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Powebook 12", an investment?

brikeh

brikeh

macrumors 6502a
Original poster
Jan 24, 2006
845
1
Through edu discount I can get a good deal on a 12 inch pb. I plan on using it for downloading music, light photo-editing and the iLife package. I´ve just had an iMac returned to apple for refund and I really miss having a portable so I think Im going for the powerbook altough I could save up and get the macbook...but nah I dont know wether or not I want a rev A machine again...How long will a powerbook 12 last me? Hows the build quality? Is the g4 really outdated now? Many questions, I know. But I just cant make my mind up...:confused: :rolleyes:
 
Depends on what you're buying for. Do you want portability? Then get the 12" PowerBook. Do you want longevity? Then wait for the 12" MacBook Pro, or get the 15" MBP now.

The G4 is done with, it should have been done with long ago. Tests show that the iMac Intels run PPC software pretty darn well compared to a G4. Just make sure to factor in cost of RAM (but don't buy from apple, go to dealram.com). As long as you have 1-2gigs of RAM with Rosetta, you're set.

My roomate has a 12" PowerBook. He's a CMC (cinema and media communications) major, so he does a lot with video and it seems to work for him. But if you want it to last, you really should wait. Apps will go to Universal like americans eat pizza. As in, fast. Not to mention the speed increase. The iLife apps are Universal and will be fast, same with whatever you use for music downloads, iTunes, bittorrent, limewire, pretty much all Universal.
 
Thanks for your reply...its just that the mbp is sooo much more expensive.

Plus...rev a scares me a bit.
 
Powerbook 12" is awesome, impressive.

I just received my brand new PB12" last week.
I had a G3 iBook and I was already happy with it. A 5 years old laptop still capable of running the latest version of the operating system (10.4.4) without major problems of speed. Obviously no large iPhoto libraries, no heavy Photoshop use.
Now with the new PB it seems to me that I have a SuperPower Computer.
I mainly use it for Internet, Photoshop, Office, Molecular Biology Software and then iLife for personal music and pic archiving.
I bought the last PPC rev before the intel switch mainly because of compatibility of software with the new intels for a year or more and because
I have the feeling that OSX with the PPC precessors has been perfectly tuned.
Maybe it will take a little bit to be tuned for the intels.
Only a personal feeling...!!!

Buy a PowerBook and save money. In three years then you buy a wonderful
MacBook Pro 13"...


----------------------------------------
Andrea

Happy owner of a rev.E PowerBook 12"
 
dambro1978 said:
Buy a PowerBook and save money. In three years then you buy a wonderful
MacBook Pro 13"...


----------------------------------------
Andrea

Happy owner of a rev.E PowerBook 12"
Click to expand...

Thanks Andrea, yeah Im leaning towards the Pb.
 
No one has actually confirmed that there will be a 12" MacBook Pro. It was a kind of in between model, not powerful enough for Professionals but a little extravagent for a normal user. It suited my needs perfectly but the recent updates to the G4 line suggested that Apple were phasing it out. You never know of course.

If it were me, I'd probably buy a top of the range MacBook (the iBook replacement) rather than a hugely expensive MBP.
 
Firstly no computer can be seen as an investment. The return tends to zero.

I have two 12" powerbooks (my own 1.33Ghz and an 867 from work).

I think the build quality is good to very good and the 1.33 does pretty much everything i throw at it (mainly ableton live, a real time music sequencer meant for live use).

If i were you though unless you need it _right now_ then i'd wait a month or two. Big things are coming.
 
emotion, I'd be curious to hear your observations on any noticeable differences between the 867 and the 1.33?

AppleMatt
 
AppleMatt said:
emotion, I'd be curious to hear your observations on any noticeable differences between the 867 and the 1.33?

AppleMatt
Click to expand...

it's interesting really as i'd expect there to be a huge amount of difference. there isn't, in day to day use.

the 867 is a rev a machine and as such the fans come on a bit more, the screen isn't quite as crisp, the battery life not quite as good (though it is older, so that doesn't help). the disk on this machine is slower than my 1.33 because i specified the 5400 option when i got the 1.33.

in terms of computing power it handles my main app (ableton live 5) reasonably well compared to the 1.33. though macs aren't renowned for good performance with that app so the 1.33 is needed sometimes.

if anyone reading this has the option to buy a very cheap 867 12" pbook i'd say the machine is still far from obsolete....and the 1.33 doubly so (draw your own conclusions on the 1.5, i have no experience of that machine).

i know i'm not upgrading for at least 6 months (all the universal apps will be available then and the smaller macbooks too).
 
actually there is an answer in the above to people who say that now the intel macs are about a current G4 based machine is obsolete. this is not the case at all.

it may be that in a couple of years a 1.5Ghz g4 will be a little long in the tooth but i suspect it'll still be perfectly usable for most computing tasks.
 
