[RealMac]

I plan on ordering one next week. I almost ordered a G5 desktop. Then I thought about it, between the delays and the idea of what a laptop would offer me vs a desktop and I reached a decision quickly.

Just wondering if you guys have seen much of a performance difference between the two? (1GHz and 867MHz PBs)

I will definitely be upgrading the ram and most likely upping the hard disk space up to 60Gb from the shipping 40Gb. The costs associated with upgrading the hard disk capacity are definitely worth it right now as opposed to just installing one yourself / buying a third party one and installing it.

I used a G5/1.6GHz with 256Mb of RAM at a local apple store and wasn't all that impressed with the performance. It was really snappy, but there comes a point in my mind where the computer can be as fast as you want it. If you feel locked into your room and are totally away from socializing, you've reached a point where you need to do either one of the following:

1. Get away from the computer
2. Or get away and bring the computer with you.

I've chosen #2. Starting next week I will be entering my third year of college (went to a college for 2 years) at Farmingdale State University. The nice thing about the campus is that they have wireless in most, if not all of the buildings.

If the performance increase between the 867 and 1GHz is negligable, adding an extra battery, bumping up the hard drive space and possibly the ram to 512mb (I'm not entirely convinced that's enough in Jaguar after having 1.25Gb in my soon to be parting my hands dual g4/867 system).

I may be doing some light photoshop work, some 3D work, in addition to things like recording simple audio files, playing DivX movies, DVDs and all that fun stuff.

I know new 15" powerbooks are on the horizon. At the present time, I don't have a great need for Bluetooth devices or USB2. The 12" powerbook was a bit warm to me in the store on top of a rounded table type thing and the 17" is about a grand more than I care to spend. Not to mention it probably wouldn't like my backpack.

Yes, being a student I'm eligible for the student discount which I will surely be making use of.

I once had an ibook/800 but sold it because it felt slow to me. iBooks aren't really known for their speed you might say.. I've used an 867 system at my local apple store and found the performance to be very good.

When I'm gutsy, I will be dual booting the machine into Linux (possibly RedHat, or whatever is the most user friendly distro to start out with). You win huge points at Linux user groups for actually running Linux on your machine. Maybe I'll wimp out and just use X11 under Jaguar / Panther, but it's always nice to fit in...

This config will be done using the external maxtor 7200rpm 160Gb hard drive I recently purchased to backup all my data to.

So, after these days/weeks/months/years are you folks...
1. Still enjoying your Powerbooks
2. Enjoying the freedom from a desktop that binds you to a single location
3. Having any kind of hardware problems now
4. Going to buy another one when your current model dies / is no longer useful to you
5. Using a bag? If so, which one? I used an incase sleeve that offered virtually no protection for the ibook. Cheap but effective is my motto..

Also thought about getting AppleCare on the cheaper model. A screen or hinge repair for example can easily exceed the cost of the machine. 3 years of support is quite a while too...

As always, your feedback is welcome.

Some other information that might be useful. Getting $2200 for my desktop next week, and I may be able to put a few hundred extra on the laptop if necessary though I prefer not to.

I'm capable of upgrading the ram myself and have, because of Apple's pricing structure. Though I have done this in the past when necessary...

Education prices...
867MHz PowerPC G4 w/ 1MB L3
• 512MB SDRAM - 2 SO DIMMs
• 60GB Ultra ATA drive
• Combo Drive (DVD-ROM/CD-RW)
• AirPort Card
• Keyboard/Mac OS - U.S. English
• 15.2-inch TFT Display
Subtotal $2,005.00

• 1GHz PowerPC G4
• 512MB SDRAM - 2 DIMMs
• 60GB Ultra ATA drive
• Combo Drive (DVD-ROM/CD-RW)
• AirPort Card
• Keyboard/Mac OS - U.S. English
• 15.2-inch TFT Display
Subtotal $2,119.00

I might be plugging it into an external display (have a working, though slightly faded 19" CRT here), so the 64mb of video ram on the 1GHz might be useful as opposed to the 32 on the 867.

[rjt1000]

Hi,

Good luck with your decision. Maybe you would want to read this article, which points out the cost of longterm ownership between entry level and high end models.

http://www.macopinion.com/columns/ro.../25/index.html

Best wishes,

Rich (Pismo G3 500)

[todrain]

I totally agree with you! My last desktop Mac was a IIsi, and since then I've only bought portables.

