Powerbook or iBook...again.

Here's the deal. In the UK I get an academic discount, so the prices are:

12" iBook 1.2 GHz
60 GB HD
Bluetooth
Applecare

Total: £853.18 (incl. £157 for Applecare)

12" Powerbook 1.33 GHz
60 GB
Bluetooth
Applecare

Total: £1162.08 (incl. £220 for Applecare)

What I want from a new machine is something that will last me 3-4 years for regular internet/word processing/DVD viewing/travelling/occasional game (e.g. WC3, Call-of-Duty...none of the new games obviously). For these purposes, is the extra processing/GPU power of the Powerbook worth the extra £300 (which is about USD$555, or CAD$675)?? Will the Powerbook remain functionally useful for much that longer than the iBook?

Thanks!

I'd go iBook.

Yeah, I'm leaning in that direction. The difference between the Radeon 9200 and the FX5200Go is just not worth all that extra cash.

If you are just looking mainly at the 12" in line for the iBook or PowerBook then I say go iBook. Otherwise, with the 15" or 17" models of the PowerBook where you have an option for the 1.5GHz chip and the 128MB ATI videocard then I lean towards the PowerBook.

Of course, if money is going to be the main determining factor then the iBook would fit more budgets than the PowerBook.

rberry88 said:

If you are just looking mainly at the 12" in line for the iBook or PowerBook then I say go iBook. Otherwise, with the 15" or 17" models of the PowerBook where you have an option for the 1.5GHz chip and the 128MB ATI videocard then I lean towards the PowerBook.

Click to expand...

That's exactly the conclusion I've come to. Unfortunately, I just can't put out the extra cash for the 15" PB Superdrive so I could get the 128 MB MR9700. Too bad, really, since that would be a machine that would do absolutely *everything* that I would want in a notebook (multimedia, portability, DVDs, gaming etc.).

The new powerbooks should be coming out soon... I heard within a month or so... It's also rumored they may be using duel processors. That would be cool

Otherwise, I have a 12 in. 1.33 Ghz powerbook which I just put another 512 meg. of ram into, and I can run Americas Army on normal graphics settings.

I don't really think the ibook would handle call of duty ( in my opinion ). not very well at least.

If it's using dual processors they better put a heavy duty battery in it or the life span with be like an hour for one charge.