Apple Which mac??

A bit inspired by Lovahs post about "once you go mac, you never go back", I went looking on some macs, and i kinda fell in love with 'em.
Now to my question, which mac should I buy.
It has to be a notebook of some sort....
And whats the difference between iBook and Powerbook, besides the pricing and size of screen??


By the way, the apple notebooks are much more beautiful than any pc

 

I'd go for the powerbook. We had the same choice when we got Mrs GOO's new laptop. 12" PB, or 12" iBook.

On the surface, there isn't that much difference in the spec between iBooks and Powerbooks - but when you use both of them side by side you'll realize the PB's are much nicer to use. The keyboards are much better than the iBooks, and of course you get a better track-pad in the PBs these days that have scrolling functionality built in. I believe that the screens on the PBs are superior to the iBooks as well, but this could be GOO's eyesight.

I'd guess that the Powerbooks are more durable than the iBooks as well - I've had my 15" PB for almost a year now, and there's no scratches anywhere on the case. Looking at the plastic fascia of my iPod, I can't imagine the plastic cased iBook would be scratch free over the same period.

My advice is to try out both, and see which one you prefer.

 

Okay, I've have only actually held the iBook in my hands.
What are the PB made out of ?? The same material or what

 

Powerbooks are made out of aluminium.

http://www.apple.com/uk/powerbook/

 

Hi,

I'm glad I got you inspired!
I bought my powerbook only a few weeks back. My brother has a slightly older 12" iBook (bought september 2004).

I went to my local apple reseller and talked to the guys their. They had showroommodels of bought, so I could compare them.

In the end I went for the Powerbook. Because I found it price/hardware wise more interesting at that time. Powerbook are more expensive but you do get more hardware for it. I love the look of the ibooks and I heared they they are actually better built then the powerbooks. But I don't know wich ones are better built.

But you will love it sooo much that you will guard it with your life, so it doesn't really mather.

But as GOO sed the powerbooks are now equipped with the new scroll functions. And indeed the keypad is slightly better. And the button from the trackpad doesn't make such a "plastic clicking" sound as the iBooks button.

So, go the reseller and toy with them! It will all make sense then

If you are looking for a laptop to do everything on. Then the 12" models might be a bit small. The powerbooks have the option to expand your screen over an extra monitor. That monitor can have a resolution up to 2000x1500. On a iBook you can only clone your laptops screen. So that is a solution for at home.

But I must say that the screen of 15" Powerbook is wonderfull, its widescreen. And widescreen is sexy.

I dislike the 14" iBook model. Because its screen resolution is the same as the 12" models. (1024x768) So the screen is 'bigger' but you can only display the same amount of 'data'. If you are following.

So if you think 12" is too small for your needs, then I think the 15" Powerbook is the answer to your laptopneed.

But I must say that 12" is incredible portable, its really tiny.


Good luck on your choice. If you have any questions, just ask!

L

 

I was also wondering, what about the applications available to the Apple laptops???
I know its microsoft made, but something like MSN, is it possible to get a client able to connect to the .passport network ?

And what about the software coming with the computer?? Is that of any good ?

 

You guys are corrupting this poor person's mind. See what you've done?

/me begins his anti-apple chant

In all seriousness, I think that you will find that for every pc application (excluding games) there is one for the mac that will do the same thing (though maybe not quite as good or useful).

Shouldn't this go in hardware or something?

 

The os is "OS X". I guess you could say it has some features resembling windows, but its really totally different. And their is a MSN for os x. It is an older version though. But there are other IM applications that will do 'MSN' chatting.

You get a pretty big package of software with os X. And I do find most of them usefull. It does take some time to get used to using them.

Here is a short list of the ones I use.
iCal - A uhm 'Agenda', Very usefull.
iTunes - You can get this for PC aswell, for free. Its a program to organise your music.
iPhote - same as iTunes, but for pictures.
Mail - Like outlook express

There is also a Microsoft Office for os X. Everything like a normal office only access is missing. There is no access for mac.

All adobe and macromedia products are available for mac too.

The good thing about os x is that with the help of 'x11' you can install linux/unix software applications. So you can use free software.

For example there is the famous 'Gimp' wich is actually a photoshop. Only its for free. There is also OpenOffice wich is Office but again without a access equivalent. There is also VIM wich is a very very advanced texteditor.

L

I hope this was more or less a answer to your question.

 

I don't think Access is part of the Office suite anyway. I thought it only included Word, Powerpoint, Excel, and Outlook.

The new iLife 05 suite comes with all new PowerBooks. It includes iPhoto, iTunes, GarageBand, iMovie & iDVD. It's supposed to be a fantastic software package (I don't own a Mac, so I don't know).

