I Have The Money... But Will an iBook Do Me?

[stew]

Well my student check is finally through but its not enough for a dual prcoessor pwoermac G4

so im thinking of going with an iBoko (dont need the superdrive of a pb) however I dont know fi teh 12" version will run a set of programs which i MUST use (college work and stuff)

i need to run:

Photoshop
Dreamweaver MX (or MX2004)
and Flash MX (or MX2004)

Any idea if teh 12" will be fast enough to have photoshop and one fo teh other two open along with safari, itunes and maybe an ftp prog?

Also i have a nice 19" monitor if i add that into the iBooks VGA out thing can I run the 19" at 1600x1200 (or something close to it) and either leave the iBook at 1024x768 or switch off the iBooks screen?

Thanks,

Stew

Oh and what RAM amount should i get? (note if i get mroe ram it'll be from crucial as i can get 512Mb for £86 from crucial where as apple's is around £120)

[snowdropper]

i'm in the same boat as you stew.

from the extensive research ive done, the ibook seems to be to be the perfect machine for what i want to do.
from the looks of it, you are doing mostly web/multimedia design, and minimal print work. for print, you would probably want a more powerful machine, i.e. the large photoshop files would be slow on the ibook.

i have test driven the ibook at an apple store, and it should be able to handle having all these apps open at once, if not more. expose is a great feature.

now that the ibook has a G4, these programs will run nicely. i would say from looking at the programs you want to use, max out the RAM. it will make the OS run smoother, and the apps, as they are all RAM hungry, will thank you for it.

as for the external monitor, the ibook is configured not to run external displays in spanning mode, they only mirror, and only at the max res of the ibook itself. so what you want to do is not possible out of the box. which annoys me, cos the vodeo card can definitely handle it. however, if you install the firmware hack on this page: http://www.rutemoeller.com/mp/ibook/ibook_e.html then you can run the external monitor at whatever ma res the video card can handle, however i dont think you can run the ibook like this with the lid closed.

if you do decide on the ibook, let me know how you go, as i am looking at buying it for the same programs as you, im a multimedia design student.

cheers

[stew]

Cool, sounds as if we are doing a similar course.

I know that teh video card can easily take high resolutions - my dad has the pc version fo the same card in his computer and it runs like a dream.

I unfourntunatly dont have any apple stores near me, except PC World but if I was to go in and mention G4 iBook they'd probabley pass out from confusion

Ill let ya know what i choose but the 12" seems to be my best option as I dont do much print work (the odd business card and thats about it)

[Padawan]

I'm just curious why you aren't looking at an iMac or eMac, since you were originaly looking at the Power Mac (a desktop). It seems to me that both would also serve your needs well, and offer larger screens and a greater power/dollar ratio.

[snowdropper]

I'm just curious why you aren't looking at an iMac or eMac, since you were originaly looking at the Power Mac (a desktop). It seems to me that both would also serve your needs well, and offer larger screens and a greater power/dollar ratio.

for me...

because of the portability. i also looked at desktop systems, but the initial cost is too high for me. the ibook is the newest apple out atm (ok also the emac was updated) , so the components are all new (except the processor, being a rehashed older version). with a laptop, i can take it to uni and use the wireless intranet, i can take it home and do some work, i can take it to a mates place....

the only reason i would get a desktop would be because of the user serviceable aspect, ie upgrade HDD, viceo card etc. with the imac/emac, you still cant do this, so might as well get a laptop and the portability that goes with it. the slightly faster speed of things on the imac/emac., due to the higher bus speed etc in my opinion is minimal.

[stew]

I'm just curious why you aren't looking at an iMac or eMac, since you were originaly looking at the Power Mac (a desktop). It seems to me that both would also serve your needs well, and offer larger screens and a greater power/dollar ratio.

I was very intrested in the eMac however I have a big 19" monitor and if I decide to get a mac desktop I want to be able to use it to its full potential and an emac wont give me that ability. So if i get an iBook i can use it as a dekstop (to an extent) and have the portabiltiy which will be very handy for me, even if its jsut being able to setup on teh cofee table downstairs wirelessly connected to teh net its jsut more handy for teh cost.

[stew]

well ive looked at the eMac and its damn good power for the price, enough to make me chosoe it over the iBook despite the monitor thing (coudl probabley sell it or something).

woudl i notice much fo a jump in performance and how much ram would i need to get? 512Mb?

[Stanley]

With the new G4 processor in the iBook it might be different, but with a G3 working in FlashMX, Dreamweaver and photoshop at the same time isn't really comfortable. And the resolution of 1024 x 768 is allways the maximum, no matter how big your external monitor is.

[stew]

i took a trip up to the "local" apple stockists today adn had a play with teh 12" G4 iBoko and it was very ncie to use, the resolution wasnt as much of a problem as i expected it to be (i use 1600x1200 on my pc just now) and i managed to get a good play with flicking ebtween photoshop and dreamweaver, very nice to use.

i think ill order one jsut after christmas (roll on january sales!)

[Bluecrabby]

I have a 12" iBook and absolutely love it for school! It's plenty fast for anything I do, but the first thing I did do was upgrade the memory to 640MB, now I can leave the comp on for a week without resarting because of lack of speed. All your apps should run fine as long as you max out the memory.