View Full Version : First Time Mac Buyer/User!!! Needs Help....
Well this is a great website, found this link on another mac website, but anyway, I am a college student who has had PC's my whole entire life. After I saw my uncles and my teachers new powerbook, I really like it.. a lot. I also heard Rush Limbaugh talking about the new operating system which sounds great. My question is , would it be smart to wait a few more weeks to see if they are going to come up with an update on the powerbook? or should I jsut go ahead and by it? I plan on buying the 15" Powerbook, if anyone has any suggestions or comments please let me know. Appreciate it, Matt
The PowerBooks were just updated relatively recently (January 31, 2005); so, they're not likely to see an update for another few months. The PowerBooks generally have about a 7-month product cycle.
Since you're a student, be sure to check the Apple Store for Education (http://store.apple.com/Catalog/US/Images/routingpage.html) and your local university bookstore for any deals. The standard educational discount already knocks off a lump of cash, but if you're really lucky you might find an even better deal at your school.
Also, be sure to check out the 12" PowerBooks (and iBooks). I'm a university student myself and I (and several people I know) prefer the smaller size and greater portability (and cheaper price!) of the 12" model. It's small enough to slip in a sleeve with the rest of your books in your bookbag, but it's still a powerful machine when you take it home. It's by no means the best in all situations, but I'd suggest at least looking it over before you make your final decision.
I cannot stress how much I agree with Brad on the 12". I am (or was nearly 2 years ago) in the same position as you, and I bought.. you guessed it, the 15". I'm in college regretting not getting a 12" because of the sheer portability.
I would hate to bring this beast out in the middle of a lecture for 2 reasons; its big, and it would draw waayyyyy too much attention to me - and my backpack. This might seem cool, hell yes its a nice laptop, but its only distracting during class (people asking questions) and the more people know, the more likely I'll come across someone who's willing to steal it from me (being at an urban campus probably doesn't help either).
If you're worried about screen size, just grab you're old PC monitor and plug it in for monitor spanning. You'll live in much greater ease, and feel forever indebted to Brad, if you live any sort of traveling lifestyle and get the 12" instead of the 15".
I love my 15" and i don't think i could use a 12". not only is the screen bigger on my 15" but the keyboard is better placed and it feels bigger which is a good thing for me. also despite the fact that the 12" has some decent power in it, at the time i got mine the 15 had a much better proc (1.25 vs 867) than the 12". And i use mine on the go for Video Editing and DVD Authoring and Designing Posters. My friend who has one of the 12" tries to do the same thing and his machine just can't keep up anymore. And as a fellow University student i have no problems with using my laptop in classes, in Fact i take all my notes on my laptop. never had an issue with it being too distracting to use it.
HTH
iThink therefore iMac
2005-05-05, 09:25
I'm in the same boat at you, mattmal. I'm looking at the 15" PB but it is good to hear all suggestions and comments about the 12". Besides screen size and portability, are there any other major differences between the two?
alcimedes
2005-05-05, 09:30
Yeah, price.
With the money you save you can buy food for two months.
iThink therefore iMac
2005-05-05, 09:31
Yeah, price.
With the money you save you can buy food for two months.
:lol: I'll keep that in mind...food is good but Macs are better!
Thanks for the replies ! It will really help, seeing this is my first time buying anything apple, except my iPod. I am definitely going to go with the powerbook, but I am torn between w hich size to go with. I have a Sony Vaio from work which is a 12" screen, and it is a little bit small for me, but not to bad. The price is also a big factor that was brought up. If I were to go with the 15" powerbook, would it be smarter to go with the larger of the two Ghz, or doenst it really matter much. Thank you so much for your help.
Mattmal
Get the best you can afford. buy RAM elsewhere and put it in yourself. And I once again recommend the 15".
HTH
midwinter
2005-05-05, 20:19
You will not regret the 12", especially considering expose really makes screen size less of an issue. If you're a student, having a ~5lb powerbook that's SOOOO small and rugged will be very nice.
