[kidtexas]

Sorry, I don't usually like to post these kinds of posts, but i need some of your feedback.

I will be getting a powerbook soon. I've been lusting after a cinema display since they came out, but $3.5k was a bit much. Now they are almost affordable. So, my plan was to get an updated 15 when it came out, along with a 20" studio display. I started checking out the apple store the other day, configuring options, etc, when I realized that I could get a dual 2.0 G5 + 20" display for about the same price as the 15" I had specced out (via the student ADC store). Then I thought, damn, why $1k is a hell of a lot to spend on a display. I could get a lot of **** for that, like a nice 30" widescreen HDTV...

As a result, I think I am going to skip the 20". I have been thinking of the 12" and the 15". I really, really like the idea of the 12" (and its price). I was turned off by the rev A 12 because of the lack of DVI and my display dreams. That has been fixed. It seems fast enough too (will be using this rig for dissertation writing, and mobile recording with Logic and MIO). I like the idea of it being ultra portable. However, the things that bug me: 1) lack of backlit keys. This is stupid, but i love the idea of it. But I could do with out for 300-400 dollars. 2) the res. I'm sure i could get used to the res - I run 1280x1024 on my current mac, so I wouldn't be losing that much res, though the 15" is much nicer in this respect. This is the price you pay for portability 3)The brightness of the screen. This is the biggie. the 15 screen seems so much nicer than all ibooks ive seen. its so bright and crisp. more so than the 17 in my mind. Unfortunately, compusa doesn't have a 12 rev B on display, so i can't test this for my self.

So I guess in my long winded way, I am asking is the:
1) screen on the 12 any where near as good as the 15? if its ibook level, I might have to go with the 15...
2) are the backlit keys as cool as I think they are?
3) anyone out there use logic or final cut pro on 12? is it too cramped to be comfortable on with the small screen?
4) I like the portability of the 12, and assume it is getting 3-4 hours on the battery as opposed to the 2ish of the 15 - is this true? Is the 12 really way more portable than the 15 (battery life, size, etc)

so what would you get: 1)15+cinema display 2)12 +cinema display 3)15+hdtv 4)12+hdtv

thanks guys. sorry for being so long winded.

[hadocon]

Well, I can't answer all your questions, but I can explain to you my rationale for going with the 15" over the 12". I am changing from a Dual QS800 with 2 15" flat panel displays. I use FCP a lot, and I find it to be very useable on 1024x768 screens. That said, I would much prefer to use FCP on a larger display.

A I have friends with 12", 15" and 17" Powerbooks. Having used all three, I can say that the 12" is adequate for doing most anything, including FCP, PShop, Dreamweaver etc. The 15" offers a bit more in terms of CPU and screen (among other things...), but is a little larger than the 12" - certainly not so much larger as to make it hard to carry... The 17" is the works as we all know, but still smaller than a pizza box :-) . All are sufficiently portable machines (the 17" weighing no more than my old 3400c Powerbook with it's 12" 800x600 screen).

I chose the 15" because I wanted something bigger than the 12", but smaller than the 17". The 15" was literally my only choice.

[fuddman]

the backlit keyboard is more of a WOW feature for all your PC friends... all in all, if you ever use the powerbook in the dark, the brightness of the screen is suffecient to see the keyboard... you can live with out it.. then agian i always get a little grin when i see it on

[kidtexas]

Originally posted by fuddman:
you can live with out it.. then agian i always get a little grin when i see it on

Thats what I figured... a grin everytime it comes on might just be worth it... The biggie is the screen quality on the 15 - if i could get a 12 with the quality of the 15 inch screen and backlit keys.... ooooooohhhh.....

[TheIceMan]

I'm also struggling between the 12" and 15" PowerBooks. Here are my answers to your questions. Rating 1-5 with 5 being best.

1) screen on the 12 any where near as good as the 15? I spent a few hours at the Apple store (yup, I have that much time) comparing the screens. Hands down, the 15" screen is better. No arguments there. When I put the 12", 15" and 17" side by side, the difference is noticeable. The 15" screen is simply crisper and brighter.
Decision: 12"=3, 15"=5

2) are the backlit keys as cool as I think they are?
Unfortunately, I did not get a chance to test this out very much. It was way too bright in the store for the backlit system to work. For me this isn't that big of a deal because I don't type in the dark, as a DJ or someone who often travels on airplanes do.
Decision: No vote due to lack of experience.

