iBook 600 vs. Powerbook

bodhibodhi
Posted:
in Current Mac Hardware edited January 2014
I am looking at buying the iBook 600 DVD instead of a Powerbook. The $500 it will save me will help me out elsewhere.



My question for all of you is this: How well does the G3 handle OSX? I have not had much time at all on a G3 machine for a while. I am assuming that the bus speed bump will help a little on the iBook but what concerns me is the OpenGl and Quartz in OSX that is accelerated by AltiVec. Does it take a hit on the G3?



Thanks.
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Comments

  • Reply 1 of 30
    scooterboyscooterboy Posts: 69member
    I'm very happy with my new iBook 600, and OS X 10.1.1 is performing great. I'll hardly ever use OS 9.2, except when I start running FCP. Classic runs very well for the few Classic applications that I use. The iBook 600 is fast, sturdy, and I love the higher than PowerBook resolution screen, it's very crisp and sharp. I thought that I might find the screen too smalI but so far I love it. I only wish the iBook had the Mobility Radeon or GeForce2Go. Oh, and disabling the monitor spanning capability on the Rage Mobility 128 seems rather lame on Apple's part. Still, it's a brilliant laptop and I'm quite happy with my purchase, leaving me some spending room for an Airport base station or iPod, or maybe even the 100 GIG firewire HD I've been looking at...



    Of course, if you will be doing professional, deadline intensive video work on your portable, then I'd suggest to spend the extra cash and get the TiBook G4 550, at least. You'll save some time on altivec enabled apps like Final Cut Pro.



    CaoimhÃ*n
  • Reply 2 of 30
    bodhibodhi Posts: 1,424member
    Thing is I have an 867 w/ a Cinema Display so I will do all of my intensive work on that.
  • Reply 3 of 30
    pscatespscates Posts: 5,847member
    Then in that case, Bodhi, I'd definitely go with the iBook. You already have the power on your desktop, so just get a nice, solid new iBook with a bumped MHz and system bus than the previous model and have a great e-mail/surfing/writing/graphics machine that STILL leaves some money over for an AirPort set up or RAM or whatever.



    Taking into account what I do and the programs I spend 95% of my time in (NOT Photoshop, NOT Final Cut Pro, etc.), the ONLY thing the Titanium G4 PowerBook has over the iBook is screen size. If you already have a big honkin' desktop G4 for the "serious" work, the iBook makes total sense.



    I've got a 400MHz G3 in the form of an iMac and run Illustrator, Photoshop, ATM Deluxe, Acrobat, plus about a gazillion other utilities and apps and to be completely honest, not once have I ever thought "man, I shoulda got a G4!". And the iBook is 200MHz than that...AND you get the combo drive (if you go with that model) which the iMac STILL doesn't have, not to mention the whole "go anywhere with your stuff at any time" aspect of having a portable.



    If you didn't already have a great desktop Mac (not to mention, one bodaciously cool monitor), then the question would be tougher, because your laptop would be your "do everything" computer. As it is, sounds like you just need a solid, capable and powerful-in-its-own-right portable.



    Plus, I think the iBook, in many ways, is SUCH a better value and you get more bang for the buck.



    [ 11-16-2001: Message edited by: pscates ]</p>
  • Reply 4 of 30
    emaneman Posts: 7,204member
    The iBook sounds like the best option. I've got the iBook 500 DVD and it runs OS 10.1.1 very good so the extra bus speed and 100 MHz should make it great in OS X. And since you have a G4 go for the iBook for your portable.
  • Reply 5 of 30
    bodhibodhi Posts: 1,424member
    Thanks all. I went with the iBook 600 DVD. Should be here on Monday!



    I will let you know how things go....
  • Reply 6 of 30
    bodhibodhi Posts: 1,424member
    One more question...



    Are these G3's still 4-stage pipeline processors?
  • Reply 7 of 30
    sizzle chestsizzle chest Posts: 1,133member
    I'm sort of asking myself the same question. I'm getting ready to sell my blueberry iBook to a co-worker, and I planned to put the money toward a Ti 667. But the more I think about it, the new iBooks are almost as fast and much cheaper, so I'd be paying roughly double for a little bit of speed, a little bit of hard drive, more RAM, and more screen size.



    Of course, screen size is important to me, as there are certain apps that are fairly squeezed at 1024x768.



    Plus, the Ti looks cooler, don't you think? !



  • Reply 8 of 30
    corvettecorvette Posts: 561member
    <a href="http://www.barefeats.com/pb08.html"; target="_blank">Barefeats Tests iBook 600 vs Both Tibooks</a>





    That might help <img src="graemlins/smokin.gif" border="0" alt="[Chilling]" />
  • Reply 9 of 30
    bodhibodhi Posts: 1,424member
    It did. I think I made the right choice.
  • Reply 10 of 30
    pscatespscates Posts: 5,847member
    That's a very cool and revealing set of results! I think you did the right thing too, Bodhi.



    If you notice, the 600MHz iBook hung with or beat the 550MHz TiBook in all the categories. Granted, the 667 seemed to trample them both...HOWEVER, that's $2999 clams you have to lay out for that power.



