Have anyone tried the new iBook G4 or the 12" PowerBook?

[swanky]

OK,

I've tried asking this question at some of the Apple forums around, but they all say that every apple machine is God's gift to the human race. But my situation is this: I need a laptop for work, and the iBook looks like a good deal, considering the price and weight. Mostly I would need it for presentations and note taking, but often I have to fire up Photoshop and Dreamweaver to update web pages (I work at a university). I'm not saying that I will need to run eight filters at once, but I would like to do this without feeling my life slip away while waiting for something to happen.

As to OS X vs. XP - I really don't care. I can honestly say that I'm happy with using Windows. The main reason for even considering the iBook is the combination of price, weight and size. Here in Norway there is a total lack of cheap 4lb laptops.

But have anyone tried the new iBook (or a 12" PowerBook)? If so, I would really appreciate it if you tried to compare it to a Windows laptop, speedwise. I know this is hard, but a rough estimate would be nice (does it equal a 800MHz P3, a 1,5GHz P4 - just an indication).

To put it in perspective; my desktop PC is a 1,33GHz AMD T-bird w/256 MB SDRAM. This runs Photoshop and Dreamweaver good enough for my needs. But my girlfriends Toshiba Satellite Pro 600MHz Celeron is totally useless at this, even with 256MB RAM.

Hope someone can help me here! Thanks for taking the time to read this.

swanky

 

[thuned]

Given the limited amount of mac software, basically everything runs decently if you have at least 256 megs of ram. Photoshop would be no problem at all for a g3 800mhz. The only things that I can think of that might struggle is final cut pro (video editing/encoding) and virtual pc (windows emulation).
It's hard to compare apple's cpu to intel's, but I would say a g3 800mhz would be around a p4 1.3 to 1.6ghz depending on what you're doing.
And I would like to mention that traditionally, photoshopt/image editing is what macs excel at. Awhile ago a good chunk of graphics people would only work with macs. I don't know if that's still true now, but a lot of people still use macs for image editing. And photoshop (for macs) is heavily optimized.

 

[GL]

I've used a 12" Powerbook G4 1 GHz. It felt quite fast compared to my G3 700 iBook. For what you would be doing, the iBook 800 would be sufficient. I fire up Photoshop on my iBook 700 to do simple editing for the web. Unless I'm using filters, it's fast enough for me. However, Macs are the computer version of a gateway drug. I bought my iBook 3/4 of a year ago thinking I would only use it for presentations and the sort. Instead it has become my primary machine. I wish I had a more powerful laptop though as sometimes the iBook 700 just doesn't cut it - mostly in apps that would benefit from an Altivec unit which the new iBook G4 800 has. So, there's no guarantee that you'll just use this for note-taking and presentations 6 months from now. You might find that you really enjoy the platform and start using it more often. In which case it might be worth investing in the 12" Powerbook which would yield you better graphics (128-bit memory interface in the Nvidia chip vs 64-bit memory interface in the ATI 9200), and faster CPU (because of the 200 MHz speed advantage and 256 kB extra L2 cache), and higher RAM capacity (if you can afford it, put 1GB into it - I have 640 MB on my iBook). My advice is to try out these two laptops yourself. Especially when it comes to laptops, paper specifications are rather imprecise in giving a good performance estimate.

 

[lupin]

I'm in the same position as you are swanky, and I'm leaning NOT to get the Powerbook.

I tried using my sis' 12" Powerbook, 867MHz 256MB Ram, and it's so sluggish even for presentations on iPhoto and checking email. That's without even starting Photoshop. I think it may be a lack of RAM, but I can't confirm this unless I buy more memory.

My desktop runs on old P3 733MHz, but it does have 768MB of RAM and it's still flying even with Photoshop open editing 10 5Mpixel images and other programs.

 

[IgoByte]

I've owned: 500MHz G3 iBook, 600MHz G3 iBook and 867MHz G4 PowerBook.

Without any exception to the rule, Apple's notebooks are not functional to use on a daily basis. They are just to easy to damage and they get dirty much more easily than any of the ThinkPads I've owned. The G3 iBooks were so slow at the time (they were nearly brand new; the 600MHz had 640MB of RAM) that I could not use them in conjunction with my T23 (my regular work notebook at the time PIII1.13GHz, 1GB RAM, 60GB 5400RPM HDD, Combo Drive). And I'm talking just web surfing stuff, even.

The G4 PB was OK, but just too damn easy to scratch and damage in general. The metal is soft, tends to get pretty warm and IMHO [the notebook] is not functional as something you actually use. It's made to be looked at! Also, the PB (867MHz G4, 640MB DDRAM, 40GB 4200RPM HDD, Combo Drive) didn't compare [in performance] to my current T40 (PM 1.6GHz, 1GB DDRAM, 60GB 7200RPM HDD, Combo Drive).

Besides that, I, personally, had a lot of trouble getting used to OS X. It's a nice OS and all, but I never got accustomed to it. Some things that work so well in Windows just aren't even available.

My suggestion: Get an IBM ThinkPad T30. They can be had at bargain prices now and are good, solid notebooks.

 

[dnuggett]

Also, the PB (867MHz G4, 640MB DDRAM, 40GB 4200RPM HDD, Combo Drive) didn't compare [in performance] to my current T40 (PM 1.6GHz, 1GB DDRAM, 60GB 7200RPM HDD, Combo Drive).

Of course it didn't. Those laptops are mismatched specs wise.

 

[lakbum]

I just recently purchased the new Apple 12" Powerbook (3 days ago) and as my first machine to be an Apple, I'm loving it. After reading some of the other posts for this topic, I have some comments. As for the machine getting scratched and stuff, I believe the Titanium version scratched easily. The new ones are made from Aluminum and are designed to be scratch and stain resistant. I will have to agree to this since I have no scratches on mine and stains rub off easily.

As for performance, I am very satisfied. I'm running Panther (v10.3) and all my applications run very smoothly. Of course, I've read that the Apple's performance can be compared to a Cadillac. You won't see stuff popping up instantly like you will see with a PC machine but things perform very well.

As for noise, I don't even hear the hard drive operating. However, I've been using it for less then a week so my initial evaluation could be off.

After getting this laptop, I haven't even touched my pc machine. Maybe it's trying out a new operating system, but I've been able to do everything that I used to do in Windows except games. But, that's not a priority for me since I'm a college student.

As for portability, I take it to all my classes and use wireless internet while taking notes. It's not heavy and I know there are some sub notebooks for PC's that weigh less then this. But, those models are usually lacking components. My laptop came with the DVD writer so I'm very impressed to have it in such a small laptop.

Well, my sense of though is off, so apologies if what I wrote sounds confusing. Overall, I love this laptop. If I had a choice between a PC laptop and an Apple, I'd go for the Apple. But, it depends on how much money you want to spend I guess since mine costed me just about $2000.