[maybted110]

Hi everyone. I'm new to mac and need your help. I have a line on an aluminum powerbook 12inch with 640mb Ram, 867mhz processor and 40 gb hard drive OR a titanium powerbook 15 inch with 512 ram, 40 gb hard drive, 867mhz processor. Both are the same price but which one is more powerfull for Protools and Reason apps. Any good (or bad) experiences with each of them.
Thanks

 

[rollee]

get the 15" for the bigger screen i love mine.

 

[neema]

I'd say go for the 15". Even though it is an older model, it as a nice bank of L3 cache which will speed up your audio apps and, if it is the same price, that's 3 inches of more screen space =)

 

[Fox]

If you use an AirPort card, go for the 12" aluminum. The reception on all the titanium models is lousy. Some other considerations in favour of the 12" - lighter weight and more resistant to scratches. It's for you to decide how these advantages balance out against the larger screen and bigger cache of the titanium.

 

[maybted110]

is there a big dif between L2 cache and L3?

 

[Ohenri]

I will say the 15 as well, but for a few more reasons.

You will the bigger screen for ProTools - believe me.
The u/g path for the 15 is better. The HD is not too hard to replace, the ram install is cool, and you can max out past the 640 that you're getting from the 12".
The 12" rev A (that one) was marred with issues: many heat dissapation related - that even caused some warping of the case!
The 867 15 was pretty far in it's revs and they were well oiled machines @ that point.

15 all the way... Hope this helps.

H!

 

[Ohenri]

If you use an AirPort card, go for the 12" aluminum. The reception on all the titanium models is lousy.

You can use a 3rd party card if need be - and get that good range. But, ho wmuch range do you need? is the Q?. I had a TiBook and had good range.

H!

 

[da_jonesy]

Well I have the 12" PB G4 (867) and I love it. The keyboard is amazing (WAY WAY better than the 15"). Also with Panther installed and using Expose I don't miss the real estate of the 15" screen.

Also the 12" PB is VERY solid feeling (like a little aluminum brick).

As for L3 cache missing in 12" PB... the faster bus (and faster memory) makes up for the difference... performance shouldn't be an issue between these two machines...

I'd put it down to better construction (The 12") vs. bigger screen (the 15")

 

[maybted110]

I only need range in the house. Is there a big difference in the cache between the 2 models?

 

[fugu]

I echo what da_jonesy says above. I've owned a 15" Powerbook, and now a 12" Powerbook. Believe me, i'm extremely picky when it comes to screen size, however found the remedy was to simply hook up a 21" monitor to the Mini-DVI port when I need to sit down for long periods of time.

The keyboard on the 12" Powerbook is 110% better than the previous Ti models. Overall, in my opinion, it's a much more solid, mature machine.

Cheers,
Darren.

 

[maybted110]

Thanks Everyone. i went for the 12inch Powerbook. I didn't realize but it also has a superdrive. I have heard there is a sight to upgrade the firmware so the DVD-R burns at 2X. Has anyone tried this? Anyone have the link to the sight?
Thanks

 

[da_jonesy]

Yes I installed it. I can confirm that it won't kill your drive, however I am dubious on the performance enhancement... I haven't noticed any speed increase when burning DVD's