getting a new 12" notebook, but which??

[quiksan]

ok, so I'm going to be getting my wife a new apple laptop, and it's gonna be a 12". but I'm not sure if I wanna get her a powerbook or an ibook. I know that for her, an ibook would more than suffice, but I suppose it's the man in me that just wants more power. though the ibooks and powerbooks are fairly close at this point. so ...???

let me know your thoughts? should I get a barebones pb or ibook? or should I get a decked-out pb or ibook?
Thing is, I might end up using it myself for some of my coding/graphics/movie stuff...maybe. so I'm torn.

would love to hear your thoughts. I'm really in kind of a quandry. if I had my way, it'd just be a G5, but she want's a small notebook. so my options are somewhat limited.

thanks for your input!!

 

[Giaguara]

Take your wife to a store selling them, and let her try them and have a look. What does she want?
What does she need? If iBook is enough for her needs, I would opt for iBook (combo).
But let her try them first/

 

[quiksan]

no way, she gets no say in this!

kidding of course. i'm leaning toward the ibook. practicality says that's all she needs, and save money for a G5 later...

unfortunately tho, to her, a computer's a computer (kind of, she at least prefers macs to pcs), just like a car's a car. (now that I think of it, I'm not sure how we ever ended up together. lol)

she'll probably go the frugal route, not basing her decision on the machine itself. oh well, save me money. I do appreciate that!

 

[Lycander]

For the money of a 12" PowerBook, you could get the 14" iBook and deck it out. You want to preserve that sparkle in her eyes don't you? Don't make her squint to a 12" screen.

 

[dlloyd]

The only real reason I got the 14" iBook was for the extra battery life (about an hour). I personally would prefer a 12" or a 15", because a 14" display that only does 1024x768 really sucks.

 

[Decado]

I have the same dilemma:
Either i buy a 12' ibook with extra hard-drive space, bluetooth and airport extreme card.
Or i buy a bare-bone powerbook. in sweden the price-difference between them is about 350 US Dollars. i don't realllly need the extra speed of the powerbook so it all comes down to one (or 2 things):
The keyboard and track pad.
How big is the difference? is it worth 350? any other advantages with the powerbook?

 

[symphonix]

Let her decide on the model, and then deck it out ... you know you will want Bluetooth and Airport Extreme anyway. The specs aren't really that different now, unless you're doing some very processor intensive tasks, so you might as well choose based on personal taste!

 

[cellfish]

Screw the iBook, it's a shit laptop. The case scratches like there's no tomorrow, past iBooks have had logic board failures and the base ram on it cannot be removed. Personally, I'd tell you to ONLY consider the 15" and up but if you're getting a 12" either way, go for the metallic exterior.

 

[Randman]

The iBook is better value and it sounds more like what your wife needs. The ram on G4s can go to 1GB and no reports of logic board problems with the new models. Ignore the previous poster's lame arguments.
You have a 17, so perhaps she'd want a 12 for greater mobility as well as contrast. Get it maxed out in case you might use it as well.

 

[drunkmac]

::screams like drunken football fan:: GET HER Si POWARBook!!11

Itll kick a lot more ass than an iBook.

 

[quiksan]

lol
thanks for all the feedback folks.
if not totally helpful, it's at least entertaining!

well, i think it'll boil down to her choice, and my decking it out.
we'll see.

 

[agusgriego]

I was also thinking of buying a 12" portable and would like to know your opinion.
I want to replace my G4/400 with a new portable (I can't buy a G5, it's a long story, it HAS to be a portable).

I'll use it mainly for Graphic Design (Photoshop, Illustrator, Dreamweaver, Fireworks, Flash, After Effects, etc.) and of course a little Gaming

Of course $$$ is important, should I choose a maxed-out iBook 12" (or 14") or a maxed-out PowerBook 12"??
Does the 5400 rpm hard disk, the extra 32 MB VRAM (and the different graphics card), and the extra 133MHz will make a HUGE difference in a day to day use??

Thanks,

 

[drunkmac]

Yeah it will make a difference.

 

[Arden]

Quiksan: Get her a computer with a nice glowing Apple logo.

Agusgriego: Powerbook, dude. For sure.

 

[btoneill]

I vote for the 12" iBook. Buy it stock off the shelf, stick in an AirportExtreme card, and buy 512M of 3rd party memory. $1299 total for it with the card and memory. Thats what I did and I love this little laptop.

Brian

 

[mindbend]

It's so subjective, but I'll throw in my 2 cents anyway.

Keep in mind, I have a decent DP G4 desktop, so my laptop needs were not very high. A few months ago I needed a laptop for a conference, so I got the 12" iBook, maxed the RAM and through in an AirPort card (so I could leech off the neighbor's wireless network, heh!).

I have found it to be a very decent computer. in fact, it's my new favorite computer of all time. I mean that in a VW Bug sort of way (there's plenty bigger, "better", faster cars, but the bug will always be the bug).

It performs adequately. I can comfortably edit video, do Photoshop work, etc. No speed records, mind you, but it's very workable. I'm sure a 200 MB Photoshop file would be agony, but I don't use the iBook for that. Maxing RAM is mandatory.

My thoughts on the 14" model are that it was unnecessary for me. It has the same pixel resolution as the 12" so there is nothing to be gained in terms of real estate. I can read the 12" just fine at normal viewing distance. And any speed increase in the 14" is minimal. I don't know of any other advantages. I enjoy the small compactness of the 12". Yes, the top scratches easily. And the machine as a whole is not as sturdy or industrial as the PBs. I don't mind. It's plenty solid.

I give my 12" IB an 8 out of 10 (relative to what it is designed for and the price). And I've got the older one. The new one's even better. Sure would be nice to burn DVDs on it. But keep in mind, it is what it is. The IB is NOT a powerhouse, but it's very decent.

Unless someone here has both machines, I would take comparison comments with a grain of salt. I do not have a PB, so I can't say how much better it may be. I have no idea how anyone else can claim such things. Pure speculation.

 

[dlloyd]

mindbend: to quote my post from farther up: "The only real reason I got the 14" iBook was for the extra battery life (about an hour). I personally would prefer a 12" or a 15", because a 14" display that only does 1024x768 really sucks."

Meaning, the iBook 14" has about an hour's more batter potential, six hours vs five.

Also, since the iBook is a consumer's laptop, I thought it was sturdier than a PowerBook...