is this a good deal

[laxplayer39]

hey guys im buying this powerbook
Titanium Powerbook Specifications
15.2-in Display
1.0Ghz PowerPC G4
1GB RAM
SuperDrive (Firmware upgraded so it burns DVDs at 2x and DVD-RW)
60 GB Hardrive
AirPort Card (802.11b)
Network 10/100
56k Modem
DVI Output
S-Video Out
Litium-ion Battery (3.5-4 hour battery life)
PC Card/Cardbus
Mac OS X 10.3.5
Optical 2 button + scroll wheel Mouse
Other Things Included:
DVI to VGA adapter
S-Video to RCA adapter
Power Adapter
Power Adapter Extension Cable (not shown in picture)
iLife 04
BloodRayne (game)
Tony Hawk's Pro Skater 4 (game)
Original Packaging and Manuals
Original Installation Disks (OS 10.2/Software Restore DVD, Developer Tools, iLife 3)
Panther Upgrade (OS 10.3, Developer Tools)
Black Laptop Case


this is going to be for school - is this a good computer? I mean this is sorta of a lot of dinero (esp for a poor college student hah!) so any comments / advice would be appreciated. PC vs Macs should be kept to laptop specific ones.

thanks
sunil

 

[UnatcoAgent]

NO

I'm in the design program at York and Sheridan college, and a lot of the other kids have these. They are nothing amazing, and cost and arm and a leg. I would sooner get a sic notebook than one of these anyday, and at a cheaper price too.

 

[Darkstar757]

Originally posted by: Sabot
NO

LOL

 

[iamwiz82]

Originally posted by: Sabot
NO

Next you must pierce your eyelids shut.

Back to the topic. it seems like a good deal to me. Powerbooks are awesome.

 

[UnatcoAgent]

Originally posted by: iamwiz82

Originally posted by: Sabot
NO

Next you must pierce your eyelids shut.

Back to the topic. it seems like a good deal to me. Powerbooks are awesome.

Right dumbass.

Anyway, no they aren't awesome, they're small shiny novelty computers.

 

[laxplayer39]

well i know that its an apple i wanted to try one for college im just wondering that for this apple is this a good price for what im getting or should i go for maybe a brandnew one at education price

im gettin an apple lappy either way

 

[waggy]

Originally posted by: Sabot

Originally posted by: iamwiz82

Originally posted by: Sabot
NO

Next you must pierce your eyelids shut.

Back to the topic. it seems like a good deal to me. Powerbooks are awesome.

Right dumbass.

Anyway, no they aren't awesome, they're small shiny novelty computers.

yeah sure.


they are great for college.

just don't expect to play games etc. But for college work it would be great.

 

[40Hands]

I agree...NO.

Dont do the apple thing (unless its an Ipod)...go for a PC. You will be alot happier in the long run.

Look here...

 

[UnatcoAgent]

Originally posted by: laxplayer39
well i know that its an apple i wanted to try one for college im just wondering that for this apple is this a good price for what im getting or should i go for maybe a brandnew one at education price

im gettin an apple lappy either way

If you are set on apple then this is an ok deal. I would suggest going new if you can, as I know 3 people who had their HDs die on them this year alone in these things.

 

[ArmchairAthlete]

It's pretty likely that you'll need to use an app on the PC in college... I'm not sure how far emulators will get you on the mac either.

EDIT: You may be able to use a computer lab when you need a PC, but that's quite a pain and no guarantee you'll have access to the program you need.

The school I'm at tries to make it easier for mac people, but PC would still be the sure bet I think.

 

[laxplayer39]

something like brand new with superdrive would be well aboce 2k

 

[UnatcoAgent]

Originally posted by: laxplayer39
something like brand new with superdrive would be well aboce 2k

I'm curious as to why you have decided on a powerbook over a pc. If you can't afford a new one, these seems like a decent deal.

 

[laxplayer39]

well ive used a pc my whole life and ill still have a desktop at school but ive always wanted to try one and an apple lappy just is much less hassle than a pc for stuff that i would like to get into (dvi stuff, music, creating movies/dvds)

and plus they look damn cool and i hear the chicks dig em

 

[UnatcoAgent]

Originally posted by: laxplayer39
well ive used a pc my whole life and ill still have a desktop at school but ive always wanted to try one and an apple lappy just is much less hassle than a pc for stuff that i would like to get into (dvi stuff, music, creating movies/dvds)

and plus they look damn cool and i hear the chicks dig em

Alright, well DVI stuff, music, creating movies/dvds is pretty much as easy on PC as it is on a Mac. Regardless, if you are willing to spend the extra cash on one, more power to you.

 

[laxplayer39]

well i know its a mac and ive been a pc techhie for quite awhile and believe or not i used to hate mac heads but for real apple designs their products with ease of use, aesthetics, and ergonomics in mind - which to me right now is important in a portable laptop as opposed to a big hulky albeit powerful pc laptop

hopefully i will get as much MAC as i can

 

[UnatcoAgent]

Originally posted by: laxplayer39
well i know its a mac and ive been a pc techhie for quite awhile and believe or not i used to hate mac heads but for real apple designs their products with ease of use, aesthetics, and ergonomics in mind - which to me right now is important in a portable laptop as opposed to a big hulky albeit powerful pc laptop

hopefully i will get as much MAC as i can for 1500$

I see where you are coming from completely, but many of the 15" laptops now are just as sleek as the powerbooks. Really, I just dislike working on them so I'm very biased. Good luck with your purchase.

