powerbook hard drives

[davekaro]

hi,
i'm a PC user and i'm looking to buy a 12" powerbook.

i have a question about the hard drives. it comes with a 40gb, but for 47 bucks i can get a 60gb. are those drives the same performace? is one faster or slower? or is the only difference the 20gb of space?
also, i'm thinking i'll just stick with the standard 256mb RAM for now, and upgrade later if i feel i need it. but i've seen prices for a 512 mb SODIMM from $100 to $150. does it matter? do i want good RAM?
thanks for all the help. also this is an intense purchase for me b/c it would be my first mac purchase ever, so any comfort from the mac world is appreciated.
-dave

 

[dlloyd]

Right, I'll try to help you, we don't want to scare a switcher off now, do we?
First of all, what country are you in? Assuming that you are in the US, I would say you would be better ordering from a place like MacMall instead of Apple's online store.
To answer your questions: I think the drives are the same except for the extra 20 GB.
However, the 60 GB drive is only available through Apple's store. So if you did order from MacMall, you wouldn't have the option to have the bigger hard drive. The advantage of going through MacMall is that they will give you a free printer, free Airport (wireless networking) card, free laptop bag, nice fat discount on MS Office, stuff like that.
There are two other things to take into consideration though: all of the Powerbooks are due for a revision fairly soon now. Apple has started dropping prices which usually precedes an update.
I have a friend who I just helped to switch to Mac (not 'switch' technically, this was her first computer) and she bought a 12" Powerbook. I have tried it, and there are a few things that I have noticed in comparison with my iBook and other Powerbooks that I have tried at the Apple store:
1) Her 12" screen is sharper than my 14", but I find I like looking at my bigger screen better.
2) The 12" Powerbook gets quite hot. Much hotter than my iBook (which hardly ever even gets warm!) and noticeably hotter than the 15" and 17" Powerbooks in the Apple Store when they are just sitting there.
3) My biggest one: her battery ran out when I still had two hours left. The 14" iBook has one of the longest battery lives of anything on the market (upwards of five hours sometimes for me). This was my main consideration when I bought mine.

I guess what I am trying to say is Don't automatically discount the iBook. Unless you are planning to use Final Cut Pro a lot or something, the iBook would be fine for you. I use stuff like Macromedia Studio on mine, and it works fine.
One other thing to consider with the iBook: if you buy it through MacMall, they will give you a lot of RAM free; as much as 384MB. The 12" Powerbook is actually the only computer where they don't do this. I'm not sure why though.
If you ask me, more RAM with OS X is more important than hard drive space, or even a faster processor in some cases.
If you have the cash, I would actually recommend waiting for a month or so and then getting a 15" Powerbook.
Anyway, anymore questions, just ask!

 

[davekaro]

thanks for all the info, but i think i'm still going with the apple store (i get the education discounts, plus the 200 bucks back when i buy an ipod - can't beat that!)
if the hard drives are the same, i'll probably just stick to the 40gb, cause i don't think i'll need more.
as for saving for the next 15" versions - i don't think i can afford it. i've figured it out and i can get the power book i want for 1300 including tax (after i sell the ipod and get the rebates)
i'm guessing the new 15" versions will cost me 2000+ and i just don't want to spend that kind of money.
about the ibook, i think i'm gonna stick with the powerbook to make it more "future proof" (having a G4 and all) - plus it just looks way cooler
the only question i have left is, after the WWDC thingy at the end of june, will apple have the same powerbook they do now for 1499 (education price). will they have any powerbook for as low as 1499??? i'm afraid the prices will go up b/c of improvements, and then i won't be able to buy the version they have now and get the 200 dollas back with the purchase of the iPod. i've seen other posts about this, so i will continue research, but if anyone wants to shed light in this post, that is cool too! thanks!

-dave