[PConvert]

Hi. I've been a PC user for 6 years, and with Panther and the divide between Macs and PC compatibility/software quickly dissolving, I've decided to jump on the Mac wagon with a new PowerBook for my freshman year of college this September.

I'm trying to decide between the 12 ad 15" models, and I have a few questions that you guys, in your infinite Apple wisdom, can hopefully answer.

My setups.

12-Inch. (Super drive)

12.1-inch TFT Display
1024x768 resolution
1.33GHz PowerPC G4
512K L2 cache
256MB DDR333 SDRAM + 256 more. = 512.
60GB Ultra ATA/100
NVIDIA GeForce FX
Go5200 (64MB DDR)
Full size keyboard
10/100BASE-T Ethernet
FireWire 400
AirPort Extreme built-in
Mini-DVI out


The only upgrade I chose for that one is more RAM. Should I upgrade more if I purchase this one? More questions at the bottom.

15-Inch (Super Drive)


15.2-inch TFT Display
1280x854 resolution
1.5GHz PowerPC G4
512K L2 cache
512MB DDR333 SDRAM
80GB Ultra ATA/100
ATI Mobility Radeon
9700 (64MB DDR)
Backlit keyboard
Gigabit Ethernet
FireWire 400 & 800
AirPort Extreme built-in
DVI & S-Video out

I wasn't planning on upgrading this one, and keeping the list price (since It's very expensive as it is.) Any suggested upgrades?

Just a few things:

What is the difference between a Combo and a Super drive?

What is mini-DVI out (12")? Will this be an issue with connecting to most monitors that aren't $800 Apple studio flat screen pricey ones?

(12")Will not having Firewire 800 affect me in the years to come? Firewire 400 seems fast enough, and I picture backwards compatibility with 800 devides (like USB 1.1 and 2.0) - but is this something I should be getting now?

Is there a big difference between the Radeon and the GeForce?

What is virtual PC and how does it work?

Are external Audio speakers / subwoofers easy to use with my PBook?

I plan on using my PBook for school (Keynote, Word, etc.), music software (Finale etc.), Web Browsing/Chatting, iTunes, and a few games. Will the 12" have trouble running newer games, such as UT 2004? The plan is to get either a 12" + 17" monitor for home use, or just the 15" (the major debating I'm having is that 12" size would make it less obnoxious in public places and during classes, but the 15" CPU power is very alluring.)



Thanks to any of you who can help me out, and I hope to see you all on the forums in the months to come.

[WizOSX]

Originally posted by PConvert
What is the difference between a Combo and a Super drive?

What is mini-DVI out (12")? Will this be an issue with connecting to most monitors that aren't $800 Apple studio flat screen pricey ones?

(12")Will not having Firewire 800 affect me in the years to come? Firewire 400 seems fast enough, and I picture backwards compatibility with 800 devides (like USB 1.1 and 2.0) - but is this something I should be getting now?

Is there a big difference between the Radeon and the GeForce?

What is virtual PC and how does it work?

I've had a new 12" (Superdrive) for about 4 days. Here are some answers to your questions:

The Combo drive reads and writes CDR and CDRW disks. It reads DVDs but does not write them.
The Superdrive is a standard, PC compatible DVD writer. It reads and writes CDR,CDRW,DVDR and DVDRW. This new model will read and write both + and - formats.

Your machine will come with two video adapters. The DVI one will let you connect to Apple's LCD panels as well as a few other DVI compatible ones on the market. The other adapter is VGA and will let you plug in any PC monitor on the market. This is what I've done, since I use an NEC 17" LCD on my Macs and PCs. It works very well.


There is very little difference between the two video cards for what you want to do. A lot of debate has gone on in the last few days about the merits of each. I really think you'll see no difference.

Firewire: again, pros and cons, but likely you'll never see any benefit for FW800 for the things you're going to do in the life of the machine.

Virtual PC emulates a Windows machine within your Mac. It works, sort of. It is best for situations where you have one or two small pieces of software that you need and are not available on the Mac--and you only want to carry your PowerBook with you. But for the cost of VPC you can buy a cheap PC that will be much more satisfying and useful. I own VPC but have found it to be a somewhat frustrating experience (like many others). Microsoft is coming out with a new version in the fall which promises to be much better. So I certainly wouldn't buy it now.

You say that the 15" CPU power is alluring. Why? There is no noticable difference between the 12" and 15". That shouldn't even come into the equation--if you think you are getting any extra speed or video for the extra that you pay, then that part of the money is wasted. You are really just getting the larger screen size with the 15".

[PConvert]

Alright. Since I have no desire to burn DVD-R's, I guess I'm going to switch to a combo drive.

I hear the GeForce FX sucks compared to the Radeon (However noone's presented me with any benchmarks/facts to back that up - can anyone help with that?)

I guess the question is between screen size, basically. People with 12" - are you running UT fine? I already read the Halo thread.


How much ram should I throw into my 12"? More than 512? It seems advisable to go up to 728.

I'm so excited about my (soon-to-be) new toy. =D

Thanks and keep the comments coming!

