Friend needs help deciding between ...

[cmeisenzahl]

12" iBook and 12" PowerBook. She would upgrade the HD and RAM in either and likely get a Combo Drive.

I think it would be used mostly for school work, browsing, office type apps, etc. But she might want to tinker with photoshop or other 3d graphics apps.

What advantages are there in the PB over the iBook? I think we're talking about maybe $300 in price.

I think the PB has twice the video RAM? What practical differences will that buy me? Is it a faster chipset for graphics?

Does the PB HD spin at 5400rpm? I think the iBook disk might only be 4200rpm.

I don't think she's overly concerned about the difference in clock speeds.


Battery life?

Is one case/design better than the other?

Weight?

What else?


Thanks in advance,

Chris

[Zammy-Sam]

My suggestion would be the 12'' ibook. Why? I am quite positive that the battery duration of the ibook is longer due to the more frugal G4 in the ibook. The case of the ibook is more robust although the 12'' powerbook feels like a piece of pure metall in your hand. I am not sure about the weights but I know that the higher clock speed and the nicer case of the powerbook won't justify... what? $300?
Another thing you should keep in your mind: she won't be able to plug another screen to the ibook and use anything but a mirror video mode. Of course there are hacks to overcome this limitation, but that's the default feature. Save the $300 and max out the memory once you got the ibook.

[cmeisenzahl]

And yes, I did search and poke through some of the older threads first. :-)

Chris

[Lt Major Burns]

i'm currently looking at the same choice. the powerbooks graphics card is one of the ones supported by all the revolutionary new graphical stuff in tiger - core image and quartz 2d extreme. also the processors are faster, and the bus between them faster on the powerbooks. plus the basic set-up is higher spec'd anyway. if you can stretch to the powerbook, i probably would. the difference is what looks like £600 and what looks like £1k - a grand seems a lot for me at the moment

{edit} yes, the hard drives are faster in the powerbooks - this affects macOS quite a bit too.

the case is smaller, lighter, but slightly less durable

[cmeisenzahl]

Thanks very much everyone!

Chris

[Convert]

I am pretty much in a similar situation, Apple is considering giving me a refund for my 12 inch 1.33Ghz Powerbook that they damaged during a repair.

If I get the refund I will go for the iBook.

The iBook is much more sturdier, IMO, and it doesn't get as hot as the Powerbook. I figured that I could get an iBook 80GB 14 inch SuperDrive with 1.25GB Ram (from somewhere else) for the same price as my Powerbook Combo drive.

I highly recommend not adding ram to your ibook, not from Apple, it's too expensive. Google 'Crucial memory', they will get you the best ram for your product.

I think the iBook casing is much nicer, it doesn't smudge as much, and it has a thicker display, so it can't be damaged easily. It has 6 hours life, compared to the Powerbook's 5 hours.


Anyhow, I highly recommend the iBook. Shell out on some ram from Crucial.

[Jeffo]

well i have no experience with the powerbook, other then a display at a compusa and apple store, but i have a snow ibook. I love it, but i am very careful with anything that is abbrasive though because this shiney case seems to get light surface scratches very easy.

[limgt]

Hi,

I'm new to this forum and site because I've just recently begin using Mac OS. My company had brought in few Macs and I'm one of those few selected to test them out as my boss is planning to change everything to Mac.

Me too had a hard time choosing between the iBook and the PowerBook. I went for the iBook 12" 1.2/Combo at last and custom config it to add an internal Bluetooth module. I also planned to add another stick of 512mb of Ram when the unit arrives in about 2 weeks time (I ordered it about 2 weeks ago and Apple promised me that it'll reach me within 4 weeks)..

Actually I chosed the iBook mainly because of the price difference and the additional Ram+Bluetooth on it, still at a lower price. The new iBook will primarily going to be my working machine so graphics memory ain't going to be a big deal here.

Tried Tiger on the company's iBook and it run smoothly so far without noticeable problems. Hope I get my iBook on time!