Any reason to NOT pick up the G4 ibook as opposed to the powerbook??

[XHipHop]

Max ram on an ibook is 640mb.

The screen has worse resolution and can only be mirrored by external monitors (the powerbook can work as two seperate monitors).

Those are the only 2 i can think of. The ibooks seem nice.

[doug_hti]

almost two years ago (january) I got the 667 ti book with cd burner for over 3k.

Now a ibook for 1k can toast me.
I looked at the specs, and they do not make the powerbooks look attractive against the ibooks nearly as much. If you don't need the features mentioned above, I would really stick to the ibook, then you won't feel ripped off in a years time or give it as much love.

Also, as far as durability, it is EXCELLENT. My wife used the 500 white ibook g3 and it's great. The material is great.

[bjornson]

I'm posting this on a brand spankin new 17" PB and I must say it's pretty sweet.
I work in alot of dark places and the BL keyboard is pretty cool. probably overkill
but then again this is GS!!!!

[est1769]

the new ibook actually has a better video card than the 12" powerbook. apple simply disabled some of its abilities to make sure that pros bought the powerbook and consumers bought the ibook. however, there is a hack to enable dual monitor mode on the new ibook. with the hack, the ibook can even run the external monitor at high resolutions! take a look:

http://www.rutemoeller.com/mp/ibook/ibook_e.html

after i discovered this, i could see no reason to buy the 12" powerbook over the 12" ibook given the cost/performance factor.

[juniorhifikit]

iBooks don't have a cardbus slot, so no expansion chassis. I have a 667 TiG4 with 4 slot chassis for ProTools - can't say enough good things about this rig.

[DigiDutch]

With the iBook G4 looking this good, I can imagine Apple will be coming out with an amazing PowerBook G5 soon.

My iBook G3/900 with CDRW rocks, so no doubt the G4 version will too.

[atticus]

Have you thought about getting a refurb Powerbook from the Apple Store? There are some very good deals in the Special Deals section of the site.

[g.longest]

Although both the iBook and the Powerbook are G4's, they apparently run different chips.

The iBook appears to use the G4 chip that the previous G4 Powerbooks used, either a 7445 or 7455. These chips are limited to a Level 2 cache of 256k, unlike the current Powerbook chip (7457 supposedly) which has 512k of level 2 cache. However, both chips feature a system bus of 133Mhz.

Some additional points:

*The Powerbook offers larger drive sizes, and has apple installed options for faster drives than iBook.

*The Powerbook offers the option of a superdrive, the iBook does not.

*15" and up Powerbooks are equipped with Gigabit Ethernet, the iBook is 10/100.

*15" and up Powerbooks are equipped with USB 2.0, Firewire 400, and Firewire 800, the iBook offers just USB 2.0 and Firewire 400.

*All Powerbooks come equipped with Bluetooth modules standard. 15" and 17" Superdrive Pbooks also have airport extreme cards standard. All of this is optional on the iBook.

However, The iBook is a lot more rugged in design than the Powerbook. Also, iBook battery specs 1 to 1.5 hours longer use than Powerbook.

As for G5 Powerbooks, rumors say mid to late 2004. G5 iMacs are rumored to be sooner.

Hope this helps...

[dave-G]

i don't suppose there's any hack way to put a superdrive in there, eh? iDVD is the only missing link (for me).

-dave

[entropy]

I am also looking at making a laptop purchase very shortly. I'm looking at going for the Powerbook 15" with superdrive. Reasons being:
1) Up to 2gb of RAM, only 640mb possible on the ibook
2) 1.25ghz as opposed to 1 ghz
3) Superdrive (ooohhh yes)

However, there are 2 main areas of concern for me. Firstly price. Will I notice a significant performance bump with the extra ram? And secondly, I've heard of problems with the 15" monitor. Can anyone confirm/deny the existence of these troubles. I'm looking at using it with Logic, 828mk2 or 896, Roland VariOs

Cheers

[Jules]

I love my Ibook g3

I may have a lead on cheap G4Ibooks and might get one...

[faeflora]

I checked out the aluminum powerbook g4s yesterday and they seem about as durable as the plastic ibooks.

[edmann]

Originally posted by Jules
I love my Ibook g3

.

what apps do you run on your ibook Jules?

thanks

Ed

[Jules]

Apps

(all OS9)

Explorer
Casio ExSlim digital camera software
Outlook Express
Word
Digidesign MBox with PT LE
Toast
ITunes
Photoshop
Palm Desktop
HP 155xi Scanner/ fax/ printer / copier software
Wireless internet connection - Airport
Snappy Snaps - to take pictures of whats on screen

Nothing too fancy...

[edmann]

Originally posted by Jules
Apps

(all OS9)...


Digidesign MBox with PT LE

Nothing too fancy...

How much CPU headroom do you get with the PT setup Jules? - i.e how many tracks/plugz at which bit depth and SR - (just approximately) -

Is PTLE a processor hog?

and which ibook is it?

I have always preferred the ibooks to the G4 PB's for many reason$ but also durability

thanks - I appreciate your input

Ed

[dave-G]

Hey, lookee

I found a site that sells plastic skins to dress up the overwhelming whiteness of the iBook (and other macs and powerbooks):

http://www.macskinz.com/cgi-bin/designs_small.cgi

For example:


I wonder if they'd do custom Gearslutz-logo skins for the ol' merchandise page?

-dave

[Jules]

"How much CPU headroom do you get with the PT setup Jules? - i.e how many tracks/plugz at which bit depth and SR - (just approximately) -

Is PTLE a processor hog?

and which ibook is it?"

A white Ibook 600 with DVD/CDRW combi drive

I'm afraid I cant tell you any detail of CPU headroom! It's studio use is only as a 2ndary editing station, usually operated by one of my junior engineers. Most times it only has a stereo rough mix and several vocal tracks...running on it..

HOWEVER, we might start to overdub on on it soon!