[simon1]

I will use my new(and 1st)apple for surfing, iphoto's, itunes, word processing and gaming. Should it be an ibook with 640 ram or a powerbook 12"/15". Buying a 15" will strech my money to the limit a bit though.

Cheers,

Simon

[typoon]

Originally posted by simon1:
I will use my new(and 1st)apple for surfing, iphoto's, itunes, word processing and gaming. Should it be an ibook with 640 ram or a powerbook 12"/15". Buying a 15" will strech my money to the limit a bit though.

Cheers,

Simon

Firstly there are tons of threads on this type of thing.

Second, IMO If the 15 will stretch your finances I would get the 12" Powerbook. Here's why

1. iBook installed RAM is only 128 Max 640, Powerbook 12" Factory installed RAM 256 Max 768, (This does not account for the 1Gb RAM chip you can get now)

2. Bluetooth Built in. Not sure if you will use it but it is good to have.

3. I personally didn't like the keyboard of the iBook

4. No superDrive option in the iBook

5. Powerbook starts at 1Ghz if you want that in the iBook you have to get the 14.1"

6. The Powerbook is a little thinner.

7. Important to some. th Powerbook 12" is on rev B while the iBook G4 is only at rev A.

After that it is mostly personal Preference. You shoudl go to an Apple Store if you have one or a computer store that carries both and play with them and see.

What you could do is buy one say the iBook from CompUSA and play with it for a few days see how you like it. If you don't return it. Pay the restock fee and consider it a rental. Then buy the Powerbook. Or if you know someone with either one play with it and see what you think.

[swiftp]

Originally posted by simon1:
I will use my new(and 1st)apple for surfing, iphoto's, itunes, word processing and gaming. Should it be an ibook with 640 ram or a powerbook 12"/15". Buying a 15" will strech my money to the limit a bit though.

Cheers,

Simon

Simon,

Hopefully you will get many replies to your post with lots of good (and detailed) advice.

My two penneth is that, for what you want to do, any iBook or Powerbook will do the job (my 400MHz powerbook is still in use at home and going strong). So, look at what you can afford and pick the model that comes close. Remember though, that the more memory the better. A CD writer is pretty much mandatory these days and you don't get any word processing software with a powerbook (you get Apple Works with an ibook) and MS Office costs a fortune!

Also budget in for the .Mac service. You might say 'what do I need it for' but when you've got it, you'll wonder what you did without it.

Otherwise all the stuff you need is loaded as part of the OS. You will never regret buying a Mac. They are on a different level.

[swiftp]

Originally posted by typoon:
Firstly there are tons of threads on this type of thing.

Second, IMO If the 15 will stretch your finances I would get the 12" Powerbook. Here's why

1. iBook installed RAM is only 128 Max 640, Powerbook 12" Factory installed RAM 256 Max 768, (This does not account for the 1Gb RAM chip you can get now)

2. Bluetooth Built in. Not sure if you will use it but it is good to have.

3. I personally didn't like the keyboard of the iBook

4. No superDrive option in the iBook

5. Powerbook starts at 1Ghz if you want that in the iBook you have to get the 14.1"

6. The Powerbook is a little thinner.

7. Important to some. th Powerbook 12" is on rev B while the iBook G4 is only at rev A.

After that it is mostly personal Preference. You shoudl go to an Apple Store if you have one or a computer store that carries both and play with them and see.

What you could do is buy one say the iBook from CompUSA and play with it for a few days see how you like it. If you don't return it. Pay the restock fee and consider it a rental. Then buy the Powerbook. Or if you know someone with either one play with it and see what you think.

Sorry, Typoon but Simon lives in the UK. WE don't have Apple Stores and I'm not sure that in the 'Boro they have a John Lewis (a store where you can go to get hands on Mac experience). Also ComUSA is USA not here. Otherwise sound advice.

Simon, you could try UK/Ireland Apple online store and do what he says - send it back if you don't like it - check the T&Cs before ordering though!

[typoon]

Originally posted by swiftp:
Sorry, Typoon but Simon lives in the UK. WE don't have Apple Stores and I'm not sure that in the 'Boro they have a John Lewis (a store where you can go to get hands on Mac experience). Also ComUSA is USA not here. Otherwise sound advice.

Simon, you could try UK/Ireland Apple online store and do what he says - send it back if you don't like it - check the T&Cs before ordering though!

