iBook or iMac?

D

DevilMan

Gawd
Joined
Jan 15, 2001
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I am in the market for a new laptop, since my Dell 600m just bit the dust, and have been doing a lot of research on the Apple iBook. I can go about $1500.00 bucks give or take some dollars here and there. So far I spec'ed the top end 14 inch with a ram upgrade to 512 megs. This brings me to $1574.00.
The problem I ran into is that I got looking and browsed into the iMac section where I found the mid range iMac that comes with 512 megs of ram and 100 gigs or more space. This for $1559.00.

Now I am torn between the portability of the laptop or the added power of the desktop for about the same price. It is not like the laptop goes very far, mostly around the house and on some trips. The comp will be used mainly for browsing and email and other household uses. Although I cant say that I wont delve into the garage band or the imovie since it is there and I would like to try them out.

I am not looking for you to pick a mac for me or convert me :D just maybe some feedback on what you guys would do if you were faced with the same choice.
 
well, my first words of advice are that you should get your memory somewhere other than apple. It's very expensive from them, can easily be found at crucial or newegg and is user installable (IIRC) on all macs except the mini.

Next, you're gonna have to weigh how important portability is to you. It's very nice to have a computer you can take with you where ever in the house and take on trips, but between the top of the line ibook and the top of the line 17" imac, you're sacrificing a lot of things;

-processor; 2ghz G5 vs. 1.33ghz G4
-radeon 9600 w/128mb vs. 9200 w/32mb
-100gb less storage with the ibook, and you could easily upgrade the imac hard drive down the road
-faster dvd burning as well as dual layer burning with the imac

hope that helps a bit
 
imho and from experience, I don't use my laptop (new ibook bought 3 months ago) nearly as much outside as I thought I would. I end up having it literally probably 95% of the time sitting on my desk hooked up to an external monitor.

I've been looking at the 17"imac's myself. If I had the cash, I would definitely have both. To do it all over again, I would own a POS winbook to carry around and beat on, and have my trusty, more then worth it, G5 imac at home waiting for me to come home to it every night. I know more then offten enough, I need the extra horsepower the G5 would allow.

Otherwise, you can always use an external USB/Firewire HD like I do, I have an extra 160gigs, and I also have an external DVD/RW.

my 2c. Good luck.
 
i love the iBook as a traveling companion. Not the most powerful machine, definitely not as powerful as a desktop iMac, but for the tasks you describe I think you would find it much more convenient.

Plus, once you figure out how cool it is, you'll WANT to take it everywhere.

I would get 12", though. Much better portability.
 
Yet another option is to look at the refurbed Powerbooks. You can score new model 12" Powerbooks sometimes for 16-20% below retail. That would put you under the $1500 mark, even if you include a Superdrive. And remember, if you work for the government or are a student, you can get a discount on new Macs.
 
dont get a 14" ibook, the screen res is still 1024x768.

get a 12" pbook! honestly, youll like it more.
 
Dont buy an ibook right now, Apple is going to refresh them within the next week.
 
are you guys sure? how do you know this? I was just about to order an ibook when I seen this.
 
It was originally reprted by ThinkSecret and then picked up by other news sites. ThinkSecret is usually right on the money about Apple, and it is long overdue anyway. If you buy right now, you will be very disappointed in a few days when the new models are availible.
 
I decided to go with the iBook 14 in. The new price and specs it could not be beat for the price. I added more ram (1 gig total), bumped the HD up to 80 gig and got in on the student deal. So with an iPod mini the total pakage came to a little over 1300 bucks. Not a bad deal.

This is my first Mac and I have to say I am loving it. All the eye candy is working I even et the nice splash effect wheen dropping a widget. I had read the 32 meg vid card would not support that. Only thing I see is there is a lot of preinstalled stuff that brings the HD space down to 61 gigs out of the box.

Overall a great product. I would post pics but if you have seen one iBook you have seen them all. Just a lot of white.
 
Cool. I personally would have nothing to do with a 14" with XGA res. Plus, I used a 14" iBook once and there was SOO much empty space between the KB and the edge that faces you. Felt like I was reaching across the grand canyon to type. But, to each their own. Hope you like it, my first mac will be here by week's end hopefully. Powermac G4 just begging to be upgraded.
 
congrats on your purchase. i'm sure you'll love it. now go find some cool software and widgets for the thing! and get a nice case.
 
lol yea that is the one part about macs that no one ever mentions, the hidden fees of buying more stuff to match the computer, the perfect case, the perfect matching external drive etc....
good luck i personally dont mind the res on the 14, as my girlfriend has one, i like my old school g3 12" but it's nicer on the eyes for movies and general reading if its not right in you lap.
 
well when you buy something as perfect as a mac, you have to get perfect stuff to go along with it. no more of this targus bag crap... ;)
 
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