[Tek]

Well i've decided to leave my coveted PC background behind and stretch forward to the better side of computers... the Mac side. I currently have a 1.3ghz AMD athlon thunderbird w/ 768MB of RAM.

I want to get a powerbook and decided on the 12" because i want it to be thin and light but powerful enough to be semi-desktop replacement. I plan on KVMing my desktop and powerbook to my 19" monitor and mainly usin my win machine for gaming and various other misc. tasks.

Now up to this point i was decided on a 12" al (revB?) powerbook and debating whether or not i wanted the superdrive. I see myself using it in the future so i was trying to figure out a way to come up w/ $200 more...

That is until i stumbled upon some online etailers selling some refurbished 12" revA's i believe. They are 867 G4 w/ a 60 gb hard drive and a superdrive built in. The price difference ends up being like $350+ if you include tax on the educational discounted 12" powerbooks.

I've been lookin all over for differences between these two and i'm not quite sure about everything... i'm not even quite sure what revA and revB are... By my research it looks like there was never a Titanium 12" just an old aluminum one and newer one. The both seem to use 266mhz DDR but the older one can only go up to 640MB. Slightly older graphics card on the older one... Older one doesn't have DVI out just VGA although you can still span w/ the VGA and since i'll be using a KVM VGA switcher this is all i need... And also i've gathered that the revA only has 256 of L2 cache and no L3 where as the revB has 512 which is probably the biggest difference... how much speed difference?

Now if i have all the main differences sorted out i'm really wondering about speed here. Now i'm going to get a 512 RAM upgrade for either one so that leaves a g4 867 w/ 640MB of RAM vs a g4 1ghz w/ 768MB of RAM. I want this computer to last me (although i'm definately one of those people that ebay's a machine to get the latest and greatest). But i realize -although i really don't yet- that OSX doesn't wear down like XP does so an apple will always technically last longer and stay more up to speed than a XP box does... i know that may be reading more into it... BUT ANYWAY! How much of a speed difference will there be, are there any good benchmark places out there that will show me this that i haven't found yet?

I've been to speed-zone and seen the benches there for powerbooks and more than often the g3 900mhz iBook was beating the 867 g4 powerbook revA... what's that about?

Alright friends, i know that's a lot and i'm sorry to dump this on you, i just can't seem to find all these answers myself this time and i don't like that

SO is it a better deal, the revA? Will i notice a speed difference? Any help is GREATLY appreciated!! THANKS JUST FOR READING MY BOOK AS WELL!

May God Be With You.
-Matt

*EDIT* Oh yes and i also saw Cnet's reviews and benches of both and cnet compared the benches of both for an iTunes rip and a iMovie make or something... the iMovie was very close but the iTunes was very different... what's that about?

[bovie]

I just bought a BTO 12inch Powerbook
1ghz
256MB Ram + 512 from Crucial
40GB HD
Combo Drive
Airport Extreme + BT

You should get the 1ghz it is faster in every way to the 867 from what I understand.

[uv23]

I also just switched, to a 1GHz. Apparently the Rev A's have a design flaw that leads to a brutally hot palmrest. The palmrests in my Rev B can get quite warm so I don't want to know what the Rev A's were like. And I love my DVI output. I'd say buy new if you can, especially when you're going to be dropping so much $$$.

[sworthy]

I don't think that the speed will be too much of an issue, but the heat might. The 12" rev A's are notoriously hot and the rev B really improved this. Besides fixing the heat problem the rev B's also have a dvi out so if you plan on hooking up a nicer lcd during the computer's lifetime, that might be important.

[bovie]

I am still waiting on my PB to come. But how fast is the 1Ghz 12inch Powerbook? How much slower will it be than my 400Mhz Sawtooth I upgraded to 1.3Ghz G4 with 2mb L3 cache. The PB has 768MB DDR vs 512 PC-100 for the sawtooth. I hope it as fast in most things.

[torifile]

Originally posted by uv23:
I also just switched, to a 1GHz. Apparently the Rev A's have a design flaw that leads to a brutally hot palmrest. The palmrests in my Rev B can get quite warm so I don't want to know what the Rev A's were like. And I love my DVI output. I'd say buy new if you can, especially when you're going to be dropping so much $$$.

That palmrest heat thing is fiction. I've had a rev. A powerbook since January and I've never experienced uncomfortable heat.

[Macola]

Originally posted by torifile:
That palmrest heat thing is fiction. I've had a rev. A powerbook since January and I've never experienced uncomfortable heat.

Speak for yourself.

[StiZeven]

My (Rev A) 12" PowerBook did not have the excessive heat problem either (this notebook didn't have any of the Rev A issues, it was a real gem), so torifile is not alone there.

I actually sold it though on eBay hoping to get the new 15" AlBook. But, with all the issues the new 15" is having (as well as disappointing battery life) I figured I'd go for the mini PowerBook again and ordered a Rev B 12" (1GHz, 1.25GB DDR, SuperDrive, 80GB, APE, BT, etc…) I like to have all this packed into a lil PowerBook.

It should arrive by Friday, and should hold me over until a mobile G5 appears (hoping to compete with Centrino). I only hope this PowerBook will be just as perfect as my Rev A!