I am looking at purchasing a brand new Apple MacBook (2.4 gHz, 2 GB RAM, SuperDrive - it's the last generation white one.) In order to buy it, I am considering selling my G4 iBook and my Dual G5 tower. I have a Dual 1.8 mHz G5 tower with 2.5 GB of RAM and 300 GB hard drive. The G4 iBook is the last ibooks made - 12" with a 1.33 mHz processor, 1.5 RAM and about 5 months of Applecare left.

My primary reason for doing this is that I do photography part-time and have been shooting tethered to the iBook. The LCD monitor on the iBook isn't terribly sharp and, while the computer is fine for web surfing and general use, it's under-powered for photo editing.

I'd love to keep my tower and buy the MacBook but that's not really an option right now. My question is, what disadvantages would I have if I use the MacBook as my only computer. I will connect it to my Dell monitor for use at home so I wouldn't be limited to the small monitor on the MacBook.

Since the white MacBook still has the Firewire port, I could use my 300 GB external Firewire Drive with it. (It's my backup drive.)

Except for the inability to add PCI cards (I only have a USB card installed in my tower), I can't think of many down sides to it.

Any opinions?

Michael



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 11/18/2008 02:16PM by magicmikey.

No significant downsides, really. Unlike the G5 tower, you can't install a pair of 1.5TB hard drives inside the MacBook. You also can't put in a fast video card for playing games. That's about it though.

The MacBook will be quite a bit faster than your G5 while using 1/10th the electricity and you don't have to worry about a CPU, logic board or power supply failure.

I think a portable computer is always at a higher risk for damage or theft. I don't know what your backup schedule is like but I would encourage you to have an aggressive one.

Go for a MacBook Pro or a newer MacBook so you can at least run a 24" monitor.

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mattkime
Go for a MacBook Pro or a newer MacBook so you can at least run a 24" monitor.

Or an older MacBook exactly like the one he described since it will run a 24" monitor just fine.

oooph, i stand corrected. wonder why my coworker had trouble with his macbook and the dell 2405 in our office. he was definitely disappointed about it.

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it was probably the crummy DVI cable that shipped with the dell

DRIVE SPEED - will be your biggest step backward. Unless you get a really fast drive for it, you will see drive read and writes happening much slower.

I own both a Dual G5 (2GHz) and Macbook (also dual 2GHz). I don't notice that the Macbook is "quite a bit faster" than the Macbook for most tasks. However, I don't use Photoshop, so there could be a big advantage to using it on the Macbook.

I like my G5 because I've got 4 internal drives in it (2.5TB ). I've also got 4 FW800 external drives tethered to it. I've also got a dual video card that lets me hook both a 20" and 24" monitor to it. With the Macbook, you've got its 13.3" screen, and up to a 24" monitor. Not quite the same.

I use my Macbook for the days I work at home (once a week or so), and when I travel. But I spend the majority of time on my G5. I like having both a desktop and a laptop.



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 11/18/2008 03:26PM by rz.

I might recommend upgrading that stock hard drive. i recently installed 320GB 7200rpm drive that i picked up for about $70.

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you could get about $1300 for both? then another $150ish gets you into a last generation MBP for $1429

MacBook Pro Intel Core 2 Duo 15" 2.4Ghz 2GB 200GB SuperDrive Matte Screen
[www.macconnection.com]

the only disadvantage i see over the MB is the drive -- MBP is NOT an easy task to replace the drive with something faster, MB is super simple

then again, if you have been living with a iBook, then 200 gigs might be huge...

and it will make your G5 tower look like its standing still in photoshop

[www.macworld.com]

i probably never would have considered opening a 750 meg and 1 gig photoshop file at the same time on my dual G5 2.0 -- but on my 2.4 imac the 2 files open in about 20 seconds...

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Edited 999 time(s). Last edit at 12:08PM by jdc.

Check out the Best Buy link for the previous generation MacBook under $1000:
[forums.macresource.com]

A store near you might have one left...

Get a last generation MBP if you can afford one. . I got a MacBook Core 2 Duo and I wish I had the backlight keyboard and a little bigger screen. I went from a G5 with with a 24"monitor . Portability is good, but make sure you can also afford a quality protective case as mentioned.

my .00002 cents

Make sure you have at least Photoshop CS3 because CS2 runs under rosetta on Intels.

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A co-worker mentioned he read that Snow Leopard® is rumored to only run on Intel...

Anyone know? That would tilt getting rid of the G5 sooner than later.

=wr=

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wave rider
A co-worker mentioned he read that Snow Leopard® is rumored to only run on Intel...

Anyone know? That would tilt getting rid of the G5 sooner than later.

=wr=

Yep, no more PowerPC support with Snow Leopard:

[lowendmac.com]