00
Airport Card +79.00
AppleCare +249.00
TOTAL $1,977.00

b)
12.1 powerbook 1799.00
867MHz G4
40GB / Combo
640MB ram +150.00
AirportX Card +99.00
AppleCare +349.00
TOTAL $2,397.00


Also, is this too much or not enough for a computer that we would like to last for 3-5 yrs?

We are hoping to only spend around $1,900 - $2,100.

had Performa 630cd 04/96 - 10/98
rev. b imac 233 10/98 - present!

[Ryøkan]

I have a 500 iBook, running OS X 10.2.5 with 640 RAM. It works and I'm relatively content. But it's a little balky in OS X.

If you have the choice, I can't see getting an iBook instead of the powerbook. The difference is the G3 vs. the G4. I've read that OS X was really designed to run on a G4 -- it's much quicker.

My understanding is that the iBook can't take a G4 because it produces too much heat for the plastic case. That's probably why Apple came out with a small Powerbook - metal case to handle the G4.

So, for a few hundred bucks, I'd go with the Powerbook. (I'm planning to buy one for my wife for her birthday.)

As for $ -- you might be able to find RAM for less than $150. Check RAM-watch and surf around. And then there's AppleCare. . .it's pricey. I know that it's often recommended for laptops. . .and it's nice insurance. . .but it's pricey. Personal choice.

My iBook has the 12" screen, and I will say that it's pretty small. Great for travelling, but for every-day use at home, it's small. My Mom got an iMac with the huge 17" screen - what a luxury.

Have you considered getting an iMac instead? If it's for home use, you'd save some money and could get a larger screen AND the G4.

As for longevity -- my opinion is that 3-5 years is quite reasonable if you take reasonable care of the machine. I used a Mac classic for 10 years -- small and slow, but it still works!

[pat++]

Originally posted by Ryøkan:
If you have the choice, I can't see getting an iBook instead of the powerbook. The difference is the G3 vs. the G4. I've read that OS X was really designed to run on a G4 -- it's much quicker.

WRONG. I am pretty sure you woudn't notice ANY speed difference between iBook 900 and PB 867 for daily use. (Except of course for optimized apps like Photoshop).

You can't compare your 500mhz iBook (I do have one too) with the new iBooks... New iBooks are much much much faster. (Much faster CPU (750fx 900Mhz) and Quartz Extreme support).

The main difference between PB and iBook would be screen size in your case (and price of course). If you would be happy with 12" screen, why not stick with 12" iBook which is MUCH cheaper?

[mdc]

Originally posted by Ryøkan:
Have you considered getting an iMac instead? If it's for home use, you'd save some money and could get a larger screen AND the G4.

has a point here. if you do not need the portability, maybe you might want to take a look at the imac. you could get the 17" widescreen, 1ghz g4, 256mb ram (then add more), 80gig hdd for $1,799.

apple store

[emfjeff]

quote:
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Originally posted by Ryøkan:
Have you considered getting an iMac instead? If it's for home use, you'd save some money and could get a larger screen AND the G4.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

We really need a laptop, as my wife is going back to school. One of my concerns was that OS X wouldn't run smoothly on a G3.

Also, is AppleCare a "requirement" for laptops? My two other mac's have run flawless over the last 7 years? 250.00(ibook) - 350.00(PB) seems like a lot.

[Ryøkan]

Well. . .I've already been taken to task by Elite-member Pat for telling you that a PB would run faster than an iBook. That was my understanding, but I'd be the first to admit I'm not an expert.

OS X runs fine on my iBook. I also had concerns before I switched from OS 9. But it wasn't a big deal. OS X is stable, there are no major problems; and the OS is really very elegant in many ways.

The "balky" part on my machine is mostly lag-time when doing some things, e.g., window-resizing, pulling down menus, etc. OS 9 is quite zippy in comparison; with OS X on my iBook you have to wait a fraction of a second -- the response is not instantaneous. But the trade-off is stability -- OS X is famously stable.

So, if your concern about "running smoothly" means whether it's reliable and can handle OS X -- the answer is, "yes." Things work as they're supposed to, it's reliable. No big problems, it works fine. I presume you could test-drive one to check it out, if you can make it to a retailer.

As for AppleCare: I'm really hesitatant to tell you what to do. I personally don't think it's a "requirement" -- I prefer to take the risk rather than fork over a few hundred dollars. You get 90 days up front, and my feeling is that if there are major manufacturing problems, you'll know it within 90 days.

On the other hand -- I can just see it: Someone tells you to forgo AppleCare, and then problems come up and you kick yourself (or me). Clearly, lap-tops are more susceptible to damage than desktops, because they're being toted around all over the place.

I would think that important considerations are:
1) How careful do you guys tend to be with equipment? A lap-top is meant to be portable, but it can only suffer so much abuse. I tend to be pretty careful with my stuff.
2) How much on-line support are you going to want? You can definitely learn the basics, and iron out kinks, within 90 days. After that, I used "Help" and books and forums like this. But if you want on-going tech. support, that's another reason to use AppleCare.

My iBook is almost 2 yrs old. No major problems EXCEPT my battery is almost useless. If I had AppleCare, I'm guessing it would be covered. But -- a new battery doesn't cost $250.

You're going to have to decide this one for yourselves. Good luck.

[Peter]

I'd go with the iBook, the PowerBook would only be faster with serious graphics apps etc or if you are going to be doing some huge app swapping

[Arkham_c]

I would suggest the 12" iBook if you're looking for an affordable laptop. I couldn't recommend the 12" PB right now to anyone -- it has some minor flaws (as do many first generation products), and the performance is less than or equal to the high-end iBooks in most cases (greater in the few cases where you're doing AltiVec stuff).

As to the 12" or 14", get whichever one you like better. Many of us prefer the lighter weight of the 12", but others of us feel that the larger screen is desirable. I have a 12", 600MHz iBook and am very happy with it running OSX.


Just make sure that whatever laptop you get (iBook or Powerbook) that you upgrade the RAM -- adding a 512MB chip

[emfjeff]

Thanks to everyone for the input. We will probably get the 14.1 iBook 900, max out the ram (other than oem), airport and hold off on the AppleCare and see if in the 90 days we would even use it.

again, thanks. I love this forum stuff!

[Ryøkan]

One final thought - might be a good idea to check out the iBook "Battery Woes" thread. A lot of people (myself included) have had their iBook batteries become almost worthless since 10.2.4.

Whether this is sufficient reason for AppleCare, I don't know. But I'd keep an eye on the battery. . .and I think you have 1 year for the product warranty.