powerbook vs ibook?

i've been a pc user my whole life but i'm curious as to what the hype is w/ macs. and since i'll be leaving the country in jan for school, i'm thinking about buying an apple laptop. with that said, i have a couple of questions regarding apple's notebooks:

1. what's the difference b/w the powerbook and ibook besides the the faster processor, bigger ram, and casing? is the ibook less reliable?

2. when is the intel/apple chip coming out?

#2 is my main concern. i'm wondering if i should just get the cheapest ibook while waiting for the new chip to come out... or should i just go all out and get the 15" powerbook?

 

The PowerBook is the higher end version of the iBook if I recall correctly.

I'm not quite sure when the 'intergration' will happen, but there are lots of articles about it.

I'd suggest to check out Tom's Hardware first!

 

IMHO if you have the budget, go for pbook..
ibook is seriously quite flimsy and not as well built as pbook.. I played ard with ibook and even when my left palm rest on it, can feel abit creaking.. definitely not a good sign. But oh well hey're so cheap now so not much complaint..
me too was checking out macs..
but finally decided to settle w/ win notebook.. sony that is

 

The intel powered macs won't be out until some time next year. If you need the computer now, get it now. Even if the ibook creaks abit (mine does too) its still built really well. Its easily thousands times stronger then my previous notebook. The ibook will get a slightly better battery life then the powerbook. I also agree in saying get the powerbook if you can afford it, it will save you money later in upgrades to the harddrive (pb has 5400 rpm drive over 4200 rpm drive in ibook [big performance difference]) or disc burner (all powerbooks have standard dvd burners, and the 15/17' models have dual layer dvd burners)

 

The faster hard drive will make more of a performance difference than the CPU.

 

if you can afford it, the pbook is much much better than the ibook.

it's thinner, lighter and more rigid.

think of the ibook's case as that of an ipod; white and plastic-y. the pbook is magnesium (i believe) and much more sturdy and sleek.

 

I read a recent comparison between the ibook and 12" PBook and the results aren't pretty. In most tests the iBook was just as fast if not faster. The problem being that Apple has not upgraded the hardware on the PB in a very long time. Many speculate that the machine is EOL. Notice in the last PB upgrades the 15" and 17" received memory upgrades (DDR to DDR2) and screen upgrades. Looks like the 12" is dead at least until the Intel CPUs show up.

I've owned several recent PBs (12" and 15") and I currently have a 12" ibook (bought for my fiancee). The ibook is built very well and would hold up to quite a bit of rough handling. It's not as sleek or nice looking as the PB, but you save quite a few $$.

BTW, the 12" PB and the iBooks are in the same Apple internal mfg group. The 15" and 17" are in a seperate mfg group.

 

sorry for the late response... but can you direct me to this article you read about w/ the ibook and pbook? thanks!

 

The swich to the Intel processor was announced at the WWDC June 6, 2005 by Steve Jobs.

Jobs timeframe for the transition was from June 2006 to the end of 2007 for the phase in of the entire Macintosh line.

Some rumor sites are speculating that Intel Macs may be on the market as early as February 2006. Rumor sites are also indicating that an announcement could come at the San Francisco Expo in January 2006.

The scuttlebut is that the Intel Mac will boot OS X as the primary operating system and either XP or Linux as a secondary system.

Hope this helps.

susan

 

Will the prices on the Powerbooks drop because of the Intel processors??

 

I doubt it.

 

Are u doing just basic student productivity, internet stuff or gonna do high end gaming and 10 things at once high demanding?

I wuold get the Ibook if its for student stuff stuff basic. if ur gonna do high high end stuff, powerbook.

Im buying a Ibook.

ITs really a great machine and in my opinion, the intel processors dont matter because G4 is more then enough speed for basic applications work

 

intelmacs r projected for june 2006 but there r many speculations supposedly that they will launch around march. a helpful site to go to is forums.appleinsider.com
if u go to the future hardware section u'll find loads of info on when and what macs will b the first intel macs (ibook powerbook imac powermac macmini etc)
if ur just a student and minimal gamer i think ibook would be fine (rumors hav it it will get a 13 inch widescreen display which is nice)
if u dont need it now and can wait a couple months. i suggest u wait for it because for the price of ibooks/pbooks rite now. they're outdated a bit
enjoy =)

 

If you want a less-than-15" screen, you'll have to get an iBook. Last I checked, the 12" Powerbook is being discontinued.

 

There is a flaw that you should be aware of in the powerbook.

Even though the case is absolutely beautiful and durable as it is a notebook made of aluminum alloy chasis, the wireless reception is terrible.

I'm not suprised that the iBook performs significantly better in wireless performance.