I'm new, *Warning* Stupid Questions inside!

[Phil.]

Sorry I'm so full of questions...

I would apprechiate it if someone could take the time to answer some of these, and don't laugh at me if I say something stupid please, lol.

Anyway, after having used Windows P.C's all my life I've finally decided that I'm going to get a mac, yay! As you can see from the title, an iBook G4, 12.1" model, is what it will be.

My questions are;

1. This laptop is a 1.33Ghz, what does this mean in terms of speed, for an apple? I've heard that the "Gigahertz War is over" so my question is: what compares to this apple in terms of processing power... a 3.06Ghz Windows P.C. or a Pentium 133 ( ) - You know? Give examples, please.

2. Secondly, I'm no hardcore gamer, on XBOX/PS2 maybe, but not on computers; however - I do like the occasional spot of gaming, so what I want to know is: What games run on this iBook? Are we talking frameskipping on a 5 year old game, or keeping up to speed on perhaps something a bit more modern like, perhaps, the lastest Quake or Doom?

3. How much "better" is it than the G3 iBook, how much worse than the new Powerbook/more powerful iBook?

4. Kind of tied in with the last question, what's the graphics card like? ATI Mobility 9550; is it fairly decent? And, finally;

5. In terms of upgrading in the future, what can be done. Can the graphics card be upgraded etc. - What can/can't be updated.

Thanks for taking the time to read and/or reply.

I await your response.

 

[yellow]

1. This laptop is a 1.33Ghz, what does this mean in terms of speed, for an apple? I've heard that the "Gigahertz War is over" so my question is: what compares to this apple in terms of processing power... a 3.06Ghz Windows P.C. or a Pentium 133 ( ) - You know? Give examples, please.

Meh.. maybe a 2.0GHz P4, or just udner that?

2. Secondly, I'm no hardcore gamer, on XBOX/PS2 maybe, but not on computers; however - I do like the occasional spot of gaming, so what I want to know is: What games run on this iBook? Are we talking frameskipping on a 5 year old game, or keeping up to speed on perhaps something a bit more modern like, perhaps, the lastest Quake or Doom?

You're NOT playing Doom3 on there, I can tell you that. Try going to http://www.aspyr.com and downloading their Game Agent for an idea on what games will run. They, and Macsoft Games are 2 of the largest porters of PC games.

3. How much "better" is it than the G3 iBook, how much worse than the new Powerbook/more powerful iBook?

Much. As the G3 is the Mac equivalent of a Pentium 3. A G3 iBook is significantly slower than what you've got. As for how much worse.. well all this is subjective. It's not at new, it's video card isn't as robust, etc, etc,.. but ultimately, it'll run OS X just fine and will be a dencet computer, provided you're not trying to compile massive programs on it.

5. In terms of upgrading in the future, what can be done. Can the graphics card be upgraded etc. - What can/can't be updated.

No, the graphics card cannot be upgraded. Pretty much all you can change is the RAM and the hard drive. That's the same across the Mac laptop board.

 

[Phil.]

Thanks alot mate for thw very speedy reply! I've signed up on some other forums and have been waiting days for a reply and you give me a great one in five minutes! Kudos to you mate!

So, with all these "intelmacs" exploding onto the scene next year would I be wise to wait? I use the computer for the Internet, MSN Messengerand ALOT of Photoshop/Dreamweaver ( being a website designer ) would I notice any great difference between these and the new ones, or is it too early for the proper specs?

Thanks, Phil.

 

[yellow]

While it's too early for "proper" specs, and it may not be until late June '06 until they appear, I can guarantee they'll be faster than what you're looking at. Frankly I can't believe you'd use a 12" laptop for web design, there just isn't enough visual real estate to see what you're doing..

 

[mkrishnan]

So, with all these "intelmacs" exploding onto the scene next year would I be wise to wait? I use the computer for the Internet, MSN Messengerand ALOT of Photoshop/Dreamweaver ( being a website designer ) would I notice any great difference between these and the new ones, or is it too early for the proper specs?

I think too, that you're going to notice a big difference between a current iBook or PB and a G3 iBook for your kind of usage. It's hard to say what'll happen on Mactels. Another issue is going to be the availability of Intel binary versions of all the software you want to use. You'll be able to use the existing binaries, but you probably will not notice huge speed improvements until you're on an Intel binary. I don't know if that helps?

 

[Phil.]

Thanks mate! I think What I'm going to do is wait until these new G5/upgraded G4's come out and then the prices of the one I'm looking for at the minute should drop - no?

