2 Q's: Mac Rentals, & Speed of PBG3 vs. iBook in OS X

[simX]

OK, I've got two questions for all of you.

First: As you guys may know, I'm doing a little web design for a summer job (it's actually been pretty fun so far -- haven't done stuff like this before). The thing is, there are absolutely no Macintoshes here, and I don't think I can live with web design on a PC.

Currently, I am using my mom's iBook to do the work here, and I am carting it back and forth from work and home. However, my mom is kind of dubious at this and doesn't want me to continue this further.

Long story short, I'm writing a proposal to my supervisor so that I can have a Macintosh bought or rented for me. Considering that they are pretty devoutly anti-Mac here, a Macintosh rental will probably be easier to push through, because I can also support myself that way, and when it's all done, my company can continue being Anti-Mac and won't even have to support this one Macintosh they bought for me.

I just wanted to know anybody's experience with renting Macs. I found a good article about a company, and it says that Mac renting is a niche market. The company is the Gold Country Technology Group, and I called to get a quote, and they seem to have decent prices.

iBook 500: $225/month if I wait until after MWNY, $375/month if I want it now

iBook 600: $325/month if I wait until after MWNY, $475/month if I want it now

PBG3 400: $195/month

PBG3 500: $235/month

iMac 400 (fruit): $125/month

iMac 500 (snow/patterns): $155/month

These are pretty reasonable, and I'm only going to need them for two months max.

But my actual question is if anybody has any experience with these and/or other Mac rental companies.

---------------

The other question I had was related to the Mac rentals question. When I spoke to the woman who was giving me quotes on Mac Rentals, she said that the PBG3 500s felt speedier than iBook 500s in Mac OS X. She claimed the speediness was due to the larger backside cache. Can anybody verify this? This is very important, because it would be best to keep the cost down as low as possible while keeping functionality as high as possible.

And just to make sure: those PBG3 400/500s have FireWire and USB ports, correct? I just want to make sure I can connect my iPod to the Mac I rent so I can listen to tunes while working.

Thanks for any answers any of you can give.

[dixonbm]

Originally posted by simX
When I spoke to the woman who was giving me quotes on Mac Rentals, she said that the PBG3 500s felt speedier than iBook 500s in Mac OS X.

My dad has a G3 500 powerbook and it seems to run OS X fine with 192mb ram. I'm not sure how it compares to an ibook.

Goodluck.