[Chulo]

I've been thinking about getting an apple laptop for some time now. I'm looking to convert from WinTel to Apple. I'm truly tired of the blue screen of death and the constant "Microsoft has encountered a serious error" messages. Since I will be a newbie with an Apple I'm trying to get some suggestions. I only have approximately $1500 to spend, travel semi-frequently and need something portable.
I've been offered both the Ti 15" 800mhz laptop and a PB12" 867mhz laptop for the same price. I will be using it primarily for report writing on the road, surfing the web, playing the occassional game and of course watching a DVD or 2 along the way. While at home I will definitely be using it to edit photographs from my camera and editing home movies from the camcorder.
I realize that there are some differences between the two such as screen size, video cards, speed (at least some) and I believe the OS between them are slightly different. I gues there may even be technological differences between them.
There will most definitely be a learning curve for me, I understand that, but are there many differences between the two OS's?? Has anyone experienced the portability between the two who can tell me if it will really make much of a difference carrying them? Will the speed difference really be that much (especially with the editing?
I'd appreciate any help, comments or suggestions from anyone out there. I feel it's time for me to make the switch but I want to make the right one where I don't regret it (especially since it may be a looooonnnng time before I'll be able to afford another one).

[LfGrdMike]

Prices are great now, and sense you travel get the 12 you wont regret it. Get a small amount of ram from apple. Then buy some for cheaper at www.crucial.com. I am waiting for my 12 to ship still from apples online store. I just missed Fed Ex today who tried to deliver my ipod. I will get it tommorow i guess lol.

I have used macs all my life and now with OSX apple is #1. Absolutely no problems what so ever. Its easy to use too. YOu could get down and dirty in UNIX which i have started doing, btu for what you do you probably wont get into thsi anytime soo. Good luck to you dont be afraid to ask more questions.

[ae86_16v]

Remember that the 800mhz has L3 cache. I have owned 3 15" Powerbooks before and never had have a problem in terms of portability.

I also own a iBook, so I have a reference in terms of screen size.

I would definitely pick up the 800mhz just for the extra screen space. DVD movies look great on it.

Go to www.apple-history.com . That is a great website that has a lot of information on all the models.

You would probably have to buy Jag on the 800mhz which is cheap or just wait for Panther. The 867mhz will come with Jaguar preinstalled.

Let us know if you have any other questions.

[Chulo]

I will look into both models a little more and see which one will suit my needs more directly. I absolutely prefer the larger screen size (especially since my eyesight isn't perfect). Do you think the L3 Cache will make the 800 a little faster than the 867? I heard the keyboard on the 12" is a little better than on the 15." Is this true and why??
Thanks for the info.

[dannybarnes]

I waiting on my 12" now... moving to it from a 15" TiBook (granted the 400MHZ model...)

I'm really looking forward to the portability of the smaller unit.

Ordered the 12" Thursday, with the education discount.... today it was supposed to shp, but they changed the ship date to NEXT Tuesday. Not cool by me, I wants it now... so I called in and changed the order to one of the refurb units they're offering at the same price as discount (1399) and it shipped today. Awesome.

[ae86_16v]

Originally posted by Chulo:
I will look into both models a little more and see which one will suit my needs more directly. I absolutely prefer the larger screen size (especially since my eyesight isn't perfect). Do you think the L3 Cache will make the 800 a little faster than the 867? I heard the keyboard on the 12" is a little better than on the 15." Is this true and why??
Thanks for the info.

Yeah, I think the L3 Cache would make a noticable difference in speed wise. I heard especially if you are running iMovie and Photoshop it helps a lot. I don't know the technicals behind it, maybe someone else could help. Basically what happens is that the CPU could access information faster since it is on the Die, where as other wise it might have to access the ram or harddisk.

In terms of the Keyboard on teh 15" and 12": The 15" has a removable keyboard so you could add more ram, airport and such. Where as the 12" to add ram, you have to access it through the under bay. So you could say the 15" flexes a bit more.

I am used to both as I said, I have owned 3 15's and 1 17" which has a similar design keyboard to the 12" with the expection of the backlit keys.