Okay, okay. Enough waiting, I'm getting a freakin' laptop...

[okwhatev]

After the horrid wait of 6 weeks with the "powerbook updates" rumor swirling around amounting to....well.... defective screen scan-ridden, un-speedbumped updates to only the 15" and 17" models which I didn't even want...... I must say... I've had enough. I need a mac portable now, and need a small one.

This leaves me to decide between the ibook and the 12" powerbook. I had a 1.33 powerbook before selling it when I was in a tight scrape for cash, and must admit I loved it. I could do most things I needed to do on it, had it upgraded to 756MB of RAM (or whatever that first one was), and it was lovely. I used it with my Motu 828II to perform with, and was heck of a lot better to use then dragging my G5 to shows (which I've done since).

Now people are saying there's not much difference between the small ibook and the powerbook 12". It's going to be hard for me to be convinced, since just the metal casing of the powerbook is probably worth it since I travel so much. But here's the big question: can I install a (preferably) 100GB 7200RPM drive in the 12" ? I know you can't do that with Apple's store, but I've read on the boards here that someone fit a 7200RPM drive in their 12". Where did they get this drive, how do you do it, and does it work well?

I really would like a 7200RPM drive since very occasionally I noticed some lag in editing on my old powerbook that certainly didn't happen when I used my external firewire. The 7200RPM drive was the single biggest thing I was looking forward to in an Apple laptop... so if anyone has any suggestions about how to rig a 12" with an internal 7200RPM drive.... please help me out. Any pointers on where to get the best deal would be appriciated as well Thanks in advance!

 

[generik]

Just buy it damnit! Buy buy buy!!!

 

[DaftUnion]

Less talk, more action I'm sure you could modify it if you want after you get it of course. Just go buy it if you want it. Now!

 

[Soverc]

IBook and 72 RPM

I ducktaped my IBook to an old turntable and put it on 72 RPM and everything ran great, makes the screen a little tough to see, but if I blinked my eyes just so it was great.

Now about this 7200 rpm thing hmmmmmmmmm

 

[mad jew]

12 inch PowerBook guide and 12 inch iBook guide. I recommend the iBook personally although either will take a standard 2.5 inch hard drive.

 

[generik]

My only bone with Apple laptops is they don't have an easy to open hatch where you can upgrade harddrives through (like IBM thinkpads)

But for the most part... PBs are generally about the same price as TPs, and it does look a lot better

 

[tekmoe]

PB's are generally not easy to work on all together. You just have to hope that the one you get is going to last a long time. Most of the time they do.

 

[JDOG_]

At this point I'll throw you the advice I gave someone else on the boards a little while back.

The intel transition is coming. We'll probably see intel powerbooks at some point in 2006 so you should really consider how much you're going to want one then. In the meantime, my suggestion to you would be to get the 12" iBook. It's a pretty darn capable machine and won't scratch up (as noticably as the PB) since its polycarbonate. The hard drive issue is something else. If you really need a 7200rpm HD you're going to need to get a powerbook, but ask yourself if you really need it that bad if you already have the G5 too...

Use it for the time being. When the new Powerbooks come out, sell your iBook at a fair price, and use that money to go towards a new machine.

 

[okwhatev]

Holy crap! You have to be so freakin' careful with these things! That 'how-to' guide is ASTOUNDING by the way. You should get a medal for making that (or a big fu*king check.) Anyhow, so now that I know... where should I get the drive? And which one is best? Heard something about a Hitachi one...

Is there any place out in LA that I can buy the drive from and will put it in (at a reasonable price?) Thanks so much everyone...

 

[wide]

nonono

Contrary to the advice on this thread, I really think you should wait. rumors has it new Pbooks = March '06. that is very soon, and they will most likely have intel processors.

think about this:

you have a computer now. you're able to post this message, so chances are it's not going to kill you if you do not update computers for a couple more months. and you will enjoy that intel powerbook so much more than you will a G4 pbook, not because of the speed or form factor differences, but because you waited longer and let the excitement build up to a much higher level. that's what finch did and look at him, amazing..

 

[DarkNetworks]

I must say... I've had enough. I need a mac portable now, and need a small one.

go get one now...i thought u need it "now"?

 

[mduser63]

Get the 12" PowerBook. For music, the line input is really nice. The 5400 RPM hard drive that it comes with (IIRC) is probably fast enough. Too lazy to find it now, but I believe it was barefeats.com that found that 7200 RPM hard drives were really not much faster than 5400 drives in real world use in a PowerBook.

 

[revisionA]

Get the 12" PowerBook. For music, the line input is really nice. The 5400 RPM hard drive that it comes with (IIRC) is probably fast enough. Too lazy to find it now, but I believe it was barefeats.com that found that 7200 RPM hard drives were really not much faster than 5400 drives in real world use in a PowerBook.

I'd like to see that in print, 7200 rpm drives have been the silver lining to many an expensive laptop, from Alienware to Lenovo, to now Apple. Spindle speed difference of 33% may not guarantee exactly that much of a performance boost, but even a 10000 rpm drive doesnt exceed the limits of regular IDE-ATA. Check tom's hardware or another source for more on that.

It will use a little more battery power and generate a little more heat.

Its been stated regularly that harddrives are the last bottle neck to fix other than PB's bus speed issue (but bus speed isnt always utilized 100% either.) It definately wont be slower, it will be faster, and noticably.


$

 

[wattage]

Anyhow, so now that I know... where should I get the drive? And which one is best? Heard something about a Hitachi one...

Is there any place out in LA that I can buy the drive from and will put it in

I recently upgraded my TiBook with a Hitachi Travelstar 100gig/7200 RPM myself. I used the PBfixit website and it took me about an hour, I was very slow and careful. When you get to buying a HD, research sites and watch prices. Mine was on backorder and during that time the price went down by $30 on other sites. So, I cancelled my order and placed one with ZipZoomFly(free 2nd day delivery).

If you want someone else to do it try http://www.powerbookresq.com/.
Other retail sites:New Egg, datamem.com, eshop.macsales, macsolutions, ebay...

 

[YS2003]

I know it is difficult to open up the current iBook and PB lines. My old Ti PB was very easy to upgrade its HD because I only had to take off the back cover. No wonder some posters on this site said their iBook or PB came back from Applecare with damaged exterior after some types of internal repairs. I think once you open up the AL PB, it won't come together as good as it was before the operations.