OMG! iBook or Powerbook?

Posted:
in General Discussion edited January 2014
OMG OMG OMG OMG! Hell froze over! My dad finally let in and I'm getting my FIRST MAC EVER!!!! Now, I have a couple of questions

1. Does the Apple store in my area do same day sells? That is if I bought a computer could they give it to me right then and there on the spot?



2. Which of the following would give me the most bang for the buck? I will be using it to Check e-mail, forums, surf web, play some games (like Warcraft III).



12" ibook G4

All default except with airport added for 1,099 dollars



14" ibook g4 933mHz

All default except with airport for 1,288 dollars



12" powerbook 1 gHz

All default except with airport for 1,488 dollars



The only thing that worries me is the Cache size difference between the iBook and the Powerbook

Does the 256k L2 cache more cause any real problems?

Comments

  • Reply 1 of 17
    progmacprogmac Posts: 1,850member
    Quote:

    Originally posted by Ichiban_jay

    OMG OMG OMG OMG! Hell froze over! My dad finally let in and I'm getting my FIRST MAC EVER!!!! Now, I have a couple of questions

    1. Does the Apple store in my area do same day sells? That is if I bought a computer could they give it to me right then and there on the spot?



    2. Which of the following would give me the most bang for the buck? I will be using it to Check e-mail, forums, surf web, play some games (like Warcraft III).



    12" ibook G4

    All default except with airport added for 1,099 dollars



    14" ibook g4 933mHz

    All default except with airport for 1,288 dollars



    12" powerbook 1 gHz

    All default except with airport for 1,488 dollars



    The only thing that worries me is the Cache size difference between the iBook and the Powerbook

    Does the 256k L2 cache more cause any real problems?




    Well, if your dad is paying, i'd say go with the 12" power book . You get a quicker processor, a nicer form factor, more ram upgradeability, a DVI-out and some other powerbook goodies.



    However, if it were MY money, i'd get the 12" iBook and spend the extra $400 on some other stuff. The 14" iBooks are a little large for my taste, and if you'll be toting it around a lot, you'll really appreciate the size of the 12" iBook. You can just throw it in your book bag and go.



    Yeah, the Apple store will sell you an iBook on the spot if you go with a stock config. I mean, they could probably add an airport car, but that's it.



    Remember to get the student discount, and don't worry about the cache.
  • Reply 2 of 17
    I think I might be going for the 14" Larger screen size, and it's only 1" longer in length than the 12"
  • Reply 3 of 17
    Quote:

    Originally posted by Ichiban_jay

    I think I might be going for the 14" Larger screen size, and it's only 1" longer in length than the 12"



    go with the iBook 14, but pop a 512 MB chip in the open slot and max that baby out from the get-go. There's nothing that boosts performance like RAM !
  • Reply 4 of 17
    hmm... anyone know of a place to buy cheap apple RAM? What type of RAM does the iBook use?
  • Reply 5 of 17
    lucaluca Posts: 3,833member
    The iBook uses 200-pin PC2100 DDR SODIMMs. They're the same kind used by many PC notebooks.



    The best place to order RAM is www.crucial.com. They have good, reliable RAM. On the other hand, Apple charges $150 to upgrade to 640 MB while Crucial's 512 MB SODIMM (which would bring you to 640 MB total) costs about $120. You could buy the Crucial and install it yourself, but there's a small enough price difference that you might want to go with the convenience of buying it from Apple and having them install it for you. That way you start out with the full allotment of RAM. That's especially good if you're going to buy it right from the store. Out of box experience with 640 MB of RAM would be nice - 256 MB is just barely enough for decent usability.



    I'm pretty sure they can do the RAM upgrade in the store. When I bought my iBook last year (in the store) they asked if I wanted any extra RAM installed. I didn't go for it because at the time, Apple charged more than they do now for RAM, and third party RAM cost less than it does now, but because of the small price difference you might want to go for it.



    Also, be careful! The RAM upgrade only costs $150 for the iBooks, but it's $300 for the 12" PowerBook for some reason. With the iBook they remove a 128 MB module which must remove $50 from the cost, so in the end they're charging you $200 for the 512 MB. I have no idea why they charge $100 more for the exact same memory upgrade for the 12" PowerBook, but they do so be careful and if you do buy RAM from them, make sure you aren't overcharged. I'd only recommend that RAM upgrade for the iBook, though. If you get the PowerBook, go third-party. With the iBook, they reduce the cost because you're not getting the original 128 MB, and if you went third party you'd be able to keep the 128 MB. But the 128 MB chip isn't very useful and you wouldn't be able to sell it for much (certainly not $50), so I think it's better just to get it off your hands.
  • Reply 6 of 17
    ast3r3xast3r3x Posts: 5,012member
    You are aware 14" screen is just bigger, not a higher resolution right?
  • Reply 7 of 17
    yeah, I know, it still has the same resolution. Pero, oops spanish kicked in. But I kinda want the extra little mHz, hardrive space, and a slightly larger laptop. We'll see, at this point, the wind can blow at any direction.
  • Reply 8 of 17
    alcimedesalcimedes Posts: 5,486member
    with the iBooks the HD space is critical. those suckers are a royal pain in the ass to upgrade. i did one once and will never do it again.



    over 23 screws and almost two hours for the procedure. i can get a PB done in 10 minutes. (although not sure if the 12" PB is different)



    not sure if it matters to you, but the DVD burner is only an option on the PB.
  • Reply 9 of 17
    nofeernofeer Posts: 2,427member
    there is another post about warcraft iii being choppy, do a seach, i think it's the ram, or is the PB greater cache helpful.