I'd like a Powerbook, but they're really pricey. After upgrading some of the specs of the 15" PB w/ superdrive it comes to ~$2500 USD. For that price I could get a dual 2Ghz G5 Power Mac.

 

I got my first mac in December, 15in SuperDrive Powerbook.

That was after I returned a fully loaded Sony S series. So I was going down in price to get the mac.

I love this thing. Main reason why I hated the Sony is it was loud. I would be sitting in a coffee house and the laptop would be filling the quiet shop with the whirly noise of fans. Annoying. The powerbook is silent. I don't mean quiet, I mean you can't hear it. Now given it does get warmer than most other laptops, I don't have girl legs, I can take it.

My life is in iCal. Nifty software.

Everything you use for windows, there is a program for OSX that does the same thing if not better. Also, there are a lot of conversion programs if you run into something like that.

There are a lot of mac forums if you need help with anything. When I first got my laptop, I had no idea which way was up. So I hopped on the forums and wow, very helpful people.

Beyond the hardware, the OSX is just.. polished. I thought I'd have a slower time in it than windows, but it took be about 3 days before I was blazing fast in it, and realized windows is slow.

Anywho.. I bite the bullet and tried it, and I love it. I'm typing on my windows box now.. I will always have a windows box around for gaming. But I will always have an Apple laptop.

 

I'm a lifelong PC user who bought a 12" powerbook just last weekend and have NO REGRETS!

As far as bundled software goes, I use the dvd player and iTunes constantly. For internet browsing, I opted to download Firefox over using Safari. (just feels more familiar). Other than that, I haven't had much time to explore the other packaged software yet. Most of my time on it is spent either surfing the net, playing World of Warcraft or (lately) doing my income tax return on Turbotax. I was worried at first about the transition to OS X given that I have very little mac experience. In my week using it, I already feel totally comfortable and "at home" in OS X. That operating system is truly a work of art.

If you are in the maket for a new laptop and are willing to give OS X a try, you will not be disappointed with the powerbook.

 

I don't quite understand that quote. I use my girlfriend iBook sometimes and I find it bleh... wouldn't give up my PC for one...

 

If you have a family of pc-illiterate, "i'll click on anything and open anything" Spyware magnets you will love how impervious Mac OS X is to 99.99% of all viruses, adware and spyware. The advantages of equipping a non-gaming family to one is so economically sound if you seem to spend half of your current life dealing with "I can't set google as my homepage anymore"/browser hijack phonecalls.

Personally, I love Mrs. Fly's iBook... peace and quiet for me.

 

The noise keeps me company...

 

You know we do have a Apple for now for these types of threads

 

Yea but the forum was created AFTER the thread

 

I bought an iBook about a year and bit ago for my teaching job. And it's a total cliche, but I will never use a PC for anything other than gaming ever again. I cannot (seriously) think of a single aspect of computing that my PC does better than my macs. In terms of reliability, functionality, design, user friendliness, security, support, and the sheer quality of the software... pisses allover my PC.

As a sidenote, I've been an PC user for approx 12-13yrs, and I would consider myself an advanced user. I ain't one of these keyboard mashing technophobes that might flee to a mac for it's simplicity

I recently bought a 20inch iMac G5 as I really needed a dedicated desktop computer, as using the iBook in this role was not ideal. Suffice to say, it's one of the best bits of kit I have ever invested in.

Only downside of a Mac: the price.

 

My middle school, gave us the 1st gen ibooks in 01 and they held up great. Great media capabilities as well as most school functions like Wireless Internet and Office. I couldnt go wrong with it, i barely had any problems with mine the whole 3 years i had it. Which is why i recommend them highly for school use.

 

Absolutly correct, the piece of mickeysoft evil (sorry it's the bugbear of a technical architects life......) known as access has never really been a runner on the Mac due to the strength of FilMaker in all it's various flavours

However even if you don't go for FM, then there are plenty of decent options, I tend to use mySQL for anything I need database for, as this is a really easy install (Get the mySQL install) and can be used with a variety of stuff (RealBasic (urgh!), phpMyAdmin, loads of third party tools, havn't tried, but can probably be connected to in Xl through ODBC)

Oh and Outlook is Entourage, the same, but different! Not sure why they did this, but at least it seems to have some Exchnage Integration...

Anyway once iWork gets Sheets, MS office will vanish off my machine (hasn't been any good since v5, System 7 - the apogee of that package)

az

 

I'm just trying to decide between the pb 12in and ibook. I think I'm going to get the pb cos I'm a sucker for the looks hehe and its extra other options.

Just waiting on tiger to be released...

Some great suggestions for software in this thread!

Quick question can export my email stuff from outlook on a pc to mail on a mac?

Any good cheap/free ftp programs for the mac?