Questions about powerbooks/moving to mac
Hey
I'm moving away to university this summer to study multimedia design and thus require a laptop.
I've been looking at macs because I noticed all the university design labs swing that way, also I'm
sick to death of windows it kinda starts to get to you after about 9 years. Anyway I was considering
the recent 800 powerbook err the one with around 500 something meg of ram. Anyway I was wondering
+Would I be better off getting the powerbook, or a pc?
+How slow is osX? I'm currently on a P2 300 with 64 meg of ram running win2k, erm we're talking faster than that right? And if it really is so unbearably slow will quartz extreme make much diff?
+How well do photoshop/illustrator/freehand/flash run on it (yet again compaired to a p2 300, which illustrator doesnt even run on
)?
+Would it be possible to import my current archived emails from outlook express into it somehow?
+Same question for ICQ list/history?
+Whens the next speedbump for powerbooks expected?
+If you plug a monitor into the PB can you use it as an extra desktop, not just a mirror of the current?
I know some of these are bizzare/tediuos/possibly moronic
But thanks a ton for any you can answer, I'm really intrested in moving to mac and well its kinda hard to get the facts when you don't know anyone with them.
Thanks in advance
I'm moving away to university this summer to study multimedia design and thus require a laptop.
I've been looking at macs because I noticed all the university design labs swing that way, also I'm
sick to death of windows it kinda starts to get to you after about 9 years. Anyway I was considering
the recent 800 powerbook err the one with around 500 something meg of ram. Anyway I was wondering
+Would I be better off getting the powerbook, or a pc?
+How slow is osX? I'm currently on a P2 300 with 64 meg of ram running win2k, erm we're talking faster than that right? And if it really is so unbearably slow will quartz extreme make much diff?
+How well do photoshop/illustrator/freehand/flash run on it (yet again compaired to a p2 300, which illustrator doesnt even run on
)?+Would it be possible to import my current archived emails from outlook express into it somehow?
+Same question for ICQ list/history?
+Whens the next speedbump for powerbooks expected?
+If you plug a monitor into the PB can you use it as an extra desktop, not just a mirror of the current?
I know some of these are bizzare/tediuos/possibly moronic
But thanks a ton for any you can answer, I'm really intrested in moving to mac and well its kinda hard to get the facts when you don't know anyone with them.
Thanks in advance
Comments
<strong>Hey
I'm moving away to university this summer to study multimedia design and thus require a laptop.
I've been looking at macs because I noticed all the university design labs swing that way, also I'm
sick to death of windows it kinda starts to get to you after about 9 years. Anyway I was considering
the recent 800 powerbook err the one with around 500 something meg of ram. Anyway I was wondering
+Would I be better off getting the powerbook, or a pc?
+How slow is osX? I'm currently on a P2 300 with 64 meg of ram running win2k, erm we're talking faster than that right? And if it really is so unbearably slow will quartz extreme make much diff?
+How well do photoshop/illustrator/freehand/flash run on it (yet again compaired to a p2 300, which illustrator doesnt even run on
+Would it be possible to import my current archived emails from outlook express into it somehow?
+Same question for ICQ list/history?
+Whens the next speedbump for powerbooks expected?
+If you plug a monitor into the PB can you use it as an extra desktop, not just a mirror of the current?
I know some of these are bizzare/tediuos/possibly moronic
But thanks a ton for any you can answer, I'm really intrested in moving to mac and well its kinda hard to get the facts when you don't know anyone with them.
Thanks in advance</strong><hr></blockquote>
OS X runs fine on my iBook 600 G3, so I'm sure the new Powerbook will run it even faster. A Powerbook G4 800 with 512 MB RAM will run circles around your current PC (with 64 MB RAM). You can put a whole 1 GB RAM in your Powerbook. Quartz Extreme will run optimally on the ATi Radeon 7500 Mobility 32 MB DDR RAM video chip-set that ships with the Powerbook, it will run with at least 16 MB DDR RAM Radeon card. If you're going to do design stuff on a portable, then the Powerbook is the way to go. The Powerbook does monitor spanning, so you can use 2 monitors at once for an extended desktop. The new Powerbooks have a DVI out port allowing them to be hooked up to all digital monitors like Apple's current line of displays, including the new Cinema HD display.
I'm not too sure how to import your Outlook Express email archives or ICQ stuff, but I'm sure someone here can help. You can run Office X on your new Powerbook, if you need that MS application suite.
<strong>Hey
I'm moving away to university this summer to study multimedia design and thus require a laptop.
I've been looking at macs because I noticed all the university design labs swing that way, also I'm
sick to death of windows it kinda starts to get to you after about 9 years. Anyway I was considering
the recent 800 powerbook err the one with around 500 something meg of ram. Anyway I was wondering</strong><hr></blockquote>
I had similar concerns about the powerbook 800 (mac vs. PC), but I just ordered mine yesterday. I'll try to answer your questions point by point.
