[evoq007]

In august i will be going to college, and i will need a laptop. i am trying to decide between the 12in and 15in powerbook. ive have done my research and no one has really answered my question. what is the real world battery life for each of these models, im looking at the 1ghz 12in and 1.25 15in. By real life i mean like web browsing, typing, music. thanks a bunch guys

Scott

[Eug]

If you can afford it, get the 15". Faster CPU, bigger screen, better quality screen, 0.6 lbs heavier only (although weight matters), much better GPU, etc.

Battery life may be better on the 12", but even if you're in class you may be able to plug the thing in.

[macwayne]

From my experience you normally get about 2 -1/2hrs. on a 15" and close to 4 on a 12"

[evoq007]

ya, price isnt really an issue. anymore opinions are appreciated!

Scott

[PeterKG]

Originally posted by evoq007:
ya, price isnt really an issue. anymore opinions are appreciated!

Scott

I just bought a 12" Powerbook for my cousin as a graduation gift even though he is not out until May. He is getting close to 4 hours on his. I think battery life is better on the 12" For my 15" I bought an extra battery. I think for school and portability you would love the 12". But I love my 15" to death. Either way you will be pleased.

[srviratamnn]

The main advantage, IMHO, of the 12" is the smaller size. Depending on how much stuff you typically bring with you, the 12" is good choice for portability.

My battery life is about 2-3 hours for web browsing and email (12" 867 PB). The screen is big enough for me, but I don't play games or do heavy graphic work.

If portability is key, get the 12", otherwise you'd probably be happier with the 15"

[mrgaskell]

I had a 15" TiBook and now have a 12" Rev.B AluBook. I do sometimes miss my 15" screen from the TiBook, but find the 12" portability a bigger plus. If you need to do work that requires more screen real estate, then just hook it up to a bigger monitor.

One thing that I will say is that if you want to do any real gaming, the 12" is NOT the machine for you. WC3 and such are okay, but Unreal doesn't run very good on this thing.

Good luck with your purchase and in school.

jg

[mrgaskell]

One more thing: Buy an iPod! That is the single best accessory I have purchased yet! You can store and transfer files, save your digital photos and hard drive hogging movies ( I have 3 whole seasons of SouthPark on mine!) plus all your music and can save your PB's HD for other stuff.

[Tek]

I own a revA 12" PowerBook and am also a college student. To give you my real world experience. I had 3 classes today all of which are supposed to be an hour and 15 minutes. I had my brightness down to 6 bars which is roughly 1/3 brightness. I did mostly OmniOutline, a little OmniGraffle, some email writing, some BlueToothing to my cell phone to send my email - about 4 connects/disconnects about 1-2 min each, some iCal opening and closing. So for about 3.5 hours of use during classes (i took 15 minutes off to be fair to slight time deviations) i got down to 30-32% battery life.

So yeah, just thought it might help to see real college use time there... bottom line - a 15" wouldn't have been able to make it unless the brightness was down all the way and i still think then it would have been short by 45 minutes or so - so invest in an extra battery if you will go with the 15". The 12" is just much more practical for me to carry around. the 15" seems very obtrusive to me - although my girlfriend has one and she carries it around to her classes and doesn't bother her at all... to each his/her own.

May God Be With You.
-Matt

[chrisutley]

I'd go for a 12" if I was back in school. Mainly for portability and battery life. Of course I'd also have a loaded PC for gaming on the campus network.

[Dr.Michael]

Originally posted by evoq007:
In august i will be going to college, and i will need a laptop. i am trying to decide between the 12in and 15in powerbook. ive have done my research and no one has really answered my question. what is the real world battery life for each of these models, im looking at the 1ghz 12in and 1.25 15in. By real life i mean like web browsing, typing, music. thanks a bunch guys

Scott

My 12 inch/1Ghz runs up to 4 hours on battery.
But if these things you mentioned are all you want to do, did you think about an iBook? It will run fine for your tasks and - check on the iBook forum - the battery lasts longer (up to five hours in real life for the G3 models).

Michael

[Lucidwray]

When the power settings are set to 'longest battery life' on my Al 15" powerbook, I can get about 4 hours of life if Im just surfing and doing minimal work. (text editor, web surfing) When I leave it at 'highest performance' settings and do cpu heavy work like photoshop and VPC6 I can get about 2.5 hours or real work out of a single charge.