Hei!

I have one of the last gen 15" Powerbooks - it has a lot of problems. I'm not sure if a Rev A Macbook could have more. And the performance is not so great in my eyes (even though I have 1.5 gigs of Ram).

I would really wait - I thought about this Rev A thing, too, when I bought this notebook last November, although it was clear then that the Intel - Books would come likely sooner than later, but now I wish I'd waited...

jojo

PS: I think they HAVE to have a 12" MBP soon. For professionals that need portability the 15 would just be too big and the upcoming iBook too underpowered (I think it will be) (let alone have too few ports).
 
emotion said:
it's interesting really as i'd expect there to be a huge amount of difference. there isn't, in day to day use.

the 867 is a rev a machine and as such the fans come on a bit more, the screen isn't quite as crisp, the battery life not quite as good (though it is older, so that doesn't help). the disk on this machine is slower than my 1.33 because i specified the 5400 option when i got the 1.33.
Click to expand...

Cool thanks for the info :)

AppleMatt
 
dambro1978 said:
Buy a PowerBook and save money. In three years then you buy a wonderful MacBook Pro 13"...
Click to expand...

I dunno...

In three years it'll be 2009. The G4 Powerbook is circa-2001 technology. That would be like finally ditching your G3 Powerbook today in favour of the new ones. While I'm sure there are certainly people who hold on to their G3's (Wallstreet, Pismo, etc) this long, surely they are in the minority, and by now would be crying out for an upgrade.

I bought my 12" Powerbook in 2003. It's still holding up quite well, but I'm starting to feel the slowness when doing things with iLife, editing video, surfing complex websites, etc. I'll probably buy a shiny new MacBook this year or next...
 
These are all good arguments to the Intel macs. However, the current 12" Combo drive powerbook can be had for $1199 on macconnection.com. It will be unlikely that any smaller macbook pro will fall into this price range. Also, given how long they have taken to get out the current macbook pro, even when a new one comes out it will probably take some time to get it. If you want a computer now, go for a 12" PowerBook. They will not be the fastest thing in the world, but it will get you by for a few years.
 
emotion said:
actually there is an answer in the above to people who say that now the intel macs are about a current G4 based machine is obsolete. this is not the case at all.

it may be that in a couple of years a 1.5Ghz g4 will be a little long in the tooth but i suspect it'll still be perfectly usable for most computing tasks.
Click to expand...
Well, sure it's okay now and maybe for a couple years, but if you want it to last .. I agree with Coca-Cola. Wait for either the MacBook or MacBook Pro.

And don't worry about the Rev A thing. It's over hyped. I have a new Intel iMac that runs great. Most of the problems with the Rev As are software which can be updated.
 
I would go for it. Unless you want an Intel processor that may not be very stable then I'd go for the Intel iBook 13.1".

Yay, 500 posts!
 
Thanks for all your replies...I still dont know what to do really but Im sorta leaning towards the pb. Itll hold me over until the intel thing is done and settled with. I know rev A issuses might be overhyped but I seem to be a magnet for sh** like that so I best not push it. Thanks everyone, Ill let you know what Im getting l8r this week! Either way it will be running OS X.. :cool: ;)
 
I have a similiar situation, I have a Dual 2.0 G5 at my country house, but due to the winter here in Finland Im constantly in the city house... I bought my G5 because I was doing alot of very large Photoshop work (119 inches by 24 inches at 300 res), my iBook 800 G3 handled it pretty well except the half hour opening and even longer saving times. G5 perfroms very well even on 28 foot by 4 foot at 150 res files, but Id never even think about them on the iBook. I was thinking about possibly going with a MBP but they are just too expensive, considering outside of mobile design work, I barely use the iBook.

The two biggest things keeping me from getting a MBP is 1. No native Adobe support as of right now, and 2. Price.

And unless I could get a G4 PB for a really good price, I wouldnt feel right buying it knowing that its pretty much a dinosaur already.
 
Deepdale said:
My pursuits are very straightforward, but what particular features or elements qualify certain websites as being "complex?"
Click to expand...

I suspect the effect you're seeing there is bandwidth problems.

Web surfing isn't taxing on a machine.
 
brikeh said:
Dunno bout that, dinosaur...
Click to expand...
Well if you consider how old the technology in it is... It has barely moved forward in these last few years. Also, its time has ended, Apple wont make anymore PBs...
 
point665 said:
Well if you consider how old the technology in it is... It has barely moved forward in these last few years. Also, its time has ended, Apple wont make anymore PBs...
Click to expand...

Im chosing between the pb12 and a vaio. I dont think I can leave osx behind. The MBP is just so much more expensive. :rolleyes:
 
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