15" or 17"

Dizz

Rite I'm about to take the plunge into apple land after almost 10 years in a *nix/win32 - I'm looking at buying a powerbook but after looking at prices both the 15" and 17" are pretty much the same price. Which one would you go for and why?

Dizz

Shrimp

Personally, I would not go for a Mac. Putting aside that I would go for the 15", reason been, that the 15" screen will make the general size of the laptop smaller, therefore making it more portable. But before you diside I need to know a few things. To help me diside.

Will you be using it on the go, or in an office/home more?

What exaclty will you be using it for? (mainly)

Thanks,

If you would answer them, i would be greatful.

Hecate

As usual it depends on what you want it for. The only reason I could see for going with the 17" PB was if you did a lot of graphic design work or presentations, you get a lot of screen real estate in a somewhat portable package.

But for everyday use the 15" would be what your looking for, the new models have incorporated a lot of the features introduced with the 17" like the backlit keyboard and aluminum casing etc..

Shrimp

Exactly, go for the 17" if you are planning on using it for graphic design, (most reason's why peoples switch to Mac). For the bigger screen, they are just equallly powerful

And go for the 15" for portablity. It's quiet a simple dicision really!!

Dizz

Cheers for the thoughts guys

Personally, I would not go for a Mac.

Interesting - why?

What exaclty will you be using it for?

C,C++,Java development, admin'ing systems and naturally generally mucking about online. Games - have a pc rig for that. Graphics - rarely touch photoshop etc

Will you be using it on the go, or in an office/home more?

On the go mostly working on an EU project atm, would like to carry it between work, college and home too.

graphic design, (most reason's why peoples switch to Mac)

Debatable!

Dizz

Shrimp

The reason I would not go for a Mac, is simply because I prefere the Windows OS.

Althought Mac's are know for there ability to cope with High-Demanding Apps.

Thanks.

eth0_

Originally posted by Y o u s s e f
The reason I would not go for a Mac, is simply because I prefere the Windows OS.

Althought Mac's are know for there ability to cope with High-Demanding Apps.

Thanks.

So why are you coming onto a mac board and rubbishing macs? You obviously don't know a lot about them - the days of macs being better for high end graphic/video work are pretty much gone, apart from super, super high end stuff.

Dizz - I have a 12" powerbook that I got last year and I love it, and i've been a windows/unix user since I got into computers apart from a brief foray into System 7 when I was in school! I also use a PC with a 22" TFT screen and I don't really miss it when i'm using my powerbook.

Personally I wouldn't get a 17" because it's really quite wide and therefore not good for using on trains or planes, for instance.

Hecate

C,C++,Java development, admin'ing systems and naturally generally mucking about online. Games - have a pc rig for that. Graphics - rarely touch photoshop etc

C and C++ are all availble through gcc. The JDK and GCC (amongst other things) can be installed as part of apples Xcode tools, this comes with the OS X disks as far as I remember but you can still download it from the apple developer connection - have to register first though, but its free. If you need a nice IDE the Xcode one is pretty good for managing projects and stuff, you could always just install eclipse aswell.

What sort of admin'ing?, if its just unix command line stuff you're sorted because OS X has a full cli underneath the shiny interface....ssh, telnet, all the usual unix tools and commands you would expect are there.

Shrimp

Originally posted by eth0_
the days of macs being better for high end graphic/video work are pretty much gone, apart from super, super high end stuff.

I was talking about the "super, super high end stuff".

eth0_

Originally posted by Y o u s s e f
I was talking about the "super, super high end stuff".

People who are doing very high end stuff on macs are generally using dual processor G5's or clusters, not a laptop.

Shrimp

Originally posted by eth0_
People who are doing very high end stuff on macs are generally using dual processor G5's or clusters, not a laptop.

Well it's relative in comparison with another laptop on a different os

daveJAM

Originally posted by Y o u s s e f
Well it's relative in comparison with another laptop on a different os

Stop digging!!!

Anyway, back on topic, I have a 12 inch PB and it's perfect. You dont really notice the lack of screen space as long as your running the same res. And its really portable. Get yourself a neoprene skin that you can slip it into and then you can just throw it into a back pack. That also has the advantage of not looking like one of those laptop bags that scream "steal me". If you're definately set on 15 or 17, then I'd say 15. But if your open then consider a 12.

su_dios

get the 15". my bro has one and thats as big as you will need..trust me. i have a 14" ibook but the res isnt really high enough for graphics work so i connect it to an external monitor and use a screen hack so you can have two different screens on at once. very handy for graphics work.go to the apple store and see for yourself, but you are best off buying from the apple online store using the educational discount if applicable to you

PhilipMarlowe

I have the 17" which I got as a desktop replacement here at home. I have broadband and an airport setup so it's great to be able to move it around the house... and I would bring it to work or away rarely so it is portable but if you are going to be carrying yours around all the time, I'd definitely advise agains't the 17" because it is too big and heavy, unless as the other guys said, there is a reason you need that screen estate.

ScabbyLeg

I bought the 15" myself, although the 17" was never in the running due to the price and portability. For me, my machine couldnt be better- a fantastic display at a nice resolution, i don't have the need for anything bigger myself.
If you havent already, you should try and compare them in the flesh. Its really the best way to determine which you'd find most suited for you.