3) anyone out there use logic or final cut pro on 12? is it too cramped to be comfortable on with the small screen?
Sorry, once again no experience with this. The 12" screen is noticeably smaller and I would be lying if I said that (at times) the fonts were difficult to read, without a slight squinting of my eyes. In the "ideal world" I would opt for a 13" PowerBook with everything the 15" has to offer. Sorry, I digress.
Decision: 12"=3, 15"=4 (I'm giving it a 4 and not a 5 because for me, there is usually about 1.5-2 inches of unsused spave on the right and left side of the browser window.

4) I like the portability of the 12", and assume it is getting 3-4 hours on the battery as opposed to the 2ish of the 15 - is this true? Is the 12 really way more portable than the 15 (battery life, size, etc) I currently have the Ti PowerBook and the 12" is simply more portable. It was designed that way. The 15" AL is slightly larger and heavier than the Ti 15". Also the 12" does get better battery life based on the feedback givem throughout this board.
Decision: 12"=5; 15"=3

so what would you get: 1)15+cinema display 2)12 +cinema display 3)15+hdtv 4)12+hdtv
Wow, I'm envious of the choice to choose. If you work with graphics and movie/video editing (as my friend does) than I think you might appreciate the larger screen laptops, i.e.15" (17" is too big to be portable). If it were me, I would go with 15" + hdTV Wow, I hate you

[C-Bear]

Originally posted by kidtexas:
1) screen on the 12 any where near as good as the 15? if its ibook level, I might have to go with the 15.

I'm in the exact same boat and I'm on the self-mandated deadline for a decision.

I can only answer your first question: The RevB 12" screen is close to what the 15" has got going, but not quite there. I've put 'em side-by-side and even to the unstudied eye (mine) the 15" was definitely crisper and brighter. They're not worlds apart or anything, the 15"s just a little bit better.

However, the RevB 12" is much, much better (again, to my eye) than either iBook models, in all respects. No comparison.

[matrk]

i had a similar decision-making problem as you, but that was about 3 months ago - and i decided against waiting any longer for the new 15-in so...
that's why i now use what turned out to be one of the last 12-in RevA superdrive p'books.
I use it regularly with FCP, Peak and SoundStudio (not as good as ProTools Free, but since i can't boot in OS9, this will do ;(
The 12-in works fine, especially with 640mb RAM and my external 2.5in 60gb firewire drive, no problems so far.
The screen looks good too, and drives an external 17-in with spanning smooth and fast.
While i'm tempted to upgrade to the new 15-in, for the extra screen space alone, i'm not sure if the extra costs are worth it given i'll lose the portability i've enjoyed with this 12-in pb (very handy size and weight for editing on the road, jacking into external monitors wherever convenient).
fwiw,

[TerryJ]

I'm in a similar decision-making situation too. I just recently bought and awesome 15" 1GHz Titanium but the 12" keeps kind of luring me that way. I wanted to Ti because being the last of the Ti revisions, all the bugs have been worked out and it is the best Ti ever produced having 1GB of ram, SuperDrive and Airport built-in and the Radeon Mobility 9000 video with 64MB, plus all the other expandable options such as DVI out and PC card slot. The oooh and ahhh factor was, honestly, a consideration too. But after coming from prior 12" iBooks, I still like the smaller form factor and as much as I love this Ti, it's really just more computer than I really need for my uses. I don't really do any big video or image editing, just a little iMovie and iDVD at the most and mostly just surf the web and do some spreadsheet and accounting work for my business. Anyone have any good ideas where to sell an awesome, like new Ti machine with 2+ years of AppleCare left? Thanks!

[elvis2000]

Originally posted by kidtexas:
thanks guys. sorry for being so long winded.

If the only difference to you between the two is screen size, then go with the 12" and use the $400 difference for a DVI LCD (Hitachi makes a great one - the CML174SX).