I didn't notice that. OOOPs. Either way, If you are going to do gaming I believe the Video card on the Powerbook is better than the one on the iBook

[swiftp]

Originally posted by typoon:
I didn't notice that. OOOPs. Either way, If you are going to do gaming I believe the Video card on the Powerbook is better than the one on the iBook

No problem - sound advice on the video card though. Btw, where is 'The Tollbooth Capital of the US'

Paul

[simon1]

Thanks for the advice so far. I am pretty limited to anywhere that has an apple showroom. Nearest john lewis is in newcastle. I do have an apple reseller about 4 miles away, but doesn't have any 14" ibook or 15" powerbooks for me to compare. PC world is even worse, 1 powerbook 12" on show, that's it.... not that I would get it from there.

Thanks again.

[echosphere]

Go with the 12", you can add a gig of ram (price withstanding..)

I've got the 15" Aluminum PowerBook and very happy with.

Though, now that I've got it, I plan on getting the 20" Cinema Display to use it with. I used to have the iMacG4 15" and miss the bright and viewable display. Don't get me wrong, the 15" Powerbook display is great, but nothing touches the display quality of the Cinemas.

What this means, is that I should have gotten the 12" Powerbook, and bought the Cinema Display. The 12" IS more portable (especially on trains/planes). Relatively same speed as the 15". Some will argue about this, but the backlit keyboard, while cool, is not as useful as I imagine it would be.

As others have suggested above, I would be comparing the 12" iBook to the 12" Powerbook. The average user spends about 10% of their machine price on peripherals. Do some math and see how much extra you can add to an iBook, and compare it to what you get with the 12" Powerbook.

Hope this helps in anyway...

[typoon]

The other thing to remember is that with the iBook the Airport Card goes under the keyboard similar to the older models while on the Powerbook it goes just above the RAM in the same slot so that might be why the keyboard on the Powerbook feels better.

As someone stated before you can plug the Powerbook into a larger monitor when you need to do some serious work on a larger screen.

Purcahse as much RAM as you can afford and your Machine will be a lot better

[moodymonster]

You can get a fully maxed out 12" ibook for less than the basic pbook, the main differences 1) the video card (more powerful and can drive an external display higher than 1024*768+use as extension of the built in screen and not just for mirroring)
2) the processor by 200Mhz (and the underpinning system bus stuff).
3)pbook superdrive capable

The maxed out ibook costs �1142, the basic pbook �1299. The extra ram (640 vs 256) will let the ibook run faster than the pbook while being cheaper, even thought the pbook has faster components.
IBOOK
� 640MB DDR266 SDRAM - 2 SO-DIMM -extra
� 60GB Ultra ATA drive -extra
� DVD/CD-RW
� Bluetooth Module -extra
� AirPort Extreme Card -extra
� Keyboard & Mac OS
� 800MHz PowerPC G4
� 12-inch TFT display
� Two USB ports
� One FireWire port
� Power Adapter
� Battery
Subtotal �1,142.99

pb 12"
1GHz PowerPC G4
� 256MB DDR266 SDRAM - 1 SO-DIMM
� 40GB Ultra ATA drive (4200rpm)
� DVD/CD-RW
� Keyboard & Mac OS
� 12.1-inch TFT display
� NVIDIA GeForce FX GO 5200 - 32MB DDR
� 56K internal modem
� Power Adapter
� Battery
Subtotal �1,299.00

Ultimately it depends on personal taste between the two, need for more graphics power, need to drive external an monitor. I haven't used a pb 12", I have used an ibook maxed out as above and for most use there isn't a discernible difference 'tween its performance and that of 17" pb 1.33 (aside from the screen size). Personally I would get the ibook and use the difference to get PS2/Xbox for games, tho I haven't played games on the ibook, I don't think it would be slow.


hope this helps

[typoon]

Originally posted by swiftp:
No problem - sound advice on the video card though. Btw, where is 'The Tollbooth Capital of the US'

Paul

The State of New Jersey

[Phil the Fish]

Originally posted by simon1:
I will use my new(and 1st)apple for surfing, iphoto's, itunes, word processing and gaming. Should it be an ibook with 640 ram or a powerbook 12"/15". Buying a 15" will strech my money to the limit a bit though.

Cheers,

Simon

Well Simon1, I have to say I�m in the same boat (and have been for sometime)�� was thinking about the 14� ibook� with a lot of the bells and whistles �� under education deal .. I want to use it for my lectures�� then I looked at 12� combo PB �. Decision made ��. I�ll probably go for it next month�� once I�ve been paid!!!!

