What Mac Portable?

[gbrown]

My sweetie's daughter is off to Bennington this fall to pursue a degree in fine arts. She wants a Mac (being an artist and all) and asked the resident geek (me) for advice. Know less than zip about Macs I said I would ask My More Knowledgable Associates for advice. She'd like to get a portable, but doesn't want to break the bank. Suggestions?

[eric_darling]

Then it's the iBook line. You'll often find good deals in the red tag "Save" section of the Apple web site store on refurbished but warrantied items.

http://www.apple.com/store
(scroll down - it's on the right-hand column)

Of course, I'd recommend a PowerBook for all but the most basic of users. For a burgeoning graphic artist, the more powerful the machine, the more useful it will be to them.

[gbrown]

...
Of course, I'd recommend a PowerBook for all but the most basic of users. For a burgeoning graphic artist, the more powerful the machine, the more useful it will be to them.

What would be a "good" spec, then? The school gave her a sheet with "minimum" specs, but they looked pretty wimpy to me, like "256MB memory".

[eric_darling]

I would say you want the better graphics cards that come with the Powerbooks vs. the iBooks. That's a primary concern. As far as RAM is concerned, I think 512 MB is minimum spec these days - and it's cheap, so why not? Other than that, it's questions of trade-offs. Does she want more portability or more workspace? Does she want longer battery life or higher performance? Does she need fast access to hard drive data (for things like video editing), or is a 4200 RPM drive sufficient?

I own the 15" Aluminum Powerbook. I absolutely love it. It's the best computer I've ever owned by any computer manufacturer.

[Lorne]

This Mack is pretty portable:

http://www.bobyoungprints.com/images/autolrgMac%20truck%20.jpg

:)

Plenty of room for one of these on the back, too:

http://www.maccare.co.jp/pic/old_mac/se_a.jpg

[eric_darling]

I had a Mac SE in college! That thing was state-of-the-art. 40 MB hard drive. That's not a mis-print people. 40 Megabytes! It was huge at the time. Shufflepuck ruled. As did Lode Runner. Tetris came out a bit after... Great stuff and great times. That was back when PCs were considered "IBMs." :)

[Adam]

This one is Big and portable

[gbrown]

OK kids... back on subject (!). I've got to get Ms. Alex a recomendation tomorrow! Make me look like a hero, ok? ;)

GcB

[AGRO]

I would say it depends what she is going to use it for. I know that I use flash alot and I have a 17" powerbook. The 17" is wider than the 15" so I have more room for all of the windows. If she is going to just use it for school, research surfing, email, writing papers I would say ibook. If she is going into a field where here computer is the main tool I would say powerbook. I also would recommend airport, bluetooth, dvd burner. Better to have it and not need it rather than need it and not have it..

Just my 2 cents.

[AXXESS]

Better to have it and not need it rather than need it and not have it..

Wisdom of the ages. :yes :)

[JimS]

Better to have it and not need it rather than need it and not have it..

Especially if you can get it on someone else’s dime.

Gary, if things should ever go afoul for you and your sweetie, I can give you my mom’s number. She’s a great gal, and I’d be happy enough with a Dell. :lol



.

[eric_darling]

She’s a great gal, and I’d be happy enough with a Dell.
Ha Ha!

Seriously, though, some good points to consider here. Still, no matter what Mac you eventually choose for her, please at least check the Apple Store Save page as I mentioned above - the best deals are there.

[gbrown]

Gary, if things should ever go afoul for you and your sweetie, I can give you my mom’s number. She’s a great gal, and I’d be happy enough with a Dell. :lol
.

What's this... you trying to line me up with a date with your mom??? <gasp!> & <grin!> Dorothy will be amused. Oh... this is sad... I'm as old as my fellow-geeks MOM'S! At least you didn't say "My Grandma is a great gal... i'll give you her number!"

I gave Alex (as in "Alexandra") the info from everyone (along with telling her of the digression into "Mack Truck" and "Big Mac"... I could almost here her muttering "Geeks!!!" under her breath). Looks like what she's going to do is pick up an iBook for now and see what's what when she gets out to Bennington. I aimed her at the Apple store, but it didn't really look like that had what she wanted there. We figured they'd have some pretty sexy workstations for the artistes at Bennington (http://www.bennington.edu/main.htm) , and if she needed a machine with more "oomph" she could sell the iBook and pick up a bigger box (http://www.psc.edu/publicinfo/news/2005/2005-07-13-xt3.html) .

GcB