[adiliegro]

Hi Guys...I am a new switcher from Windows machines to Mac. I have an iMac G5. I have suckered...uh, talked a friend of mine into buying my laptop from me and will use that money to go out and get a Mac notebook. Just not sure which one yet. That is why I am asking now...Let me tell you what I want to use it for and you can advise me -

I am a photogapher (wedding, portrait) and use my PC to transfer files from my CF cards and store them on the laptop while on location at the weddings. While on the laptop, I will burn them to a DVD at the wedding so I have three copies of the images...my cards, the laptop and DVD (you can never back up enough)...anyway, that is the extent of the use of the laptop other than doing everyday things like surfing the web, word processing, etc. No heavy PS use as that is reserved for the desktop machine.

So, knowing that, do I NEED a powerbook? Can i get buy with an iBook? I was thinking 12 inch with an airport card so I can use it wirelessly. Anyone wanna run some advice by me and help me decide?

TIA!

[SpaceRockness]

If your using CF cards quite a bit buy a 15" PowerBook because you'll have a PC Card slot and using a CF PC-Card adapter is more reliable-faster than USB readers. Consider what other uses it'll be used for and then make the decision. Since I took quite a few pictures each month I originally bought my 15"(1.25Ghz) last year for the slot itself and for being the perfect fit of portability with pro features. I never thought I'd be switching between universities for classes which lecture halls or classrooms were extremely different.

Fast foward 8 months later(Sept 19th of this month) I had to buy a 12" PowerBook for uni for lightness and thankful I had... it fits perfectly on the lecture hall's folding shelf on their seats. It would probably be a nightmare using any 15+" laptop/notebook at most lecture halls at Harvard I'd say with the resolution drawbacks of the 12" PB shouldn't be too much of a trade-off since it's ultralight, great battery life, firmer keyboard(iBook keyboards flex too much in my opinion) and can output to DVI/VGA with included cables. PowerBook= monitor spanning, iBook= screen mirroring(can unofficially support monitor spanning) Also keep in mind the iBook gives AppleWorks and all sorts of consumer software(games), while the PowerBook gives pro software bundle that includes Graphic Converter, OmniGraffle, OmniOutliner, Art Directors Toolkit, etc. I found the PB software bundle had more usable value.

Hopefully I've given you insight of how much the trade off of weight/size can matter and not to make the costly mistake I had done... heh thankfully my dad paid for my 12" PowerBook and he bribed my mum with the iPod($70 after Cram-Jam rebate).

[Lancer409]

good luck ..

[moodymonster]

I've used the PC Card 'socket' several times for transferring images and it goes a lot quicker than plugging the camera (or card reader) in via USB. Also iPhoto sees the card as a 'camera' and will import the images along with all the exposure details etc and you can give images keywords and so on. You can also burn straight to CD/DVD from iPhoto keeping keywords etc - so putting the disk into your G5 would integrate straight into iPhoto (also you could link the two machines together and copy quickly - PB has gigabit ethernet, iMac/iBook megabit - so 10MB/sec top speed regardless of laptop). If you are going wireless you could have the iMac wired up to a wireless hub and network the two like that (only about 5MB/sec though).

The card also mounts as a hard disk so if you are using something other than iPhoto it would work just as though the images are on a disk.

If you're already carrying camera gear, while the smaller the better, the 15" isn't that big (really) and can also burn DVDs (and read cards) with no extra gear.

But then again, an iBook with an external reader would be a nice (cheaper) option and in a smaller package and also with iPhoto, but no DVD writer (although the Superdrive - name of the CD/DVD drive in the PB - is slow for DVDs).

The 15" does it all but cost more and is larger, the 12" iBook is a small cheaper package but needs an external card reader/DVD writer.

[adiliegro]

I think I will NOT burn the cd/dvd at the weddings (I dont do that now) as I have heard that the burning with the books is extremely slow. I can just do what I do now and bring the book home and uload to the G5 OR, take an iPod and use it as another drive and upload my images to it. So, the burning the cd/dvd problem is solved.

[Lancer409]

back to your original question, just go out there and grab a powerbook. you may be able to update the chips in a desktop .. but not a laptop.

[MrForgetable]

I'd get a 12 inch PB to go with that iMac G5