Maybe get the 15" and spend the difference on RAM for it? I've got the stock 256 megs in mine and plan to upgrade soon, it should make things a bit snappier.

Dizz

Thanks for all input guys - very much appreciated
@Hecate - yea - sounds lovely see there's fink and X too happy days for dev + admin (vi all the way)!
Yea I am considering buying a 12" with a new lubbly 20" apple LCD (drool) - could just about cover the expense Thank god I can still get edu discounts!
My only reservation with getting the 12" is the CPU and GPU - 15" come with the 1.5 and ATI9700 whereas 12" is 1.33 and has a Nvidia 5200. With the CPU's tis obvious what the performance implications (prob small diff but not percievably huge) are but what about the GPU's? Can the 5200 happily drive the 20" at the LCD's native resolution? As for the 17"... byebye!

Dizz

Dizz

Feck it! 15"... apple store here we go!

Dizz

Shrimp

Yeahhh go for it, it's a good decision

Good Luck

Dizz

Just finished with apple store - now just gotta wait...
Full spec powerbook and another 512mb ram from crucial (anyone seen apple's prices for ram?!! :eek: )

Dizz

Shrimp

What's the spec.?

Dizz

From the site:
• 1.5GHz PowerPC G4 with 128MB Graphics Memory
• 1GB DDR333 SDRAM - 1 SO-DIMM
• 80GB Ultra ATA drive @ 5400 rpm
• SuperDrive (DVD-R/CD-RW)
• Backlit Keyboard/Mac OS - U.S. English
• AirPort Extreme Card, 10/100/1000 eth & BT
• Firewire 400/800, USB 1.1/2.0
• 15.2-inch TFT Display

Yummy!

Shrimp

That is one Beast of a machine, 128 mb ram... Alot of ram for a laptop.

How much did it set u back

Dizz

Almost €2900 :eek:

Shrimp

Better be worth it?

ZENER

From the site:
• 1.5GHz PowerPC G4 with 128MB Graphics Memory
• 1GB DDR333 SDRAM - 1 SO-DIMM
• 80GB Ultra ATA drive @ 5400 rpm
• SuperDrive (DVD-R/CD-RW)
• Backlit Keyboard/Mac OS - U.S. English
• AirPort Extreme Card, 10/100/1000 eth & BT
• Firewire 400/800, USB 1.1/2.0
• 15.2-inch TFT Display

Yummy!

You jammy f***ing B*****D !!!!
I want one like that . . . . . Mummy !?

ZEN

Yoda

I use a PowerBook G4 12", which is great for travelling, and then when at home typesetting I have it attached to the 24" Cinema Display.

Hugh_C

Originally posted by eth0_
Personally I wouldn't get a 17" because it's really quite wide and therefore not good for using on trains or planes, for instance.

How about automobiles?



I'm with you on the 17" thing. They are monsters!

I have a 15" which is

1. portable
2. just on the edge of big enough for editing and tv work
3. able for anything I've thrown at it thus far

Personally, I'd find the 12" limiting for the kind of stuff I do.

chanchan

if your motto is "oversoize, oversoize, oversoize" go for the 17"... otherwise the 15"... offers an identical feature-set, but a much tidier package... that offers more portability...

it doesn't really make a difference what you use it for, put the difference in price towards an external monitor for when you are at the desk and you have a perfect set-up.

Dizz

Still waiting for delivery... :mad:

lilo moo

i'm insanely jealous but wish you happy days with your new powerbook. my day might come... sniff

Dizz

Well been playing with my lubbly new PB and love it (writing from it now) - superb - have also been travelling "dragging" it around to meetings and hardly notice it slung on my shoulder - so much nicer than a big lump of a dell d800 that I was using previously. Only thing is there is one dead pixel (constant white/blue) so I guess as soon as I have time back to apple with the laptop we go, so long as they ain't narks wrt dead pixels! :rolleyes:

Dizz

acous

hmm. i have a dead pixel on my ibook. i read somewhere about some monitor manufacturer boasting of it's dead pixel guarantee... something like "any more than 3 dead pixels and we'll repair it for free". i figured having only 1 wasn't too bad. i have none on my sony monitor though... and in that case i thought i was lucky.

Hugh_C

Dizz wrote:

Only thing is there is one dead pixel (constant white/blue) so I guess as soon as I have time back to apple with the laptop we go, so long as they ain't narks wrt dead pixels!

I wish you luck. Apple hasn't been renowned for doing anything about minimal dead pixels. I had four on a 15" and had to fight tooth and nail to get them to replace it, which they did with another machine which had three dead pixels.

You'll be disappointed, I regret to say.

HC

Hugh_C

hughchal wrote:

I wish you luck. Apple hasn't been renowned for doing anything about minimal dead pixels. I had four on a 15" and had to fight tooth and nail to get them to replace it, which they did with another machine which had three dead pixels.

You'll be disappointed, I regret to say.

HC

PS forgot to say that people have suggested massaging the area of the screen where the dead pixel is - search dead pixel on google_mac

HC