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lAwrencex · Oct 22, 2004, 12:21 PM

well, the time has come for me to buy a new laptop. im weighing my options but my head is just becoming a mess. basically i need a relatively fast laptop with a superdrive. i looked heavily into the new ibooks that were just released and narrowed it down to either the 14 inch ibook w/ superdrive or the 15 inch powerbook with superdrive. i really like the look and feel of the powerbook and all the little extras like the backlit keyboard but the price still winds me up nearly a thousand dollars over the ibook. i'm also taking into consideration the fact that in a few years i'd like to sell it and buy an upgraded machine. it seems like the powerbooks have a much higher resale value over the ibooks, is this generally true? another factor is the threat of upgraded powerbooks being released soon. does anyone seriously think they'll be g5's or is it just a mass of speculation? can anyone lend me some advice?

iREZ · Oct 22, 2004, 01:03 PM

From recent quotes from Apple, seems like the lineup out now is going to be the only notebook lines for the rest of this year. To me this means that the next PB upgrade is going to be a substantial upgrade, seeing how Apple wouldn't take this long to upgrade a machine without some pizazz involved. Remember how long the iMac went for without any upgrades, hint hint. Now weather you want the PB or iBook depends on your uses. Don't think of the iBook as a lesser machine just because of its nominclature. It could handle it's own nowadays but the PB has some things that give it the 1 2 punch compared to the iBook.

Dave N · Oct 22, 2004, 03:16 PM

I'm assuming you're considering the 14" ibook because it's the only one that comes with a superdrive. But here's another thing to think about, if you haven't done so already -- the 14" ibook has the same screen resolution as the 12" powerbook (or 12" ibook): 1024x768. This means things just look bigger on the 14", and you don't actually get any more "real" screen space. So you may want to consider a 12" powerbook, which would bring the price down quite a bit.

I sold my 15" Ti powerbook and bought a 12" ibook because the powerbook was too hot and a little too large for what I wanted. I rarely miss the extra screen space, and the 12" screen really doesn't seem small at all. Just some thoughts...

iCare · Oct 27, 2004, 03:08 AM

iBook is actually on sale now on the Apple web site. I don't know that this information would help or not. I myself own a 12" Powerbook G4 SD, and I just love it! This is my very first Mac and I'm very impressed with how powerful this little machine is.

flukewurm · Oct 27, 2004, 04:10 AM

i was confronted with your decision myself a year ago. although the difference between the ibook and powerbook was a little more gapped.

i borrowed a friends ibook for a few weeks one summer and i HAD to have a mac. the 12" ibook seemed perfect for me.. but then i thought about the small speed bump and so many more pro-aimed features. so then the 12" pb was in my sights... not soon after that i realized how much easier my life would be in general with a 15" - realestate is important to the way i work. although less in osx with expose.

anyways. i ended up getting the 15" 1ghz. <3

iREZ · Oct 27, 2004, 10:42 AM

I know that I bought the PB instead of the iBook because I wanted a machine that would depreciate a lot less, three months later the 1ghz iBook came out which was basically my PB without some of the frills. If you get the 12", you'll probably be owning the next rev of the iBook, IMO.

Dr.Michael · Oct 28, 2004, 12:38 PM

Originally posted by lAwrencex:

If money is an issue I would buy an iBook. A 1,2 GHz 12 inch performs great and is the best value for your money.

Then go and buy an external firewire DVD burner. You get it for 200-300. It

- can burn more formats compared to apples internal (+ and -, maybe DVD RAM)
- is faster (8 or more)
- gives you a very fast cd burner for the desk too (> 32).

You get the whole thing for less than 1400. And who is going to burn dvds on the road?

lAwrencex · Oct 28, 2004, 12:48 PM

you all pose good arguements but i'm proud to announce that i ordered my 15 inch powerbook yesterday and i should have it by saturday (if i'm lucky). overall i went with it because i really wanted a beautiful all in one (as opposed to buying an external dvd-r that doesn't support idvd) that would still hold it's value a few years from now. from the looks of things in a few years my powerbook will still go for more than half of what i paid for it. im extremely excited to get my hands on this thing and baby the hell out of it.