Need some advice

Timotheos

Registered
I have a 12' 1ghz G4 pBook which is having some problems with the video card (could be lose cables (cheap to fix) or could be alot worse (expensive to fix)) which i have been talking about with a macosx.com tech person.

Anyways, im currently a 2nd year Design Student (mainly graphic stuff) and at the moment i do most of my work on my pBook and it seems to do everything i need it to do fine. I might need to replace my baby if it costs to much to fix so i was wondering what my best option is.


Mac mini: i like this idea because it is the cheapest (expecially if i get signle core) and at the moment, after i buy a screen its the only thing i can afford right now. It kinda seems like im downgrading if i buy a new mini but i dont really know.The big question is wether its suitable for my designing needs?

MacBook 13': I like the portable idea because i like being able to take my pBook that i have at the moment home during holidays and stuff. To me it seems like a step up from the mini, you get portablity and a little bit more power.

Imac: Probably abit out of my price range at the moment, but if the mac book or mini arnt going to suit my needs then i guess this is it.

I guess i really need to find out how the mini single/duo, macbook and Imac campair to each other in graphic designers world. Im leaning more to the mini end of the scale because my pBook is giving me enough power as it is at the moment and its a 2 1/2 yr old mid range laptop so why would i need more power?... and the price factor is a big one for me at the moment

I was also wondering, if i get a refurbished macbook or mini, can i get them to use the hard drive i have in my pBook to decrease the price?

Thanks for reading and i hope i can get some good advice
 
From what I can gather looking online, the iBook g4's and powerbook G4's had a slightly iffy reliability rate when it came to the gpu on the motherboard (i lost my ibook due to a graphic card failure) Repairing this is pointless as it would cost a fortune which is not worth it due to your machines age. If you do a lot of graphics work, save up for the iMac. The intel gma 950 graphics in the minis and macbooks is dire (reportedly 10% slower then a Radeon 9200 mobility).
 
Thank you so much for your advice! I guess at this stage i will save my pennies for the Imac and use my power book until it dies.
 
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