I keep my screen about 2 bars below full brightness and make sure not to leave a CD/DVD in the drive.

I love my 15" screen. I looked at the 12" but the resolution was too low for doing any real web design/programming work.

If you are looking for a basic school machine, and the extra features of the Powerbook will go unused, you might go look at a iBook G4. Only real differences from a 12" PB are second monitor ability and slower speed ports. If its a text editor/web machine, iBook seems perfect. Probably much longer battery life too and 500$ cheaper. Then you can spend that money on Airport and iPod! Both are must haves.

[Tek]

You might also want to consider getting an external monitor for your room. Not even necessarily an Apple DVI one. I use my old NEC MultiSync 19" flat screen monitor that i was using w/ my desktop. So when i'm in classes taking notes, i don't really need the screen real-estate - but when i come back to my room and i wanna surf, run iChat/Adium, and other apps and want more screen real-estate, i just plug it into the monitor. Now my PC is just collecting dust...

May God Be With You.
-Matt

[saranwarp]

If you can deal with the small screen, I would go with the 12" for the extra battery life. I'm so used to my 15" screen now that the 12" just seems so tiny.

[dantley]

Originally posted by mrgaskell:
I had a 15" TiBook and now have a 12" Rev.B AluBook. I do sometimes miss my 15" screen from the TiBook, but find the 12" portability a bigger plus. If you need to do work that requires more screen real estate, then just hook it up to a bigger monitor.

One thing that I will say is that if you want to do any real gaming, the 12" is NOT the machine for you. WC3 and such are okay, but Unreal doesn't run very good on this thing.

Good luck with your purchase and in school.

jg

If gaming is an important factor, neither the 15" or 12" is for you.
I have a 15" AlBook 1.24ghz and Unreal Tournament 2003/2004 demo runs like sh*t.

I get about 2-2.5 hours on my 15".

[Podolsky]

Wireless external monitor is going to be essential if you are doing a lot of typing....duh....especially if you go for the 12". I just got one for my 17" which allegedly has a full size keyboard. but, the external Apple monitor is really lovely and is great for a lot of writing.

[anaphora68]

Battery life on the 15inch is so-so. I'm a college senior and when I take my laptop to the library (using iTunes, MS Word, Airport, doing a bit of web-browsing) I get a little bit over 2 hours on full brightness.

Hope this helps. Either machine is great. BTW, if you want to a hook up to a monitor, the 12 inch only supports desktop mirroring, the 15 inch will do a virtual desktop. It's pretty sweet, I had one screen set up for internet stuff (iChat, email, browsing) and the other one set up for work stuff (MS Word, Adobe Photoshop, iTunes)

Also, upgrade the RAM on whatever you buy. I'd say 512MB is a much better bet than 256.

[Tek]

no the 12" does mirroring and spanning both revA and revB...

May God Be With You.
-Matt

[Blizzake]

i get over 3 hours strong on my 12 pb with everything at full max. if i need a longer battery and turn down the brightness, the battery jumps back up again.

[iREZ]

Yeah I think the 12" is an awesome computer for students. I have one and love it to death, absolutely perfect for on the go, and don't worry bout all these people sayin the screen is too small...it's not as bad as they say it is, and if it is just hook it up with an external that you could buy from saving soo much from the 15". The 12" rox don't pass it up.

[romeosc]

Originally posted by Podolsky:
Wireless external monitor is going to be ....

I wish there was a Wireless external monitor..... I'd buy 3 in a minute..... I bet you meant wireless keyboard.

[goMac]

Originally posted by dantley:
If gaming is an important factor, neither the 15" or 12" is for you.
I have a 15" AlBook 1.24ghz and Unreal Tournament 2003/2004 demo runs like sh*t.

I get about 2-2.5 hours on my 15".

Both UT2K3 and UT2K4 run fine here. UT2K3 ran fine on my TiBook too. I have UT2K4 on full settings here.

[PeteWK]

I've got a 15 inch TiBook and my wife (a teacher) has a 12 inch Rev. A. Generally speaking, the 15 inch is used as a desktop that's moved sometimes and the 12 gets hauled around all the time. For a student, I would stick to the small one. The 12 inch powerbook is the perfect portable machine.

PeteWK

[SEkker]

The 12" PB is a terrific machine. I think the 15" is just more to lug around, and it's power usage is sometimes limiting.

The new G4 iBooks are also very nice -- the biggest disadvantage is no superdrive option.