[60-hz]

I have the chance to straight swap my 17" iMac 800Mhz Superdrive for a 15" G4 Powerbook 667Mhz.

Here are the specs of the Powerbook i've been offered,

667MHz PowerPC G4 Processor with Velocity Engine

256MB PC133 SDRAM

30GB, 4200-rpm Ultra ATA/66 hard drive Slot-loading Combo Drive (DVD/CD-RW)

ATI Mobility Radeon 9000 with 32MB of DDR SDRAM * 15.2-inch (diagonal) TFT * Built-in V.92/56K Modem * Built-in 10/100/1000BASE-T (Gigabit) * AirPort ready

I rarely use the Superdrive in my iMac so i dont suppose i would miss it to much, + burning on the move would be great on a Powerbook.

Will i notice a huge decrease in performance if i swapped for the Powerbook? It's the later 667Mhz model. Does it have L3 Cache?

Any advice from anyone is well appreciated

[DaBear]

I actually did what you are contemplating a month ago. I had a 15in 800 MHz iMac and bought a refurb 667 DVI PB. Even though the processor is slower, I have to tell you that the powerbook feels faster than the iMac. It's probably because of the 133 MHz bus and the L3 cache on the processor. So, I'd say it'd be a good move on your part and you should have no regrets. The PB is a beautiful machine.

[60-hz]

Thanks mate,

Does anyone know where i can find some good speed tests for the 667Mhz ?

Does anyone know where i can stream/download some movies of the 667Mhz or any other powerbooks?

Ohh !! is there a keynote still online where apples reveals the 667 or any other powerbook models apart from the 12" and 17" models? That would be nice to view right now

[ShadowKatana]

If I remember correctly, the PB667DVI had a Radeon 7500 (32MB). Just a technicality, considering that it isn't saturated by the processor. On the other hand, the Radeon 9000 mobility would give you Smartshader and Smoothvision.

[Tom Rudderham]

(Edit: Wow! Same post at the same time!) Yep it's a different card, but still pretty good, it's what you find in the recent iBook models. So games wise you shouldn't see much difference in speed unless your playing a CPU intensive game such as the beach level in MOH.

[60-hz]

I've just emailed my friend and made sure he hasn't made a mistake. Just read up a little there on Powerbooks and it looks like its only the 867Mhz Powerbooks that have the ATI Mobility Radeon 9000 with 32MB of DDR SDRAM cards? Pretty sure he told me that he purchased it a few months ago from Pc World in the UK.

Would you think i was getting a good deal swapping my iMac 17" 800Mhz for the Powerbook?

[AssassyN]

I'd say that it's a very good trade on both sides; it's a really fair deal. I would trade if I were in need of portability in a computer, and also, by owning a notebook, you own a computer that won't lose it's resell value nearly as quickly. Mac notebooks are attrocious for maintaing a high value. I'd say go for it.

[60-hz]

Do you think i'll notice much difference in performance compared to the iMac?

Knowing that i wont lose it's resell value is always a bonus, thanks.

[AssassyN]

I think you may notice a *slight* decrease in performance from the iMac, but I emphasize "slight". The faster TiBook system bus will help in some applications to make up for the processor downclock. As long as you're not doing majorly intensive CPU work, such as heavy video/audio/3D editing, you'll hardly be able to tell any difference, if any at all. Most standard applications will respond almost exactly alike between the two. Notebooks do tend to run a tad slower due to their heat restrictions, but I don't think you'll see anything excessively noticeable.

Regardless, I still feel it's a very good trade on your part.