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jade408 · Mar 4, 2004, 10:34 PM

I know I know there are 12 billion of these threads, but I thought it might be time for another.

After a lot of deliberations, and 4 years of pondering I took the plunge and ordered a 12" ibook g4 (60gb hard drive, ae, internal bluetooth) I have a 512 stick backward compatible PC2700 RAM, think it will work in my ibook (worked fine in a rev 1 12" powerbook).

In my fomer job I was using a powerbook daily and finally got to try out 10. I had been intrigued since it was announced in 2000, and the ibooks were the perfect size for what I wanted.

But there is the whole g5 powerbook dilemma. So I still want a g5 15", but I figure this will tide me over till then and then I will be able to sell my ibook.

My ibook is shipping from Taiwan now and I should receive it early next week. I don't know if I will be able to stand the waiting..... you think if it shipped from Taiwan it will; be here tomorrow?

I will post some pics, comparisons to the rev A 12" powerbook, and of course some tips for all of you switchers out there!

nobitacu · 02:03 AM

I switched over on March 24th 2003 (The day I got my first Mac in the mail and started using my Mac), and I've never looked back since. Congrats on your switch and welcome to the light side.

Ming

cryon · Mar 5, 2004, 12:53 PM

i switched some days before cristmas 2003. And i already feel like an average Mac user which find my self around OS X. I love it!

grae_a · Mar 5, 2004, 01:04 PM

Being of a somewhat tender age, a 1996 Performa I think, which is for as long as i can remember

Forte · Mar 5, 2004, 01:23 PM

I haven't quite made the switch yet, but I will be doing so soon (to an iBook G4, 933MHz).

jade408 · 03:58 PM

My ibook came in this morning. I ordered on Tuesday, and it shipped yesterday from Taiwan. I am typing from it now.

What I got: 12" 60gb/BT/AE. I also installed some Kingston RAM.

Stay tuned for some pics. I am installing programs and transferring from my ipod now.

Initial observations
1. The Apple Hardware test hasn't been aqua-ed and it took about 30 minutes to do the full test once I installed RAM.
2. My box contained 8 restore disks, 3 OS X disks, hardware test and Worldbook disks. But no blank CD-R.
3. Battery life seems great so far!
4. Seems to start up significantly faster than the 12" 867mhz pb w/ 640 RAM (strange)
5. Fit and finish is a little better on the PB
6. REplacing the keyboard after the ram install was a little difficult.
7. ibook keyboard is slightly louder than the PB keyboard.!
8. The new ilife is huge, upon opening the box I was down to like 47gb hard drive space!
9. My first software update was huge!
10. My computer froze: it might have been confused while I was opening office and copying office from the same folder, I had to restart, but mostly I was copying music from my ipod using ipod2mac. No harm done.

So far all is well. Stay tuned for a comparison og the 12pb and 12ibook g4.

jade408 · Mar 6, 2004, 10:18 PM

Comparing the 12" powerbook 867 vs the 12" ibook 800

Screen: ibook wins on the brightness and crispness count. Even with the brightness turned all the way up on the PB, the ibook wins without the full setting.

Fit and finish: powerbook feels more seamless, and seems to have better screen protection. Of course I realize the ibook is meant to be thrown in a backpack, but this is what I notice.

Speed: tough call on this one, but the ibook seems to be snappier in start up times (both running 10.3.2 and 640 RAM) Maybe due to the limited hard drive space left on the PB (5 gigs), but some programs seem to launch faster on the PB (like Garageband). Garageband is noticeably more robust with the powerbook! Those software instrunments need serious processing power!

Speakers: too close to call

Keyboard: both are really easy to type on but the ibook keyboard is louder than the one on the pb. Mostly because the spacebar seems looser?

Wireless reception: the ibook wins no contest

Battery: Wow I am so impressed, I got about 4 hours with airport on and I didn't even keep a good count, on the powerbook using airport I got about 2:45.

Heat: the powerbook feels much hotter under the keyboard but the two machines are equal underneath.

Upgrades: powerbook wins, it is 12 million times easier than the ibook. When installing the airport and the RAM you feel like you will break your keyboar on an ibook. No need for those hassles on a powerbook, it all goes underneath in a very easy to access manner.

My verdict: evaluate your needs very carefully, the ibook might just be a better choice for you. I chose the ibook because the amount I saved will go towards my g5 powerbook. (Which is of course far overkill for my needs but it has the potential cool factor.) The ibook is a great laptop and has a much superior software bundle.