Thinking of 12" PB instead of 13" MacBook

[Satchmo]

Thinking of picking up a laptop this holiday season.

For some reason, I'm gravitating towards an older (say 1.25 or 1.5 ghz) 12" Powerbook instead of the new MacBooks. Perhaps it's the aluminum, or the screen display (my eyes aren't the best). It's also a touch lighter and portable. But mostly I love the PB's better keyboard. My needs are simply for surfing and e-mailing.

I may also save a few hundred dollars but my only concern is future proofing my G4 for Leopard. Is this crazy thinking or are others in the same boat?

[Brave Ulysses]

I think you'd be crazy to choose a 12" Powerbook over the MacBook today. The G4 in it was outdated almost when it was released.

And the screen of the 12" Powerbook is terrible in comparison.

[Luca]

I'd say the advantages of the 12" PowerBook are far outweighed by the disadvantages. On the plus side, it's a little smaller, a little lighter, and has arguably better construction (though I prefer the fully magnetic latch on the MacBook, feels sturdier than the tiny little piece of stamped metal on the PowerBook). But it's SO much slower. Even though it has dedicated graphics, the CPU in the MacBook far makes up for that.

I guess if you can get a really, really good deal on a 12" PowerBook, go for it. But that's unlikely. Also, the MacBooks will probably be updated pretty soon in the wake of the recent MacBook Pro update, so you may as well see what happens then.

[BlueRabbit]

The screen on the MacBook is definitely better than a 12" PB. I've seen my 12" PB side-by-side with a MacBook, and there's really no comparison between the two - the MacBook's screen is easily 50% brighter, at least.

[thequicksilver]

Even on a speedy G4 notebook, Mail with a few thousand emails crawls. Not so on a MacBook, especially one with maxed out memory.

Looking back, it is amazing that so many of us (myself included) were so pleased with the performance of our G4s as recently as nine months ago. It was a horribly outdated chip in speed terms, and had Apple not made the Intel switch it makes you wonder what they could have done to make the Powerbooks better.

The MacBook is in almost every way better than the 12" Powerbook. The glossy screen is only a distraction in bright direct light, in every other circumstance it is clearer and brighter (immeasurably so vs my old iBook G4), and is better than the Powerbook in terms of resolution. For "simple internet and email" you'll be amazed how much of a difference those extra 237,568 pixels will make. You're rarely scrolling horizontally across webpages, you'll scroll slightly less vertically as well. And the keyboard is perfectly acceptable - it looks weird, but after a week or so you'll be very much used to it and it will become second nature.

Unless you really really really need a small Apple notebook (and I can understand that there are those that do - it seems weird that Apple have seemingly ignored this section of their market with the Intel switch) go for the MacBook and max it out with RAM. I don't think you'll regret it.

[zsummers]

I'll just put in a few good words for my current 12" Powerbook, as I've contemplated switching quite often. I haven't done it yet, because I really, really love how small and cool (temperature-wise and otherwise) my PB is.

First, if you're very mobile or like to carry around your laptop through the house, don't underestimate the size difference. And if you really, really are an e-mail, internet, and word-processor user, the speed issue won't bug you much. I'm still working on a 867 MHz G4 (with with 640 MB DDR RAM), but I also own a 2 GHz G5 iMac (with 2 GB DDR RAM). The speed difference, with regard to surfing, e-mailing and word-processing isn't enough to get me off the couch often and in front of the iMac, even when I'm researching and more concerned with speedy page-loading, etc. Frankly, I don't think any processor bump would be too noticable for me when I'm doing these simple things. It runs Tiger just fine, and I'm not overly concerned about Leopard, (though I think that may be the straw that breaks this camel's back in the long run).

But don't get me started on any more processor-intensive task: my PB crawls. If you're going to 1.) edit photos, 2.) edit videos, or 3.) use iTunes for video extensively, go with the MacBook. It's not that my PB is intolerably slow, it's just that it is intolerably slow by comparison.

And the screens aren't even comparable; this screen looks like junk up against the MacBook. The MacBook is far brighter and clearer. I've had the opportunity to place them side-by-side. My poor PB looks like it's a projection screen by comparison. The newer PBs are closer, but not that close. You may be someone, however, who prefers a dimmer screen because of eyesight problems (and those folks, like my dad, do exist). But I'd encourage you to check it out first; the proof is in the pudding when it comes to these screens--especially with regards to glossy (which I don't like) vs. non-glossy.

All things said, I still like my old 12" PB, and if I were choosing again today, a $500 difference would persuade me to choose a 1.5 MHz PB with a good bit of RAM again (but not much less than that). The PB has been a workhorse for me. I've abused the hell out of it, and it has continued to operate near flawlessly. I'm talking plenty of dents, drops, smacks and scratches If they had included MagSafe and the magnetic latch 3 1/2 years ago (when I bought this beauty), I could say that it has operated flawlessly. I definitely know folks with MacBooks that can't say that after 6 months (of course, their's is still under warranty). Given given some time, I'll set this horse out to pasture sometime soon. But it's been worth every penny and far, far more. Now, whether I can get a 12" something-or-other :mad: is another question.