Yeah, I was just about to mention Exposé. If this is your first Mac, you have no idea how much of a godsend Exposé is. Before 10.3, I absolutely HATED working at 1024x768 on an iMac I use at work. I used to swear that I would never sink to let myself actually purchase a computer with such a low resolution.
Mac OS X 10.3 and Exposé threw those thoughts out the window.
With 10.3 (and now 10.4) on my PowerBook at the same 1024x768 resolution, I have practically zero complaints! The only times I really need a lot more screen real estate (Final Cut Pro, Cinema 4D, etc.) are when I'm at home and I have a large external monitor. It's too hard to do serious graphics work on the road anyway with a track pad.
I also use a 15" PowerBook at the office. Yes, it offers more immediate space, but I would definitely not want to lug it around to all my classes. I can take the 12" PowerBook everywhere I go without giving a second thought. With the 15" PowerBook, I have to carry a separate bag because it's too big to comfortably fit in a normal bag.
I have absolutely no regrets about getting the smaller PowerBook. The advantages very much outweigh the disadvantages.
Brad, would you still recommend the 12" if one planned on using his powerbook mainly in the dorm and occasionally taking it to places like the library (not to take notes in all the classes and such)?
I have had a 12" and it just seemed a little bit to small if that was the only computer that I was going to have as a college kid to use in my dorm slash ocassional notes, but it was great to carry around.
Earthworm
2005-05-06, 03:32
I was in the same position a couple of weeks ago. I thought about the mobility issue and decided on the 12 inch PB. I went into the local Apple shop and was stopped dead in my tracks. As I have since heard from others, the screen on the 12 inch was appalling. It was dark on maximum brightness and noticeably less clear than the larger versions. Since then I have put any purchases on hold. Hopefully they put a nice screen in on the next update...
There'll always be a lemon somewhere. For what it's worth, the screen on my 12" PowerBook is actually brighter than the one in the 15" titanium PowerBook I use at work. It's also worth mentioning that Apple ships horrible default ColorSync profiles with all of its notebooks. It takes a few minutes of calibration to get things looking really good.
mattmal - just in case you are unaware ... here are a few advantages the 15" has over the 12" spec wise - aside from screen resolution and physical dimensions/weight:
G4 1.67GHz vs 1.5GHz - not that much really ... the difference is not as pronounced as it was on the previous models (see Stevuh's post)
illuminated keyboard
Gigabit ethernet
HD size - 80GB on Super 15" - 60GB on Combo15" and 12" models ... neither here nor there really :\
RAM expandable to 2GB - limited to 1.25GB on 12" PB
FireWire 800 on 15"
video card memory is 128MB on BTO Super15" - 64MB otherwise on 15" and 12" models
PC card slot
S video port (no S video on 12"? - I'm confused by that one ... the 12" uses a mini DVI port as well - but Apple supplies a mini DVI to DVI and mini DVI to VGA adaptor)
I have a 15"Ti and I like it a lot. It's too old these days to be able to handle QT7 HD video effectively - and it lacks cool features such as BT or AE ... but it is still plugging away beautifully.
Re: size, I have never found this too cumbersome. However, in a few years time, if ever I buy another laptop I'd be more inclined to spring for the 12"
... as long as it got the illuminated keyboard, of course. :lol:
Having said that, I'm sorely tempted by the Rev B iMacs. I think they represent exceptional value at the moment and are a damned nice piece of kit to boot! ;)
Wow, this is great info, you guys are really making it hard to choose the 12" or the 15" thanks a lot, lol . I've read some posts on this site about getting rid of sales tax, i live in Minnesota where there is a 6.5% sales tax, how exactly do I do this?? If i get that sales tax added on it will be almost 200 extra dollars, which really sucks. I read soemehwer that if you change your billing address that you wont get sales tax, won't that be shipped to the billing address?? If anyone has tried this or knows exactly how let me know. Thanks!
