[lythari]

Here's my situation: I need to get a laptop before I go overseas University. I'll use it for word-processing, web-surfing, programing, and last but not least: gaming I might also need to run some engineering, science or maths stuff on it as i'll be studying computer engineering & science. I've asked to universities engineering department whether they prefer Macs or PCs but they haven't replied yet.

But just from the gaming perspective, what do you guys think? The new powerbook probably won't come out in Singapore before I have to leave. Currently, the powerbook 500 costs around S$3988 here and looks very tempting. Gaming performance seems to be OK on the powerbook (check out this site http://forums.xlr8yourmac.com/fpsdb/fpsdb.lasso for framerates). On the PC side, I still have no idea what to get. The Dell Inspiron 8000 looks good but is a bit expensive. I can get a 700Mhz model with 128 Meg RAM, 20 gig harddrive and 32 Meg VRAM!! on a Rage Mobility M4 for S$5325. In terms of the game titles available on the Mac, I'm quite happy: Deus Ex and Diablo 2 will keep me occupied until other games come out latter this year.

I'd like to hear your opinions on this.

[Chimpmaster]

I have an indigo ibook at it is great for games, by my standards anyway.

I run deus ex, quake 3 arena, the sims and call to power on it. Ive also tried the rune demo, and star wars pod racer demo.

All ran really really well actually. I wasnt expecting much, but I get 30 frames per second and its the notebook seems very happy.

To be honest, if you are into 1st person shooters, you will get better performance out of the dell with 32mb video than you will out of a powerbook or ibook FOR GAMES ONLY. The powerbook 500mhz will wipe its ass with the dell laptops for most other apps, and even an ibook will run suprisingly close to a p3750 latop for business apps etc.

My advice to you is this:

If you can, wait until macworld in another week or so. Its a very very high chance that new poerbooks will be released and they will rock hard. There has been talk about g4 processors in the powerbooks, as well as MOBILE RADEON VIDEO CARDS, which would leave the dell 32mb video card for dead.

I went with the ibook because i wanted easy airport access. These may not be a big issue for you, but lets face it, mac OS is far better to use than windows and its likely that osx will be a great os to be released later this year.

Im pretty sure an ibook would meet your needs, as it does mine, but if you have the cash to burn and want a really powerful notebook, look at the new powerbooks.

One last point, whrn you buy uour notebook, factor in ram into the cost. Most, including the apple powerbooks, only start iwth 64mb ram. I reckon you need at least 128mb, and i run on 192mb. A lot of people run on more than that.

Hope all this helps,

Chimp

[Tominator]

Honestly, unless you're really attached to the Mac OS, go with like the Dell with the better graphics. It'll give you better performance and access to more titles.

For your other needs, I'm guessing the engineering software is PC, but wait for the final word on that. Your web browsing experience will be better on the Dell, but Office-type applications won't really show a difference between either machine.

[Fyre4ce]

Wait for the PowerBook G4 - It should have either the ATi RAGE Mobility M4 or the nVidia GeForce2Go. Either will suit your needs. Even today's PowerBook is fine for gaming. I can run UT fine on it.

------------------
Fyre4ce

"I need a vacation." - Terminator robot

[lythari]

I'm planning to wait until after Macworld before I get anything, but unless Apple is very quick with their shipments, the new powerbooks won't be out in time for me to get one. I know this sounds sort of sacriligous, I'm sort of hoping that it won't have a UMA-2 motherboard or a better video card so I won't go green with envy. By the way, can anyone tell me how games like Deus Ex and Diablo 2 play on a powerbook 500?

On the PC side, the Dell would be nice but it's a bit expensive for me. I'd probably get something less extravagant like an HP omnibook 6000 which I can get for about S$1000 less than the dell. It comes with a rage mobility M1 with 8 Megs VRAM. I imagine that the Omnibooks gaming performance should be similar to that of the powerbook, so the choice is more difficult. I suppose I should wait for what the engineering faculty has to say before I decide.

[SpeedRacer]

Originally posted by lythari:
I know this sounds sort of sacriligous, I'm sort of hoping that it won't have a UMA-2 motherboard or a better video card so I won't go green with envy. By the way, can anyone tell me how games like Deus Ex and Diablo 2 play on a powerbook 500?

On the wake of MWSF i'm predicting that the Powerbooks *have* to experience a substantial update b/c right an iBook SE looks *very* close in performance and features to the Powerbook/400.

Originally posted by lythari:
It comes with a rage mobility M1 with 8 Megs VRAM. I imagine that the Omnibooks gaming performance should be similar to that of the powerbook, so the choice is more difficult.

Depending on the ratio of your desire to play mass quantities of games and your love the MacOS, you might choose the Omnibook over a Mac laptop simply for the sake of the greater selection of games available for Wintel.

However, my hope is that the new Powerbooks are going to be so sexy, so feature-packed, and so irresistable that *everyone's* going to want one for the next several months.

...definitely wait till post-MWSF.

Speed


[This message has been edited by SpeedRacer (edited 01-09-2001).]

[nagromme]

My 1999 PowerBook 333 runs games fine: Descent 3, Q3, UT--not as good as a current desktop, but playable. Anything newer will run even better.

A PowerBook is the ultimate computing experience. Don't think twice. Even for Win-only software, you have VirtualPC which is a great product.

And looking to the future--for everything from engineering to games--you have Mac OS X: the ultimate Unix.

[lythari]

Wow, I thought this thread was dead. Anyway, I've decided to get a powerbook PBTi, if I can get one in time. Thanks for your replies