ibook vs. powerbook??? what to get?

helixx · Post by **helixx** » Sun Aug 14, 2005 8:37 pm

i have both and the powerbook seems, for me, to be much better for sound/music based applications. my wife uses her ibook for photo stuff.

i am very happy with the powerbook. osx is the big draw for me. i'm aware of the lower performance associated right now with the mac offerings compared to pc. to be honest, if i could run osx on a pc-based laptop i'd do that. i love the apple design, it seems to be very solid and reliable and runs all of my music applications flawlessly. the ONLY drawback for me is that the processor (1.65ghz) does get bogged down sooner that i'd expect it to, and i'm being honest here. no "pc vs mac" debate. i have 2 pc laptops, two apple laptops, two pc-based desktops. i use the apples almost 100% of the time. the pc's tend to be used as print and file servers or to do things i simply can't do on the mac like online poker (partypoker, pokerstars) great games (battlefield2, half life2).

so... that's out of the way. if i had a choice, despite the speed shortcomings, i'd still go powerbook because of the os. software isn't really an issue. we're talking live5 here right? it runs exactly the same on both os'. if you want to use logic pro, there's not much choice -- mac only. if you want to use protools, its the same on both systems. i've used them all in some capacity on this machine and simply love the setup. osx simply blows xp pro away for a lot of reasons and i think xp pro is a very usable, stable and reliable os.

so... back to the ibook vs powerbook debate. i was there. my friend recommended the ibook but i'm glad i went with the powerbook for my music needs. faster harddrive (essential for streaming lots of samples), faster processor (obvious -- you HAVE tried freezing tracks in live5 right?), more screen real estate, dvi plug (the ibook doesn't have it) for plugging in my 20" dell flatscreen, svideo out (ibook doesn't have one).

in either case, buy at least a gig of extra ram (i got my from mushkin.com) and have it arrive at the same time as you mac. both systems need ram. i have 1.5g and i am never ram-constrained and in music-based apps, that's important.

good luck. hope this helped.

jiffybox · Post by **jiffybox** » Sun Aug 14, 2005 8:58 pm

thanks everyone for adding your opinions. it helps. although getting an ibook is so much cheaper. at the same time, i always feel like if you're going to shell out the money you might as well drop a couple hundred more and go for something that will in the long run give you more options and power. tough call. because i have yet to use a laptop live, i'm not quite sure of what to expect. maybe it's a trial by error sort of thing and i really won't know until i use it in a live situation. can anybody tell me what their personal stage set up is? and it is live 5 and MAC for sure that i want to use. all of my songs, loops, etc are osx based. thanks again! i'm really close to making the purchase, but still completely uncertain. i can get a really beautiful new 1.42 ghz ibook with 80g hard drive and 1.5 gigs of ram for about 1600 bucks, the powerbook probably adds another 500 to that. so...?
cheers.
jiffy

inis · Post by **inis** » Sun Aug 14, 2005 9:18 pm

$1600, ouch. First off, find a student and get them to buy it, lol. The discount will be worth it.

If you are concerned with money, i would just stick with the 1.33 12". I dont notice the processor speed between that and my powerbook enough to warrant an extra $300.

Hardtoe · Post by **Hardtoe** » Mon Aug 15, 2005 4:51 am

Yo,

I haved played many live shows with Live, starting with version 1 up to a recent show with Live 5....I used to run Live on an old imac g3 400, but I bought an ibook last year when they became g4's....In my opinion it is not worth it to buy a powerbook right now - sure they are a little sexier and minorly faster, but unless you really need dual monitor support, you are paying a lot more to be part of the "pro" club. My laptop is definately a little underpowered for Live 5, but I don't think a powerbook would get you that much more real world performance - buy what you need now to get some work done (ie a cheap ibook) and then upgrade in a year or so when the new macintel "fast" laptops come out - I really think that these will outperform current powerbooks by a wide margin, so don't invest in old technology at a high price now...

My 2 cents

Orion

inis · Post by **inis** » Mon Aug 15, 2005 7:50 am

Hardtoe wrote:Yo,

I haved played many live shows with Live, starting with version 1 up to a recent show with Live 5....I used to run Live on an old imac g3 400, but I bought an ibook last year when they became g4's....In my opinion it is not worth it to buy a powerbook right now - sure they are a little sexier and minorly faster, but unless you really need dual monitor support, you are paying a lot more to be part of the "pro" club. My laptop is definately a little underpowered for Live 5, but I don't think a powerbook would get you that much more real world performance - buy what you need now to get some work done (ie a cheap ibook) and then upgrade in a year or so when the new macintel "fast" laptops come out - I really think that these will outperform current powerbooks by a wide margin, so don't invest in old technology at a high price now...

My 2 cents

Orion

I will second pretty much all of that.

Machinesworking · Post by **Machinesworking** » Mon Aug 15, 2005 3:09 pm

andrewlogan wrote:Or wait for the dual core G4 powerbooks or intel chips.

Or wait until the Paris Apple Expo next month, since it's very likely that the powerbooks get updated then. I'm not so patiently waiting.

As far as buying a PC, well if you are into macs, then next year macs get the exact same chip as PC's, x86. I've seriously thought of buying a PC, but license transfers, and learning a new system, that really isn't as secure, that I'm not fond of, that I will just end up switching back to mac from next year when the macintel powerbooks come out...... any speed increase would be negated by the hassle.

If I buy a PC, it will be for things like AudioMulch, Fruity Loops, Zeta, and Synth Edit, not to run Live.

subterFUSE · Post by **subterFUSE** » Mon Aug 15, 2005 3:55 pm

I do not think that now is the time to be purchasing Apple computers at all, but especially not PowerBooks. They are overpriced, and have been obsolete for a long time already. For the Mac enthusiasts, patience is the key right now. Next year will bring new computers that will be more worth the investment.

computo · Post by **computo** » Mon Aug 15, 2005 9:09 pm

No one has mentioned that the ibooks allow more ram than the 12" powerbooks.

1.25 versus 1.5 gigs.

Thats pretty substantial, if you ask me.