Convince me to buy an Ibook, questions inside.

Hi there,

I want an ultra portable, and the sony t series is a rip off, the dell x1 doesnt have built in optical, and there havent been any others that have really impressed me much.

So I look to apple to see if they can supply what I need. If anyone with an Ibook 12" G4 1.33MHZ can help me out I would appreciate it.

The following are questions which will guide me in my decision to buy a mac. Please answer them honestly, I know you are all mac users, but please be objective with your information. The following questions refer only to the Ibook G4 12" with the 1.33 Ghz 512RAM shown as is on apples website.


1. Is there C++/Java programming software/compilers available for macs?

2. What is the most graphics intensive game you have been able to play flawlessly on the ibook?

3. Can I realisticly do basic to mid level video editing with this machine? I mean be able to encode files, cut them up, etc. Nothing super advanced. If so, can I save my files in mpeg, avi, wmv and other non .mov formats and what software do I need to do this?

4. Is it possible to change the color of the ibook, I want an all black one, if so how hard is it?

5. Is it hard to transfer files from PC to mac wirelessly using 802.11g?

6. I hear it is noisy when playing DVDs, is this true?

7. Is DVD playtback smooth for all DVDs you play?

8. What are the things you simply do not like about your ibook g4 12?

9. If you have the apple bluetooth mouse, is it any good? If I buy the ibook i need this feature so I need to know how good this mouse works.

10. How much hard drive space is used initially out of the box? I read a review that said the HD was 30 Gig, but 15 was already used up on it.

11. Realistically what is your average battery life, without playing DVD and with playing a DVD?

12. I heard apple is coming out with a widescreen version ibook, any truth to this? And if so, should I wait a while for the price to come down?

13. What is the most accurate ibook review you have read?

14. Anything else I should really know about this machine??


thanks a lot for taking the time to read and reply.

Adam

I try to answer some of your questions:

1. Yes. The IDE is called Xcode, and is part of the developer tools, included with every Mac and OS X retail box.

3. You probably can, though encoding would be quite time consuming. A desktop Mac with a G5 CPU would be better for that.

4. The only way to do that is to dismantle it, and get the casing painted in black. Which, of course, voids your warranty. But the keyboard will remain white.

5. No problem, though I would suggest you connect them both together via Ethernet cable, as transfer is much faster than 802.11g.

6. It's not noisier than any PC laptop to watch DVDs, the biggest part of the noise is coming from the DVD spinning in the optical drive. But that's the case on every laptop.

7. Yes.

9. I don't know how good the Apple BT mouse is, though as you're coming from a PC, keep in mind that Apple's BT mouse is one button/no scroll wheel (as does the trackpad on the iBook/PowerBook, though you can scroll with the trackpad). But you can use any other BT mouse without any problems.

10. I would say 10-12GB, though it could be a bit more. The iBook comes with a very complete software setup, which is why so much disk space is used. You can of course re-install it, and select only the software you need/want to save some space.

14. Well, it is a Mac, and runs Mac OS X. That means it is not Windows and not Linux, and it is simply different. It is very easy to get used to OS X, though you should always keep in mind that some things are done in different ways, in most cases easier ways.
I read and heard lots of switcher that ranted about that they couldn't do things on a Mac they did on the PC before. That's not true, you just need to get used to the fact that things are done in a bit different way than in Windows, that's it.

I'm sure the other guys around here can help you even more about your questions.

And welcome to the forum. :black:

ibook is a big bargain. Bluetooth, airport card, firewire.
It has recently been updated, so i don't think the price will drop down.
If you want to do some video, upgrade to at least 60g h.disk and double the ram.
The only downside is that the 12 inch had only a combo drive. So you won't be able to burn dvds.

1. Is there C++/Java programming software/compilers available for macs?
I use Xcode for my Java programming. It's very similar to Netbeans but runs so much smoother. Of course, you can just use TextEdit and compile using Terminal

2. What is the most graphics intensive game you have been able to play flawlessly on the ibook?
Well, I have played Unreal Tournament 2004 and World of Warcraft fine on low settings on my iBook, but mine's only the 1.2Ghz/Radeon 9200 one so with the latest 1.33/1.42Ghz/Radeon 9550, it will certainly help. However, if you really want your games on the go, then the Powerbook would be a better choice

6. I hear it is noisy when playing DVDs, is this true?
Well, IMO it is a bit loud, especially when you want to watch DVDs in bed at night and you're only using the iBook's speakers.