[James L]

Make SURE you get your educational discount through apple!

[TheIceMan]

PConvert: Hello and welcome to the forum. It seemed so "long" ago that I was on my Dell desktop running XP.

Just some comments which you might find interesting or helpful. I'll leave it up to the more techie guys to go into details about the pros/cons of the video cards.

I'll simply offer my more subjective feel to my 15" AL Powerbook 1.25GHz w/ 512RM. I too, had a hard time deciding between the 12" and the 15". My dilemma was 2-fold: (1) Portability vs. Screen Space and (2) Price. Ultimately though, I went with the 15" SuperDrive and here's why.

1) Screen: Through my personal (subjective) eyes, the screen on the 15" offered more clarity and crispness that even the 17" doesn't. I don't know what or why but the 12" screen is no where as clear/crisp as the 15". So my advice, go to the Apple Store (if you're close by) and line up the 12", 15" and 17" side-by-side and see for yourself. Open up a bunch of windows and programs and really test out the screen as well as the hardware underneath.

2) Price: There is no denying that the 15" is more expensive. Best advice I got was from my brother: Get what you want or you might regret it later. You know, he was right. I was leaning towards the 12", but the screen was just a bit too small for my own taste. I also watch movies quite a bit on my laptop, so the 15" widescreen came in handy. I would hate to think what it would be like to watch movies on the 12" screen.

3) Speakers: Although laptop speakers are not great, the ones on the 15" is pretty good compared to those on the 12". Naturally there's more room to squeeze in bigger speakers on the 15" than the 12". But since I left my Apple Soundsticks speakers at home, I'm thankful that the 15" speakers are decent enough to enjoy my mp3s with.

4) Battery location: One thing that REALLY bothered me was the location of the battery on the 12". It's where one of the legs is. This has caused some unevenness when the 12" is laid down, even on a flat surface. This is because the battery may not always fit exactly right resulting in an "unbalanced" laptop.

5) Due the 12" smaller size, all the ports are on the left-hand side with the combo/superdrive on the right. In my opinion, this creates a very lopsided and not attractive "mess" of wires on one side. Again, this is my subjective thoughts.

Well, that's enough rambling from here. I hope you found some of the things here helpful. I wish you lots of fun shopping.

[aaron6166]

I was in a similar situation, choosing between the 12" and 15". I went for the 15" b/c of screen size (1024x768 doesn't cut it for me), (available) backlit keyboard, and the video card. Although some may say that you won't see the benefit w/the mobile radeon 9700, you mentioned that you play UT. You will need more than your average 3d chip to run the game well (and by well, I mean native res, smoothly, and with some graphics features actually turned on).

It's difficult to find benchmarks comparing these two cards on notebooks, so you should look to the desktop benchmarks for a general idea. I've personally owned an fx5200 (256mb, for PC), and I couldn't stand it. I went up to a radeon 9800 pro 128mb, and it's great. However, don't let the model number (9700) confuse you. The mobile radeon 9700 is based on the mobile radeon 9600, not the desktop 9700. The 9600 isn't as good as the 9800 (and yes, I've used the 9600pro 64mb on a PC), but it definitely makes a big difference. Not trying to start an argument, but to give you the right idea, I felt my experience could even out the random sampling of opinions... In the end, it's really up to you whether you think you need the graphics power in a notebook. A good idea might be to ask an Apple sales rep to demo UT for you. If you're buying something this expensive, you should at least be entitled to that.

Another reason to go for the better one - you can't upgrade it later.

[chris v]

One major difference (it appears from Apple's site, anyway) is that the 12" has 256 mb of RAM built in, but on the 15" the internal slot can be swapped. So your RAM upgrade options down the line will be limited to 1.25 GB instead of 2 GB possible on the 15"

Also, whichever one you go with, the upgrade I would reccommend is to go with a 5400 RPM drive instead of the 4200. You'll see a noticeable difference.

I'm biased towards the 15" mainly because I love mine so much. The backlit keyboard has a crazy wow factor and though I didn't think I'd use a superdrive much, it's starting to come in handy for backups.

CV

[PConvert]

Wow, thanks for the great replies guys!

What do you use your superdrive to backup? I can't see a need for one now but if you guys could tell me how you use yours I may want one.

Also, who do I contact about my education discount? My college or Apple? I don't know where to start on that.

[PowerTower Fan]

Originally posted by PConvert:
Also, who do I contact about my education discount? My college or Apple? I don't know where to start on that.

Definately start out and contact your college bookstore. I currently work at one, and if your bookstore is like ours its gonna have some really great deals. Some of the deals going around right now we've offered are the new Powerbook G4 12" with the superdrive for $1449, or the 15" with the combo drive for $1759. Also Apple has a promo going on right now for a free printer after mail-in rebate ($99) with the purchase of any mac model.

[PConvert]

Thanks.

I think I'm leaning towards the 15", for a more solid Desktop-replacement.


Instead of getting a Superdrive, does getting external firewire storage down the line when I need it sound like a reasonable money saver instead of backing up on DVDs with a SuperDrive? I have no desire to make my own DVD movies.