College Student interested in buying a powerbook

Hey everyone, im going to be heading off to college soon and im interested in the film/graphic design business. i know macs are the best for this kind of profession so im wondering what type of powerbook i should get. I want something powerful but not too big. I like the 12 inch powerbook but im afraid it may not be powerful enough. Is it powerful enough to edit video on? or should i go with the 15 inch powerbook? by the way ive been a windows user all my life and this would be my first mac.

Go with the 15, its plenty portable and you'll like the extra screen space. The 12in would be powerful enough, but I couldn't imagine doing much work on a screen that small that supports 1024x768.

If you are going to do any editting, I would go with the 15". You will really appreciate the additional screen real estate.

Do you have to have mobility?

mynameis said:

Go with the 15, its plenty portable and you'll like the extra screen space. The 12in would be powerful enough, but I couldn't imagine doing much work on a screen that small that supports 1024x768.

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I agree. 1024x768 is a bit small for video editing. You could do it on a 12" PB with dual monitors but a 15" will give you enough room to work on Video without the need of a second monitor.

If you don't absolutely need power on the go, you might want to consider getting an iMac for when you are doing serious work and an iBook for your light portable work, it would cost a bit more but might be a better solution.

Student Prices:
17in iMac w/ SuperDrive : $1400 + 12in Base iBook $950 = $2350
15in PowerBook w/SuperDrive = $2100

Or just buy a larger monitor instead of the iMac...How many time do you really do serious editing mobile?

because you need to video edit, i would take mynameis's advice. going from a g4 1.5/1.67 to a g5 1.6/1.8 is so much greater then simply going from g4 1.5 to 1.67.

Hey, I am a freshman in college and have a 15 inch powerbook. I love it and am glad I got it. We had been a mac family for ever but had one windows pc in the house that I had started using in high school. So it came time to look for a notebook computer and it was a hard decision between a dell and an apple, I went with a dell and it had problems so I returned it within 21 days and got the powerbook and couldn't be happier with my choice. I would definitely say get the 15 inch. The 12 is definitely good if you are using it on the go. But for me, my powerbook is my primary computer. Like right now I am sitting at my desk with it all plugged in and can't imagine working on the 12 inch. It'd be so much smaller. So I would say definitely get the 15 inch as it is plenty mobile, more powerful, yet big enough for everyday use. You won't regret it and welcome to the mac world.

I'm a sophomore in college; go 15", you'll be glad you did! I have a 17", and while I absolutely love the added screen space, I think I would trade the space for added portability. It is still lighter and thinner than most of my friend's laptop PCs though. But If you are going to be using it on the go, and as your primary system, i would suggest the 15", because you'll be spending lots of time on it (most of your down time will probably be spent on IM, listening to iTunes, other stuff on the PB, you get the idea) so you'll appreciate the extra screen real estate :black:

no offense but the vid card in the powerbook blows for vid editing 64 mb ?? thats so freakin weak

i know people will flame me but id recommend a dell with a 6800go 256mb pentium m 1.8ghz proc (great proc almost like an amd) with a 1 gig of ram res will be 1920x1200 if you get the truelife screen. also with a coupon and educational discount youll get it for around 1300 bucks

Get the 15" Powerbook with the 128MB VRAM option...

I'm an animation student and I have a 12" powerbook. I don't do any 'real' work on it. If I'm animating, compositing or editing I use my G5. It's far more productive, it can handle more and you can see reults faster. Not having to wait around for things to render affords you more time to tweak. My powerbook is my electronic portfolio and I use it for light photoshop work and straight editing i.e. no efects/filters/transitions.

If you're serious about getting into the film/graphics industry you have to ask yourself "how serious?". If your answer is "incredibly serious!", the I would advise you to get a dual processor powermac with additional ram (invest in your chosen career and put in the hours). If you're only toying with the idea of going into film/graphics a powerbook would be fine.