So, I am going to be replacing my work horse iBook (2001 600MHz G3) come tax return time this year. This computer has lasted almost 5 years of daily usage but it is simply too slow for my patience these days. Some have said this affects my productivity but that is assuming I do actual "work" on this 'book.
With the newly announced/released Macs I will be buying either:
the high end 20" iMac with graphics card RAM upgrade and 1GB RAM
or
the high end MacBook Pro
The final tally puts the prices about 1K$ apart. The systems are fairly similar and really, the only difference is the portability angle. Thing is, I have only had a laptop for the past 5 years and grown to really enjoy being able to surf on the couch, move into the kitchen, and in general be as mobile as someone that doesn't code in a coffee shop needs to be.
I figure this is going to come down to a coin toss in the end as the defining difference is portability; is that worth 1000$? Guess time will tell...
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I'm facing the exact same decision right now. I've got an 867MHz 12" PowerBook G4 and I'm looking at the 20" iMac and the MacBook. For the last couple weeks I've been trying to get Yasuko to offer up some brilliant advice, but to no avail.
For me the biggest drawbacks of my laptop are:
(1) Slow compred to a desktop machine
(2) 12" vs. 20". 15.4" would be an improvement, but it's not 20".
(3) Price / performance ratio
The pros of the laptop are:
(1) I can use it at the table, on the floor, or sitting on my bed. I don't take it to work; actually I don't really use it at all outside my apartment in Tokyo, but I do take it with me when I go to Kyoto about 5 times a year.
I haven't seen any battery life numbers for the MacBook, which is a bit troubling. Given that Steve Jobs was making such a big deal about performance per watt, I'd think they'd be shouting it from rooftops if they had actually come up with some amazing battery-life numbers.
Given that 99.9% of my usage is inside my own apartment, I'm leaning majorly towards saving 100,000 yen and going with the 20" screen, a 500GB hard drive and 1GB RAM, then asking Yasuko if I can borrow my laptop back a little when I really want to use it in Kyoto. Our place is large by Japanese standards, but small enough that I can easily drag an iMac across the room to the floor when I want it :)
Anyway, good luck on the decision and let us know what the outcome is! Either way - it's revA... buy the AppleCare! Especially if it's a laptop! (Says the guy whose revA 12" PowerBook is bent and battered, but hasn't needed anything more than a replacement battery in the last 3 years... knock on wood)
I don't take my laptop outside of my apartment, typically. But, I do have Wi-Fi and so I follow the pattern of usage you mention.
I am pretty sure what will happen is I will get the 20" iMac (which will double as our "home theatre") and in the future, if it is truly required, I will get the MacBook or whatever 12" sized notebook Apple comes out with.
What is pushing me over the edge is that I really don't consider a 15" laptop a true laptop. I have used my 12" iBook on planes and when someone decides to lean back a 12" notebook is pretty much the largest form factor that works. Another of my major concerns for the 15" is the heat output. I put my laptop ON MY LAP and if it gets too hot then all the mobility / convenience factors go away while I reach for the burn cream.
Honestly, if they made the low end MacBook Pro in a 12" form factor (or the rumored 13" widescreen) with a decent hi-res screen that had a nice DVI out, I would be all over that like a dirty shirt.
And I definitely will be buying AppleCare either way I end up buying. I got burned on this iBook (a harddrive, a battery, a power adapter later) when I decided to "save" some money and not buy the extended warranty.
I knew it, no sooner had I posted that comment than my powerbook's AC adaptor plug bent out of shape for the third time in its life! I'd forgotten about this, but the AC adaptor has always been about the most evil thing on the Mac Laptop scene.
My G3 Pismo laptop sparked every time I plugged it in. I thought this was maybe just because I lived in Mexico at the time and I swear the guy at the power plant who controlled the voltage was drunk; some days I got 90V some days it was 140V. I gave in and bought a power regulator, which was a huge box with a spinning motor in it that would kill spikes and generate (somewhat) consistent voltage. No dice, day by day, the metal wiring inside the cable -- painfully visible through its translucent casing -- became blacker and blacker, until one day it stopped working altogether, and I got fleeced for 750 pesos (just over $100 Canadian) for a new one. Keep in mind my *rent* was 1400 pesos a month... for a furnished house! This new one sparked too.
Flash forward. I've just trudged across Mexico, Cuba, Guatemala, and Honduras with my PowerBook G3 in my backpack, and have finally arrived back in Canada, so far so good. Within 2 weeks of getting back, my cord is dead. Again. Swing into SoHo Computers in Victoria where someone loans me their cable while I wait for a replacement. A month and 3 calls later it still hasn't arrived, so I give up and keep the cord. Worked until I bought my 12" G4 PowerBook.
Flash forward. I receive my shiny new 12" G4 Powerbook. I pull it out of its box, plug the cord into the wall and notice a pop and short flash of blue light. Arrrgh! 6 months later and the cable is dead. Next one lasts another 6 months but gives up in a hotel in Shinagawa. I pick up a replacement at the Ginza Apple Store and come back to Canada for 4 months, then move to Japan and was still using it until yesterday, 1.5 years later, when it bent out of shape and won't work anymore.
And that's the thing about every single one of these cables! On every single one, the plug connecting it to the laptop has been bent out of shape, hammered back into shape, and bent out of shape again a half dozen times by the time it's been replaced.
I use my laptop on my lap as well, and the 12" seems just wide enough that the connector is sitting on my left knee when I do this, putting a bunch of pressure on something made of thin metal. So when I saw the new 15" PB I was shouting "Hallelujah! Finally, the nightmare is over!" It's seriously the absolute best new feature on the laptop for me.
I'm 100% in agreement on the DVD/Music player bit. Yasuko's TV is something like 13" and we don't have a DVD player (aside from my PowerBook) so it's a definite bonus. The PowerBook + AirMac (Japanese AirPort) Express + Stereo is our primary audio source. Not having to have it taking up table space is a big plus.
Anyway, good luck on the decision. Either way, once I've picked mine up we should test a trans-Pacific video iChat. Curious to know how/if it works.