 

[adk]

Thanks mate! I think What I'm going to do is wait until these new G5/upgraded G4's come out and then the prices of the one I'm looking for at the minute should drop - no?

Hah. Apple's prices never get down to the affordable level.

 

[mbopy22]

The previous comments come from people that know waaaay more than me...

I'm new to Apple, and I got the 12"iBook that you're wanting to buy.. It is AWESOME!! A W E S O M E !!!

And just to answer some of your questions the 1.33Ghz processor is FASTER than a Pentium 4 it is more or less as fast as a Centrino (that's what an expert told me) by the way I don't know if you noticed but the 1.33Ghz is the smallest processor that a Mac has... LOL APPLE Rules!!!!

About waiting for Intel, well I'm a safe player I wouldn't risk my self and my money in something so new and experimental... it will probable have some bugs or who knows what strange thing at first... But let me tell you something.. by mid 2007 I'll definetly get a G5 Intel Mac... don't know if is going to be a Mac Mini, iMac or better a POWERBook...

By the way... Once you Go Mac there is NO turning back.. plus is an adiction.. Man even the boxes are cute..

 

[ibook30]

I have a (fairly) recent ibook and a 3 Ghz Pentium machine - there is a HUGE difference between the two in speed. The ibook is a lot faster!

I also spend 1/10 of the time doing admin duties on the ibook (software updates, etc) versus the frusterating amount of time I spend updating anti virus and ad aware ... Enjoy the ibook !!!

 

[balamw]

Meh.. maybe a 2.0GHz P4, or just udner that?

It really depends on what you are doing. My 1.33 GHz iBook definitely feels far more responsive in many aspects than my 2.8 GHz PIV Dell, but not when it comes down to CPU floating point intensive apps.

I compiled and ran a custom floating point intensive text-based engineering application I have that was ported to linux and Windows and was surprised to find the G4 fell right at about 1.4 GHz when compared to a bunch of PIII and PIV machines, even after I set the compiler optimization to G4.

All in all the 1.33-1.5 GHz G4 machines are no slower than an equivalent Pentium-M machine running at the same GHz.

B

 

[Phil.]

Thanks for the replies guys I'm definately getting an iBook now, getting it for £589 ( Normally £799 ) So I'm getting a hell of a deal. Its off PC world business so totally new/legit, i've ordered loads from them before

Got £460 atm, need that little bit more so I'm selling some stuff on ebay and getting people to click the adds HERE ( Do so if you want, but you know you want to, go on click them ) *Stops advertising*

 

[Phil.]

Another silly question from moi! Yay!

Ok I know this comes with 512MB RAM comes with this and I know it can go up to 1.5GB, but how? How many Slots are available, and the 512MB that is standard, how many slots does it use? 1 512 or 2 256's?

Reason is I might be able to pick of a cheap 256MB stick one i get mine, just wondering if I can use it?

Sorry It's hard to explain, I hope you get the jist of it!

 

[mad jew]

There is one slot that you cannot access which holds the 512MB stick. Then there is a second slot that can hold a stick up to the size of 1GB. So long as your 256MB meets the right specifications, you can put it into the user-accesible slot to get 768MB total.

Just a warning: Macs are more susceptible to slightly bad RAM than PCs. In other words, they are less tolerant of slight idiosyncrasies in the chip meaning that the 256MB chip may cause you some temporary grief if it's not good quality. Taking it out again will fix any problems though, so it's worth a try. If you buy RAM for this Mac, make sure it is guarantied to work with Macs.

 

[jmufellow]

There is one slot that you cannot access which holds the 512MB stick. Then there is a second slot that can hold a stick up to the size of 1GB. So long as your 256MB meets the right specifications, you can put it into the user-accesible slot to get 768MB total.

Just a warning: Macs are more susceptible to slightly bad RAM than PCs. In other words, they are less tolerant of slight idiosyncrasies in the chip meaning that the 256MB chip may cause you some temporary grief if it's not good quality. Taking it out again will fix any problems though, so it's worth a try. If you buy RAM for this Mac, make sure it is guarantied to work with Macs.

Going off of what Madjew said, some good places to get RAM (from what I hear) are Crucial and Datamem.com. Here's their respective links:
http://www.crucial.com
http://www.datamem.com/

Note: never buy RAM straight from Apple--it's overpriced.

 

[GorillaPaws]

I posted a reply in a similar thread about the pros/cons of the rumored Intel iBook: https://forums.macrumors.com/threads/165956/.

