LSRW
Level 1
(0 points)
Q: 12" iBook G4 vs 12" PowerBook G4
Hi,
My MacBook has been diagnosed with a logic board fault that is preventing it from charging and will cost a lot to get repaired. Unfortunately this has come at a time when I have no money to do anything about it and I need a laptop for uni work. My budget is about £150, tops. I have found two laptops that seem to be in very good condition within my budget, both are late 2005 models. Their specs are as follows:
iBook G4 12"
1.33GHz G4
768MB RAM memory
40GB Hard Disk capacity
SuperDrive CD/DVD read/write
Mac OS 10.4
(Also comes with all original documentation, long- and short- cord charger, system disks (Which presumably also include iLife?) and a wireless apple pro mouse. However, does not come in original box.)
PowerBook G4 12"
1.5GHz G4
1.25GB RAM memory
80GB Hard Disk capacity
SuperDrive CD/DVD read/write
Mac OS 10.5
(Comes in original box with long- and short- cord chargers, but the listing makes no mention of documentation or system disks. It does come with a copy of iLife '06 pre-loaded, although unsure of whether disks for this will be included.)
I'd basically just like some buying advice and to know as much relevant information about these two models as possible before I make a decision. It's unlikely I'll be coming into any more money any time soon and the laptop will have to last a few months to a year before I'll be able to afford to either get my MacBook repaired or buy a new one. Should I risk buying a laptop that doesn't have the system disks with it? Does either model have any reliability/durability issues to look out for? Which will offer better performance? (I know the PowerBook is more powerful but will it handle 10.5 as well as the iBook will handle 10.4?) Also, I have a personal preference for 10.4 over 10.5 - what is the state of 10.4 these days? I know that Adobe no longer produce flash for 10.4 and that you have to use TenFourFox as a browser....
Thanks in advance for any help or guidance, and sorry about the essay,
LSRW
Allan Jones
Level 8
(35,176 points)
The fact that the PB might not come with the original system disks wouldn't be a concern to you at all?
Ah, didn't pick that up. The new forum layout with the tiny default font is getting to me. The lack of orig disks is always a concern. I have full install disks going way back so it would not affect me but I can see how that might be a deal-breaker. After all, even the full retail install disk allow you to boot from the CD/DVD and run Disk Utility when there is a problem.
The G4 MDD is a 1.25gHz single-processor with 1.75GB RAM and the ATI Radeon 9000 64MB video card. Video tends to look like a slide show. I've moved to using TenFourFox for the browser and it does better than the old versions of Safari. I have found a number of FireFox add-ons for 10-4-Fox that prevent sites like Twitter, Google and other from tracking. Those functions are also optimized for Intel and are transparent on an Intel Mac but, left in place, are a major drag on a PPC Mac browser.
The problem with TenFour Fox is that the current version does not allow plug-ins so getting any version of Flash to work will exercise your futility.
The only PPC Mac we have that almost tolerates web video is a last-model eMac 1.42gHz with 2MB RAM and the ATI Radeon 9600 chipset (64MB VRAM). That video chipset is better than the 9000 in the MDD so that may be helping.
The 1.5ghz PowerBook has the best shot at almost playing web video.
Check out TenFour Fox here:
http://www.floodgap.com/software/tenfourfox/
You can use plug-ins with their version 17, available here:
