powerbook for me?

kinree

In July I'm going to order the 15 inch 1.5 GHz Powerbook. I'm a graphic designer in college and I wanted a laptop so I could haul my whole computer to the college with me to use the printers and scanners. I was going to upgrade the memory and video card to boost performance some. What I want to know is if this is right for me. I previously wanted the G5 but decided against it because it was maybe too powerful for me and I could not haul it around. Will the Powerbook have enough of the goods to put me though college and even farther in my career?

pbg4 dude

Well, first things first, the PowerBook may be updated sometime between now and next July *crosses fingers*. As far as updating the video card I guess you mean the RAM? I would up video RAM if I were making the purchase, especially since this is something that cannot be upgraded after purchase.



If you're using your computer for college, then a laptop is the only way to fly. If your school is like mine, they already have a wireless network covering the campus. This should allow you access to all campus resources, including your own personal drive space.



Also, you'll be able to use your computer to take notes in class, with a few exceptions. For example, I didn't try taking notes in math classes, art classes and some science classes since so much time is spent working with formulas, graphs, drawings, etc. For all the other classes (history, literature, CS, psycho/social sciences) a laptop will work well for note taking.



As far as will a PowerBook be useable for 4 years? It should be. Especially for taking notes, doing homework, web surfing, email, research, etc., the slowest part of all these activities is the human behind the keyboard. So your laptop should get you through 4 years of school easily.



The only thing you might consider (depending on how you schedule classes) is a second battery so you can get through an 8 hour day without having to plug in. If you scout your classes and pick your seat near the wall you could find outlets that would negate the need for a 2nd battery but I would get one anyway for peace of mind.

gon

Quote:

Originally posted by PBG4 Dude

If you're using your computer for college, then a laptop is the only way to fly. If your school is like mine, they already have a wireless network covering the campus. This should allow you access to all campus resources, including your own personal drive space.

Depends on person. I have found my 15" PB just sits on the desk and I never actually take it to school. It's nice having a laptop just in case, but I'm planning to switch to an iBook and a desktop PC. I'd recommend getting the iBook rather than the PB, it will teach you whether you have any real use for the PB, and you can switch anytime with very little money lost on the depreciating iBook.

bathgate

It'll last you four years, but you're right about getting the best vid. card and a swag of ram. Very worthwhile. The iBooks are cool but the screens are pretty small and I don't think they yet support video spanning - powerbooks have the dvi video out for lcds and the like - support very large monitors. The extra real estate is great for graphics - ibooks are kind of cramped.

jwink3101

I have the 12" Powerbook DVI with 768 RAM. Although i am only in highschool, i take it to school EVERY day. I too found that it doesn't work for note taking in Math and Adv. Chem but Bio works okay most of the time. I use it for history and English every day.



I have also found that PS CS still runs as fast as i need. It may take 3 seconds instead of 1 to apply a large filter but it really isn't bad.



For note takeing, i use the Notebook Layout of Word 2004 and i love it. Once i figured out how to not only lower the font size but make the spaces smaller, i love it even more.