    That's TWICE what you paid for your new iBook! With all that money, there's a nice carrying bag, AirPort set-up, RAM, mouse, etc. with about $1000 or so STILL left over!



    I'm glad I saw those test results too. The only TiBook I could even THINK about buying would be the 550MHz, but for those performance scores, it isn't worth the extra $500, even with the larger screen. And it STILL won't have a "useful on a laptop" DVD/CD-R combo drive!
  • Reply 11 of 30
    stimulistimuli Posts: 564member
    I too, have been too-ing and fro-ing over the iBook vs TiBook. In terms of value for money, the iBook is awesome.



    Unfortunately for me, I'm a graphics artist, and the iBook's screen is just to small for my purposes. That, and I'm getting closer and closer to programming my art-thingies in OpenGL, and the radeon has better graphics power.



    Untill using an iBook yesterday, I had hopes of buying one and maxing it w/ a 40 GB drive and 512MB ram, and pocketing the difference. But it looks like I'll have to shell out the extra $1000 for a TiBook to replace my trusty Wallstreet.



    Sigh.



    BTW, Bodhi, the OSX.1 flys on the ibook.



    [ 11-18-2001: Message edited by: stimuli ]</p>
  • Reply 12 of 30
    matsumatsu Posts: 6,558member
    Do you have an adequate machine at the moment? If so, wait. I'm still using a 300Mhz PC because, as anoying as it can get, it still works, and I can use PowerMacs whenever I want (in the lab) I thought about getting my first mac now (a 'book', dunno which; probably the i) but decided to wait untill OSX is the default OS. I'll decide then. If the TiBook gets a screen with the pixel density of the iBook, say 1440x960 or 1600x1080 -- or somewhere in that range -- I'd seriously consider it.
  • Reply 13 of 30
    murbotmurbot Posts: 5,262member
    I have the 550 MHz Ti Book right now, and it's been great. It's a little sketchy in the Airport reception department in some of the locations here that my iBook was fine in, and the fan comes on more than I'd like, but it runs great.



    I was a little surprised to see those results on Bare Feats. I had actually emailed back and forth a bit with Rob-Art Morgan over this exact decision. I ended up deciding to go with the Ti Book. It was a few days later than he posted his followup to that test, and added in the 600 MHz iBook scores..... those really made me question my decision.



    I also just had an iBook for a day, setting one up for someone. Man I loved that machine! It had 384 MB of RAM compared to my Ti Book's 512, but it did alot of things faster. Boot time, app start time, stuff like that. Noticeably faster. And the screen is small, but sitting right next to each other it made me think "My Ti Book's screen is THAT shitty?" Honestly, it seems like it has twice the brightness and sharpness.



    Now if they only made it in a Titanium shell, it'd be a no-brainer. I still have reservations about that case - picks up scratches and smudges so easily.



    Another thing, I was really surprised how much faster this was than a 500 MHz iBook. The extra 100 MHz processor speed with the faster bus makes a HUUUGE difference. Great little machine, that's for sure.



    Sorry EmAn - don't mean to knock your 500 - but it is faster.
  • Reply 14 of 30
    emaneman Posts: 7,204member
    [quote]Originally posted by murbot:

    <strong>Sorry EmAn - don't mean to knock your 500 - but it is faster. </strong><hr></blockquote>



    LOL, it's alright murbot. I have a feeling you'll be selling your TiBook in favor of an iBook within the next month.
  • Reply 15 of 30
    murbotmurbot Posts: 5,262member
    Oh, I have a feeling it won't be THAT long.... heh heh
  • Reply 16 of 30
    matsumatsu Posts: 6,558member
    Murbot,



    Look <a href="http://www.usatoday.com/life/health/doctor/lhdoc304.htm"; target="_blank">here</a>. Just the medicine for you.
  • Reply 17 of 30
    murbotmurbot Posts: 5,262member




    Not quite though... it's not like I have a dozen Macs sitting in my house, I always get rid of the old one first. (ha - like they ever get old...)
  • Reply 18 of 30
    emaneman Posts: 7,204member
    [quote]Originally posted by murbot:

    <strong>Oh, I have a feeling it won't be THAT long.... heh heh</strong><hr></blockquote>



    Yeah, I guess you're right. By next week you think?
  • Reply 19 of 30
    sizzle chestsizzle chest Posts: 1,133member
    I was leaning heavily toward the Ti 667 but more and more, I'm drifting into iBook 600 territory. True, the Ti 15.2" display is bigger, but it's also lower-resolution (dpi) and not THAT much bigger in terms of display resolution.



    I went to Fry's this weekend and compared these two babies side-by-side, and walked away feeling that I liked the Ti just a little bit better..... certainly not enough better that I'd gladly pay double.



    Anybody out there care to talk me out of the iBook 600 with combo drive?
  • Reply 20 of 30
    bodhibodhi Posts: 1,424member
    I will talk you out of the iBook 600 combo drive and talk you into the iBook 600 DVD with a seperate Firewire combo drive. Take a gander at the iBook specs page. I don't know about you but a burn speed of 4xCDR <img src="graemlins/bugeye.gif" border="0" alt="[Skeptical]" /> just doesn't appeal to me.
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