Apple Notebooks

[MBentz]

Hi guys. I am very interested in using an Apple for the first time. I would end up using my Apple mostly for college related stuff with little to no gaming. Preferable size is to be 14-16 inches and around five pounds. The longer the battery life the better. Now, what you Apple users suggest? iBook, PowerBook or even the MacBook? Which is the overall the best?

 

[IlllI]

i vote for the macbook

 

[MBentz]

Reasons?

 

[MDE]

I'd probably go with the MacBook also, if only because you'll have a better software upgrade path as Apple migrates to an Intel-only lineup. Dual core doesn't hurt either.

 

[MBentz]

Do you really think Apple would stop supporting the G4/G5 within a couple of years?

What about the student discount? They didn't have my community college listed but did have my high school listed. Do they ask that you prove you are a student?

 

[imported_Lucifer]

Originally posted by: MBentz
Do you really think Apple would stop supporting the G4/G5 within a couple of years?

What about the student discount? They didn't have my community college listed but did have my high school listed. Do they ask that you prove you are a student?

I am very sure Apple won't drop support for the G4 and G5.

You can go to the Apple store on the website, and just enter your school. I am not sure about you having to prove that you are a student. If someone can confirm this, it would be nice.

 

[robertk2012]

I never had to prove i was a student.

 

[ChuaChua]

Well, I had to enter my university student ID before entering the student discount part of the store.

 

[Koing]

Sucks that they ONLY give 512mb of ram! wtf?!...so CHEAP...

You pay £1400 and they ONLY give you 512mb!

Everything else looks good though.

Koing

 

[kitkit201]

Hmm.. depending on your budget too. Most G4 powerbooks 15" go for around $1500 new or considerably less used. if your looking to get your feet wet, I'd go for a Powerbook versus MacBook. Yes, MBP is the newest thing, andthey only started shipping last week, but keep in mind that this is Revision A. Apple is known to have many bugs and lack of software support. yes, there is rosetta, but if I were, I would wait until the ibook/macbook comes out (sometime next month) and you can probably get the newest technology for less than $2000.

Even with the student discount, you may want to wait. Rumors are that a 13" ibook with intel inside will be delivered sometime in March. check http://www.thinksecret.com or http://www.macrumors.com for more detials.

Personally, I love my G4 with awesome software support. They aren't likely to kill PPC support anytime soon. They are however converting applications to "Universial" which runs on both chipset.

Hope that helps. 🙂
~Wilson

 

[kitkit201]

btw, iBooks run 4-5 hours battery life. My 15" powerbook is going about 3 hours .. not too bad but something tot hink about. Also the enw ibook/MacBooks coming out will run a lower wattage on the cpu, therefore it will have better battery life.

 

[Commodus]

Originally posted by: MBentz
Do you really think Apple would stop supporting the G4/G5 within a couple of years?

The software support will probably be around for awhile yet, but it's a question of whether you'll still be happy with the performance in a couple of years. The MacBook Pro has a much longer useful lifespan ahead of it.

This is especially true since you're a newcomer to Macs. You don't have any legacy software, and even if you have to run MS Office in Rosetta (a real-time PPC-to-Intel code translator) it will still be just fine until there's a native version of Office.

Speaking of which, do you know what apps you'll be running? Some comp-sci and engineering classes may need Windows-specific programs, but if you're mainly writing notes, spreadsheets or doing presentations, the MacBook will be fine. You'll probably want a copy of MS Office 2004 (Student & Teacher Edition is $149) in the latter case.