[k10k]

After a lot of thought and consideration I'm ready to buy an iBook however I need a little help. I want to spend around £700 ($1000), and I am keen on the cheapest model, the 1ghz G4 12". I have however noticed that apple is selling some refurbished items. They are selling an ibook 800 mhz which shares similar specs. I will be saving approximately £200 ($350). Is it worth it, and is the connectivety the same? I am also thinking of linking my mac to a CRT monitor,will that be possible?
I will use my mac for web design, word processing, and a little image editing along with internet browsing...... If im going to get an ibook its got to have mac os 10.3 so i can mess around with *nix terminal.
Waiting impatiently for some needed advice.

William

[Voch]

Consider that the iBook/1Ghz is more than just 200Mhz faster. It also has double the L2 chip cache (512K vs. 256K) so it's a nice boost over the 800Mhz version (not that the 800Mhz is a slouch or anything).

Voch

[cambro]

Originally posted by Voch:
It also has double the L2 chip cache (512K vs. 256K) so it's a nice boost over the 800Mhz version (not that the 800Mhz is a slouch or anything).

Exactly. The cache increase is as great or greater than the processor speed increase in terms of performance gain.

You would be foolish to get an 800 unless you can save a lot of cash. Determining what "a lot of cash" is is up to you.

[k10k]

What about a connection to a CRT monitor.

[Voch]

Originally posted by k10k:
What about a connection to a CRT monitor.

Officially, you can use pretty much any VGA-connector CRT for "mirroring" (showing the same thing on the LCD and the monitor). There are also unofficial hacks to run the CRT as a separate display (it becomes an extension of the LCD's desktop)...search this forum for "spanning hack" topics.

I think the beauty of having a portable is to NOT hook it up to stuff, though...

Voch

[wataru]

Originally posted by k10k:
What about a connection to a CRT monitor.

The options are exactly the same for all iBook G4s.

[Stinkysteve]

I have been using the spanning hack on my iBook G4 800 since November and it's just beautiful for Photoshop.
I personally would shoot for the faster, newer model over the refurb for that price difference.
Either way you will enjoy the iBook.

[RadarBob2]

I have an original iBook (300mhz) and a 700MHz iBook at home. My brother has an 800MHz model. He really likes it. He was surprised and impressed w/ it's performance when he first got it.

Based on my experience over the last 20+ years using microcomputers is that a few more MHz by itself is not worth the premium or upgrade in general, but then I don't run complex weather models or simulate nuclear explosions. And I do not know how much more of a difference the G4 makes ....

I think the fact that I'm still productively using my *original* iBook proves a point. I'd be more interested in the connections. USB (1.1 vs 2.0 maybe), CD or CD burner or superdrive?, etc. Because five years from now the speed of the computer is not going to matter if you can't connect the new printers or other devices, can't put enough memory in the machine, don't have a big enough hard drive, etc.

[macaddict0001]

the way i see it is you should get the 800 but only if you are going to use the extra money to get some things like an airport card and memory.

[k10k]

Yes I went for the the 1Ghz iBook and I have made the right decision. Thank you for your help.

[Voch]

Originally posted by k10k:
Yes I went for the the 1Ghz iBook and I have made the right decision. Thank you for your help.

Congrats. Your iBook creams my current (but older) PowerBook speed-wise.

Voch