iBook or G4 Powerbook, Which one to get? Options

Hello.

I'm going to sell my G3 Powerbook (333Mhz) and buy a more powerful laptop. The problem is that I can't decide if I should buy a 600Mhz G3 iBook or a 550Mhz G4 Titanium. The Powerbook is just slightly more expensive but the iBook comes with a combo drive...

I use Logic Audio Platinum 4.81 and record quite a lot of audio.

I want to get the Titanium because it has got a G4 processor but does that really make up for the cheaper price+CDRW??

Thanks,
Mikael

[mick000]

hello,

I am also thinking about buying a powerbook - have you learned anything yet?

I heard mention that the newer Powerbooks with DVI work better (???)

Mick

[damann]

hi guys,
you really should read my post in the 'serious audio on ibook 700' forum.
futureproof your investment, go g4!

[Synthetic]

Good idea to follow when buying computers.... always buy as much power as you can afford. I was looking at a G3 700 ibook as well but decided that buying a refurbished G4 was the better bet for the money and i happened to find a refurb g4 with combo drive, 256mb ram, 20gig for $100 more than brand new 14' 700 ibook. So keep an eye out for refurbs (they still have warranty) and you may find one has combo drive and in your price range.

[lepetitmartien]

Also as new things (no, not G5 should show up in july, use the promotions that are made now.

I'm still waiting for my 10 G5, 6 PCI womping poobah mac. Anyone?

[Synthetic]

can you imagine how cool it must be to work as a developer that produces the newest chips and architecture... you would always own the absolutely newest and fastest technology and never feel that 'the computer you just purchased is depreciating faster than Enron stock and behind the times' --- that's considering that the fastest models on the market are probably 25% slower than what's in the lab

[Timm]

What do you think is coming in July??? What promotions are going on now???

Also - 550mhz G4 still better than a 700mhz G3?


Thanks for your help, this is a huge decision!

[lepetitmartien]

G4 ++ are coming, but that's all we know…(faster, stronger…as usual)

Else a G4 using Altivec is always better at complex calculation than a G3.

I'd say from a 'feeling' point of view that G3 700 and G4 550 are about the same league.

The promotion now are for any trade in of older than G3 BW , you've got rebates…

And if the stocks from the shop aren't over, you'll see a small quantity of 800MHz/1GHz at great prices… question of luck.

G5 the real Mac Coy is for january or if we are lucky before that… But I don't think we'll see them at the Job's speech in Paris for the Apple Expo the 10th of september.

[damann]

thanks lepetitmartien,
G5! is coming soon, it's potential will make g4 look kinda stupid.
all soft/hardware developers will be utilizing it's capabilities.
a g3 will be worth peanuts.
have you ever bought a car that's impressed you, only to find a few months down the line when you've got to know it's limitations, that you feel it's sluggish, envied the guy whose smoke you're breathing, the guy with the new plates?
apple talk about the megahertz myth, don't buy into the numbers game, there's much more to it. if a 700mhz g3 is better than a 550mhz g4, why does the 550mhz g4 cost more? why does g4 even exist?
i use a pretty 'maxed out' g4 setup and i'm desperate for something better!
also, when what i want comes along, i know that i'll get very little money for my machine.
sorry to be OTT but every word i say is true, it's only 'cos i care...

[Catmixer]

OK, now I'm confused...
In a discusion later on in this forum synthetic said: "So yes the 700mhz ibook can do serious music... I don't see it being to overwhelmed by any app unless you just love to go crazy with the plugs"...
So what is exactly a crazy amount of plugins? And is it really a big hassle to counce some tracks from time to time? Sure, its nice you can run an EQ/Compresor for each channel, but I've seen people runnning 32 tracks of audio on a G3 450Mhz and it wouldn't crash before using a fair amount of plugins...They bounced some staff, but its not like the computer would crash- it just wouldn't play the audio...But what about VST's...how many of them can you run at the same time, assuming you havn't got more then 6-12 audio tracks?
I appriciate your concern, but I owned a Renault 5 1200cc for a year, and was happy it could take me wherever I wished for as long as I wanted to, so do you think I would be satisfied with a G3 700Mhz ibook, assuming that I can't go beyond $1600
?
Peace...

[damann]

i regularly use about 30 vst plugins.
i certainly don't consider this to be a "crazy amount".
to me a crazy amount would be a small number, these things seriously enhance
your music!
on your budget the 700mhz ibook looks like the best purchase.
fundamentally, the point i'm making is that a year or two down the line you're likely to
want to get more complex and use the system for what it is, a virtual studio!
for the record, i don't use a desk, outboard fx or midi modules, logic is literally my studio!

