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You are here: MacNN Forums > Hardware - Troubleshooting and Discussion > Mac Notebooks > Please help me decide!!

Please help me decide!!
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tenj0
Fresh-Faced Recruit
Join Date: Sep 2005
Status: Offline
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Sep 12, 2005, 06:23 AM
 
Hi guys, i'm a switcher.

Right now i'm trying to decide on a

12.1-inch TFT Display
1024x768 resolution
1.5GHz PowerPC G4
1.256GB DDR333 SDRAM (upgrade with 1 1GB ram,with built-in ram so total is 1.256GB)
100GB Hard Drive @ 5400-rpm (upgrade from 80 GB)
NVIDIA GeForce FX
Go5200 (64MB DDR)
Full size keyboard
10/100BASE-T Ethernet
FireWire 400
Analog audio in/out
Mini-DVI out
SuperDrive (DVD±R/CD-RW)

Or

15.2-inch TFT Display
1280x854 resolution
1.67GHz PowerPC G4
1GB DDR333 SDRAM (upgrade => 2 512MB)
80GB Hard Drive @ 5400-rpm
ATI Mobility Radeon
9700 (64 MB DDR)
Backlit keyboard
Gigabit Ethernet
FireWire 400 & 800
Analog audio in/out
DVI & S-Video out
8x SuperDrive (DVD±RW/CD-RW)

And also i heard there are going to have alot of changes for power 12" so is it worth it if i wait? and how long do i have to wait? i'm from Singapore by the way.
     
Dewaine
Junior Member
Join Date: Aug 2005
Location: Texas
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Sep 12, 2005, 07:33 AM
 
I am a recent switcher as well. I have the 12" and love it. But it really depends on how portable you want to be. If I wanted to use it most of the time in a desktop environment I would choose the 15". If you are very moble the 12" is the way to go.

The 12" does not have as good a screen in my opinion. I am very happy with mine, but you have to look at just the right angle to get the screen to look good. Also the ATI is a better video card than the nVidia. My little 12" (1.25 gig ram) plays World of Warcraft okay, but the settings are down from what I had them on my old PC laptop. So if you do a lot of gaming the 15" may be better for that as well.

Again, it really depends on how moble you are.
     
Dakkon
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Join Date: Nov 2000
Location: Richardson tx us
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Sep 12, 2005, 07:34 AM
 
i had the same decision you have, and i went with the 15inch, due to the extra ports, pc card slot, and firewire 800 (for video editing) and also the fact that the 15 isnt that much bigger than the 12 anyhow. dont buy ram from apple, they charge WAY to much, i got 2 gigs of ram for about 220$ total, where apple wanted like 850$ for 2 gig's... also the dvi port on the 15 is a full size dvi port. and the 15 inch comes with a better lcd, than the 12..
     
D3k61
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Join Date: May 2002
Location: Ottawa, Ontario, Canada
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Sep 12, 2005, 08:07 AM
 
I asked for help choosing between the 12" and 15" PoweBooks not too long ago: http://forums.macnn.com/showthread.php?t=267624

After reading the replys to my thread and spending an hour on the phone going over the pros and cons of each with my brother (who started using macs the same time as I did... 1984), I decided to go with the 15" The larger higher quality screen was a major factor in making my decision as well as the better video card which I upgraded to 128mb vram. I wanted the experience using the laptop to be enjoyable whether I was using the laptop on the couch or with it hooked up to my larger lcd. Having owned an lcd (the 15" Apple Cinema) with the same 1024x768 res as the 12" PowerBook I knew that the lower res would drive me crazy. I sold my 15" Cinema for just that reason years ago. I work in Photoshop a lot and 1024x768 doesn't cut it for me.

I've had the 15" PowerBook since last Friday and have no regrets paying the extra money for the 15".

Good luck with your decision

Decker
     
tenj0  (op)
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Join Date: Sep 2005
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Sep 12, 2005, 08:18 AM
 
ok, i guess i will go for the 15" super drive, how about changing the graphic card to 128MB vram dual?
     
   
 
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