Converting to a Powerbook...

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ldj

Guest
Hey guys,

Im an old pc desktop user and want to buy a notebook. After doing some research and deciding for what purposes im going to use my notebook i decided that i might aswell convert to the Mac system. Ive only worked on a mac a couple of times and didnt have a chance to completely check it out. I basically do graphic design and web-creation and now im going to start video editing. I heard that the mac is alot faster then the pc when running apps like Photoshop and Adobe After Effect and that Mac is a lot more stable then windows. My bro went from mac to pc and says its a lot better. I have maybe 1 software which i cant find for mac, its a small DHTML creation software which is about 1mb. How will that run on VPC? Other from that i can find all the software i need on mac.

Another concern that i have is that i dont want to spend about 3'000$ on a top notch Powerbook if the new G5 powerbook is gonna come out soon. If its not gonna come for about 1 or 1.5 years then its fine, i might go for the g4 powerbook. Im also hesitating between the 15" and the 17" inch. If i get the powerbook should i take 512MB of ram or 1024? I dont know how the ram is on mac. And for the gpu, should i take 64mb of ram or 128?

Your advice and help would be gladly apreciated, than you.
 
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m1k

Guest
Hey ldj,

PowerBooks are absolutely amazing for graphics design and web design, I strongly reccomend them. I've only tried PhotoShop a few times on my 12" PB but it runs amazingly fast. Macs are definitely faster than PCs when it comes to graphic design.

Macs have pretty much all the software you can find on PC, well, all the major ones. That's because so many people use Macs for graphic design, just like you. Trust me, you'd be hard-pressed to find a major software company that doesn't release its products on Mac. As for your small DHTML creation software, can it run on Windows 98? If so, just get VPC for Windows 98 on a Mac, it's much cheaper, and since you're only going to use it for one program, it's probably a good idea not to spend too much.

Don't worry about the G5 PowerBooks, Apple has said numerous times that they're nowhere near releasing them at all. The iMac G5 was a step in the right direction, but it probably will be at least a year until the G5 PBs are released. A 2.5GHz G5 processor in a PowerMac needed a full-blown liquid cooling system to operate at normal temperatures, I seriously doubt Apple will be able to fit the G5 processors into notebooks for quite a while. Get a PowerBook G4, don't worry about the G5's because they probably won't come out for at least a year.

The 17" PowerBook is the top gun of notebooks, period. If you want the best notebook money can buy today, go for the 17" equipped with 2gigs of ram and 128MB of video ram. But if you don't really need the screen real estate that 17" gives you, go for the SuperDrive-equipped 15". It has exactly the same innards as the 17", it just has a smaller screen. If you don't need the screen size, go for the 15" as it's a lot easier to carry around than the 17". I personally have the 12", and while it's not as powerful as the 15" or the 17", it's so **** portable it isn't funny.

It basically comes down to if you need a big screen for working with 3-4 PhotoShop images side by side or whatever. If so, go for the 17". If you only work on one or two at a time, I strongly urge you to go for the 15" as it's got a big screen but it's much more portable than the 17", it even has the same innards. If possible max out the GPU RAM to 128MB as a preorder option. If you don't really need extra RAM just stick with the 512MB Apple gives you, and when you want to upgrade in the future upgrade to 2gigs, which will be a lot cheaper then than it is now.

Hope this helps, and good luck deciding, it's always hard!

-m1k
 
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ldj

Guest
Well i guess im gonna go for mac, ill just try out some software on my bro's mac and decide between the 15" and the 17" at the shop. Ill go for the 5400RMP HD and the 128MB Radeon Mobility 9700. Ill upgrade the ram after as its not a problem. But can i add 2gb of ram with 512 sticks? or only with 2 1024 Sticks?
 
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m1k

Guest
You can only add 2gigs of ram with 2 1gig sticks. There are 2 RAM slots, so the max is 2x1gig sticks, hence 2gigs of RAM.

Good luck switching!
 
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ldj

Guest
Ok thanks. Btw is there a great performance difference between getting 1gb of ram in 2x512 or 1x1024?
 
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m1k

Guest
Well, I only have 512MB in my 12" PB, but yes, there will be a difference. With 2x512MB, the information has to be divided between 2 RAM cards and it takes longer to access. With 1x1GB though, the info is all in one RAM card so it's quicker. This really helps if you're running a program using all 1GB of RAM, because the program gets and stores all its info on one RAM card instead of two. It would also help to get 1x1GB of RAM because when you're ready to ugrade to 2GB, you just add another 1x1GB card, whereas if you had 2x512MB cards you'd have to throw both of them out and get 2x1GB card.

So go with the 1x1GB card. Good luck!
 
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m1k

Guest
My pleasure to assist a Mac switcher... Again, good luck, I'm sure you'll love your PB.
 
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m1k

Guest
Although this is going slightly off topic, you won't regret it, I guarantee. I used Windows XP since about 2 years ago, and it seems archaic and barbaric compared to OS X. With OS X, once you get used to it in about an hour, you'll see that, indeed, everything just works like it's supposed to. No crashes and ****. Some people think XP is good, and it's OK if it's all you've ever used, but once you touch OS X you'll see the difference it makes having a good OS instead of a bad one.

And the PowerBooks are just f*cking beautiful :)
 
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ldj

Guest
Yea thats what my bro told me about the Mac Os X. Im looking forward to this, and ofcourse Macs are the best looking laptops and desktops available. Even alienware doesnt go near it :rolleyes:
 
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MoltenLava

Guest
m1k said:
Well, I only have 512MB in my 12" PB, but yes, there will be a difference. With 2x512MB, the information has to be divided between 2 RAM cards and it takes longer to access. With 1x1GB though, the info is all in one RAM card so it's quicker.

That's incorrect. There is no difference at all in terms of performance. 2x512MB will be a lot cheaper than 1x1GB, so the cost conscious buyers will get 2x512MB.
 
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ldj

Guest
Ok, cos people always debate on this. I heard that theres basically no difference in performance between the 1 stick or 2 sticks of 512MB. They only advantage is that u can update it straight to 2GB when u have 1x1024MB.
And i have an XBOX with a 120GB HD, i connect it to my pc through a crossover RJ-45 cable and send stuff in and out through a standard FTP program. Can i do this no a mac?
 
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MoltenLava

Guest
There is no debate. No difference in performance, period.

By the time you are ready to upgrade to 2GB, the memory price would have come down a lot, so you would have saved a lot of money by not over anticipating and buying more memory than you needed. Plus you can always sell 2X512MB on eBay. eBay is your friend.
 
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ldj

Guest
Thanks for ur help guys, im getting my powerbook in 2 days:

Powerbook G4 17"
Ram 512MB (gonna upgrade later)
ATI Radeon 9700 128MB
80GB 5400RPM
DVD-RW
And some other stuff :p

Btw, does WinRAR exist for mac?
 
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ldj said:
And i have an XBOX with a 120GB HD, i connect it to my pc through a crossover RJ-45 cable and send stuff in and out through a standard FTP program. Can i do this on a mac?

You have a mod chip! lol me too. i meen no i dont! i dont no if you can do that couse i dont what to use all my space on my pb so i have a bunch of stuff like that on my pc. Do you have any emulators on your x-box?
 
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ldj

Guest
Yea i have lots but i dont use the emulators :D I think i have about 5 old school ones and a N65 one. But i think you can connect the xbox to the mac, as its just basically connecting a PC HD to the Mac which normally u can do. I guess you need bulletproof ftp, and to set up the settings.
 

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