Macworld Forums

Yep, finally after months of reading and trowling the internet for advice, i've orded my first Apple Computer .
I've let my heart rule my head and gone for the Powerbook 15". Even though I went for the superdrive version, i've taking the DVD-R out and reduced the hard drive to 60GB (still too big)

Spec for my order :

1.25GHz PowerPC G4
• 512MB DDR333 SDRAM - 2 SO-DIMMs
• 60GB Ultra ATA drive (4200rpm)
• DVD/CD-RW
• AirPort Extreme Card
• AirPort Extreme Base Station (without modem)
• Backlit Keyboard & Mac OS
• 15.2-inch TFT display
• RADEON Mobility 9600 - 64MB DDR
• 56K internal modem
• Power Adapter
• Battery



If I had bought the combo with some upgraded MB and Airport extreme card :

• 1GHz PowerPC G4
• 512MB DDR333 SDRAM - 2 SO-DIMMs
• 60GB Ultra ATA drive (4200rpm)
• DVD/CD-RW
• AirPort Extreme Card
• AirPort Extreme Base Station (without modem)
• Keyboard & Mac OS
• 15.2-inch TFT display
• RADEON Mobility 9600 - 64MB DDR
• 56K internal modem
• Power Adapter
• Battery



So for about £50 more I got a slightly faster processor and backlight keyboard. I'm happy with that.

I know that it is more than I needed for my computer needs, but after thinking about it, I decided that really liked the look of the powerbook/faster processor/graphics card for playing games if I wanted too and also easy connection to an external monitor if I wanted one in future. Also, my wife helped in an odd sort of way. We reciently bought a table after much debate about which one we were going to buy. I liked a one which was about £700 less than the one my wife liked and in the end she won. Hence, she has no argument about this hehehehehe.

Really looking forward to my first Apple experience.

Many thanks to everyone who replied to my questions. Very appreciated.

simon1,

How much did you save by reducing the HD?

I guarantee that you'll regret it in two year's time!

Over the years I've gone from a 40MB HD (yes, <28 floppy disks worth, and that was a big one!), to 60gig on the current iMac.

The iMac has about 12 gig free space at the moment.

You will be surprised at the size of your iTunes and iPhoto collection...

Have fun!

wetzlar,

I think 60GB is still massive for me. Also i've orded a 20GB ipod which I will use for photo's and music. In the end, I felt that I needed to trim certain things for financial resons and losing 20GB and DVD-R was the best option.

simon1,

Fair enough - no one can argue with that!

Don't forget though, that any data stored on the iPod is likely to be mirrored on the Mac (the songs certainly will), so there isn't 20gig to play with on the iPod.

Let us know how you get on when it arrives.

Simon,

I'll second the iPod thing. I thought the same way about having extra storage, but you MUST keep a copy of your iPod in iTunes. I didn't (when my iBook had a 30GB HDD) and I lost my iPod to a meltdown (or more accurately the data became corrupted).

Besides, you will only be able to add your music to iPhoto or iMovie if it's in your iTunes library.

I've just ordered an iBook (major factor was cost or it would have been a 15" PB with DVD-R, backlit keyboard...) but I paid the extra £56 to get the HDD increased from 30Gb to 60Gb. My last iBook had a 40Gb HDD and I had almost filled that after 3 months.

Have fun with your PB and welcome to the club!

simon1,

if you turn off the auto syncing on the ipod you don't have to have it mirrored. This will save you some space.

just better hope that poor Froggy's misfotune doesn't happen to you

I just ordered my powerbook a few days ago, my first mac too. After having my sony vaio burgaled, I decided to get a powerbook to replace it seeing as I do alot of graphics, photo and video editing. I got the standard 15" specs and I cant wait!
80 GB is ok for me, but I could find myself buying a firewire HDD if all my DV cloggs the powerbook up, and the backlight keyboard is a gem while airport extreme is essential.
although I'll be severly annoyed if g5 or even dual g4 powerbooks come out any time soon!

nicff,

Yeah, DV takes up loads of space. When you're editing, 1hr of DV can take up about 15Gb of space. So I've got 2 hrs of tape from the last couple of months to edit (when my iBook arrives next week) and that will 1/2-fill my HDD, before I add in 10Gb of iPod. So that's 40GB used up, out of 60Gb, before I've even installed my software (office etc). It doesn't take long to fill a large HDD these days.

This doesn't even include my iPhoto library (around 800Mb as it's burnt to CD every couple of months and then deleted).

I find it surprising that you downgraded the SuperDrive. I would have thought one of the main reasons to get the PB over the iBook would be the ability to burn DVDs (for both files back-up and video).