S video port (no S video on 12"? - I'm confused by that one ... the 12" uses a mini DVI port as well - but Apple supplies a mini DVI to DVI and mini DVI to VGA adaptor)
You can get a separate dongle from Apple that has ports for composite and S-video.
http://www.project-think.com/images-3/powerbook-video-dongle.jpg
I am not regretting my recent 15" purchase. Even with all sorts of ways to manage screen space, which I admit I'm not good at yet, the extra 3" of screen makes a big difference to me. As for lugging it around, I bought a Vyper sleeve and just toss it in my normal backpack. No, it's not light, but I'm not struggling either. Heck, it helps me walk with my back straight. :) And I take it everywhere, including work, meetings, and seminars. If only I can learn how to turn off that startup sound. That's the only thing that attracts unwanted attention. :)
The 17", now that's a beast. The 15" is perfect without being bulky.
Hey, hands off the 17". I love mine, for all it's massiveness. And I'm pretty sure it's thinner than the GFs 15".
Plus, at the rate these extra little icons proliferate in the menu bar, I'll need that width...
Oh man, I just got back from the Apple store and the 12" is really nice too (I had gone in wanting the 15"). I don't know what to do now! On one hand, the 12" would be very nice for portability in college. I also have a 20" lcd that I could hook up to it to increase screen real estate when I'm in my dorm. However, it isn't as fast as the 15", and it has half the amount of video memory. I'm really worried the 12" will become very obsolete in a few years.
What would you guys recommend in my situation?
midwinter
2005-05-06, 18:24
Get the computer that will do what you need it to do. I used a 12" for the tail end of my grad work and now the first two years of my job, and it's doing me fine. Plays Diablo II just fine.
If you're concerned about gaming and whatnot, build yourself a cheapie PC for that.
Don't fall into the trap of worrying about a piece of hardware becoming obsolete. It already is. Get what you need. If portability is your biggest concern, get the 12". If you value the screen real estate and the better video processor power, get the 15". Keep in mind that differences in processor speed of less than 20% are effectively undetectable to the average user.
Do you know how the 64 meg video card fares with moderately intense 3D games, like Quake 3 or Enemy-Territory?
midwinter
2005-05-06, 18:35
Q3 played fine on my 12" 867mhz machine.
Ok, because it runs quite poorly on my mac mini (1.42ghz/512 ram/32mb video)
atomicbartbeans
2005-05-06, 19:39
No regrets about my 12" iBook. It's the awesomest thing ever to a high-school/college student. It blends unobtrusively into my stack of texts and folders, so people don't bug the hell out of you in the halls. When I bring it places, I use the InCase 12" sleeve. No qualms about 1024x768, yes brad expose makes this much easier.
If you carry your computer in a bag and it's compressed in there with other stuff, buy one of those Kensington cloths to stick betwixt the keyboard and display, so as not to make keyboard marks all over your screen. Oh, and get those computer wipes to clean it with. And a can of air, to blast out your ports every 2 months. Oh, and don't place open-top beverages on the same surface as your open computer. And don't use it with sticky fingers. And don't knock it around too much, or you'll blow your logic board. I learned that the hard way. But now I baby my iBook soo much... I spend more time cleaning my iBook then myself these days. Hey, my skin cells are replaced regularly, my iBook's aren't. Still no scratches on the screen (it's also kind of hard to scratch) or elsewhere.
Good luck with your Powerbook!
midwinter
2005-05-06, 19:42
If you carry your computer in a bag and it's compressed in there with other stuff, buy one of those Kensington cloths to stick betwixt the keyboard and display, so as not to make keyboard marks all over your screen
Betwixt? :err:
Who the hell talks like that in upstate New York? Your real name isn't Pip, is it?
atomicbartbeans
2005-05-06, 19:52
Betwixt? :err:
Who the hell talks like that in upstate New York? Your real name isn't Pip, is it?
Betwixt is on my 3-page list of words that kick ass, along with "bludgeon", "mosey", and "högendaischt".
midwinter
2005-05-06, 20:00
Betwixt is on my 3-page list of words that kick ass, along with "bludgeon", "mosey", and "högendaischt".
