Powermac or Powerbook?

26. Oct 2005.

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This one is for experienced Mac owners… I’m rethinking my shopping list for this season and considering buying a Mac for home. I’d like to know pros and cons for the following competitors – Powermac 2GHz Dual Core G5 (assume I already have a screen) and Powerbook 15in 1.67GHz G4 Widescreen.

$2000 is the limit at this point, so more expensive models are out of question. If I’m taking, I’m taking one of the above.

I already have both Mac and PC at work and PC at home. All machines are way above average considering performance, so I’m not switching all of my work to Macs, but someday maybe I will.

How often you really needed mobility and how often you really needed the power of dual processors? Link to any useful article would also help.

Marko Dugonjić is a designer specialized in user experience design, web typography and web standards. He runs a nanoscale user interface studio Creative Nights and organizes FFWD.PRO, a micro-conference and workshops for web professionals.

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9 shouts to “Powermac or Powerbook?”

tripdragon
001—2005.10.26.19:25

powerbook. Though you wont get the motion power of the cg card, it will run it, Otherwise it is a perfect machine to take to coffee shops and such..
Jason Beaird
002—2005.10.26.19:27

Hmm…if you have $2000 to spend and want portability and a home workstation, how about a 14-inch iBook and a mac mini.

I actually work at home from a 20-inch iMac and love the screen, but if you already have a monitor and need the extra juice, the Power Mac’s are very nice. As far as laptop’s go, I always thought the Power Books were the way to go, but my wife needed a laptop for school and got the 12-inch iBook and she loves it.

I think I’ll stop talking now since I’m obvjously not making your decision any easier.
Jacob Reiff
003—2005.10.27.04:24

Since it appears that your work revolves around the web, I’d definitely say powerbook. I used to work on a Dual867 G4 with dual 19″ LCD screens – not a G5 but a nice rig, especially with all that screen space. Now I work on a 17″ powerbook 1.67ghz. Since web work usually involves multitasking with lots of programs open, but not neccessarily opening HUGE files in each of those programs, I’d say the benefits of the G5 get outweighed by the ability to be mobile. I never thought I would utilize the mobility as much as I have, but even working just for a few hours in a new environment has helped me be more productive and creative.

If you’re needing to run FCP, Motion, basically anything that renders – then the G5 is the way to go.
marko
004—2005.10.27.17:31

Thanks guys, your comments clear up some doubts.
Jeff Croft
005—2005.10.27.21:00

You say you already have both Macs and PCs. Do you already have a laptop? If not, then I’d definitely get the Powerbook.

Clearly there is a pretty significant difference in performance. The only way to make this decision to to decide how valuable mobility is to you.
nate
006—2005.11.12.18:28

I say go with the powerbook – especially for doing web (as was said above). The mobility is great! I have a mac mini at work (im a web developer/programmer) and i like it – but my setup at home with a 17 in powerbook hooked to a 22 in sony monitor makes development a breeze. Plenty of space to work with.

Now all I need is that 30 in monitor – hehe.

My vote = powerbook.
imack
007—2005.11.18.15:13

The mobility of a powerbook is a great thing. So is the durability. I’m still using my tiBook (800MHz) for all my work and entertainment. Allthough I’d easily admit I’ll be first in line when the intel powerbooks hopefully arrive early next year. Because the current powerbooks aren’t exactly that far ahead from the iBooks, and defintly not portable versions of the PowerMac’s, like they used to be. So if you can stand the wait and don’t mind being an early adapter: powerbook + Apple care.
Nick Cowie
008—2005.11.19.03:32

After four years with a 15in Powerbook (550Mhz), I would recommend the powerbook.

Being portable is a big plus, I take mine almost everywhere. The 45 minute bus ride to and from work is a good time to sit down with the headphones on and get some work done or writing blog posts.

I do not intend to replace it just yet, it is still doing a servicable job, though it looks battered. If I had to, I would probably go 12″ and probably ibook at that.

The smaller size is more convienent, and for most web work you don’t need a lot of grunt. 550Mhz, 512Mb RAM, 40Gb HD runs Apache, MySQL, PHP, four browsers, an editor or two and iTunes without complaining.
Bruce Miller
009—2005.12.29.03:13

If you need the mobility, you need the powerbook.
BUT I work at home on a powermac that also feeds our stereo system through a wireless network and ITunes. Now that I have that, I can’t imagine being without it. The stereo source needs to be available to my partner, even when I’m not around. So if you might want a wireless music or picture server to go with your work station, think about the powermac.

Powermac or Powerbook?

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