Help me decide.. 12" ibook or 12" powerbook.

[FortFunFoSho]

I am debtaing between buying a ibook right now, or saving for a powerbook. The only appeal of the powerbook is the built-in dvd burner.

The powerbook = about 700 more for that feature. i am planning to basically just get all my mini-dv footage off tap eonto a dvd. That is basically all the the use I will use the burner for.

Is it worth the extra money. BTW my alternative is to buy the ibook and then an external dvd burner.

Input?

 

I'd get the Powerbook only because of its metal casing. I don't think a plastic laptop is too good of an idea.

 

[randomlinh]

isn't the G4 on the ibook still a crippled version of what's in the powerbook? That and the vid card in the ibook will not fully support all of tiger...

 

[RichieZ]

i have a 12"ibook, the newest 1.2ghz 12" can be had for $850 AR at amazon.com, also combine that with the free epson printers and if you sell that its down to around $750, use A9 discount down to around $733, then apply for amazon.com visa and get $30 disount, down to $703, thats enough points to get a $25 gift certifiate so down to $678.

Thats what I did, no the powerbook is not worth it when the ibook is so cheap. They are relatively close in performance I've heard, 1.2 v 1.33 But the bus speed is 133 vs 166.

THe only thing I miss is the DVI out on the powerbooks, and of course the fact it looks so much cooler.

This is my first mac, i wanted the powerbook but its too much more to justify it, couldn't resit when the ibook was so cheap

 

[FortFunFoSho]

Richiez -

Do you have aim?

Also is that rebate still good on amazon?

 

[Ciber]

I have a 12" Powerbook and it is worth every penny.

 

[htmlmasterdave]

Get the iBook and drop in 512/1024 of ram. If you want to do video editing 256 won't come even close to cutting it anyways so you'll have to add to it for either model, but that puts the powerbook even higher.

 

[Commodus]

You could always get a 14" iBook with the Superdrive - it's $1499 versus the $1799 of the equivalent 12" PowerBook. The only catch is that the iBook will, of course, be larger.

And I agree on RAM - get at least another 512 MB of RAM into whatever system you do end up buying.

 

[Wuzup101]

I would go with the 12" iBook for the price honestly. You can get nice external DVD burners for $200 and the additional difference in price (between the PB and iBook) would easily cover that, pluss the gig stick of ram you'll need for video editing. You'd still have an additional $300 or so left after getting that stuff...

 

[hopejr]

Originally posted by: jumpr
I'd get the Powerbook only because of its metal casing. I don't think a plastic laptop is too good of an idea.

LOL, aren't most laptops plastic? The ibooks have a titanium frame and the plastic is quite strong, though, I think the aluminium look of the PB's looks nicer.
Inguyen is right about iBooks and tiger, the 9200 isn't on the list of cards that Tiger takes advantage of, but it should still be ok (it sort of dumbs it down a bit without making it look worse I think)

 

[Wuzup101]

The iBooks will work fine with tiger, they just wont have ALL the visual eye candy IIRC. They still will be fully usable... if you want to upgrade to tiger. OSX 10.3 "panther" will still be supported by Apple for quite some time after "tiger" comes out.

Good point w/ the frame and body... ibooks really are very durable. The polycarbonite white "plastic" takes a beating and they are great for students and those who travel frequently. If you take good care of your laptop you shuoldn't have any problems anyway (regardless of brands).

 

[TMTCC]

Another :thumbsup: to the 12" iBook. You get basically 95% of the Powerbook's power in a more durable casing, AND you get to save some cash in the process. As RichieZ pointed out, Amazon had an AWESOME deal on the iBooks for a while, so definately see if you can snag one up over there if they're still offering the deal. Also, be sure to maximize your memory, as OS X eats memory up for breakfast, lunch, and dinner.