Don't speak Dutch, so I can't say for the last one. The other two are in common use. "Betwixt," however, fell out of use in the early-middle nineteenth century. Sort of like running around saying "gedæghwamlican" (old English) instead of "daily" (which, of course, you are free to add to your list) or "beaver" instead of "cap" or "hat."
atomicbartbeans
2005-05-06, 20:04
Don't speak Dutch, so I can't say for the last one. The other two are in common use. "Betwixt," however, fell out of use in the early-middle nineteenth century. Sort of like running around saying "gedæghwamlican" (old English) instead of "daily" (which, of course, you are free to add to your list) or "beaver" instead of "cap" or "hat."
I won't even try to pronounce "gedæghwamlican", although I'm sure many can, with years of practice. I only add words that have fallen out of general use, but are still recognizable to most (or easy to figure out). Oh, it also has to sound cool. :smokey:
midwinter
2005-05-06, 20:08
it's pronounced, we think, like this:
yuh-die-wAHm-lich-ahn
The "AH" should be like "ahhhhhh"
At any rate, from now on I shall call you "Pip."
Cheers
Scott
PS
Pip, if you want to stage a revolution, you could bring the word "shall" back into proper usage. It should be used with 1st person pronouns instead of "will." That is, it is improper to say "I will go to the store." It is proper to say "I shall go to the store."
atomicbartbeans
2005-05-06, 20:17
Actually, I use shall almost daily. Very appearent on my Blog (http://atomicbartbeans.blogspot.com).
I would guess you're some kind of university english buff.
I can spot them from a mile away... :lol:
midwinter
2005-05-06, 20:24
Indeed, Pip, it is appearent [sic] on your blog. I shall add you to my blogroll.
atomicbartbeans
2005-05-06, 20:34
it is appearent [sic] on your blog
My blog just goes to show you how stupid the internet can be when any ignorant, narcissistic 10th grader can write what he pleases all over the web. :lol:
...[snip]... If only I can learn how to turn off that startup sound. That's the only thing that attracts unwanted attention. :)
...[snip]... Never turn it off - use the instant wake from sleep feature. ;)
Never turn it off - use the instant wake from sleep feature. ;)
This can't be emphasized enough.
Really, sleep works wonderfully with Macs. I close my PowerBook and it's nearly instantly asleep. I open it back up and it's ready to go by the time my screen is in position.
If you still insist on shutting down, though, you can kill the startup chime by simply turning down or muting the system volume before shut down.
midwinter
2005-05-06, 23:43
The ONE caveat for the 12" powerbook is that there's a bug with it waking from sleep and not finding a wireless network.
Really? I've never seen that on mine and this is the first I've ever heard of it. The AirPort card and antenna are the same in all PowerBooks; so, I don't see why any problem like this would be specific to the 12" model anyway.
Where have you seen this problem?
midwinter
2005-05-07, 00:39
I started a thread about this in the apple discussions, and there were a handful of people who experienced the same problem. I'm convinced it's related to some kind of software, but apple deleted the posts, unfortunately.
It's a really frustrating issue, and even the Apple techs at my Uni said it was a known issue.
So... here it is, I went to an apple store today, and ended up buying the 14.1" Apple iBook, good decision or not? I got talked out of hte powerbook, because the rep said that it was pointless for me to buy it if i wasn't really really into multimedia stuff i.e. editing video/pictures.. I guess that that the powerbook is definitely worth the price, but might not be worth it if your not into the mulitmiedia stuff. Anyway, do you all think that was a decent decision or not?
midwinter
2005-05-07, 23:33
I nearly recommended an iBook to you. You will be happy with this decision, I think. I had an iBook 2001 (12") before my powerbook, and I wore the thing out. Carried it with me everywhere.
hahaha guess you were right, I think i will enjoy it to. Thanks for your help!
midwinter
2005-05-07, 23:56
Make sure you ask if you have any questions. We'll all be here.
atomicbartbeans
2005-05-08, 12:07
Buying the iBook: good idea.
Buying a 14" iBook: not so great.
The iBook does boast better battery life and airport reception, but there's little point in getting the 14-incher. There's no upgrade in resolution, so you won't see anything more on the screen. Just more space for the backlight to waste power.
That's just my opinion though...
Good job switching to Mac! You're the type that'll go far on this forum. Hope you have a good experience with OS X.
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