what apple portable to develop software?

B

bschiett

Registered
hi all,

I'm a developer who comes from a windows background and needs to do some c++ development and has no clue what apple computer to buy. I am limited in budget, I would like to be able to take my computer on the plane in a comfortable position (take a 12" then?), and I will be doing C++ development + users interfaces, usb driver development/host application software and running some real-time sound apps such as MAX/MSP by Cycling74. I was thinking about an iBook, 768MB ram. any suggestions?

thanks,
bert
 
The iBook sounds fine. There are some advantages of the PowerBook, if you can afford it, but I'd go with the iBook if moving up to the PowerBook would require sacrificing other specs.

This might be stating the obvious, but essentially the differences are:
- iBook runs up to 1.33Ghz, PowerBook up to 1.5.
- iBook is in 12" and 14" display sizes, PowerBook in 12" 15" and 17"
- The PowerBook can support a second display in extended desktop mode. The iBook can support a second display, but only as "video mirroring".
- The PowerBook Superdrive models feature an illuminated keyboard.
- BlueTooth is standard on PowerBooks, optional on iBooks.

My pick of the bunch at the moment is the PowerBook 15" SuperDrive. PRicey, but worth it if you can afford it.
 
Go for the iBook 12". Bump up the base RAM to at least 512 MB. Go for 1.25 GB if you can afford to, you'll love the additional RAM. Increase the hard drive size too.

That should give you a very good portable development system for under £1000 (with educational discount).
 
Viro said:
Go for the iBook 12". Bump up the base RAM to at least 512 MB. Go for 1.25 GB if you can afford to, you'll love the additional RAM. Increase the hard drive size too.

That should give you a very good portable development system for under £1000 (with educational discount).
Click to expand...

thanks! do I really need 1.2GB? I was thinking that 768Mb would be more than enough, even if I wanted to edit something in iMovie. there is about 200 USD price difference between 512Mb and 1GB ram when I buy it somewhere else online (not from apple)?
 
bschiett said:
thanks! do I really need 1.2GB? I was thinking that 768Mb would be more than enough, even if I wanted to edit something in iMovie. there is about 200 USD price difference between 512Mb and 1GB ram when I buy it somewhere else online (not from apple)?
Click to expand...
I get by quite comfortably with 1GHz, 512 Mb Ti 15" Powerbook.

The only speed issue I experience is when burning DVDs (because of the speed of the DVD burner).

Kap
 
I like my iBook, it seems a little slow though, I dont know if it is the 256K L2 cache that only that model of iBook had or if its just the slow laptop hard drive. I find old B&W G3's opening appls a lot faster than my iBook.

I do mostly Java programming on it. To me Java feels pretty slow on the Mac but it is definitely workable.
 
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