7. Is DVD playtback smooth for all DVDs you play?
So far is has been

8. What are the things you simply do not like about your ibook g4 12?
Nothing so far

10. How much hard drive space is used initially out of the box? I read a review that said the HD was 30 Gig, but 15 was already used up on it.
IIRC, nowhere as near as 15GB! I think a few GB but you can easily remove some applications that you will never use (just by dragging them into Trash) and you can halve the amount of space used already

11. Realistically what is your average battery life, without playing DVD and with playing a DVD?
About 4 hours doing usual things and 2-3 hours playing a DVD IIRC

2. What is the most graphics intensive game you have been able to play flawlessly on the ibook?
- I use my PC for games, but if you like World of Warcraft follow this link

3. Can I realisticly do basic to mid level video editing with this machine? I mean be able to encode files, cut them up, etc. Nothing super advanced. If so, can I save my files in mpeg, avi, wmv and other non .mov formats and what software do I need to do this?
- Flip4Mac can help you with the WMV format, Quicktime Pro might solve the other formats.

4. Is it possible to change the color of the ibook, I want an all black one, if so how hard is it?
- Doing so will void the warranty but it is posible and relatively easy. Check MacMod website for a list of mods for the iBook. You can also buy the covers in eBay. The black iBook in my opinion looks great, i'm waiting for my warrany to expire to do it.

5. Is it hard to transfer files from PC to mac wirelessly using 802.11g?
- It is really easy.

6. I hear it is noisy when playing DVDs, is this true?
- As any other laptop's CD/DVD player around, at least the ones i know.

7. Is DVD playtback smooth for all DVDs you play?
- Great playback, rewind, forward, frame by frame, whatever you want.

8. What are the things you simply do not like about your ibook g4 12?
- The speakers are good, but i wish they were better, also beware of the scratchs.

10. How much hard drive space is used initially out of the box? I read a review that said the HD was 30 Gig, but 15 was already used up on it.
- OSX is bigger than Windows XP, also you will get a lot of extra software that you may not need, like reference software (1gb) and a few games. I have around 9gb free of my 30gb HD, but the new models came with 40gb so i won't worry about it.

11. Realistically what is your average battery life, without playing DVD and with playing a DVD?
- An average of 4hrs with WiFi enabled, yet i know i could take a better care of my battery.

12. I heard apple is coming out with a widescreen version ibook, any truth to this? And if so, should I wait a while for the price to come down?
- The rumor is that there won't be an iBook with widescreen, but you can wait until the Keynote this week.

13. What is the most accurate ibook review you have read?
- NotebookReviews this link is for their last review, they have 2 more based on the previous model, those reviews are from Windows users and helped me a lot to decide to buy my iBook.

14. Anything else I should really know about this machine??
- Get extra memory but not from Apple, they sell it to expensive, check NewEgg or Crucial websites.
- The machine is just great, but go to an Apple store if you can and try it first.

I appreciate all the comments, thanks a lot. I am almost there, I am going to frys this week to play with it some more. If anyone else has more to add, by all means please share your thoughts.

the iLife suite is awesome. the way iPhoto works with iMovie and the way iDVD works with iMovie is seemless. the programs are so easy to use. i couldn't believe it.

fearlessfreap24 said:

the iLife suite is awesome. the way iPhoto works with iMovie and the way iDVD works with iMovie is seemless. the programs are so easy to use. i couldn't believe it.

Click to expand...

Hey now that you mentioned it, I had another question about the DVDs.

Say I am playing a DVD like Gladiator or something, and I want to take a screenshot of the frame at a particular point. Is this easy to do with the Ibook? I can do it on a PC but its a bit of a hassle.

some DVD's wont let you but i have done it before. it was the same as taking any onther screen shot, apple+shift+3