Ibook purchase

Sihr said:
Hi guys, first post here :p
I've always wanted to buy a laptop, something small that i can take with me everywhere and recently i've been falling in love with the 12'' ibook. Being so close to buy one, i'm just wondering how good of a machine it is.
I've already asked around about software options but my main uses will be:
Internet browsing, video, comics reading and soft gaming (emulators and such) with the occasional programming task (going to college this year) and photoshop edit.

I already have my eyes on some apps to cover all the bases, what i want to know is: having a tight budget, is the ibook a good purchase? I'm a little fed up with the neowin forum mac section guys always saying to wait, the news ones will be bettah! FASTAH!.. you get what i'm saying, right? anyways, i already searched around for windows laptops, but they're quite ugly and i'd really like to try the mac os.

On a last note, i've yet to find one of there.. i'm looking for a photo of an ibook screen with a webpage or document open, to see how readable it is. The only store that sells them near me won't let me play with the little beast :(

Well sorry for the boring long post, and i'm looking forward to replies.
Thanks in advance
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I looooooooove my iBook! Just ask any of the moderators here--they'll tell you I'm insanely in love and iBook-happy. Or they'll tell you I'm just insane, depending on who you ask. :)
 
Thanks for your replies everyone, you guys are great! :D
I went out to day to check the availability of the ibook, and now i have yet another question: Isn't the ibook supposed to come with the Tiger version of os x? the ones they're selling come with the panther version..
 
Sihr said:
Thanks for your replies everyone, you guys are great! :D
I went out to day to check the availability of the ibook, and now i have yet another question: Isn't the ibook supposed to come with the Tiger version of os x? the ones they're selling come with the panther version..
Click to expand...
Yes, the current iBooks in the Apple store come with Tiger. Where did you go? I'm guessing it wasn't an Apple store. My iBook is a late 2004 model, which shipped with Panther. They started shipping them with Tiger around October 2005, if I recall correctly.
 
I don't know what part of the world you're in, Sihr, but what about ordering from Apple directly, www.apple.com/store or www.apple.com/education to get educational discounts?

As soon as you get it (or a new one if you wait), upgrade the memory. Buy more mem from Memorytogo.com or Crucial.com (etc.) I've always had good luck and good prices from www.memorytogo.com. Don't buy your memory from Apple unless you like throwing away money.

Advantages to the 12" ibook:
very portable
runs os x
reasonably sturdy
decent keyboard

Disadvantages:
screen's not very bright
hard drive is slow
graphics hardware is wimpy
microprocessor isn't very snappy

The new Macbooks are supposed to have (*according to oft-wrong rumors*) 13.3 widescreen displays and Intel Core Single or Duo microprocessors. they will likely be quite a bit faster, especially with native apps.

Doug
 
Hey, that's my iBook you're talking about! My screen is NOT dim, and my HD is NOT slow! Pfffttt. ;)
 
So the day is here, the macbook is out. I've been patiently listening to the rumors and waiting for this day to come, and sadly it was all wasted. I'm not going to buy a laptop with integrated graphics, sure the ability to dual boot with windows xp is pretty nice, but what'll i do with it? i'm a windows gamer, and an integrated laptop graphics card won't give me the juice I need :p

So cheers ibook owners, i'll be joining you soon
 
Sihr said:
So the day is here, the macbook is out. I've been patiently listening to the rumors and waiting for this day to come, and sadly it was all wasted. I'm not going to buy a laptop with integrated graphics, sure the ability to dual boot with windows xp is pretty nice, but what'll i do with it? i'm a windows gamer, and an integrated laptop graphics card won't give me the juice I need :p

So cheers ibook owners, i'll be joining you soon
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Whoooo! You'll LOVE it! :)
 
I harped about the integrated graphics as well, but considering the target market for these laptops, this is perfect for them. I have to admit they look really nice, especially the black one. :D
 
And since the integrated graphics is better then the previous non-integrated version one can't complain too much.
 
lurk said:
And since the integrated graphics is better then the previous non-integrated version one can't complain too much.
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True, especially considering that the Intel GMA950 has CoreImage support.
 
bleh - only one black model :(
512MB of 667MHz DDR2 SDRAM (PC2-5300) on two SO-DIMMs, supports up to 2GB
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does that mean there are two 256mb sticks in there? So putting in my 512 stick from my present book, I'll only have 768mb?

:(
 
Also buying an iBook instead does kinda _not_ solve the problem of playing games. I'm pretty sure you'd be better off with the MacBook overall...
 
PDS, I don't think that the memory form the present iBook would work any way. It is too slow.
 
fryke said:
Also buying an iBook instead does kinda _not_ solve the problem of playing games. I'm pretty sure you'd be better off with the MacBook overall...
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I didn't mean that, what i wanted to say was that since none of the models will be "gameable" :p i'd rather not beta-test hardware
 
While I don't particularly _hate_ the old iBooks now (still love 'em), I'd say buying one for only marginally less money than a new MacBook can't really be the right thing to do... Resolution, processing power, features... The "betatesting" issues can't be that much, either. They certainly learned from the MacBook Pro already (there are mini-revisions for the 15" model already which solved most of the early problems...), and the hardware is basically what can be found in the Mac minis, which - AFAIK - are working just fine...
 
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