[spencers]

Hey,

I've been a mac user all my life. Switched to PC 3 years ago because of lack of games and other reasons.

Anyways, now I'm in the mood to switch back to Apple. I'd have to sell my current computer (PC) to be able to fund the purchase of the laptop.

I'm wondering what's right for me though. A 12" or 15"?

On a normal day I usually just surf, email, and instant messager. When I have work to do or if I'm feeling a bit bored, I do Photoshop, Indesign, Dreamweaver, Watch movies, and play games (Battlefield, Halo, Doom3, UT2k4, Q3a, CS). Most of those games are available for mac except CS. Doom3 is supposed to be carbonized soon I suppose. Not sure if HL2 is gonna be ported. But gaming is a pretty key fact about my lifestyle. I'm very organized so iCal, iPhoto, and iTunes will be very convenient.

I've been using a 17" LCD on my PC running at 1280x1024 and boy do I love it! So take that into account.

Anyways, what should I get?

[SpaceRockness]

For that sort of gaming life you'd want the 15" PowerBook as the Radeon will handle quite well and the extra space is great for Photoshop. Even though my rev a 15" PB(1.25Ghz) with the Radeon Mobility 9600 is a year old, it runs Battlefield 1942 & Call Of Duty smoothly... SimCity 4 on the other hand is painfully slow Gaming on mini-me 12" PB(1.33Ghz) can't have full details enabled without ruining the frame rate... I never planned on gaming on such a small PB and probably wouldn't since I love the 15" widescreen.

When considering portability, I prefer my 12" PowerBook at uni because the lecture halls small chair folding shelfs for notepad/laptop are unable to fit anything larger than a 12" iBook/PowerBook footprint. So if your a uni student or planning to be, get a regular desktop and invest in a cheap iBook/older 12" PowerBook so you don't break your(parents) wallet.

[spencers]

Heh, it'd be my own money. Rents aren't helping me with this purchase.

I've just got two choices. Keep the pc and get a cheaper 12" Powerbook/iBook, or sell the PC and get a nice pbg4.

Problem is, my budget is around $1300-1400. It's very hard for me to find an Aluminum 1ghz (or greater) 15" Powerbook for that price. Either that or I'm not searching in the right place.

[iREZ]

Check the marketplace forums here at MacNN. I've seen 1ghz 15" PB selling here for decent prices.

[MilkmanDan]

The question is do you want to buy a laptop for games? I'd say this: Buy an xBox or build a cheap PC for games. Play games on it. Buy a 12in for everything else, because of games is your biggest concern, a Mac will let you down.

Sim City 4 plays horribly on a pimped out PC. The gaming difference between a 12in and a 15in isn't very large. I would know, as I have a new 12in and a roomie has a new 15in.

Get the 12in for portability and functionality. You can't go wrong.

[MilkmanDan]

And by build a cheap PC, I mean build a desktop. Seeing as how you'll need a new graphics card every 6 months. Seriously.

[MrForgetable]

I went with the 15 inch. Impuslive buy over the 12 inch. I do not regret it all. The screen space is heaven. Of course, I probably would have been fired by Donald Trump for making the decision I did

[spencers]

Yeah, I already have a PC, custom built by myself. Runs all of todays games just fine. I hate consoles, too. I just don't like using controllers.

I just want something for portability, and to me, Apple makes some of the greatest laptops.

Not sure if I even want to go the PC laptop way.

Originally posted by iREZ:
Check the marketplace forums here at MacNN. I've seen 1ghz 15" PB selling here for decent prices.

I'd like to get the 1ghz 15" AlBook. Not sure I want the TiBook..

What would you guys suggest? 1ghz Albook or TiBook?

[MrForgetable]

I'd get the AlBook

[Lancer409]

Originally posted by MrForgetable:
I went with the 15 inch. Impuslive buy over the 12 inch. I do not regret it all. The screen space is heaven. Of course, I probably would have been fired by Donald Trump for making the decision I did

YOU'RE FIRED!!! ..

[Lancer409]

12 for portability, 15 for beautiful widescreen. that's how i look at it. i believe performance isnt going to be a selling point. the specs are very similar except i wont ever max out the ram on a 15 (who needs that much ram) and the video card is useless as i use my pc gaming rig for games (no offense to the mac, but it has games months after the pc gets 'em, and the ports dont run like velvet either. when my old gaming rig can fly through c&c generals at 1600x1200 resolution on a old radeon 9500 pro graphics card, and i've heard of powermac dual 2.0ghz g5's lagging on some battles ... i will restrain from ever see'ing macs as a "even semi decent" gaming platform. We either need more games made specifically for the mac, (and by lots i mean lots) or I will continue to own a pc for that purpose only. Until a PS3 or an Xbox2, or Nintendo's next gen system can make me switch over to a console (yeah right .. give up a keyboard and mouse for a controller?)

[MrForgetable]

You pretty much pay a couple hundred more for the (much nicer) screen and the extra ports. I also got it because it would probably get less warm(hot) than the 12 inch.

[spencers]

It's so dang hard to find a 15" Powerbook G4 anything for my price range (1200-1400)

[spencers]

It's so dang hard to find a 15" Powerbook G4 anything for my price range (1200-1400)

[SpaceRockness]

Its perfectly okay to get a 1.0/1.25Ghz PB if the price is right, you have to keep in mind a last revision 15" will go for roughly the same range of a new 12" PB with a combo drive due to the common supply vs demand esp since 15" PBs have PC Card slot, Radeon Mobility 9600, FW800, DVI, TV-output and gigabit ethernet which adds better value. Since the 1.25Ghz stock PBs had Superdrives, it'll be tough to find cheap with a combo drive unless its a used CTO/refurb CTO through Apple's special deals or an authorized dealer like SmallDog. Most people including myself which ordered the week of the release in 2003 opted for the superdrive to avoid an extended CTO delay.

If cost is a factor and you have little need for official monitor spanning or light weight of the 12" PB, get the iBook instead and max the memory out. The software bundle itself like AppleWorks will be good enough to keep you within budget... with a PB you'd have to factor in additional cost of AppleWorks or MS Office. Since you have a PC, hopefully over 1Ghz it'll probably be worth keeping and remain being a solid desktop or storage server when needed. As a student I miss being without a desktop for cheap internal HD options via internal drive bays and such... you can only go so far with firewire devices.

[spencers]

Wow, awesome info! Thanks!