I was very, very close to going this route -- but HardDrive and the onboard video are also important to me. The Radeon 9600 alone is a $200 upgrade in the PC world, and thats if you can find one -- laptops with a 9600 are hard to find, or backordered for months. Figure the 60gb is worth $100 (maybe a little less) over the 40gb. If both are important to you -- as well as having that sweet widescreen display (which is far brighter than the 12", but not as slick as some PC laptops I've seen lately) -- the the price difference is worth it.

I ate the extra $400 and picked up the 15" -- great computer!

[Bruck]

15 and hdtv. No question. I've used both the 12 and the 15 for a while (own a 15 and my brother owns a 12) I would pick the 15 over the 12, i kept thinking i'd regret it when i finally saw his 12 and how small it was, but the size was not enough to make me think i picked the wrong computer, and when i saw the screen, i knew i had chosen the right powerbook.

15+hdtv.

[Tariq-1]

I just returned my 12" Powerbook after considerable agonizing back on forth on the issue. I loved everything about it Except the screen. Not the size but the quality. Mine was washed out with poor color saturation and the worst limited viewing angle I have ever seen on an Apple PowerBook. Next to my old 1999 Lombard G3 Book, the difference was night and day. I tried to rationalize keeping it but since I'm a Photographer and would be using it on location often, I just could not. That's after days of trying to calibrate the LCD using SuperCal and every trick I could think of. Pitty, as the Little Powerbook is the perfect size and has a nice punch. Never crashed once while I was testing it.

Tariq

Originally posted by kidtexas:
Sorry, I don't usually like to post these kinds of posts, but i need some of your feedback.

I will be getting a powerbook soon. I've been lusting after a cinema display since they came out, but $3.5k was a bit much. Now they are almost affordable. So, my plan was to get an updated 15 when it came out, along with a 20" studio display. I started checking out the apple store the other day, configuring options, etc, when I realized that I could get a dual 2.0 G5 + 20" display for about the same price as the 15" I had specced out (via the student ADC store). Then I thought, damn, why $1k is a hell of a lot to spend on a display. I could get a lot of **** for that, like a nice 30" widescreen HDTV...

As a result, I think I am going to skip the 20". I have been thinking of the 12" and the 15". I really, really like the idea of the 12" (and its price). I was turned off by the rev A 12 because of the lack of DVI and my display dreams. That has been fixed. It seems fast enough too (will be using this rig for dissertation writing, and mobile recording with Logic and MIO). I like the idea of it being ultra portable. However, the things that bug me: 1) lack of backlit keys. This is stupid, but i love the idea of it. But I could do with out for 300-400 dollars. 2) the res. I'm sure i could get used to the res - I run 1280x1024 on my current mac, so I wouldn't be losing that much res, though the 15" is much nicer in this respect. This is the price you pay for portability 3)The brightness of the screen. This is the biggie. the 15 screen seems so much nicer than all ibooks ive seen. its so bright and crisp. more so than the 17 in my mind. Unfortunately, compusa doesn't have a 12 rev B on display, so i can't test this for my self.

So I guess in my long winded way, I am asking is the:
1) screen on the 12 any where near as good as the 15? if its ibook level, I might have to go with the 15...
2) are the backlit keys as cool as I think they are?
3) anyone out there use logic or final cut pro on 12? is it too cramped to be comfortable on with the small screen?
4) I like the portability of the 12, and assume it is getting 3-4 hours on the battery as opposed to the 2ish of the 15 - is this true? Is the 12 really way more portable than the 15 (battery life, size, etc)

so what would you get: 1)15+cinema display 2)12 +cinema display 3)15+hdtv 4)12+hdtv

thanks guys. sorry for being so long winded.

[spatterson]

I've had simular wants... The 20 CinDispaly is so nice, though 1000 bucks to throw at it is an awful lot. Unfortunatly my 19 CRT bit the dust and well it was between an 19" MAG monitor (600) or the 20" (1000). I figured since I am geting a laptop that is widescreen, then the 19 will be fine when I am at home. Also don't forget that you can use dual displays! Happy Hunting!