Powerbook g4 400mhz or iBook G3 700mhz???

[burnesse]

Hey all,

I'm getting an apple laptop for school use and I want to know which system you guys think is a better buy. Below are the specs for the two systems...

System 1 - $699
Powerbook G4 400mhz
15 inch screen
128mb RAM
DVD drive slot loading

System 2 - $799
iBook G3 700mhz
12.1 inch screen
640mb RAM
CD-ROM

I'm going to add an airport card and use it for work on the go. No, I'm not doing photoshop or games at all, mostly school work and the like. I understand the 15 inch screens are beauty's, but will the relative lack of RAM (128 in the Powerbook vs 640 in the ibook) hurt me? If so, is a RAM upgrade enough to tip the scales in favor of the Powerbook? And there will eventually be G4 upgrade cpu's for the Powerbook line, rioght?? Thanks so much guys...


My Rig (for games, mp3's, movies, etc):
Epox 8rda+
AthlonXP 2600+ @ 2800+
768mb DDR PC2100
GeforceFX 5900 @ 450/900
60gb HD / DVD / CD-RW / Floppy
WinXP Pro

 

[mymemory]

I gues you can not upgrade the G4 400 but I would get the G4 just because of the screen and because the video managment is really good.

On the other hand the iBook is easy to transport, it could be a good election too but the G4 is a bit more power. The track pad of the G4 is a night mare because it is no soft at all, that would be my only issue, and with the G4 you can ge dual monitoring, I mean, you can connect a proyector or a tv and have one thing on your desk top and another thing in the proyector. With the iBook you will proyecting your desk top only trhu the video out put.

I would take the G4 and add the maximun amount of ram later on. Besides, the G4 would be easier to sell in the future than an iBook.

 

[King Cobra]

Better off with an iBook.

640MB will be enough RAM.
128MB will NOT. You should have at least 320MB of RAM with any machine using OS X, 512MB or more for active Photoshop work.

For your needs, a 700MHz G3 is plenty fast. A 400MHz G4 is not going to be anywhere as fast with most 700MHz G3 tasks.

Enjoy your iBook.