[quote]<strong>
+Would I be better off getting the powerbook, or a pc?</strong><hr></blockquote>
Get the powerbook. A few things I found about PC laptops really disuaded me. <ol type="1">[*] Weight -- most high-end PC laptops are quite heavy relative to the Ti. Sony has some up around 9-10 pounds.[*] Battery -- many PC notebooks advertize a two hour battery life, or less (if they even advertize it at all...). Real world translation? One and a half hours of checking your email, then kaput. Of course, there are exceptions, but a lot of these "mobile desktops" are really meant to be plugged in all the time. Plus, they tend to get real stinkin' hot; all the heat of a desktop, none of the portability.[*] OS -- you already know about Windows, I see. One other thing to keep in mind is that a lot of laptops ship with proprietary software installed (from Compaq or Gateway, or whatever). My friend's Compaq laptop had all kinds of useless programs/ processes running when it shipped from the factory. Combined, they were eating up 28% of system resources. On top of that, they're hidden, ambiguously named, and hard to disable. With Apple, at least, you can turn off the stuff you don't want, especially in OSX.[*] Form -- maybe it's just me, but only Sony has laptops with any style. The Ti just seems like a much better, more portable blend of form and function.[/list=a]
[quote]<strong>
+How slow is osX? I'm currently on a P2 300 with 64 meg of ram running win2k, erm we're talking faster than that right? And if it really is so unbearably slow will quartz extreme make much diff? </strong><hr></blockquote>
OSX is not slow on a Ti 800. With 10.2 and the Radeon 7500, it'll freakin' fly. It's already pretty damn fast, though. You may not even notice a difference with 10.2.
[quote]<strong>
+How well do photoshop/illustrator/freehand/flash run on it (yet again compaired to a p2 300, which illustrator doesnt even run on
</strong><hr></blockquote>
Yeah, uh... they're pretty good. I can only speak for photoshop and illustrator, but almost all of Adobe's products are optimized for the G4.
[quote]<strong>
+Would it be possible to import my current archived emails from outlook express into it somehow?</strong><hr></blockquote>
Yes. If your email server is IMAP, then no worries -- your email archive is probably on the email server, and switching over is as simple as configuring the new machine. If its POP, where the messages are saved locally, you may have to dig around in your Outlook folder and find out where they're being kept, and transfer them to Outlook on the Powerbook. I'm not an expert, but I'm sure it's possible.
[quote]<strong>
+Same question for ICQ list/history?
</strong><hr></blockquote>
I don't know about this one. Probably.
[quote]<strong>
+Whens the next speedbump for powerbooks expected?</strong><hr></blockquote>
The earliest feasible bump would be late September, but I'd guess somewhere around October or November. Anyone (on these boards or elsewhere) who is talking about MWNY in July is delusional. They were just released in May, remember.
[quote]<strong>
+If you plug a monitor into the PB can you use it as an extra desktop, not just a mirror of the current?</strong><hr></blockquote>
The current generation of powerbooks (with DVI out) support both monitor mirroring and spanning. Older versions don't, however. If you're getting the 800 MHz machine, you're safe.
[quote]<strong>
I know some of these are bizzare/tediuos/possibly moronic
But thanks a ton for any you can answer, I'm really intrested in moving to mac and well its kinda hard to get the facts when you don't know anyone with them.
Thanks in advance</strong><hr></blockquote>
Hope some of this helps. Enjoy your Ti, if you decide to get one. I can't wait for mine...
-mithral
You will not regret buying a TiBook
A crt is fine. Just make sure to find something that can deal with the DVI out.
<img src="graemlins/smokin.gif" border="0" alt="[Chilling]" />
<strong>Thanks for all the feedback
Try Apple House in Grosvenor Street, Manchester 0161 274 4404. I found them very helpful.
<strong>Thanks for all the feedback
If you feel like taking a small trip. In Salem, NH there are both the Apple Store in the Rockingham Park Mall (1st floor) and Computertown right down the street on Rt. 28 (www.computertown.com).
zip
<hr></blockquote>
I think all PowerBooks have supported monitor spanning. The iBooks support only mirroring -- it's one of the features that set the lines apart.
There is no version of Outlook for OS X, is there? But I find OS X Mail to be a pretty fair app, and apparently it will be much more robust in 10.2. I believe there is an import function when you set up Mail that asks if you want to import mailboxes from other programs, including Outlook.
<strong>
If you feel like taking a small trip. In Salem, NH there are both the Apple Store in the Rockingham Park Mall (1st floor) and Computertown right down the street on Rt. 28 (www.computertown.com).
zip</strong><hr></blockquote>
FYI: He's near Manchester, ENGLAND... not Manchester, NH in New England...
