Can a Powerbook totally replace a tower??

Posted:
in Current Mac Hardware edited January 2014
I'm a graphics geek and my old smurf 350 G3 is getting old and i WANT MAC OS X, so i took the plunge and got a Powerbook 800 512 MB Ram 60 GB Hard (with 15" studio flat dispaly - SWEEEEET), but never having owned a laptop before i have this niggling concern.



If upgradability was not an issue, can a laptop totally replace a tower?? i always thought people only used laptops for work on the run and then worked on their towers when they got home.



Ok, so i think i'm being stoopid, i guess i need someone to pat me on the head and say " it's ok, that small fortune was not wasted - you got a kick ass machine and you should be smiling"



I am smiling but i also see those two brutes coming to break my legs because missed one payment.
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Comments

  • Reply 1 of 39
    blackcatblackcat Posts: 697member
    I've been using a Powerbook G3 Firewire as my only machine for 18 months now with no problems. The only plus to a tower is upgradability, but Apple don't sell CPU upgrades or better graphics cards so it's a moot point for me.



    I'm hoping to upgrade to a Powerbook G4 soon but I'm hoping MWNY sees the inclusion of built-in Bluetooth and Superdrives.
  • Reply 2 of 39
    fran441fran441 Posts: 3,715member
    I've been using my PowerBook G3/500 since February, 2000. It's my primary (and only) machine and it's fine for what I want it to do.



    My only concern with the machine now is the fact that I can't upgrade the graphics card. I wish I had 16 MB VRAM in the machine instead of just 8, but for all major purposes, the machine has served me well.



    In fact, Apple's current 14" iBook is nearly the same as my Pismo, with the exception being it has a 100 MHz faster chip in it, and a combo drive, and my PowerBook has more features such as 2 firewire ports, sound in/out, s-video, video-out, infared, and a PCMCIA slot.



    If it wasn't for AppleCare, my purchase would be a very positive one.
  • Reply 3 of 39
    If you buy a powerbook that's faster than your desktop, you will stop using your desktop altogether.
  • Reply 4 of 39
    rogue27rogue27 Posts: 607member
    My only computer is a G3 400 PowerBook that I bought in March 2000, and I do everything on it. I did replace it's 6GB hard drive with a 20GB drive recently, and I'll probably pick up an airport card sometime, but I am quite happy with it and I imagine I'll be using it for at least another year or two.



    I might pick up a desktop to go with it eventually, or maybe I'll just buy a new PowerBook when this one is older. The new G4 PowerBooks seem very nice, but I just don't have the money for a new laptop at this time. They're already more than twice as powerful as my laptop. I figure in a year or two, their power will double again and I'll be very happy when I finally have a chance to get a new one.



    Or maybe i'll just buy an iBook, which won't remain as powerful for as long, but at least it will have been much cheaper.



    The only thing I find regrettable about my laptop right now is that it's not capable of playing some of the newer games.
  • Reply 5 of 39
    thereubsterthereubster Posts: 402member
    I have one of these too and dont miss having a tower at all.... (admittedly it was a 9600) I run plenty of audio apps on it without missing out on performance, esp. when using an external firewire drive. I vote a resounding "Yes" Just dont be tempted to buy an older TiBook they're crap.....
  • Reply 6 of 39
    spongemacspongemac Posts: 28member
    For the average user, yes it could. As a professional, I doubt. Being an Art Director, I know one of Apple's largest markets is the creative field. The demands of the video industry which Apple is pushing very hard right now, make it obvious the desktop Mac is going to be around awhile. Personally, I have been toying with the idea of switching to the TiPB as my next home computer, but will stick with the PowerMac at work. I would like to see Apple get the SuperDrive into a portable, or as an external drive, better yet, make their apps work with existing drives. I am starting to mess around with video myself, and this has been the only sticking point with going portable. The TiPB has come a long way and the gap is narrowing, but it most likely will not replace towers because of this important market share they command. <img src="graemlins/smokin.gif" border="0" alt="[Chilling]" />
  • Reply 7 of 39
    xypexype Posts: 672member
    So far the only reason not to go laptop only for graphic professionals I have heard is that "colors don't look right on a TFT screen". But since CMYK colors actually don't look quite right on a VGA screen as well and since most pros work with "color booklets" for critical tasks I really see no problem there.



    You can connect the PowerBook to a normal screen anyway, add harddisk capacity via firewire, use it as a lap warming device on a plane flight and it looks cool. The only reason that will make me go for a tower in the end is the slight performance edge as far as the processor goes but that's really not important in areas but the 3D (animation/gaming) field, where the laptops gfx card isn't quite as good as well. The keyboard and mouse can be added, too, if you are not comfortable with the laptop ones.



    Oh and I saw OSX really flying with the PowerBook, so IMHO it's a good choice.
  • Reply 8 of 39
    supermattsupermatt Posts: 55member
    I have a TiBook 500MHz that I got right after it was released. It IS a complete desktop replacement. Plus, with an airport card I got for $50 and a cheap wireless base station from 3com, I am on the internet on the couch, in my bedroom, just about anywhere I want! I just have to plug in every once in a while when batteries get low. And at work, it hooks up to a 17" Studio Display (CRT). Plus, I put OS X on it March 24th of 2001 and it has been working well with it since (better now that I have DVD playback). I love instant-on from sleep! One warning: having a laptop means that you can use your computer too much, especially when it comes to Starcraft, which I recently got the "complete" edition of from WalMart. It sucks all the time out of your day without remorse.



