Powerbook vs. iBook

J_Barnes

J_Barnes

Veteran
Okay, so I remember in the past that there were clear differences in the performances of apple's two laptop offerings. iBooks were G3, no superdrive, slow and dinky looking compared to the Powerbooks...

But now iBooks have G4's, a superdrive option, and still look kinda dinky but offer a substantial savings over the Powerbooks.

I know that powerbooks have upped the processor speed, but is that alone a clear reason to choose a Powerbook over an iBook for mobile FCP/FCE editing?

Anyone have a clear reason to prefer a powerbook?
 
Re: Powerbook vs. iBook

well form what i notice is that the best Ibook you can buy is the 14" and 1.2GHz PowerPC G4 and with the Powerbook the smallest you can buy is 12" with 1.33GHz PowerPC G4 and you can upgrade to 17" with 1.5GHz PowerPC G4. Not sure if that helps at all. but from what i know is that the Ibook is pretty good for perofrmance you just are going to have a smaller screen and a smaller processor. I mean on apples site you can update HD and RAM so that might help it a little more but if you do that you will be spenindg as much as a powerbook.
 
Re: Powerbook vs. iBook

Check through all the specs. iBooks are good but most of the internal speeds (bus, drive, display, cache, etc) aren't up to the same speed levels as the PowerBooks. Also note that you don't have a PC card slot. This means you can't put in an additional firewire wire port which is recommended if you want to capture to an external firewire drive.
 
Re: Powerbook vs. iBook

AHHHH!!!!

Finally someone hits the nail on the head. Seeing as how most of the internal and processor speeds of the iBook are either identical or just shy of what prior "editing grade" Powerbooks were, I'd assumed that there wasn't really all that much advantage (beyond a slight performance upgrade) to going with a Powerbook.

That lack of a pc card slot really kills the iBook though.

Thanks for the info Scott.
 
Re: Powerbook vs. iBook

Scott is correct, but he forgot to mention the most crucial difference: the illuminated keyboard. :P

Also note that the iBook is limited to 1024x768 on its internal monitor (even the 14" version), whereas the larger PowerBooks give you better real estate. In addition, the iBooks do not support desktop spanning onto an external monitor, so you won't be able to increase your workspace that way. (Yes, firmware hacks are available, but I personally wouldn't count on it.)

The other minor differences including a higher RAM ceiling (2 GB on the larger models), larger disks come standard (mine has an 80 GB drive, handy for mobile capture), and they are just so ... well, distinctive. 8)

If you can live without the mobility, though, those G5 workstations are killer ...
 
Re: Powerbook vs. iBook

[quote author=J_Barnes link=board=FCP;num=1092834144;start=0#3 date=08/18/04 at 11:24:24]
That lack of a pc card slot really kills the iBook though.[/quote]

Note that the 12" PowerBook doesn't have a PCMCIA slot, either. It wasn't a problem when I owned one, but it couldn't hurt to have one.
 
Re: Powerbook vs. iBook

Well, the way I figure, you're never going to have the best of both worlds. Sure it's nice to have all the power and memory to do more real time effects and have shorter renders, but it's also nice to have a mobile editing solution that allows you to work where and when you'd like.

With a laptop, you're always trading power for mobility. Ideally, you'd want to have a desktop and a laptop, but that's unrealistic for most budgets (including mine).

My thinking these days is that I can wait for my videos to render, but it might be very advantageous to edit on the road, on a train, or even on my couch instead of being locked in a specific room.

In the end, they'll both cost about the same, so it's the way I intend on using it that would be the deciding factor.

If I could find a dual G4 and an older Powerbook for the price of a dual G5, I'd have everything I need.
 
Re: Powerbook vs. iBook

In that case, check the old stock on Apple's online store. They have iBook G4's for under $1000, and still sell the old PowerMac G4 1.25 GHz (single) for $1299. You'll want more RAM on both, for sure, but that's not a bad deal ...
 
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