Have a friend at work who's son will be going to University next year and for X-mas they will be getting him a laptop.He has asked for an iBook G4.From what she has told me so far he is interested in a iBook g4 14".He will be doing general work on this machine but she also want's it to be able to run Virtual PC or such if the need arises for him to use PC based software for something.I know nothing about iBooks/Powerbooks.Any input would be helpfull.Things to look for or price.I know she wants it to be under warranty, that being orginal or extended apple care.

As well if anyone has one that might meet her needs send me an email with the specs and asking price please.



Thanks James

Hi,

Right now would be a bad time to buy an Apple laptop. Rumor has it that Apple may release Intel iBooks and Powerbooks this January that will be able to run both OS X and Windows XP. www.thinksecret.com usually has tid bits on this.

s.

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The gotcha will be if any of the Uni courses require use of specific software -- get that list first before determining if VirtualPC will do the job. PS: major brand software is usually cheapest for a student if purchased through the university, or under their student status as Education software. Again, check details at the particular school before buying.

I agree with mr. steevo that right now really is not a good time to purchase an Apple laptop because rumor does have it that Intel based Apple Laptops will be available through retail in I believe (I stand to be corrected on this) middle-late February. Also an x86 based Macintosh in a way would be beneficial because she would be able to run Windows based applications (Obviously with a dual boot system), without the need of VPC. I have used VPC before and it is really, really slow when I try and run some of my electronic circuit design software.

Check ot current special on Mac + Office for Mac. VERY cheap for students.

First of all find out if an Apple powerbook will be a fit for your friend's son. I would always advocate buying Apple but find out all the different software to be used for school first. You never know, a windowz laptop might be better for some people in some instances, software wise. Virtual PC for MAC will run almost all Windowz software in emulation but very, very slowly. Sometimes painfully slow! No joke.
Good luck! And go Apple if you can, especially since he asked specifically for an iBook!

not to mention decent educational pricing on the notebooks via apple store and /or the university book store...and the ed version of ms office is priced nicely...

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The problem with everybody saying that he can get an educational discount on this stuff is that he doesn't go to the university yet. They won't be able to use his EDU discount until the summer when he accepts to whichever school he wants to attend and gets his student number. Which defeats the purpose of this being a christmas gift.

Bottom line, iBook will be great for him in University. I'm at Uni right now and my Mac has not been a problem. I need to use a PC for only one program, the rest are all Mac compatible. All the PCs in the library should have the software he needs if he needs to use one for a certain program, and he can easily access those if he needs to use one.

Get him the iBook, he'll have no problems with it.

Hi,

Right now would be a bad time to buy an Apple laptop. Rumor has it that Apple may release Intel iBooks and Powerbooks this January that will be able to run both OS X and Windows XP. www.thinksecret.com usually has tid bits on this.

s.

And if they do release an intel laptop I would have to say it's a bad time to buy one of those. Not much software is yet ported to Intel and likely won't be for a while after the release.

Also I've been bitten too many times being an early adopter of "new" technology from Apple. I'd still suggest waiting a bit and getting a good deal on the "old" model laptops once the new ones are released :)