iBook or Powerbook?

bludragon

Morning all, this is a follow up to a windows or mac question.
Getting a Mac and can't decide between a fully upgraded 14" iBook, a slightly upgraded 12" powerbook or a standard 15" powerbook.
Exactly how is the powerbook suppose to be that much better than an iBook?

SouperComputer

it depends on what you want to use it for really.

Generally the powerbooks have these features over the iBook: Faster CPU, faster graphics (only of realy use for gaming\3d design), DVDRW drive and gigabit ethernet.

Also, the 15" and above powerbooks have PCMCIA, which the ibooks and 12" powerbook do not. In addition to this, the 12" powerbook is slightly lighter than the 12" iBook. Lastly the 15" and 17" powerbooks have firewire 800 & 400.

For most people, the iBook is the best choice.

Oh, dont bother upgrading the RAM on the apple site, its way overpriced. Grab you memory from www.shop4memory.com (based in celbridge)

More info for comparison here, albeit a bit dated: http://www.macspeedzone.com/html/hardware/machine/comparison/portable/powerbook/index.shtml

bludragon

the only games I'll have on it are for my 6yr old, and Diablo2 and starcraft for me iBook shouuld be good enough for that shouldn't it?

Hugh_C

bludragon wrote:

Morning all, this is a follow up to a windows or mac question.
Getting a Mac and can't decide between a fully upgraded 14" iBook, a slightly upgraded 12" powerbook or a standard 15" powerbook.
Exactly how is the powerbook suppose to be that much better than an iBook?

the 15" Powerbook had higher screen resolution (I think iBooks & 12" powerbooks have 1024 x 768 max whereas 15/17" PowerBooks go higher). There is also the possibility of monitor bridging - i.e. you can drive two displays from the powerbook, whereas I think the iBook cannot - I believe it can be hacked though, but this voids you warranty. I have a 15" powerbook which is fine for eveything I need, except it's over 3 years old and the hardware is becoming a bit flaky. Personally, I find the form of the 12" too limiting and the iBook & 12" powerbook screen resolution just too cosy.

There may be new machines in January that will cause a re-think though.

soph

i bought a 14" ibook there in October, it is absolutely fantastic, luv it soo much.. highly recommend it!
great for designing too!

bludragon

it's looking like the 14" iBook, should do fine for what I need and someone i bumped into yesterday said that the powerbooks are way overrated, and he should know he's an apple research engineer!!!.

jtsuited

I just bought a 15" powerbook with 1.5 gb ram. Great for everything but unless you're planning on using it for serious graphic/audio work (which i am), the ibook is probably a better purchase. Although the powerbook is probably my favourite thing in the world

Hugh_C

jtsuited wrote:

Although the powerbook is probably my favourite thing in the world

More than your mammy or old slippers?



Funny how powerbooks do that...