any opinions on which is better? I have read that the ibook is better on batteries, which is an important factor. It is also a little larger, but not much.
I think the Powerbook, as the "professional" model of the two would be a better buy if they are nearly the same price. Ram is so cheap these days that the spec of the Powerbook is much better than the iBook.
Both machines are excellent, no matter which you buy you'll be happy
I am just about to change over from my iMac G5 and my iBook G4, selling them both and buying the 15" macbook pro core duo2 2.16ghz 1GB RAM 120GB HDD 128MB video... I will let you know in a week or two if it was a good deal..
I think the main thing is build quality and higher spec, HD screens in the pro and a few niggley bits n pieces but I have to say that my iBook has been very loyal and I totally THRASH it to death. the iMac G5 has been wonderfull the big screen 20" is awsome. the only advice I would stress is if you can go for a bigger monitor you will be better off.. my wife has the 12" and I personally find it too small for editing pics (after using my 20" its not surprising) My iBook is the 14" and is JUST about the right size...
Ide like the 17" macbook pro... IF only I could afford it but funds do not stretch so far and 15" at 1440x900 will do for me.
Unless there is a huge difference in price, go for the power book. Not only is the build quality better, but the powerbook should be a little faster as well since it has a faster bus speed than the ibook, and with the powerbook you get a better video card. You will also get a better set of connections (i.e., able to use an external monitor as a second monitor on the powerbook, but can only mirror with the ibook; bluetooth on the powerbook, etc.).
You can compare the stats of the two here:
powerbook ibook
I would go for the powerbook I still have my old powerbook along with my macbook and its still going...its been through alot and has some battle scars...lol (dents and scratchs) from being banged and dropped but still going strong. The plugs for the external monitor are important to me and come in handy if you ever want to use it as a desktop computer, sometimes I use my powerbook to watch tv shows online that I missed and then I connect it to my big tv and watch them on their.
12" is nice and portable but challenging (to say the least) for PS edits. I use a 100GB iBook G4 to upload my cards to when travelling but don't edit on it. The PowerBook, still, is not ideal for that purpose either, IMO, but it has a better graphics card and can drive an Apple Display, which you can add later. I'd say, get the PowerBook and max out the RAM to 1.25 GB on it.
If you can afford it though, I'd recommend a laptop which can take more RAM even. PS runs better with 2GB + RAM, especially with large files.
Out of curiosity, why are you looking at relatively obsolete laptops? Even the slowest MacBook will run rings around a Powerbook.
because I am looking for a little video player to take on the airplane with me. i thought about buying a little multimedia player but thought it would be nice to be able to download images (which a lot do) and perhaps sort and keyword them (don't need to edit them) and also go on the internet and email such at an internet cafe while on trips. I think a little laptop would serve my purpose better than a little video player. These old apples have a really long battery life and have good enough specs and cheap enough price for them to serve the purpose.
As someone mentioned, the Powerbook will run an extended desktop onto another connected monitor. The iBook will only run a mirror of the desktop when connected.
