[DMS Guy]

I have a few questions for you fine folks out in Macland before I decide on a new laptop. I am a PC user who no longer games as much as he used to (still a little bit), and decided that it's probably time to go Mac. It's a tossup between a maxed out 14" ibook and a 15" PB with a combo drive. Here are my questions:

1. I have an external 17" flatscreen from my PC. The ibook does not have DVI output. Is there a big difference between analog and DVI?

2. Is it true that I can only mirror the ibook screen and not span it?

3. Can I have a greater resolution than 1024x768 on the external if I'm using an ibook?

4. Will the ibook run something like Simcity 4 without any difficulty?

I'm really stuck between PB and ibook. I don't want to overkill, but I don't want to be too conservative, either. Basically, I'm an email/web/pics/music guy, but when we have kids in the the next 1-2 years, I may want to do video.

Thanks for the advice.

[webcookie]

In my opinion, the 14" iBook is ugly. I don't know what it is, but I really just don't care for it. The 15" Powerbook is nice, but I'd be hesitant to get one because of the white spot issue. But if I were to get one, I'd get it with a superdrive. As far as I know, you can't have a resolution larger than 1024x768 on the iBook screen. I like my 12" iBook a lot.

[BLAZE_MkIV]

Is it just me or was that not helpful.

The analog / digital is more an issue of transaltion. The video data is stored in a digital format in your computer then converted to analog for consumption by analog devices. The digital interface provides a purer view of the data but you have to have a good screen to see the diff. The DVI interface provides both analog and digital formats.

The are unsupported hacks to enable spanning on the older ibookG3s havenb't heard about the new ones. Anyone?

The resolution on an external monitor would be limited by the amount of video memory though mirroring may restrict you to the ibook native res.

One of his points is valid there has been some tock of a issue with the screens on the powerbooks so you'll need to watch out/ be prepared for that.

[dracoleb]

The spanning hack does work on the G4. Have not had a problem as of yet.

[anaphora68]

I was faced with the same decision you are trying to make about two weeks ago and I went with the powerbook 15 with combo drive for a few reasons. Number 1, the screen/video card are far superior on this machine, no holds barred on that one.

You will get a lot more "time" out of the powerbook than the iBook in my opinion. It is more upgradeable and an overall faster/better machine. If you plan on doing video anytime soon or pushing digital pic files (i do 6MP canon files) then you will really see the benefit of the powerbook.

[Rev-O]

Have a 12" iBook with Airport Extreme that gets used for iTunes, childrens software, 'net, email, a few mindless diversion type games for me (nothing graphically demanding), and iMovie.

With the base memory (have not upgraded yet), the little iBook will run Panther and surf the web, run my daughter's software, and run iTunes flawlessly. While it runs iMovie a bit quicker than my ol' G3 iMac, it certainly seems that it could benefit from an extra 512meg.

The combination of price and features make the G4 iBooks hard to beat! Combo drives, G4, decent graphics card, etc. However, if it were to be my only computer I would spring for the 15" pb. You'd get more life out of it.

Or buy a iBook and a G5, worked for me!

[willed]

Although I love my iBook and all, if you're looking to do video some time in the future, you ought to go with the SuperDrive - burning your stuff onto DVDs is a nice way of saving it.

[SupahCoolX]

Note that spanning on the iBook only works with a firmware hack. Personally, I wouldn't recommend this because it could potentially cause problems with future OS updates, probably voids your warranty, etc.
The Powerbook is simply more versatile for external video (no hack needed for spanning, builtin DVI, higher external resolution, etc).