Speed bumped Power Books?

F

FrgMstr

Registered
Hi Guys,

Well its been a while since ive posted here but im now finally ready to buy my first mac and its going to be a power book.

Well that is if they speedbump them very soon. Does anyone have any sort of accurate idea as to when that will happen? Im hopping within the next week?

Its going to be used for uni i.e. word processing, internet, email and some c++.

The main reason i want the powerbook over the ibook is the fact that i can plug it into my tft's at greater than 1024 * 768 res.

If the powerbooks arent upgraded v soon i will go with a 12" ibook, does that sound like a good plan for what i want to do?

Thanks
 
I don't think there's ANY reliable info on a faster Powerbook release date.

I say just go with the Powerbook no matter what.
 
You can get the iBook monitor hack (search the forum or the web, you'll find it) to attach a bigger TFT with a VGA connector. No need for a PowerBook for that. The 12" iBook does a fine job for that.

Right now (before the PBs are updated), the PowerBooks are very "off-priced". For example, you can get the iBook 12" for MUCH less than the PB 12", even if you match harddrive and BT options...

The PB 12" costs 1599 USD in the base config.
The iBook 12" (plus BT and 60 GB HD BTO) only 1124 USD.

The only real difference between the two, AFAIK, is the style. Everything else can be achieved by the monitor hack. Sure, there might still be some or other performance gap, but that certainly isn't worth almost 500 USD (for which you can get a nice external display or some FW drives etc.).
 
Thanks Fryke i will take a look, I wouldnt have thought that would work as it only has 32MB RAM.

If i wanted to hook it up to my 17" TFT at 1280 * 1024 (native res) would that work?

Thanks
 
Yep, I've done exactly that with my old iBook 12" G3/800 for a while. Now it's my girlfriend's iBook (without external monitor).
 
No point in waiting for any Speed Bumps in power. I have been a computer programmer for over 20 years. I am a HUGE consumer of gadgets and have been on the computer upgrade band wagon for 15 of those 20 years. Getting a new PC or notebook every 6 - 12 months. I left Apple products just before the intro of the Mac for business reasons and was finally able to return "home" when I got out of my previous line of work a year ago. At that time, I purchased 2 used (off ebay) 1Ghz Powerbooks. 1 17" and 1 12". They both have 1GB of memory or better. They have all options availble and I can honestly say that I have no desire for anything newer yet. I probably will not upgrade until after 2Ghz G5's have been out for a while. The speed using OSX is SO MUCH BETTER than any Windows PC out there. My girlfriend had a 2.5Ghz laptop and had so much Mac envy, she just got a used 1Ghz 17" Powerbook (from ebay) and retired her laptop. The moral of the story? Don't wait, you will never be sorry you did!
 
Sadly, some people moan when they buy a 'new' PowerBook and Apple releases new ones the week after, pipermalibu. Right now, I think you have 4 (more or less) sane options:

1.) Get an iBook 12". They're 'good enough' and cheap. Very cheap.
2.) Wait for the new PBs and get a 1.33-1.5 GHz model for less.
3.) Wait for the new PBs and get a new one then.
4.) Get a PowerBook now.

The last option wouldn't cut it for me (well, I already got one of those for almost a year now, but if I didn't...), although you're probably right and they'd serve well for years to come.
 
ok thanks for the replies guys.

Whats the concensus as ive decided not to wait.

12" ibook with HD BTO to 60Gb + 512MB Ram ordered elsewhere

or

14" ibook with 512MB Ram ordered elsewhere

The price dif is small so am just wondering whether to go with the 14"?
 
even better, i would say buy a 12inch iBook and with the extra 500 get a mac mini or and ipod or get and iPod shuffle and save the rest for a 20inch Apple display in the near future :)
 
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