Decisions, Decisions. I need some help here (12" vs 14" iBook)
Hello, this is my first post for direct advice. I am planning on getting a new ibook. it will be my first new mac in a long time. anyways, i cant make my mind up on the 12" or 14", i had my mind set on the 14" but after going to the apple store yesterday to "make sure" I thought it was not worth it since both the ibooks are "stuck" @ 1024x768. yeah we all know that. Well i need some help with making the decision to go with the 12" which seems rather small yet it was easier on my eyes than the 14". but does the desktop on the 12" fill up fast with clutter or seem busy with many windows open to anyone who has one? i would go with the tibook if i could but i cant. so if someone could provide their experience on this i would greatly appreciate it.
[ 11-09-2002: Message edited by: murbot ]</p>
[ 11-09-2002: Message edited by: murbot ]</p>
Comments
Purchasing questions should be posted in General Discussion by the way, moving there now.
Oh, and welcome to AppleInsider.
[ 11-09-2002: Message edited by: murbot ]</p>
Definitely the 12 !!!
But if your eyes are really that bad and you want the larger screen and lower dpi, I guess go for the 14".
<strong>Hmmmm..perhaps I'll have to check them out again. It just seems that the 12inch was really small...</strong><hr></blockquote>
To me, the 12" is great.
Jet
Anyway, there are a few facts to consider:
1. If you have the screen on each one configured the EXACT SAME (same number and size of windows, etc), the 12" and 14" will be the same. You get no extra pixels.
2. 14 point font on the 12" will be about as readable as 12 point font on the 14", because everything is magnified on the 14". Therefore, if all your fonts are 12 point on the 14" one and 14 point on the 12" one, you'll fit more text onto the 14" one, even with the same number of pixels.
3. The above fact also applies to other stuff, like windows and graphics. In order to see something clearly on the 12" screen, it must take up more pixels than on the 14". So a window might be 100 pixels wide on the 14" but it would have to be 125 pixels wide on the 12" one. All of a sudden you have more screen area on the 14" just because you can make things take up less space and still see them clearly.
EDIT: heh, that last one doesn't work... I just tried setting my monitor from 1280x1024 to 1024x768 and I definitely had less space for windows, so having a physically larger screen with a lower pixel density won't help with graphics and windows. However, the text still works - I could see just as much text at 1024 as I could at 1280 because I was able to reduce the text size.
You won't see as big a benefit going 12" to 14" now as you would if the 14" had a higher resolution. But there's still a difference.
Again, get what you prefer. If looking at a 12" screen all day makes you want to tear your hair out, get the 14".
[ 11-09-2002: Message edited by: Luca Rescigno ]</p>
<strong>Hello, this is my first post for direct advice. I am planning on getting a new ibook. it will be my first new mac in a long time. anyways, i cant make my mind up on the 12" or 14",
[ 11-09-2002: Message edited by: murbot ]</strong><hr></blockquote>
Based on this and the countless similar threads, it just goes to show Apple needs a greater differentiation between the two iBooks.
Come on Apple, either give us a 13.3" iBook so we don't have to compromise portability or eyesight, or revise that 14" screen resolution.
It's a crime to pay more $ for simply larger screen but the desktop space. That's why everyone's clammering for spanning and resorting to a hack which shouldn't even be necessary.
You'll love the 12" just because it's so small. Well, it seems that way to me, anyway. I dunno, but when I compared my 14" to my friend's 12", my 14" looked almost gigantic by comparison. Maybe it's just my eyes.