IBOOK 14� 1GHz combo
� 640MB DDR266 SDRAM - 2 SO-DIMMs
� 60GB Ultra ATA drive
� DVD/CD-RW
� Bluetooth Module
� AirPort Extreme Card
� Keyboard & Mac OS
� Extra Portable Power Adapter - 65W
� AppleCare Protection Plan for iBook
� 1GHz PowerPC G4
� 14-inch TFT display
� Two USB ports
� One FireWire port
� Power Adapter
� Battery
Subtotal �1,572.39

pb 12" Combo
� 1GHz PowerPC G4
� 768MB DDR266 SDRAM - 2 SO-DIMMs
� 80GB Ultra ATA drive (4200rpm)
� DVD/CD-RW
� AirPort Extreme Card
� Keyboard & Mac OS
� Extra Portable Power Adapter - 65W
� AppleCare Protection Plan for PowerBook
� 12.1-inch TFT display
� NVIDIA GeForce FX GO 5200 - 32MB DDR
� 56K internal modem
� Power Adapter
� Battery
Subtotal �1,853.40

For under 300quid extra the 12� PB offered amongst other things the following:
you double the level2 cashe to 512k
get an extra 128MB of RAM
get an extra 20MB of HD
Get DVI out ---- I just need a DVI projector now!!!

I didn�t think I�m going to go for the DVD-R option a) to keep costs down, and b) as I intend to get a G5 over the summer.

The 15�PD looked nice, with the Faster 80GB drive option, the extra video ram, a single 1GB ram module (to allow expansion later), faster clock speed and screen, plus super drive etc etc �.. but that was 2.5k (educational cost) � a bit tooooooo much for my pockets just at the mo, and probably overkill for what I want to do with it (if I�m honest)�..

Word of warning (true or false) �. I looked carefully at the external monitor quality, and even got the assistants in John Lewis to tweak and play .. but as far as I could tell there was a noticeable drop off in visual quality from 17� to 20� display setting with a 12� PB, despite playing with the res options �.. I guess its due to having only 32mb of video ram��
Looked to me as if one would really need the 64mb from a 15� or 17� to drive a 20� screen or above �.. maybe others can comment on this ��.

Hope this helps

Phil

[simon1]

Thanks phil,

Where are you going to buy your PB from?

[Phil the Fish]

Originally posted by simon1:
Thanks phil,

Where are you going to buy your PB from?

Hi Simon
Where to buy � uuuuum �
Still chewing that over��
If I go for Education discount then through the Apple UK Edu Website (and probably have less issues with supply � fingers crossed) �� but it would mean paying through the nose for the extra RAM upgrade, and as there seem to be issues with adding RAM specifically to the 12�PB, I�m not inclined to do it myself, esp if its under Warranty ��
Which brings me to the second option � John Lewis �. Although they don�t do Edu discount, they do their own 2 year Warranty � for FREE �.. so I could loose the Apple care plan, and save over 200quid, which would bring the JL price to around the Apple Store price, and accept the 2 year cover rather than 3 �.. I need to go back and ask about the addition of RAM and cost �. If its substantially lower, then I�d have to think about it very seriously, or even grit my teeth and see if it was worth going for the full 1.25GB RAM upgrade �. If on the other hand, the cost of RAM through JL is negligible compared to Apple, then I may as well get the 3 year cover, and order direct online with the Edu Store�� I�ll go in and ask them next week, and let you know�� but I have a horrible feeling I�m likely to go through Apple for some sort of peace of mind �� I�m writing this on a G4 duel 500 powermac, and I have a very old Clam 300 ibook in my bag, neither of which I bought additional cover for�.. but it would now seem that my youthful exuberance is giving way to middle age concerns!!!!!!!

Phil

[all2ofme]

This is odd (and something I've not heard of before). I drive a 20" Apple LCD with my 1GHz 12" and it does it beautifully (there are a few others on these boards doing the same, too). I wonder if it's not got something to do with the screen you were plugging it into. The only difference that the amount of video RAM should make to the quality of the picture is the bit depth (number of colours) it'll display and 32MB is more than enough to display full colour on the 20" screens.

I think this must have been some freak occurrence (or your eyes trying to talk you into a 15" PB )

Originally posted by Phil the Fish:
Word of warning (true or false) �. I looked carefully at the external monitor quality, and even got the assistants in John Lewis to tweak and play .. but as far as I could tell there was a noticeable drop off in visual quality from 17� to 20� display setting with a 12� PB, despite playing with the res options �.. I guess its due to having only 32mb of video ram��
Looked to me as if one would really need the 64mb from a 15� or 17� to drive a 20� screen or above �.. maybe others can comment on this ��.

[Thorin]

You guys won't regret getting PB 12"s, I absolutely love mine (bought under educational discount).

What I would say though, is buy it with just the basic RAM in it, and order extra RAM from http://www.crucial.com/uk you'll save a fortune! I bought my 12" with 512MB RAM (with the RAM as a BTO upgrade). For slightly less, I could have had it with 768MB if I'd bought the RAM from crucial and installed it myself. I've been kicking myself ever since!

[ism]

Manchester Trafford centre isn't a million miles from Teeside. Selfridges have a reasonable mac section, you could compare there - Just try and check before you set off.