[silentray]

Hello folks. Can anyone tell me the difference between iBook and PowerBook? I saw they are roughly the same but different in price.

[TheVillageIdiot]

ibook is less powerfull... less vid. ram, smaller bus (i think) and slower clock speed, i think the powerbook will get you a super dr. in the 12" model, ibook requires a 14" model for the SD...

also, I have seen A LOT of issues w/ the ibook's logic board, i thought this had been taken care of, but if you go to the ibook board you will see that someone just got an ibook, had it for four hrs and it's LB went down... yikes!

def. something to consider when looking at the ibook, you may want to look into the powerbooks LB, and see if it is having similar issues.

[widget : widget]

The iBooks are consumer orientated machines, very affordable for thier specs. They have from 1.2 - 1.33 Ghz G4 processors, and built in AirPort (WiFi). Hard drive specs are a little stingy in the low-end model, and Bluetooth is only available as a BTO option. In addtion they havea 32Mb ATi graphics card.

PowerBooks are more professional. The current sweet spot is take by the 12-inch PowerBook, which packs in a 60Gb Hd, 64 Mb VRAM and a built in Bluetooth & AirPort. They pack in a 1.33Ghz G4 at the low-end 12 & 15, and 1.5Ghz in the 15 & 17 inch models. SuperDrives are most of the machines.

IMHO, The two biggest differences between the two are 'robustness' and graphics. Most definitely, if you travel a lot and expect to bang your machine about about a bit, the iBook is the way to go. You sacrifice some sleekness (or half a centimetre of thickness) for a helluva lot more safety when travelling.

On the other hand, the PowerBooks have souped up graphics chip sets (double that of the iBook), and a slightly faster system bus.

I think the lowest-end PowerBook is the best of the lot, especially as it combines the form factor of the iBook with pro-features, all for a very reasonable price.

The low-end iBook is the best if you're on a budget. And you can bring up the size of the harddrive and add Bluetooth to it for around $1150. That means that if you choose the 12-inch PowerBook, you're paying around $350 more for 133Mhz of speed, a marginally thinner case, and double the VRAM.

Of course there are then the mid-range PowerBooks (15-inch), great if you need the bigger screen and want to strike a balance between portability and power. The 17-inch is also a great machine, but is a true desktop replacement. They're not so heavy, but they're definitely big. Don't forget the 14-inch PowerBooks, now with added SuperDrives.

When at home, don't forget that you can also hook up your PowerBook to a screen and extend your desktop. The iBook can't 'officially' do this.

Hope this helps.

[MrForgetable]

Originally posted by widget : widget:
Of course there are then the mid-range PowerBooks (15-inch), great if you need the bigger screen and want to strike a balance between portability and power. The 17-inch is also a great machine, but is a true desktop replacement. They're not so heavy, but they're definitely big. Don't forget the 14-inch iBooks, now with added SuperDrives.

[wilsonng]

Another reason to buy the PB instead of the iBook is the advantage of using dual monitor displays.

You can connect an external monitor to either mirror your LCD display (what you see on the LCD is also shown on the external monitor) as well as dual monitor spanning. This allows you to extend your desktop and give you more screen space to work with.

Get an external 17" or 19" monitor on the cheap and you can instantly get screen real estate. That's something you can't officially do on an iBook. There are hacks for the iBooks that will allow certain iBooks to do dual monitor spanning but it's still nice to have it already built-in.

[Maflynn]

Powerbook advantages over an iBook.
1. Closed lid operation when connected to an external monitor and keyboard - iBook can't (though there are hacks that may work).
2. Monitor spanning - iBook as only mirroring.
3. Firewire 800.
4. Larger hard drives in some of the models.
5. Cpu speed tops out at 1.5GHz while the iBook 1.33GHz.
6. Better GPU.
7. Mini-dvi - iBook only has vga output.
8. Memory expansion, PB can add more memory.
9. Faster memory (133MHz vs. 266MHz)

iBook advantages
1. Sturdier design, the PB is somewhat fragile. Lots of threads here about people banging or dropping them a small distance and getting damaged, some of those were in a padded case.
2. Price
3. Performance delta isn't all that large, you'll get near the turn around time in an ibook as you would in a PB.
Software, an edge tilted to the consumer here.


If I were to do it all over again, I'd probably get an ibook because I use it when I travel on vacations as such and so getting it knocked around a bit wouldn't be an issue. Right now I'm pretty fanatical about how I handle the PB. Don't get me wrong the PB is an awesome machine and its benefits outway a lot of the iBooks, but my needs have changed since purchasing it.

Mike

[molala]

one main advantage of the PB is Superdrive availability across the line. you can only get a combo drive with the 12" iBook, which is a shame, because it's so much more convenient to do backups on DVD's.

i do like the iBook durability, you don't get problems like dents and warping. but they seem to have logic board problems more often.

[iDu]

Don't forget, the PowerBook also has analog audio input, the iBook does not. You'll need a usb mic, or something similar if you want to input audio on an iBook.

[iREZ]

Originally posted by Maflynn:
ook advantages
1. Sturdier design, the PB is somewhat fragile. Lots of threads here about people banging or dropping them a small distance and getting damaged, some of those were in a padded case.
2. Price
3. Performance delta isn't all that large, you'll get near the turn around time in an ibook as you would in a PB.
Software, an edge tilted to the consumer here.

Not to mention:
4. Better battery life.
5. Stronger and longer Airport Signal.
6. Hack that can give you screen spanning.

[MRTrauffer]

My first Mac was one of the first iBook G4s from last year. Because of my work (video editing) i had to upgrade to a PowerBook.

My recommendation to you would be to go to an Apple store, or an authorized dealer and try them all out and see which one will work best for you.

Having owned both models, I prefer the powerbook.

[silentray]

Thanks for your suggestions.

I would like to go for a PowerBook 15" 256M 1.33GHz ComboDrive selection. The only thing I am still worrying about is whether 256M memory is enough for such a powerful laptop. Is the memory easy to be upgraded? Is it neccessary to upgrade the memory?

Thanks.

[jamil5454]

Yes and yes. It's very easy to upgrade the RAM - in fact, Apple includes a guide on how to do it yourself. 256 is only enough for simple web browsing, chatting, and word processing, but not at the same time. Get at least a 512 stick and add that to it for 768. You'll be glad you did.

[hldan]

I will also add that the Powerbooks have an internal backup battery which is useful when swapping dead batteries. The iBook will shut down if you remove the battery but the Powerbooks will go into sleep mode for up 10 minutes while changing batteries. I like this feature on my Powerbook because my work gets saved without having to shut down the system while swapping batteries.

[Taloston Man]

As far as I know, the 12" PowerBook doesn't have that sleep-during-battery-change feature...

[hldan]

Originally posted by Taloston Man:
As far as I know, the 12" PowerBook doesn't have that sleep-during-battery-change feature...

Oh, My Bad!

[Altair]

Also the powerbook has a much better keyboard. It feels better and is sturdier than the ibooks.

[David Thompson]

The PRIMARY reason I bought the PB over the iB (which I went to the Apple store to buy) was the better quality of the keyboard. The iB's keyboard just felt klunky (though usable) in comparison.