    I'm in the same dilemma, 12ibook, 12pb, or 14ibook, when i looked at the old ibook, the mouse pad and keyboard wasn't as slick as the pb, but now i need some hands on with both to see which i prefer, actually i'll have my wife "feel" them out. it's for her but we don't play intense games.



    here's the post from my search look at the entire thread.....



    Topic: Warcraft III and iBook G4 800 (newbie)









    youngjohn

    Junior Member



    Posts: 6

    From: New Zealand

    _ posted 11-08-2003 03:46 PM _ _ _ _ _ _

    _





    I have purchased an iBook 800 (everthing standard - 800/30/256) and Warcraft III Reign of Chaos.



    The game seems to be very choppy while i'm actually playing.

    The video cutscenes run perfectly as do the in-game menus, but scrolling and panning while playing is very jumpy.



    I was wondering if topping up the RAM will fix the slow scrolling and stuttering i am experencing while i play, or if my machine is simply not fast enough for a 3D game like Warcraft.



    I have set all the gamesettings to 'low' or 'off' and it runs the same as everthing set to 'high'........bizzarre....



    (p.s. this is my first computer and i specifically brought it to play games on - the specs seemed more than enough for most games minimum specs)



    Any help anyone can offer would be great before i spend any more money.......

    J





    |













    Luca Rescigno

    Funny?



    Posts: 2746

    From: Minneapolis, MN

    _ posted 11-08-2003 04:50 PM _ _ _ _ _ _

    _





    My eMac doesn't perform that well in Warcraft III, and it's a 1 GHz with 640 MB of RAM. However, getting more RAM will help (with Warcraft III and other things as well).



    One question, though... what were you thinking when you bought, of all things, a Mac laptop for games??? Macs aren't good game machines, and neither are laptops. If you just want games, build a $400 PC box that'll smoke any G4 Mac for games, or buy a game console. Macs are better than PCs for a lot of things, but not for gaming
  • Reply 10 of 17
    o well I did just build a pc just a couple months ago. My dad broke down and now I'm getting the PB, even better huh? The gaming part of it is if I am bored and not at home to play on the PC (BLAH!)
  • Reply 11 of 17
    My opinion is the 12" PowerBook. My reasons are...



    Faster processor

    More Ram

    Superdrive

    14" iBook is just bigger screen as someone mentioned.

    DVI Video out on powerBook

    I believe has better graphics card (but havent checked that out) (i know both are 32meg though).

    PowerBook has more lifetime than a iBook due to speeds, But it wont be outdated in long time still.





    Thats just my opinions.
  • Reply 12 of 17
    resres Posts: 711member
    I have the old 15" 800MHz TiPowerbook with 512MB RAM. Warcreft III plays pretty well on it with a mixture of medium and high settings (smooth most of the time but it can get a bit choppy in the larger battles).



    I'd go with the 14" iBook or the 12" Powerbook -- you can never have to much processing power.
  • Reply 13 of 17
    I'm faced with a similar problem. I broke my Powerbook this weekend and now I need a replacement quickly. I can buy a Powerbook 12 inch with Airport Extreme and Applecare for 2501 Euro today, or wait for a 12 inch iBook for 1644 Euro untill next week.

    Is the Powerbook worth the extra 857 Euro? 200 Mhz extra, 10GB HD extra, Bluethooth included, monitor spanning native (can be hacked on the iBook), 256 KB L2-cache extra,... Will it feel really different?
  • Reply 14 of 17
    Well I got the 12 inch powerbook and I love it so far! But I have one more question. It seems that this notebook has only one ram slot... right? So what kind of ram would I get for it?
  • Reply 15 of 17
    progmacprogmac Posts: 1,850member
    Quote:

    Originally posted by Ichiban_jay

    Well I got the 12 inch powerbook and I love it so far! But I have one more question. It seems that this notebook has only one ram slot... right? So what kind of ram would I get for it?



    you would want something from this list:

    http://dealram.com/prices/systems/23074/512MB.html



    you need a DDR 2100 SO-DIMM.



    This is assuming you bought the current powerbook from the apple store, not a refurb. the original 12" powerbook used SD-Ram SO-Dimm (someone correct me if i'm wrong here)
  • Reply 16 of 17
    lucaluca Posts: 3,833member
    No, both revisions of the 12" PowerBook have used the same type of RAM - PC2100.
  • Reply 17 of 17
    that's really weird the warcraft III lag stuff



    I can play it fairly smoothly(on the first few stages of each campaign at least before more units, races and whatever choke it up some) on my iMac DVSE 500 mhz g3 with 8 megs of VRAM



    yes...that's right...8



    I did this with 128 ram too...wasn't OS X though(I was a late bloomer)...maybe that had something to do with it.



    but I'm serious...sometimes it would get discolored, and sometimes it would lag a little. but I played through the game all the way to the last stage, but then it just became WAY too much for my computer to handle(last stage has all 4 races AND a lot of NPCs)



    but for the bulk of the game it either ran smoothly(all settings on the lowest possible) or slightly laggy.



    but it was playable.



    ALL HAIL THE GLORIUS IBM G3
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