Mac Advantages-Dis.

esbrennan21 · July 29, 2004 3:33PM

I am considering purchasing a 15 in. Powerbook with the SuperDrive and the following specs:

PowerBook 15.2TFT/1.5GHz/512(2 SO-DIMMS)/80G/SuperDrive/AIRPT/BT/56K

1.5GHz PowerPC G4 with 64MB Graphics Memory

80GB Ultra ATA drive @ 4200 rpm

SuperDrive (DVD-R/CD-RW)

Backlit Keyboard/Mac OS - U.S. English

512MB DDR333 SDRAM - 2x256 SO-DIMMs

AirPort Extreme Card

The total price comes to $2499 (plus I would buy a nice wireless mouse), so obviously I want to ensure this is exactly what I want before purchasing it.

I have rarely used a Mac in the past, however I hate Windows and Linux just hasn't been working for me. I was wondering if you guys could list some of the advantages/disadvantages of the system I want to buy.

Thanks for your help.

- Eric

amorph · July 29, 2004 3:44PM

That's a very nice system.

What its disadvantages are... well, that kind of depends on what you expect to do with it.

The one thing I notice right off the bat is the RAM. You have two slots to play with, 512MB is about as low as you want to go for decent performance, and upgrading RAM in a PowerBook is a royal bitch.

Why so much RAM? Because OS X loves caching everything it can in RAM, so you'll get a serious performance boost with 1GB RAM relative to 512MB.

The hard drive's going to be a bit slow, but depending on what you do (and how much RAM you have!) that might not be so bad. Relatively slow drives are a pretty normal tradeoff for portables anyway.

Without any idea of what you'd like to do with the computer, that's all I can think of. Even if you don't take my suggestion to go with more RAM, you should be very happy with that machine. I envy you.

esbrennan21 · July 29, 2004 3:51PM

What I would mostly do with the computer would be Photoshop image editting and graphics creation. I would also like to get into video editting a little bit, but I've had no experience with that in the past. I really don't need a high-end gaming computer, however I would like to be able to play Unreal Tournement 2004 and Halo 2 when they come out for MAC.

amorph · July 29, 2004 3:56PM

Then you definitely, absolutely want RAM. As much as you feel you can afford. Those are all RAM-hungry applications.

Apart from that, it should perform admirably. Even with 512MB it'll perform well, until you ask it to work on a large file or project. Then it'll have to go to the hard drive, and that'll kill your performance and your battery.

cosmo · July 29, 2004 4:02PM

Don't buy the ram from apple. Although i think Apple's ram prices are more reasonable than they ahve been in the past, its still cheaper from a a 3rd party.

Its not hard to install RAM on the new AlPBs. There is a hatch on the bottom that comes off using a small screwdriver exposing the ram slots. Took me no more than 10min to install ram on my 15" 1ghz AlBook.

PS 7 of the 10min were spent looking for a screwdriver.

amorph · July 29, 2004 4:05PM

Ah, OK. So my information dated from the TiPBs. I'm glad they made it easier to upgrade the RAM.

In that case, go with a single 512MB DIMM, so that you have a decent amount of stock RAM and a slot free. Then buy more RAM from a third party.

novablas · July 30, 2004 2:01AM

If you want to be able to play those kind of games comfortably, I'd spring the extra 100 for the better video card. 64 meg vid cards are becoming the bare minimum and it would almost certainly not serve well for Halo 2. I'm not even sure that would do too well with Unreal Tournament 2004 without toning down a few of the settings. Get the 128 if you can, it'll last longer.

placebo · July 30, 2004 11:26AM

Quote:

Originally posted by Novablas

If you want to be able to play those kind of games comfortably, I'd spring the extra 100 for the better video card. 64 meg vid cards are becoming the bare minimum and it would almost certainly not serve well for Halo 2.

Either you're on crack, or you know something that I know NOTHING about.

Halo2 is going to have a PC (and probably Mac) release? Can I come?

Wow, this solves a lot of problems for me. No need to buy an Xbox, for one. And no need to buy a TV. I can spend that moolah on a 6800 instead.

But is it true?

esbrennan21 · July 30, 2004 1:19PM

Yes, Halo 2 is coming out for PC and MAC. The only thing is its not scheduled to come out until after the Xbox release. However, *hint, hint*, the boys at Bungie are full of surprises and I have a feeling that Halo 2 will be out sooner than you think

splinemodel · July 30, 2004 2:08PM

Quote:

Originally posted by Amorph

Ah, OK. So my information dated from the TiPBs. I'm glad they made it easier to upgrade the RAM.

In that case, go with a single 512MB DIMM, so that you have a decent amount of stock RAM and a slot free. Then buy more RAM from a third party.

RAM is easy to install on the Ti's. Lift keyboard and bam.

Anyway, it's a sensitive topic, but If you really want to play Halo2, get an XBox. there's something about console games that's nice: You can come back from the bar at 2AM, drunk, and deathmatch your friends. Doesn't work on a computer like that.

Since there's no crime for BWI (biking while intoxicated) there's no designated driver to kick all our butts.

powerdoc · July 30, 2004 3:04PM

Same common advice, buy RAM. A 512 MB SoDimm DDR 333 ram, should only cost 100 $ at crucial or alike.

You will need only ten minutes, to install it, if you have a very small screwdriver.

I have one GB ram on my powerbook 17 (first edition) and it rocks

placebo · July 30, 2004 5:05PM

Quote:

Originally posted by ESBrennan21

Yes, Halo 2 is coming out for PC and MAC. The only thing is its not scheduled to come out until after the Xbox release. However, *hint, hint*, the boys at Bungie are full of surprises and I have a feeling that Halo 2 will be out sooner than you think

Nice! Halo2 was the only game I was buying the Xbox for.

But can you please dig up a press release or something? I want to know MORE!!!

Mac Advantages-Dis.

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