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amishp · Sep 19, 2003, 02:22 PM

hey! i am a newbie to this forum and have been thinking about purchasing a laptop either now or within a year. i am really amazed with the Powerbooks and all the stuff they can do. i have been using a PC all my life and will probably keep my PC desktop. I feel that the 12/15 Powerbook has everything i need. but i had a couple questions....

1. i am in no hurry to buy a laptop, but would you guys suggest buying one now or wait? i know the new OS, Panther, is due out soon, so should i wait for that? also, are there gonna be faster Powerbooks coming out within the next year or so?

2. Is the difference in the video cards of the 12 and 15 that big of a difference?

3. I want the lightest laptop possible, but i dont want to give up any kind of performance. is my best bet the 15?

thanks in advance for all your help

Amish

Dennis the Phantom Menace · Sep 19, 2003, 02:27 PM

1) There probably won't be new Powerbooks for awhile. You might as well take the plunge.

2) Yup, there should be a very noticable difference.

3) Get the 15". According to the benchmarks at barefeats.com, there isn't much of a difference between the 17" & 15".

Eug · Sep 19, 2003, 02:33 PM

Buy the 15" when Panther is released. It is the best bang for the buck and under 6 lbs is the sweet spot. It's nice to have a machine under 5 lbs, but not if you have to give up performance.

There will be huge performance difference between the 1.25 GHz 15" AluBook with Radeon 9600 and the 1 GHz 12". The 15" also has a MUCH better display too (assuming the 12" display has not changed). And you can't get the backlit keyboard on the 12".

The 17" is too bulky and heavy for my tastes, but does suit the needs of others.

dennis88 · Sep 19, 2003, 03:00 PM

Yep, I think you should go for the 15" 1,25ghz.

schmoe · Sep 19, 2003, 03:26 PM

I'm pretty sure Apple will release a new set of Powerbooks within a year. There is a better G4 chip in the works, with a faster bus and DDR support. If I had to take a gamble, I'd say Apple will use that in 6-8 months if Motorola is capable of delivering. Then maybe 8-10 more months for a G5 Powerbook.

Those are extremely optimistic bets though... Based on Apple's history I wouldn't be very surprised to see 2 more revisions of G4 Powerbooks. Maybe one minor upgrade with just L3 cache and a better GPU, and then the next with the new G4.

So I'd say that, unless you want to wait quite a while, now (right after a release) is the best time to purchase. And the 1ghz 15" Ti is still looking pretty good, except for the GPU.

amishp · Sep 19, 2003, 04:17 PM

i heard panther is supposed to be released during the christmas season....should i wait until the powerbooks are shipped with panther?

thanks for the help

nobitacu · Sep 19, 2003, 04:31 PM

I think if you don't need a notebook right now, than I would wait on it until next year when the new Powerbook models are released again. I hope we will here something about it in Nov. on the next Expo.

Ming

schmoe · Sep 19, 2003, 06:35 PM

As to whether you should wait for Panther or not, I guess it depends on your personal finances. It will probably cost around $129, maybe less if you are upgrading. Personally, I couldn't imagine staying away from OS X for ~3 months just to save $129 =) Switching to OS X is pretty much a one way journey.