I'll just quote myself (I realize it's kind of a faux pas):

"Here's a few things you may want to consider if the rumors are true:

- For your needs a current iBook would be fine, however, depending on how long you are planning on using your laptop, updates to PPC software may begin to taper off over the next few years, so having an Intel-based Mac may be better if you're the type of person that always wants to have the latest available software several years from now.

-The Intel-based Macs may have the ability at some point to run Windows applications, and the ability to dual-boot seems very likely.

-The Intel chips use less power so an Intel-based iBook would likely have a longer battery life.

-But also, the first versions of hardware (we refer to these as Rev. A) tend to have more problems than later ones.

-Most of the current available software is only for the PPC, although it will run on the Rosetta emulation software, so many programs may be slower at first until software is updated for Intel chips.

-And finally, even if iBooks are announced at Macworld in January, they most likely won't start shipping right away so it's conceivable that they won't even be available until March.

Personally, I think the current iBooks are great, they've been tweaked many times over the past several years, and are terrific machines for the price. You may have already considered all of this stuff before, so sorry if that's the case, but seeing as you're a switcher and are new to the world of Apple, I just wanted to give you a heads up."

 

[Phil.]

Chears for the replies people! Really apprechiated! All that's left now is the small matter of finding an extra £120

 

[Diatribe]

Congrats on the purchase, you did the right thing. For any further questions and to help you along the way check my Mac Beginner's Guide. The link is in my sig.

 

[T'hain Esh Kelch]

You shouldnt wait on the Mactel laptops, if you are doing Photoshop work. Adobe has stated that it'll take quite some time before PS goes Intel native, and PS being emulated through Rosetta is probably not going to be the fastest. (I guess)

 

[Phil.]

Cheers for the info on the Photoshop issue! And I'm reading the guide now thanks!

 

[minimax]

Thanks alot mate for thw very speedy reply! I've signed up on some other forums and have been waiting days for a reply and you give me a great one in five minutes! Kudos to you mate!

So, with all these "intelmacs" exploding onto the scene next year would I be wise to wait? I use the computer for the Internet, MSN Messengerand ALOT of Photoshop/Dreamweaver ( being a website designer ) would I notice any great difference between these and the new ones, or is it too early for the proper specs?

Thanks, Phil.

Actually, Yonah will hardly bring much of improvement for Photoshop . The PS and iMovie is where the G4 shines and outperforms the G5 with about 20% clock for clock. The Yonah will most likely only be slightly faster but it will be rendering and other floating point intensive applications that will see the largest performance gains.

 

[minimax]

The previous comments come from people that know waaaay more than me...

I'm new to Apple, and I got the 12"iBook that you're wanting to buy.. It is AWESOME!! A W E S O M E !!!

And just to answer some of your questions the 1.33Ghz processor is FASTER than a Pentium 4 it is more or less as fast as a Centrino (that's what an expert told me) by the way I don't know if you noticed but the 1.33Ghz is the smallest processor that a Mac has... LOL APPLE Rules!!!!

About waiting for Intel, well I'm a safe player I wouldn't risk my self and my money in something so new and experimental... it will probable have some bugs or who knows what strange thing at first... But let me tell you something.. by mid 2007 I'll definetly get a G5 Intel Mac... don't know if is going to be a Mac Mini, iMac or better a POWERBook...

By the way... Once you Go Mac there is NO turning back.. plus is an adiction.. Man even the boxes are cute..

Is it kiddie time again?

G5 Intel Mac LOL

 

[T'hain Esh Kelch]

Actually, Yonah will hardly bring much of improvement for Photoshop . The PS and iMovie is where the G4 shines and outperforms the G5 with about 20% clock for clock. The Yonah will most likely only be slightly faster but it will be rendering and other floating point intensive applications that will see the largest performance gains.

And the Altivec engine on the G4 is gonna smoke any Intel chip for years to come in PS.

 

[jap4n]

hey...

i have a G4 ibook and am a web designer/production designer (so use PS/DW and css/xhtml). I use a program called ScreenSpanner. i connect my ibook to a 1600x1200 lcd and it works sweet. Screenspanner unlocks the hidden features on the ibook such as increased desktop size (on external monitors), extended desktop (not just mirrored), and clamshell mode (can shut the laptop lid and will continue running).

i love my ibook... so much more now that i have increased the ram and harddrive (i even put in the ram and hdd myself.. sheesh, i dont recommend it - was very tricky)

i suggest to buy the g4 ibook, waiting for the intel will be a long time.. plus it will be the first gen - more likely to be problematic (ie first gen G5)

 

[Phil.]

Cheers! iBook G4 it is!

 

[rei1974]

Congrats , was about to post how happy I am with my ibook G4, but seems that you already made your choice