That would be QUITE a long (and wet) drive.
<strong>If you can afford, I'd recommend getting a second monitor for graphics work.
A crt is fine. Just make sure to find something that can deal with the DVI out.</strong><hr></blockquote>
I agree with the extra monitor but don't worry about the DVI out. There is a free adapter included that lets you use any VGA monitor from everything I've seen.
I'm looking at getting one of the new powerbooks in the not too distant future and would get the 800. I'd love to get an Apple flat panel but the 22" is too expensive and the 17" is too small. Looks like I'll stick with my ViewSonic for a bit.
Good Luck!
I have a 17 at home and spanning with the PowerBook display gives you a pretty big workspace. I just got my 667 last weekend and I'm still surprised by how big the display is (coming from a 12-inch iBook).
<strong>
FYI: He's near Manchester, ENGLAND... not Manchester, NH in New England...
That would be QUITE a long (and wet) drive.
<img src="graemlins/embarrassed.gif" border="0" alt="[Embarrassed]" />
DOH!!
I thought about editing my orignial but what the hell. I'll live with it. Next time I'll read really s....l....o....w!
zip
Yeah I thought it did Cosmo I've jsut got a stupidly huge contact list and keep getting group full messages, I could always do it manually if worst comes to worst and if I can't do a history import i'll just save them as text files and backup my icq dir, if I desperately needed it I suppose I could just use virtualpc.
Zarathustra: I'm intending to do that hehe still pretty pricey but from what I've heard about Ti's compared to your average pc laptop (never used one for long perosnally) then it sholu d be worth it, and I know all too much about how pc's basically just die after 6 months and become slow annoying things.
Don't think I can afford an extra monitor Splinemodel
Joecool : damn 70% would be rather nice I'd be sold for sure
Ahhhh thanks a ton Bertie I'll certianly go there in the coming weeks.
BrunoBruin : Hmmm I thought entourage was meant to be outlook for X but its not really too important I'll just back it up and emulate if I really need to read my archive of mails.
I'd love to own a 22" hehe but I can't quite raise about 6K for a comp and one of those Tomahawk.
Thanks again everyone I think I'm certianly sold you've been most helpful, erm now just to wait several months GRRRR
You mentioned not wanting an extra monitor because you wanted it to be portable and the extra cost. For graphic design work you might want a setup much like what I'm doing. I only have a Pismo so you will have a better and larger monitor but it still isn't the same as having 19+ inches of screen in front of you.
I just graduated from college and what I ended with was a Pismo for portability but I have it connected to a 19" ViewSonic at my desk. I use an MacAlly keyboard, 4-button Logitech mouse, have a QUE burner but it doesn't work properly with OS X right now (did for a burn or two, don't buy from them), UMAX scanner (also no driver yet), floppy and zip drive, and finally an epson printer.
This setup lets me work just like it is a desktop when I'm at home but grab the laptop and power cable and I can travel anywhere with it. I also learned to take my laptop as a backup any time we did a presentation on campus. The computer at the university wouldn't show graphics at one point and we ran the whole thing off my Pismo using S-Video out to a document camera's video in. Saved our whole presentation and made us look a heck of a lot better than every other group that went that day.
Hey
I'm moving away to university this summer to study multimedia design and thus require a laptop.
I've been looking at macs because I noticed all the university design labs swing that way, also I'm
sick to death of windows it kinda starts to get to you after about 9 years. Anyway I was considering
the recent 800 powerbook err the one with around 500 something meg of ram. Anyway I was wondering
+Would I be better off getting the powerbook, or a pc?<hr></blockquote>
I'd say the 'book
[quote]+How slow is osX? I'm currently on a P2 300 with 64 meg of ram running win2k, erm we're talking faster than that right? And if it really is so unbearably slow will quartz extreme make much diff?<hr></blockquote>
I'm using a 500mhz G3 Powerbook, and OSX works great for me. It doesn't hinder my workflow at all. I don't actually time it, but the only time I notice a delay is under really severe multitasking.
[quote]+How well do photoshop/illustrator/freehand/flash run on it (yet again compaired to a p2 300, which illustrator doesnt even run on
I'm a student, so am running old versions... they all run in classic, but play nice
[quote]+Would it be possible to import my current archived emails from outlook express into it somehow?<hr></blockquote>
Does OE save in .mbox format at all? If so, then it should be fine... if not I've no idea.
[quote]+Same question for ICQ list/history?<hr></blockquote>
I think ICQ does this automatically via the server.
[quote]+Whens the next speedbump for powerbooks expected?<hr></blockquote>
No idea
[quote]+If you plug a monitor into the PB can you use it as an extra desktop, not just a mirror of the current?<hr></blockquote>
Yes.
Amorya