In the market for a laptop...

[Switched]

As the title suggests, I'm looking to buy a laptop. Ideally I would like to get a 15.4" MBP but for a uni student in Australia they are way out of my price range

Like a lot of people I am eagerly anticipating the launch of the new intel ibook replacement... But I may consider a refurbished or demo model powerbook. Obviously when it does come out I'll be able to make an informed purchasing decision.

What I would like to know now is in regards to the mac mini (as the G4 was similar spec to the ibook and I expect the new ibook replacement to be most likely similar spec to the current core duo mini.)

Do Adobe programs such as the CS2 suite and Flash run at least as fast on the core duo as it did on the G4?

If the programs do run at similar speed on intel then I think I'll wait for the new ibook/macbook, but if it appears they run slower than they did on G4 then I might have to consider a refurbished secondhand Powerbook.

Does anyone know?

 

[gekko513]

I can only speak for Adobe Photoshop Elements.

In general use, the performance is similar on my 1.42 GHz G4 Mac mini and on my 2.0GHz MacBook Pro. It might even be a bit faster on the MacBook Pro.

However, starting up Photoshop and switching to Photoshop with lots of open apps is slower on the MacBook Pro. From this I conclude that if you plan on using several of the mentioned apps at the same time, you will get slowed down much more if it's on an Intel based Mac compared to a G4 based Mac with the same amount of RAM.

If you're content with running one app at a time without switching much, the speed will be fine even through Rosetta.

 

[Switched]

Thanks dude, that's what I'm hoping to hear. Generally I like to only have one graphics application open (with a web browser open too) at a time.

This will be my first mac and I need it to serve me well for at least a couple of years.

Cheers.