iBook vs Powerbook

12 Jul 2003

I am getting really anxious to buy a Mac. I know they have a new processor out and all, but I figure it will be a while before it gets into the laptops and the prices get lower. So the debate is between a 14” iBook and a 12” Powerbook.

iBook 14” display vs. Powerbook 12” display

iBook G3 900 MHz vs. Powerbook G4 867 MHz

iBook Airport vs. Powerbook Airport Extreme

iBook 6hr battery life vs Powerbook 5 hr battery life

iBook no known heat problems vs. Powerbook possible heat problems

iBook only video mirroring vs. Powerbook video mirroring or dual display **

iBook $1,728.00 vs. Powerbook $1,848.00

** This is one of the main issues for me regarding the iBook. I can see dual display being very useful. Incidently there is some hack for dual display on the iBook. From this feedback page it appears to work with new iBooks, although bad things happened to some older ones.

The main issue for the Powerbook is that I’ve heard that it can feel uncomfortably hot and the 12” display is on the small side.

Right now I’m leaning towards the iBook and possibly the dual display hack.

7 Responses to “iBook vs Powerbook”

  1. Ross Karchner July 12, 2003 at 11:51 pm #

    Before I moved to using my powerbook fulltime, I had a G3 tower that I had upgraded to a G4. The G3 was overclocked (what sort of nerd overclocks a mac?) to 500 replaced with a G4 500, and switching to a G4 made a very noticible improvement in OS X’s responsiveness. At that price difference, I would go with the G4.

    Maybe you could find a used 15″ G4 somewhere? That’s the route I took.

  2. Adam July 15, 2003 at 10:01 am #

    As the owner of an ibook, I can tell you that it does get hot. The cpu is under your left hand while typing, and is quite warm. Not blister-your-groin hot, but it does get uncomfortable after a few hours. And if you want to do adobe stuff, get the g4… there should be no question. Illustrator moves pretty slow on my g3.

  3. Frank Steele July 16, 2003 at 11:16 pm #

    I’m generating a weblog you’ve added to your blogroll entirely on a 12″ PowerBook, which is possibly my favorite PowerBook ever (I’ve had a 540c, Duo 230c, 2400c, PowerBook G3/Lombard, TiBook 500, and the 12″ PowerBook).

    I was in the same boat before the miniBook was released: I prefer smaller laptops, since I carry mine around a lot, and looked at the 12″ iBook and the 15″ PowerBook. When the 12″ PowerBook debuted, I immediately went into full-court-press mode with my wife.

    The miniBook also gets pretty hot.

    I see the smaller display as an advantage, since the resolution is the same (1024 x 768) and since I travel quite a bit, and it translates to smaller and lighter. When I’m at home or in the office, I use bigger external displays, with the internal display typically devoted to Entourage or NetNewsWire (and usually an external keyboard and mouse). If I had poor eyesight, the display’s dot pitch might be an issue: small text is pretty fine.

    Another difference to consider — the new PowerBooks have very nice keyboards (for laptops), and feel better under my fingers than the iBook keyboard.

    Don’t expect a 5-hour battery life from the PowerBook; I typically see 3-3.5 hours, although I always have AirPort running.

    Finally, the 12″ PowerBook has surprisingly good (though not loud) speakers, better than the TiBook, and I suspect better than the iBook.

    If the price difference was greater, I would consider the iBook (and how much is a 12″ iBook?), but for $120 more, the PowerBook seems like the way to go.

  4. gabe August 19, 2003 at 12:37 am #

    i’m currently facing a similar decision. i see from your more recent post that you went with the G4, yes? are you happy with that decision? that’s the way i’m leaning, too.

    thanks,

    gabe

    http://www.gabeanderson.com/life/2003/08/18/powerbook_g4_vs_ibook.php

  5. Brad August 22, 2003 at 10:52 am #

    We have both at work, the resolution on the iBook screen is quite noticibally less than the powerbook screen (important if you do long sessions, my eyes start to strain on the iBook), and I find the iBook it’s a little underpowered for running OSX – at least with the number of programs I like to run concurrently.

    I personally have a 15″ PowerBook and it is possibly the best laptop I’ve owned out of several (IBMs, Dells, Toshibas and Apples). Plus the extra screen width makes it great if you ever have to compare documents side by side.

  6. David Hogg October 19, 2003 at 10:25 pm #

    Hi all, I was browsing about and noticed your reviews so I thought I might aswell drop one. I completely agree with Adam that the iBook does get pretty hot, and isn’t the most powerful laptop on the planet, but it does more or less get the job done. I usually just use my ibook (700MHz, 256mb, 20GB, CD) for typing, some web designing and games. It does those tasks pretty well. The only thing that does not please me is how long applications take to activate in Jaguar (OS X.2.8) but I am getting panther soon so hopefully all should be well.

    David.

  7. Iceranger October 19, 2004 at 5:20 pm #

    Ibook 14in. vs. Powerbook 12in…HELP ME Pls.? I can’t decide like so many others out there. This will be my first G4. My needs are using Quark, web surfing, some programming and I really want to be able to burn DVD’s. I want the biggest screen I can get, but also want speed. Should I go for a 12in. Powerbook and external DVD burner..will the sceen be big enough for Quark. How will the Ibook perform if RAM is upgraded, for programming and running Quark. Should I upgrade the hard drive as well? Now the price factor comes int play. Can you put a TV tuner card in either of these books? I’m really stuck on what to do. Hope a MAC addict can help with this…Thanks!