If you're only talking about $100 difference between the 867 and the 1ghz, it's worth the little extra money. The slight difference in processor speed isn't much of a issue, but the 32mb Video Card vs the 64MB video card is. Since you cannot upgrade most componets in a laptop, it makes sense to buy the best you can.

[fat mac moron]

Just wanted to add to this... You might want to think about getting the 1Ghz with a Superdrive. Might seem unessesary at the moment but you'll appreciate using DVD-RW's* with Apple's back-up software.

I never really thought I'd need it, but I got my PowerBook with the SD in it and backing up a few DVD & Movie projects took up nearly 2.4 Gigs plus another 1 Gig for my /User directory. I would've gone crazy if I had to back up all that information onto CD-RW's.

* - Yes, the SuperDrive in PowerBook's normally don't support DVD-RW formats, I did the firmware upgrade.

[Mallrat]

Originally posted by todrain:
I totally agree with you! My last desktop Mac was a IIsi, and since then I've only bought portables.

If you're only talking about $100 difference between the 867 and the 1ghz, it's worth the little extra money. The slight difference in processor speed isn't much of a issue, but the 32mb Video Card vs the 64MB video card is. Since you cannot upgrade most componets in a laptop, it makes sense to buy the best you can.

I agree. It will also sell better at a later date.

Not to mention you get a SUPERDRIVE with the 1Gz not a Combo Drive.

go with 1GZ.

[southtdi]

I have exatly the first one you are looking at (867 one).

No problems for me but the ram being moved up might benefit you for phtoshop and such. Jaguar runs perfectly fine and quick for me but I don't usually need to run graphics intensive programs (IT professional not graphics). I don't have the superdrive but I intend on adding one, most likely from powerbookresq, but didn't feel the need to get it right away. Understand that the 867 is perfectly fine for me and when I priced the 1g one out with the option I wanted (512mem, 60gb HD) the price was a little more than I wanted to spend.

Just a note to add to this if it helps, my wife is a teacher so I used her education discount to purchase.

Good luck with whatever you choose I know I love my PB.

[phabfive]

Well, I had the same dilemma and went with the 867 and upgraded to 512. I love this notebook and it works well with everything.

The major differences are superdrive and Video RAM. What I have is fine...

[ae86_16v]

Like many other's I was in the same situation that you were about 2 months ago.

I ended up getting the 867mhz w/ the 40HD.

I gotta say, if it was only $100 dollar difference than get the 1GHz, mainly because of the video ram. Even if you don't use all of it now, it might help down the line.

But if you are really strap for cash, then go with the 867mhz. Both are great machines.

By the way, the fan does come on quiet a bit, even on the 867mhz. The reason I got the 867mhz in the first place was hoping that fan doesn't come on that often, which it does.

Goodluck.

[AssassyN]

I'm gonna say "go w/ the 867Mhz"...why? Because you mention you'll be using your machine AWAY from home a lot, and guess what? Both the 867Mhz TiBook & the 1Ghz TiBook *BOTH* run at 667Mhz away from a power outlet. Plus, it'll give you more cash to upgrade RAM and possibly spend on accessories.

Another note, don't buy 512MB of RAM in it...it'll come as 2x256 and you'll hafta chunk both and buy 2x512. Get either 1x256 so you don't waste so much cash, or go ahead and order 1GIG.

[juanpacolopez]

Originally posted by AssassyN:

Another note, don't buy 512MB of RAM in it...it'll come as 2x256 and you'll hafta chunk both and buy 2x512. Get either 1x256 so you don't waste so much cash, or go ahead and order 1GIG.

Can't you get a single 512Mb as a BTO option for a little more $$?

[AssassyN]

Originally posted by juanpacolopez:
Can't you get a single 512Mb as a BTO option for a little more $$?

The $200 it costs to get a 1x512 BTO config. could easily buy 2x512MB sticks elsewhere.

[MusicalTone]

I think if you get the 1ghz with combo drive the price difference is only a couple of hundred.

[ae86_16v]

Originally posted by MusicalTone:
I think if you get the 1ghz with combo drive the price difference is only a couple of hundred.

It is a $200 difference if I could remember.