Simon C

Ok I know I had the other thread about CS and the new probooks, after some carefull consideration these are what its going to get used for, so help me decide please, cos I am going to be dangerously close to the Apple store on Thursday.

Uses:
Mobile downloads of CF cards
Running Nikon Capture
Occasional editing of photo's (Capture poss CS or elements)
Shoot pic slide shows (sort of on the spot viewing of whats just been done)


Must have
A decent size screen (the 12" screens are too small)

So question is which 1 would do what I want? iBook, Powerbook or Probook.

Doesn't have to be all singing and dancing cos it won't be asked to do much in the way of editing, as I have a custom built pc for that which I'm never to far away from.

mattbeef

IMO id go for the 14" iBook if you can live with 1024x786 will do what you need it to.

If not ask the store your going to if they have any end of line 15" Powerbooks

Which store you close to btw?

Simon C

Regents street, but also close to Macwarehouse

ScoobyDoo555

Calling AllanB


Dan

Simon C

Hee hee, I know

RichB

If you want to plug a proper TFT in then go for the PB or MBPro.
I think the iBooks (old certainly) would only mirror not increase the desktop size.

I'd look for a 15" Powerbook, maybe check the Apple refurb store on Wednesdays or find a student to get you a discount.

Resellers aren't very forthcoming with their discounts it would seem,

ScoobyDoo555

FWIW, my students tried Apple's site for educational discount. Could get a fair whack off certain packages (up to 40% IIRC), but only about 5% of Mac hardware.......

We ended up going to an authorised reseller who did us a better deal!!

Dan

Simon C

Dan, which reseller? PM me if you don't want to say in open forum.

Simon C

Mmmm, maybe I was wrong to rule out the 12" screens. I've just measures 1 up and its not that bad. I could always hook it up to 1 of th screens I have at home if I'm working on it.

Markus

Rich is quite right, by default iBooks are crippled by Apple so they will only support video mirroring and not extended desktop, a posh name for dual monitors. Not exactly sure why they do this, the graphics card does support it.

However, all is not lost, there is a little utility called Screen Spanning Doctor which modifies the iBook (also works on iMacs and eMacs) so that it will do video mirroring and extended desktop.

I've used it on my 2004 G4 iBook with no problms at all.

Simon C

Guess this thread is dead now.

I knew working nights and having an empty credit card was a bad idea.

I've just bought the following

15" G4 Powerbook
512 memory
80gb hdd

Good job the cc has 0% intrest for 6 months

ScoobyDoo555

FWIW, you've gone for the right spec - I couldn't get the reseller's details until tomorrow anyway!!

You might need a bit more ram, depending on what you want to do.
In all fairness, I'm running a Mac Mini (1.42GHz one) with PS on it, and for general cropping/mudane functions, it's fine - I don't PS well enough to do anything complicated!!

The PowerBook's the one to go for

Dan

RichB

You'll probably want a bit more RAM in there though, I would stick at least another 512 in.
I have 2gb in my g5 and its more than enough.
Visit Crucial but checkout Ebuyer as well, I got crucial memory from Ebuyer and it was about 30% cheaper.

I also got more than 5% off my G5, in fact it was nearer 20% but still about 2k ouch.

AllanB

Sorry I didn't see this earlier. Very wise move to buy a PowerBook now while you can. The MacBooks are with us next week in bulk but most customers seem to want a machine that willl run todays apps at full speed rather than half speed.

I've got an iBook myself for my mobile machine and its OK just a bit slow for heavier duty stuff but that what the G5 is for. So you've made a good choice.

If you need anything in the future let me know as I always try and offer a Scoobynet discount as I know the running costs of the cars so I know a few quid here and there helps !

Re the RAM I'd personally suggest going down the Kingston route rather than Crucial. I doubt you'll see it cheaper at Crucial and the Kingston stuff is tested with each machine to ensure 100% compatability rather than providing a generic chip to match the requirements. Never had a problem with a Kingston chip since I've been doing this, for 14 years !



AllanB

AllanB

Dan Apple's education discount is often 3-5% off list price, maximum. We're currently doing most of our stuff at dealer cost ! The margins are not huge but thats probably beter than Apples 3-5%.

At least you can normally get it next day from an Authorise Reseller and get advice on a wide range of products.

If I was buying from Apple I'd go to a walk in store as they really know thier stuff, well certainly in the London store not sure about Brent Cross. Having interviewed people from the AppleStore ( online section) I'd not be confident in using them.


AllanB

Simon C

Cheers Allan, I'll remember that. I just need to find out what a few programmes are like compaired to their full blown brethrin and I can go from there.