Which laptop should I go with? HELP PLZ!!

Hi

I'm from New Zealand and have decided I'm going to go with an Apple, but I'm stuck on which laptop to buy between the ibook models and the powerbooks models. I would mainly be using it for internet, downloading music, doing studies and maybe a bit of gaming, webdesign and watching some dvds, so what laptop would best suit my needs?? Just some other questions I had aswell,

1. Does the 12" ibook come with a superdrive??
2. Is the 14" ibook that much bigger than the 12"??
3. Is the 30 Gb in the 12" ibook enough?? or would I be better off with the 14" and the 60gb?
4. Can I get a 60 Gb hard drive in the 12 inch ibook??
5. And what are the main differences between the ibooks and the powerbooks?


I think I left out some questions but any help and anything you wanna mention in my quest to a new apple laptop would be much appreiciated!! I will be probably buying the undecided laptop in the weekend, so get some feedback in quickly plz!!

honestly the questions you are asking are very easy to find on apple's website. I had the same dilemma a few weeks ago, and I figured it out on my own. Go do some research and come back...

fao: greenredfield, its sounds like your the perfect person to reply considering you had the same dilemma!!! be a friend and help out a new guy...

kzef said:

Hi

I'm from New Zealand and have decided I'm going to go with an Apple, but I'm stuck on which laptop to buy between the ibook models and the powerbooks models. I would mainly be using it for internet, downloading music, doing studies and maybe a bit of gaming, webdesign and watching some dvds, so what laptop would best suit my needs?? Just some other questions I had aswell,

1. Does the 12" ibook come with a superdrive??
2. Is the 14" ibook that much bigger than the 12"??
3. Is the 30 Gb in the 12" ibook enough?? or would I be better off with the 14" and the 60gb?
4. Can I get a 60 Gb hard drive in the 12 inch ibook??
5. And what are the main differences between the ibooks and the powerbooks?


I think I left out some questions but any help and anything you wanna mention in my quest to a new apple laptop would be much appreiciated!! I will be probably buying the undecided laptop in the weekend, so get some feedback in quickly plz!!

Click to expand...

I was in the same situation a couple months ago when I finally decided on getting a 15" PowerBook and love it.


1. The 12" iBook only has configurable (build to order) memory, hard drive and if you want bluetooth built in. So, NO, no option for a superdrive.

2. IMHO, the difference between the 12" and 14" (besides just 2") is that it appears, just like with the PowerBooks 12" vs 15" is the screen looks more square in the 12" as opposed to widescreen format in the 14".

3. 30GB in any computer I think is too small. I went with the 15" PowerBook with the upgraded 80GB Hard drive and think its the perfect size for a laptop.

4. Yes, you can get a 60GB for $75 more or 80GB for $150 more.

5. The main differences for me were, PowerBooks look better (just my Opinion), PB has larger RAM capacity, PB can be ordered with upgraded video card (ATI 128MB), PB (15"&17") has backlit keyboard, PB is faster (1.3GHZ vs 1.5GHZ), PB is capable of true dual displays (without hacks).

Of course most (if not all) of these are just my opinions so you'll have to examine each aspect and decide based on what you are looking for in a portable computer.

kzef said:

Hi

I'm from New Zealand and have decided I'm going to go with an Apple, but I'm stuck on which laptop to buy between the ibook models and the powerbooks models. I would mainly be using it for internet, downloading music, doing studies and maybe a bit of gaming, webdesign and watching some dvds, so what laptop would best suit my needs?? Just some other questions I had aswell,

1. Does the 12" ibook come with a superdrive??
2. Is the 14" ibook that much bigger than the 12"??
3. Is the 30 Gb in the 12" ibook enough?? or would I be better off with the 14" and the 60gb?
4. Can I get a 60 Gb hard drive in the 12 inch ibook??
5. And what are the main differences between the ibooks and the powerbooks?


I think I left out some questions but any help and anything you wanna mention in my quest to a new apple laptop would be much appreiciated!! I will be probably buying the undecided laptop in the weekend, so get some feedback in quickly plz!!

Click to expand...

well for your applications you can go either way. iBook or Powerbook. What is your budget? If you are willing to spend top dollar then go with the 15" Powerbook. if not take a closer look at the iBooks.

no super for 12" model but u can always get an external DVD burner if need be.

I'd say there really is no difference between the 12/14. The 14 magnifies images, font, etc... but resolution is same. The 12 is extreamly compact and you have the option to enlarge fonts if need be.

30GB (reality is 27GB) is enough for me but of course the more the better. Do you store music, pics, programs, etc...? I don't. I store all my music and pics on my iPod and I do not use any large programs. I leave that stuff on my desktop. Again depends on your applications. If this is your only computer then you should go for the largest HDD as possible. If you store tons of music files, movies, blah blah then go for the gold.

If you are only surfing the 'net, watching DVDs, etc... iBook is the way to go. But you said webdesign and a bit of gaming. Well if you do a lot of webdesigning then look into the 14" iBook. As for gaming I can't help you since I don't play games on my computers. I just use my Xbox. But the 15" powerbook has a faster processor/buss speed/better graphics card/more inputs for video cams/outputs for displays, etc... so if you do video editing, music editing, photoshop, huge programs you should look into the 15" powerbook.

Personally I'd LOVE to buy a 15" Powerbook but funds do not allow. Plus for the money I would not use the Powerbook to its fullest and it would be a waste. Yes Powerbooks look cool but so do iBooks. I think for the money $2k I'd much rather invest in a Mac Desktop (i love the iMac G5s).

Good luck and have fun!

kzef,

This may help you, I just went out and got the 14"ibook yesterday. Check my sig for the specs. I have tried garage band with it, I have editied home movies, and even put up a webpage and it handled it well. Now for my use where it's more for what I just explained is perfect for me and did not even have to up the ram. Of course I will on Boxing day but the point is even for a 1.3gig system it is stable and handles well right out of the box. It is a great little machine, it's worth a look. I am very happy with it. I have done alot of research with these and found the ibook was the computer for me.

Good Luck!!

I'd say wait untill apple annonces it's updated powerbooks and have alook at them

you'll kick yourself if they reduce the 1s they have out now

Danster said:

I'd say wait untill apple annonces it's updated powerbooks and have alook at them

you'll kick yourself if they reduce the 1s they have out now

Click to expand...

Why would I kick myself if I'm already more than happy with what I have?

Maybe if I was expecting alot more but my 15" Powerbook more than suits my needs now.

Just my 2 cents.

thanx for all the help guyz, i'll go and do some more research and see how it goes. umm in reply to dansters message how long do you think it will be until they bring out the new ones or lower the price??

oh and to psychotoe is the super drive worth getting in the ibook? i mean is it fast and worth the extra bux??

rberry88 said:

Why would I kick myself if I'm already more than happy with what I have?

Maybe if I was expecting alot more but my 15" Powerbook more than suits my needs now.

Just my 2 cents.

Click to expand...

i was reffering to kzef's question