[Catmixer]

I'm actually more concerned about VST instruments (don't know if you meant affects, etc or Like virtual MIDI controled inst, ESX24, ES1, etc)...I mean don't get me wrong, as I said I would like to put EQ/Comps/effects on every ch, but hi- I guese everything has a limit...Especially my budget!!!
I do appriciate your concern, though, and know exactly what you're talking about..You get a new macine, and find how much more it can do then your previouse one...and then, a couple of months and loads of experiment down the line, your processor can''t handle your experiments any more...but its like you said-you've got a prety much maximized G4 setup, and still you need more....its never gonna end!!!
But in any case-could you recomentd a light and cheap MIDI+Audio interface to suit this setup?
Peace

[Login]

I thought it was about the bus speed that determined which was better, does a refurbished titanium have a faster bus speed than a 600mhz ibook?

[mummy]

I think even the slowest of the current TiBooks or even 550 would be a much better option than an iBook for many reasons - mainly because Logic is optimized for Altivec, and also because the screen is bigger... Just add RAM so you have at least 512Mb.

The fact is you can't assign each track its own PlatinumVerb unless there's only a few running, but you can still run A LOT of plug-ins even with 24 tracks and quite a few VSTi's... Just remember to pptimize the system.

[damann]

the altivec and bus speed issues were two of my original points.
according to a macworld review, a 600mhz g4 will be 20% faster than a
600mhz g3. according to the same article ibooks are aimed at...
"most consumers' main activities of web browsing, email, word processing and light digital photography. those applications that require super-fast performance-pro-level video editing, music and multimedia-are better suited to the powerbook."
the system buss on a g4 powerbook is 133mhz on the latest machines, 100mhz on the older models.
the system buss on the new ibooks is 100mhz, 66mhz on the older models.
regarding interfaces. the emagic emi 2/6 for audio and mt4 for midi would be the smart choice if you're using logic.
if you want something combined, i've heard good things about swissonic.
hey mummy! the idea with reverbs is that you put one or two of them onto returns and buss tracks that you want reverb on to them, no need to put reverbs on track channels.
finally, in my count of 30 plugins, between 6 to 10 of these will be vsti's.
happy hunting.

[Catmixer]

Hi Dammann
Could you recomend a specific model of the swissonic? Will it still work well with Logic? I think one of my mates got one of those...
Dammit, you got me all hot on the Tbook again, I'm trying to find a refurbished one for cheaper, but the lowest price I found is $2100...still too much for my budjet...could you recomend a good website for refurbished Macs in the US?
Peace...

[damann]

hi Catmixer!
s^*t, i got it wrong with the swissonic stuff. no midi support!
the problem with the interfaces that handle audio and midi is that the midi implementation is only basic(1 in 1 out typical).
it seems that the m-audio(midiman) quattro is probably the best choice if you're counting the pennies!
the marian marc8 for pc users doubles the i/o of the quattro for the same price but in m-audios' favour, they've responded to criticism by updating all their drivers and generally tightening ship!
the reason i reccomended emi2/6 and mt4 is that these are obviously emagic products. considering recent apple/emagic developements and the fact that these devices are cheap AND offer great driver compatibility, it makes sense to "future proof" your investment.
on the subjct of g4. os10.2 is just around the corner, it will be the way forward for the macmusic community and to quote macworld again...
"promises to deliver a performance boost for all mac g4 users".
no mention of g3 of course.
i'm based in london but spend a lot of time in the states, how about recycler for your "refurbed" tibook?
refurbed as a term is misleading, 2nd hand is 2nd hand and a deal can be cut with an individual looking for quick cash much more succesfully than with a salesman working for a profit based organisation.
finally, i'm sorry to say, i just purchased a brand new 667mhz tibook.
it ROCKS.
osx and classic are way cool and g4 altivec is as good as it gets for now!
having said all this, i have friends who still make music on atari and mpc
kit. whatever works for you WORKS!
peace, catch you later, good luck(luck= labour under correct knowledge)...

[rikibacardi]

have a powerbook 667 titanium - most unreliable mac i ever bought.
had enough of it - considering selling up and going back to MPC's. imagine-sequencers that work ! no more error messages.

buy a desktop unless you have very specific needs - my other G4's (all desktops) are very reliable.

[evesapple]

I'm in the same boat. Trying to decide between 667 Powerbook, Superdrive iMac or the iBook.

I've pretty much ruled out the iBook. If the classic iMacs are discontinued as expected at Macworld, the iBook will be the only G3 in the Apple range. Heck, you might as well say it ALREADY is the only G3 in the range since the classic iMacs are not being updated anymore. I don't think you want to be in that minotiry.

I have a few beefs with the FP iMac too like it's loud, so I think I'm going to go for the Powerbook.

[filarion]

Superdrive iMac probably is the best bet. I own the 800 Mhz TiPb and it´s great for running a bunch of VSTi´s and effects, but only useful in an audio production environment if you get an external hd (which set me back an extra 450€ for a 120 gig LaCie).

[damann]

i should make the point here that i don't use the tibook for music!
i have an 800mhz g4 tower for music.
the tibook is great for all my other needs, but i would never consider a laptop for music making.
the desktop machines are considerably more powerful than laptops, much better value for money, and fitting extra drives is cheaper and easier.
good point about extra drives, they are of course necassary!
i also find that 1gb of ram is necasarry also...