    Matthew
  • Reply 9 of 39
    powerdocpowerdoc Posts: 8,123member
    A powerbook cannot totally replace a tower : except for memory a powerbook is not upgradable, more is has only two DIMM slot using more expansive ram. The HD is much slower than the one of the tower, you cannot add an another HD : a tower can support three of them (with an PCI card), you cannot add PCI card nor change the video card.



    A better question should be does a Powerbook can replace totally an I mac, the answers yes (but it's more expansive).
  • Reply 10 of 39
    xypexype Posts: 672member
    [quote]Originally posted by powerdoc:

    <strong>The HD is much slower than the one of the tower, you cannot add an another HD:</strong><hr></blockquote>



    I always tought it's possible to boot and work from a firewire HD..
  • Reply 11 of 39
    supermattsupermatt Posts: 55member
    powerdoc:

    The original poster specifically asked "if upgradability is not an issue" would it be a replacement. Your post only covered upgradability issues. I think that for a graphics designer, the powerbook is a great desktop replacement. After all, it supports massive amounts of screen resolution/screen space, which is pretty much a necessity for a graphics designer. Also, the hard drive is slower, but not very noticeably slower from my experience. And for graphics work, do you really need 1.5GB of RAM? I think it supports 1GB anyway, which is a ton already. The best thing is: it's very portable.
  • Reply 12 of 39
    powerdocpowerdoc Posts: 8,123member
    [quote]Originally posted by SuperMatt:

    <strong>powerdoc:

    The original poster specifically asked "if upgradability is not an issue" would it be a replacement. Your post only covered upgradability issues. I think that for a graphics designer, the powerbook is a great desktop replacement. After all, it supports massive amounts of screen resolution/screen space, which is pretty much a necessity for a graphics designer. Also, the hard drive is slower, but not very noticeably slower from my experience. And for graphics work, do you really need 1.5GB of RAM? I think it supports 1GB anyway, which is a ton already. The best thing is: it's very portable.</strong><hr></blockquote>

    sorry i just read the title of the thread. In that case only the HD is slower : i don't know the difference of speed between the two for the latest tibook and the latest tower, but when i buy my powerbook G3 300 and my beige G3 333 : there was an huge difference (twice the speed).
  • Reply 13 of 39
    giantgiant Posts: 6,041member
    [quote]Originally posted by powerdoc:

    <strong>A powerbook cannot totally replace a tower : except for memory a powerbook is not upgradable, more is has only two DIMM slot using more expansive ram. The HD is much slower than the one of the tower, you cannot add an another HD : a tower can support three of them (with an PCI card), you cannot add PCI card nor change the video card.



    A better question should be does a Powerbook can replace totally an I mac, the answers yes (but it's more expansive).</strong><hr></blockquote>



    Many people have replaced desktops with powerbooks for many intense applications. Audio for example. Firewire drives work just fine, as does the internal drive. It's quite a trip going into a studio filled with a $100,000 worth of equiptment, plugging in the powerbook and bypassing it all because it's not needed
  • Reply 14 of 39
    timortistimortis Posts: 149member
    what's this topic doing in "future hardware"?
  • Reply 15 of 39
    xypexype Posts: 672member
    [quote]Originally posted by timortis:

    <strong>what's this topic doing in "future hardware"?</strong><hr></blockquote>



    taking up space?
  • Reply 16 of 39
    mac makkamac makka Posts: 17member
    Thanks for all the support. I dont feel so bad now getting rid of my old tower for this little dinky computer that is more than twice as fast as my 350 G3.



    Sorry about the thread being in future hardware - it was late and i didn't realise where i was when i posted the thread.
  • Reply 17 of 39
    serranoserrano Posts: 1,806member
    <a href="http://www.xlr8yourmac.com"; target="_blank">xlr8yourmac</a> is reporting that the 800 TiBook performs better than the 800 tower! :eek: did they drop an Apollo in them or what??? hope that calms some fears and sticker shock
  • Reply 18 of 39
    [quote]Originally posted by janitor:

    <strong><a href="http://www.xlr8yourmac.com"; target="_blank">xlr8yourmac</a> is reporting that the 800 TiBook performs better than the 800 tower! :eek: did they drop an Apollo in them or what??? hope that calms some fears and sticker shock</strong><hr></blockquote>



    That likely has to do with the 1MB L3 cache which is in the PB but not the PM.
  • Reply 19 of 39
    jhgibbsjhgibbs Posts: 7member
    The only downfall to using your powerbook as a desktop is the lack of a dock it can be a pain to plug everything in every time you come home.

    Other than that as you can see a lot of people do it and I will be doing it shortly. AS SOON AS SOME COMPANY COMES OUT WITH A DOCK FOR THE DA** THING
  • Reply 20 of 39
    logan calelogan cale Posts: 1,281member
    Ha, I use Photoshop, Illustrator, InDesign, GoLive, Dreamweaver, Flash, Final Cut Pro, and anything else I need at the moment on a 500 MHz iBook. If you have an 800 MHz PowerBook, I doubt it will be much of a problem.



    The only thing I can't do well is play graphically intensive games.
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