08-27-2004, 07:03 PM

Hello, I'm new to these forums, and will be new to Mac.

I am currently looking for a laptop to replace my Dell Inspiron 5100, due to how much overheating it does because of the flaw in the fan's design.

I was looking around, and considered a macintosh because of how much I have been hearing about how much better media works on it than a PC(excluding games). I saw the iBook 12" 1GHz G4 on the Apple main site, and about fell in love with the design. Small, sleek, and sexy. But, I am extremely worried about the screen size, if it would be too small. Here is what I will mainly be using it for:

- Watching DVDs and other media.(this will be my main use)
- iTunes
- Web browsing
- AIM
- Homework/writing

Would the 14" be a better choice? I love how the 12" looks, but I am really worried the screen may be too small, and I cannot see it in person to decide sady. Here is a set of questions I need answered.

How is the quality of the LCD screen on the 12"?
Is the 12" just as good for watching DVDs?
Is the 12" screen simply too small for a desktop replacement?
Never used OS X, could I still program with C++ on it?

Any help would be obliged.

08-27-2004, 07:13 PM

Hi there,

I too found myself tossing around the same decision. I went with the 12" and I am thrilled. It took about a day before I forgot it was smaller. I look at the larger models and they just take up the world. Also, the 12" battery lasts longer as there is a smaller display to illuminate.

Good luck with your choice. Sometimes decisions can be almost crippling.

I say go for the 12"!

08-27-2004, 08:03 PM

I went for the 12" as i was getting it for portability, so 12" is more portable than a 14" i guess!

08-27-2004, 08:49 PM

Keep in mind that both the 14" and 12" screens have the same resolution (ie, the 14" makes the image larger, but doesn't show you any more at a time than the 12".)

I have the 12" PowerBook, which uses the same screen as the 12" iBook. I find the screen very readable (I have pretty good eyes, though.) It's very sharp. Brightness is average for a notebook.

The 14" actually uses a larger battery, which more than compensates for the larger screen. In fact, the 14" has the longest life of any Apple notebook.

XCode supports C++ (via gcc) as well as Java, Objective C, and ANSI C.

08-27-2004, 11:46 PM

i will went for 12 inch since i think if your eyes is not that bad , the 12 inch is not a big deal(you can change the size of characters if you want), and it lets you have more portability, as i thought the 14 inch ibook a little bit heavy :p .
Overall, what ever size of display you chose, the ibook is very good for your usage that you mentioned before(i also would use it to do the programming in JAVA or C++).

Anyway, chose mac, enjoy mac , enjoy this forum :cool:

cheers

08-28-2004, 05:01 PM

I think everyone here gave great advice. I have the 12' myself, but the 14 is the same resolution. I use it primarily for surfing the web, and portability.

I would not recommend it if you are going to be doing any kind of long term design. Its like designing on a cellphone.

Other than that, I love my 12 ibook.

08-28-2004, 06:48 PM

Personally...i would go with the 14'' because it has a faster processor...and you can get a superdrive...but if you REALLY care that much about portabability, i guess u can go with the 12 incher.

08-28-2004, 08:44 PM

Interesting point about the battery. I haven't read that before but it certainly does make sense. I am still amazed by how long the battery lasts in my 12" pbook.

08-28-2004, 10:08 PM

well.....just spot for a while and think about it a little bit....

what do you need it for? (DVD playback, video watching and editing (maybe?), writing essays, web surfing....etc.) TO ME, it sounds like the best option for you would be a 14" ...it's bigger, (and it's fairly portable, trustme, i myself own a 15" pbook, and it's VERY portable)

so believe me when i say that Web surfing feels way better with a larger screen, not to mantion dvd playback, and other media stuff. so, if i was you i'd definitely buy the 14". and besides getting a bigger screen you also have other cool features as faster processor, blutooth, airport card, etc. (which are great)

think about it. good luck and let us know what you decide

08-28-2004, 10:19 PM

Well it seems all we could do was continue to point out the benefits of both. Good luck!

08-30-2004, 05:03 PM

Thank you all for everything.

I have decided I am going to purchase the iBook 1GHz 14" since it would be most suitable for what I use it for.

One more question: Since I am buying this from BestBuy's online store, which is the only place I can do it now, sadly, to get some new ram for it, what would be the brand? I am going to try to buy a stick of 512k, but not sure where on the apple main site to purchase it.(Note: This is for the iBook 14")

08-30-2004, 05:20 PM

Btw, C++ programming is much different on Unix based machines, for example insead if run *.* its ./a.out after programming (If in the terminal).

On a related note, The only editor ive found for C++ is the low based "Pico" in a terminal, anyone know of a betterone?

08-31-2004, 03:29 AM

Xcode should be all you need for C++. it ships with OS X.
Has anyone has had any problems with the keyboard on the 12"?