[iamwiz82]

I've had 12" powerbooks or ibooks for years now, and now I'm upgrading again and I have finally thought about a 14" ibook.

Here is my concern: we travel a good bit, and have always been able to fit our 12" laptops in hotel safes. Can the 14" also fit? I know a couple of times it has been a tight squeeze.

[pat++]

Why do you want to move to the 14" ? It's bigger, heavier, and has the same screen resolution as the 12".

[the_glassman]

I wouldn't want anything other than the 12" myself. Sure the 14" has the larger screen (same resolution) larger hard drive, faster processor and superdrive. But the size and weight of the 12" is perfect for you mobil computing needs!

[Forbodium]

The extra size (among other things) is precisely why the 14” iBook is less optimal than the 12” version. This is a good example.

Apple needs to either offer a 12” iBook with the same features as the 14”, or give the 14” one a resolution that’s more appropriate for its screen. When are they going to fix this travesty of technology? It makes no sense for the iBook lineup to be the way it is.

[Randman]

Get a PB if you want more than the iBook12. The 12 is good value though.

[brokenjago]

The one thing I must admit that pisses me off about the iBook 12" is the lack of a superdrive. It has all the features of the 14", except the superdrive, which gets on my nerves. It's just a way to force people to get the 14", when there's no reason, especilly since it has the same res as the 12".

[Dave B]

Originally Posted by brokenjago

The one thing I must admit that pisses me off about the iBook 12" is the lack of a superdrive. It has all the features of the 14", except the superdrive, which gets on my nerves. It's just a way to force people to get the 14", when there's no reason, especilly since it has the same res as the 12".

I would recommend getting a bare drive and putting it in an external 5 1/4 firewire case.
You can get a top of the line NEC, Pioneer, or other drive which has better performance than
the Superdrive models. For example, 16X DVD-R, +R, 8 X double-layer, 48X CDR, ect.

You can find a firewire case fairly cheap if you look around. I picked mine up at MWSF for $35.00.
I put in an NEC 3520 ($63 .00 delivered) when they were all the hotness––there are newer ones now.

[volcano]

Originally Posted by brokenjago

The one thing I must admit that pisses me off about the iBook 12" is the lack of a superdrive. It has all the features of the 14", except the superdrive, which gets on my nerves. It's just a way to force people to get the 14", when there's no reason, especilly since it has the same res as the 12".

Apple does it on purpose - because if you really want that superdrive AND that lovely 12" screen, they want you to shell out the extra money and purchase a 12" Powerbook instead.

If Apple added superdrives to the 12" models, the 12" Powerbooks would be pointless. Personally, I think they should drop the 12" Powerbooks and add superdrives to the iBooks - I think they'd sell more laptops that way.

[brokenjago]

The Funny thing is that the iBook 14" with 100 GB HD AND Applecare (with edu discount) is less than a 12" PowerBook alone. I'm not that stupid, I'll deal with the bigger size... I might even like it.

[iamwiz82]

What got me started was the refurb 14" iBook at the Apple store. But travel realities got the best of me and I picked up a 12" iBook. Wow, I'm suprised by the speed increase. iPhoto under Tiger opens up much quicker with 6GB of photos.