Advice Needed!! Best iBook to get?

[sinster]

And Mr moderator sir, before "moderate" this post, let me justify it being here because I am getting the iBook for the sole purpose of my iPod. :rolleyes: ;)

No but seriously, I have been wanting a Mac for ages..and finally decided that i cant afford anything more than an iBook, (partly due to the recent purchase of my 15GB iPod. :D :D :D

Since I am new to the world of Mac, I am interested to hear peoples opinions on whether the 800/900 makes a big difference, ideal RAM to get..etc. Any perspective would be helpful.

And I know people are gonna say, "well dude, what you using it for"...so here is what I will use it for..
"CHILLIN". ie, surfing the net..doing a little bit of digital photography editing etc..and err..what the last thing...err...oh yeah.. IPOD-ING BABY!!!

yeah so anyways, would appreciate any helpful inputs...i hv 1 week to decide..maybe 2..but definitely not more than 3.

Arrigato!

[sparks9]

Whatever you do, 128 mb of ram is NOT enough, so if you buy one with that amount buy some extra ram (at apple or another place).

[sparks9]

btw you can also go and look at this site/forums:
www.macrumors.com
I'm sure alot of people will help you there.

[m.r.m.]

check this (http://www.xsorbit1.com/users/dennx/index.cgi?board=thelounge&action=display&num=1052088616) out. ought to help you decide.

- mrm

and this (http://www.xsorbit1.com/users/dennx/index.cgi?board=thelounge&action=display&num=1051876651) and this (http://www.xsorbit1.com/users/dennx/index.cgi?board=thelounge&action=display&num=1051899591)

:D

[sinster]

Read all the links and hv pretty much decided.

The last thing I still need help on, amt of RAM. All the posts say, max depending on what you can afford..well, unfortuntely, all I really want to pay for is upto 256MB. Is that gonna be sifficient.

Let me back this up by saying I do not play games at all.

So how frustrating wld 256MB be?

[Bob]

mrm,
Thanks for doing the links!!

[m.r.m.]

no problem, amigo!

on the ram issue, it depends very much on what you?re going to do with it. after all there is video editing and there is video editing. will you just be playing around with apps or are you semi pro? my advice would be to wait a little longer (to save some more moolah) and go the extra mile. 256 will most probabley be enough, but 384 definitely will! 640 hmmmmmm, gaaaaaaaaaa...doughnuts...mmmmmmmhhhh...

sorry lost it there for a moment...:D

start a poll: "how much ram does the ibook need" 128, 256, 384, 640.

- mrm

[jminio]

They have changed the plastic on the case of the new 900 it seems much cheaper then the previous 800. If I was going to get an iBook I would look for a left over 800 combo unit from before this last speed bump and max out the ram. You can probably get a good deal on one and it is almost just as fast as the new 900 with a nicer case. :)

[gizmo53]

I would personally say that you should save up some extra cash and get a Powerbook G4 with at 12 inch screen. Many of my friends regret not going that direction, as it is MUCH faster, and it will keep being fast for a very long time. I was given an iBook for christmas, bottom-of-the-line, and now I am bumping the RAM up to the max.

Some advice on the RAM: I would get the base from apple, and then go with a major other maker/reseller to bump it up to the max. Not that expensive these days. I use Other World Computing (http://www.macsales.com) for my RAM needs and they are great. I was talking to an apple rep (looong tech support story), and OS X isn't very tolerant of crappy ram. If you go to some cheap looking store, or pretty much anyone that isn't a major store, then don't buy their RAM! I have heard horror stories from others about how if you get bad ram, you pay the price. Thats why apple RAM is so expensive (well, there is the markup...:rolleyes: ), b/c they buy the highest-quality ram available.

[m.r.m.]

isn?t ram with infineon chipsets the best?

not to say apple doesn?t use infineon?!

- mrm

[Jackonicko]

The 12 inch version of the Powerbook G4 is not a true powerbook. It is limited to the same max RAM as the iBook. It has other iBook features.

It does have a G4 chip, but only 867 MHz. The iBook now has 800 or 900 (you choose!) MHz, admittedly in a G3 chip.

But the G3 is adequate for all but the most demanding applications, and n iBook costs some 25-30% less than the Powerbook.

When considering what to buy, I'd max-load the RAM on a 12 inch iBook before I bought a 14 inch iBook, personally.

[iCamp]

The last thing I still need help on, amt of RAM. All the posts say, max depending on what you can afford..well, unfortuntely, all I really want to pay for is upto 256MB. Is that gonna be sifficient.

Get the most RAM you can afford. No matter what.
A 256MB stick for the iBook is only $59 at crucial.com. A 512MB stick is $151. I have 384MB on my iBook and it's adequate for music, email, web surfing & office apps.

But the G3 is adequate for all but the most demanding applications, and n iBook costs some 25-30% less than the Powerbook.

When considering what to buy, I'd max-load the RAM on a 12 inch iBook before I bought a 14 inch iBook, personally.

I agree 100% on both points. You'll love the iBook. the G3 is great so long as you don't expect it to be a gaming powerhouse. You will love OS X.

[dlabrosse]

The irony is that you are going to use this machine for

"CHILLIN". ie, surfing the net..doing a little bit of digital photography editing etc..

Chillin' takes a minimum of ram. Manipulating images takes the best resources you can possibly afford. I ended-up buying a flatpanel iMac over an iBook specifically because I wanted the extra ooomph to deal with large Photopshop files. The G4 chip with it's Velocity Engine makes a huge difference and the amount of ram you have makes a huge difference. If you can only afford 256 then so be it. But when it comes to working with pictures more ram is always better. Get as much as you can possibly afford.

I could only afford 512 when I bought my machine in October but I had it put on the inside. So my SODIMM slot is still available for me to buy the remaining 512 of ram to max out at 1GB.