 

[laxplayer39]

however do you think for 1500 this is a pretty good bang for buck in terms of mac pricing (which is ALWAYS higher than PC pricing - which is why many people tend to dislike them)

 

[Eug]

Originally posted by: Sabot

Originally posted by: laxplayer39
well ive used a pc my whole life and ill still have a desktop at school but ive always wanted to try one and an apple lappy just is much less hassle than a pc for stuff that i would like to get into (dvi stuff, music, creating movies/dvds)

and plus they look damn cool and i hear the chicks dig em

Alright, well DVI stuff, music, creating movies/dvds is pretty much as easy on PC as it is on a Mac. Regardless, if you are willing to spend the extra cash on one, more power to you.

I have never seen DVI on any PC laptop. And iMovie+iDVD is way better than anything on the Windows side.

There are no 15" widescreen laptops that come close to the PowerBooks in terms of design and weight, while keeping stuff like powered Firewire and DVI, etc. That said, 1 GHz isn't terribly fast and the machine won't be a good gamer. Nonetheless it's still a vastly superior machine most out there.

As for price, it's OK, but keep your eyes out for a refurbished 1.25-1.5 GHz Apple 15" PowerBook.

And BTW, women think the TiBooks are cool, but they really dig the iBooks much more.

 

[Wahsapa]

a 15" powerbook with a gig of ram and superdrive for 1500 is a good deal but it also depends on who you are getting this from. is it refurb? a guy you know? whats the deal and how are you getting it for so cheap?

either way, id get it asap.

 

[The Green Bean]

nice deal

 

[thraxes]

I'd go for it. That is how much I paid for my iBook which is completely maxed out with all the trimmings and a few extras that I needed.

Your 15" has the same CPU as my iBook and almost the same amount of RAM so I can tell you that its speed is OK... for typing up reports in Word and Excel, doing some Web-surfing and chatting it's more than enough. Quake3, Warcraft3 and to a certain extent UT2004 all work fine (I'm not sure about the GPU on yours, mine is a 9200mobility). iMovie also works very well, just the rendertimes are a bit long, but that is to be expected. The important part is though that there is no lag while building the video project which makes the high render times bareable.

Sometimes having a mac is a bit frustrating as you have to trick your way through incompatibilities but up until now my little problems were all manageable if you are tech savy and really want to learn the system, including it's shortcomings. Get a good book for this, I have "Mac OS X unleashed" by John Ray which is an awesome book that covers the GUI and the Unix core. Just keep an open mind: that is what separates you, me and all the others that are willing to try something different (be it Macintosh, Linux or whatever) to those that flat out reject it: The willingness to learn other things and not be stuck in a box labeled Windows all the time.

 

[jagec]

Originally posted by: laxplayer39
but for real apple designs their products with ease of use, aesthetics, and ergonomics in mind

I agree with you except for two points.

SINGLE BUTTON MOUSE - wtf is WRONG with them? Wake up, that's like building a 1-speed car: It may have worked when they were first invented, but when you actually want to DO something, more buttons are needed.

NO WAY TO FORCE EJECT A CD - have you ever dealt with a Mac that had a fubar'd OS? Ha, good luck getting that CD out...they took out the pinhole because, you know, Macs never break. And all mac users always have access to a new mac Keyboard with the eject button, and a power source. If you don't...kthxdie.

I can only hope the BIOS never fails on one of those, because then you'd really be screwed. You'd NEVER get your CD back!

 

[Eug]

Originally posted by: jagec
SINGLE BUTTON MOUSE - wtf is WRONG with them? Wake up, that's like building a 1-speed car: It may have worked when they were first invented, but when you actually want to DO something, more buttons are needed.

Apple-click = right mouse button.

However, since there is only one mouse/trackpad button, it seems the entire OS and most apps are built around that.

NO WAY TO FORCE EJECT A CD - have you ever dealt with a Mac that had a fubar'd OS? Ha, good luck getting that CD out...they took out the pinhole because, you know, Macs never break. And all mac users always have access to a new mac Keyboard with the eject button, and a power source. If you don't...kthxdie.

I can only hope the BIOS never fails on one of those, because then you'd really be screwed. You'd NEVER get your CD back!

Just reboot while holding down the eject key. You don't need a functioning OS to eject the CD. Now if the BIOS fails then you're SOL, but I'd be more worried about a dead BIOS than a missing CD.

OTOH, Macs have this very interesting function where you can "boot" the machine up as if it were a hard drive. ie. If somehow you fubar the OS boot, but the drive is still intact, just hold T when you reboot the machine. It suddenly becomes a Firewire hard drive, which you can plug into another Mac so that you can transfer the files. You can even plug it into a Windows PC, but you need MacDrive installed on the PC for it to work, since the file format is HFS+.

Conversely, you can clone your hard drive onto an external Firewire drive, and if your computer's drive dies, you can just boot off that instead. In fact if it's a portable drive, you can carry your OS, settings, and apps, anywhere you go, and boot off any Mac as if it were your own.

 

[iamwiz82]

Originally posted by: jagec

Originally posted by: laxplayer39
but for real apple designs their products with ease of use, aesthetics, and ergonomics in mind

I agree with you except for two points.

SINGLE BUTTON MOUSE - wtf is WRONG with them? Wake up, that's like building a 1-speed car: It may have worked when they were first invented, but when you actually want to DO something, more buttons are needed.

NO WAY TO FORCE EJECT A CD - have you ever dealt with a Mac that had a fubar'd OS? Ha, good luck getting that CD out...they took out the pinhole because, you know, Macs never break. And all mac users always have access to a new mac Keyboard with the eject button, and a power source. If you don't...kthxdie.

I can only hope the BIOS never fails on one of those, because then you'd really be screwed. You'd NEVER get your CD back!

There is a tiny button inside the CD slot in the right corner for emergencies. Push it and the CD will eject.

One button works fine. If you realyl need more, plug in a multi-button mouse, that will work as well.

 

[Anubis]

id get a A64 Lappy for less