17" PB - Is it worth the money?

Hi, I am looking for a new laptop/portable for using on a digital imaging and photography course at uni. The new 17" powerbook looks very nice, although I haven't ever used one before.

My question is how good is the actual performance in terms of Photoshop/large graphics work? For a lot less than the powerbook I can get a 64-bit AMD laptop and I would like to know how they compare, and if there are any major strengths of using macs for graphics.

Thanks a lot

I have a 17 powerbook and i love it... if mac wasnt the way to go for graphics they wouldnt use them in hollywood... just go to your local apple store and check these things out... Plus I bet that 64 bit amd laptop would be like 2.5 inches thick... thats not portable! Just know that macs are far more superior when it comes to graphics 'in my eyes they are superior in every aspect' Hope this helps!

go with the 17" if you will be doing alot of heavy photoshop and video editing work. while it is expensive, the size and performance is second to none. if screen size isn't that much of an issue, go with a smaller size (15" or 12") and you'll save some money in the process.

If you're worried at all about portability I would go with the 15". The screen size is plenty big and it's perfect for sitting in your lap and the 17" is massive if you see one. However if you'd be at a desk a lot with it or it doesn't matter as much then go with the 17.

IMO id go for the new 15" and turn the options up to match the 17"

My buddy has the 17", and it is massive, of course it is way smaller than most PC 17" laptops, its still quite big, wont fit in a normal backpack. I would personally go with the 15" model, it can still fit quite a bit of information on the screen. The machine is ridiculously fast, but get at minimum 1 gig of Ram, my buddy has 2 gigs and it screams. I have a 1.2 Ghz ibook with 768 RAM and it is super fast as well.