Apple Notebooks

Enygma

Hi folks,

Thinking about switching over to Mac soon enough and I've been looking at some of the notebooks.
What I want is a notebook I can use at home for the web, email, video and music and in particular image editing. I'd like something fairly portable too so I'm thinking it should be 15" max.

Can someone tell me the difference between the iBook and the Powerbooks? I'm guessing the powerbook is more work/professional oriented and the iBook is more for a casual home user. I will probably be doing a bit of development here and there, mostly web stuff and Java. Do you guys reckon the powerbook is more in line with what I want or what?

Are the powerbooks only available in 2 models at the moment? All I can see on the apple site is a 12" and a 17", seems a little bit odd.

Also I presume its possible to upgrade the RAM in those machines, correct?

Thanks a lot guys. Any other advice is much appreciated!

Ernesto

Enygma wrote:

Are the powerbooks only available in 2 models at the moment? All I can see on the apple site is a 12" and a 17", seems a little bit odd.

the 15" is no longer a Powerbook due to its processor being changed over to an Intel chip (not a POWERpc chip any longer) so the 15" is now a MacBookPro. its on the front of the STORE part of the site, above the rest of the powerbooks under 'intel powered machines'.

14" ibook would do you grand. 12" powerbook or ibook would have too small a screen for graphic editing. and a 15" macbook pro and 17" powerbook is in my opinion, too pricey.

14" sounds like itd do you grand

Chardee MacDennis

yup ram is quite cheap(dont buy it from apple though) and you can do it yourself quite easily.

colm_c

The 14" iBook has only got a resolution of 1024x768 - and even if you connect it to a larger external monitor the graphics card won't go to any higher resolution, so for graphics and video it's not exactly ideal.

You'd be advised to go for the 15" MacBookPro especially for it's high resolution screen of 1440x900 and the new processor.

You may also be able to pickup a 15" PowerBook for quite cheap if you ring around some of the apple resellers in Ireland and even in the UK.

Just my 2c.

Oriel

Do not buy an iBook now. Apple are due on upgrade these to an Intel processor this spring/summer. Either buy the MacBook Pro*, or hold out for the new iBooks later in the year.

*I'd even wait a while to do that. They have a few problems with them at the moment.

Enygma

Thanks lads.

I think I'll either hold out for a new 14" iBook or get a second hand 15" powerbook. Those MacBook Pros are pricey little feckers aren't they? I'll see how the funds are in the summer.

Oriel

I'd go for the new "iBook" if I were you. They'll be nearly half the price, and better technology than the powerbook. I think they're going to have a widescreen, allbeit small. Actually, there's word of these being announced by the end of the month, with rumours of a "MacBook Thin" laptop. I'm not sure what to make of this new rumour though, I can't see how they'd make anything thinner than the MBP.

Enygma

Interesting, I'll hold off a few weeks anyway and see what emerges. I'm not in any rush anyway, got a desktop that should serve me well for a while anyway.

K.O.Kiki

colm_c wrote:

The 14" iBook has only got a resolution of 1024x768 - and even if you connect it to a larger external monitor the graphics card won't go to any higher resolution, so for graphics and video it's not exactly ideal.

Actually, I just discovered Screen Spanning Doctor (http://www.rutemoeller.com/mp/ibook/ibook_e.html), and it allows me to run my 12" iBook (which has the same GPU as the 14") with a monitor at 1024x1280, 90deg rotation:cool: (see pic)

At OP: Might as well wait for the next line of Apple laptops; Intel Solo > PPC G4, iirc.