12 inch laptop decision Averatec vs ibook!!!

U

ullyeus

Supreme [H]ardness
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ok, I am in the market for a 12 inch laptop, this will be a secondary machine so a large harddrive or gaming are not super important. It will mostly be used for programming and web design stuff (ie presentations)

OPTION #1

Averatec 3150H

AMD Mobile Athlon XP-M 1600+ Processor
256MB PC2100 DDR Ram
30GB 4200RPM Hard Drive
CDRW/ DVD Combo Drive
XP Home
USB 2.0, Modem, 10/100 NIC
S3 ProSavage8 32MB Integrated Video

for $755usd

OPTION #2

ibook

800MHz PowerPC G4
256K L2 cache @ 800MHz
12-inch TFT Display
1024x768 resolution
256MB DDR266 SDRAM
30GB Ultra ATA drive
Combo Drive
ATI Mobility Radeon 9200
32MB DDR video memory

for $1020usd

I think both these systems would meet my needs, I am leaning towards the ibook simply because its something a little more "new" to me and I think id really like to emmerse myself in 0SX.

Warranty is important to me as I plan to keep this laptop quite some time, probably 3 years or so.

The only upgrade I would do is to bring them both up to > 512mb ram.

Any thoughts? opinions? suggestions?

any other 12 inch laptops I should consider?
 
Ok, I hate to do this since I work at Staples and sell the Averatec laptop in question.
1) The screens are fairly low quality, and easily washes out.
2) Heat dissapation seems to be an issue. I can't get the damn laptop (tried 2 so far) to complete more than 2 successful loops of the Staples promo dvd without it locking up.
3) The keyboard is cheezy, feels very insubstsntial.

On the plus side, Averatec has been extremely good for our customers warranty wise. So I don't anticpate issues if you did have any problems with the laptop. And the machines themself are fairly rugged (dropped it a couple times and no problems).

I'm seriously considering the iBook myself. Thought about the Averatec untill I spent a bit of time with it.

-Idler
 
Originally posted by Idler
Ok, I hate to do this since I work at Staples and sell the Averatec laptop in question.
1) The screens are fairly low quality, and easily washes out.
2) Heat dissapation seems to be an issue. I can't get the damn laptop (tried 2 so far) to complete more than 2 successful loops of the Staples promo dvd without it locking up.
3) The keyboard is cheezy, feels very insubstsntial.

On the plus side, Averatec has been extremely good for our customers warranty wise. So I don't anticpate issues if you did have any problems with the laptop. And the machines themself are fairly rugged (dropped it a couple times and no problems).

I'm seriously considering the iBook myself. Thought about the Averatec untill I spent a bit of time with it.

-Idler
Click to expand...

I appreciate your perspective, I noticed the same thing with the washed out screen.
 
Originally posted by Idler
Ok, I hate to do this since I work at Staples and sell the Averatec laptop in question.
1) The screens are fairly low quality, and easily washes out.
2) Heat dissapation seems to be an issue. I can't get the damn laptop (tried 2 so far) to complete more than 2 successful loops of the Staples promo dvd without it locking up.
3) The keyboard is cheezy, feels very insubstsntial.

-Idler
Click to expand...

1) The screens were fine for 12"....just don't try and compare it to $1000 screens.
2) They get warm yes.....but I've never had a problem running any game or benchmark
3) It's a laptop....the apple keyboard blows just as bad.

Yes, I've owned the Averatec. It's not that bad, you must have had a lemon.
 
Yeah, I know about the screen, I'm just picky. And my problems (at work) have ONLY been with the 12in model.
Mr. Baz, i agree with you, they are typically good machines, we've got a 14" centrino model that is beautiful. Nice screen, excellent battery life, and runs cool. I think the problem with the 12" is mostly the choice of the 1600+ versus something cooler. NOT saying amd is bad, I love amd, but I don't think it was the right choice for the form-factor they were after.
And yeah, I know the keyboard on the iBook is simmilar, But hell, I gotta give in somewhere, don't I?
:)

-Idler

oh, and to avoid any possible flaming, this is just my opinion, what matters is what you think.
 
Are you a student? If so, you can get a discount on the Apple (if you haven't already). I'd personally get the Apple.
 
Originally posted by lopoetve
Are you a student? If so, you can get a discount on the Apple (if you haven't already). I'd personally get the Apple.
Click to expand...


I quoted the educational prices
 
Originally posted by ullyeus
I quoted the educational prices
Click to expand...

Then I'd get the iBook.

Solid frame,
OSX,
5 hr battery life
Shock mounter HD,
Damage resistant casing
etc.

Great little systems. I almost got one at one point.
 
Well I was thinking about getting a 12" ibook myself except I was thinking of getting a 900MHZ G3. Microcenter has them for $799 right now and if you use their MicroCenter Visa you get a $100 MIR. So $699 for a 12" ibook seems like a good deal. Just FYI. Good Luck in your decision.
 
Originally posted by asusxp1900
Well I was thinking about getting a 12" ibook myself except I was thinking of getting a 900MHZ G3. Microcenter has them for $799 right now and if you use their MicroCenter Visa you get a $100 MIR. So $699 for a 12" ibook seems like a good deal. Just FYI. Good Luck in your decision.
Click to expand...

can I have some linkage? (I am about to google but Im guessing microcenter is kind vague and I want a bump!)


edit: found it, can you explain this visa thing?


edit again: horrible website and reseller rating, I wont deal with them
 
Originally posted by ullyeus
can I have some linkage? (I am about to google but Im guessing microcenter is kind vague and I want a bump!)


edit: found it, can you explain this visa thing?


edit again: horrible website and reseller rating, I wont deal with them
Click to expand...

Microcenter is primarily a B&M store, most B&M stores do have shitty resellerratings for some reason. Best Buy does
 
I've bouight from Microcenter before, never had any problems. Just buy from the B&M if you can.
 
Originally posted by ZeroBullet
Check the Dell 300m, might be what you're looking for.
Click to expand...

a tad too expensive, if I am spending that much I think ill grab the ibook.
 
does the lappy have to be new? I mean with your needs - you don't need a very fast laptop. It might make more sense to buy one used.
 
Originally posted by NleahciM
does the lappy have to be new? I mean with your needs - you don't need a very fast laptop. It might make more sense to buy one used.
Click to expand...


yeah...thats true...I just like buying new cause then I know that I got some warranty backing it up.

I think your right though...maybe I should pick up a $400usd used laptop and then depending how much I use it go for something else.
 
iBook!

It might not be a speed demon, but if you're in this price range there's no point to focussing on raw performance. You want something with a good design and useful specs.

The iBook G4 has really good battery life. I've heard 4.5 to 5 hours in real-world use (browsing the web, iChat running, iTunes playing, that sort of thing). Plus, it's much easier to toggle things to increase battery life on a Mac laptop. You don't have to open a display control panel to turn down brightness, you just hit a key on the keyboard a few times.

You also don't have to wait for the system to come out of hibernation. Are you done for the day? Close the lid. Ready to use it again? Open the lid. If the system is active when you do either of those, it goes into or out of sleep in a second. Wonderful stuff if you're in college/university and you need to start taking notes ASAP.

I'd hesitate to get an iBook G3. You may be able to get one with a copy of Panther included, but it's much safer to get an iBook G4 and know that it's already preloaded. Not to mention that the Apple lineup no longer has G3s, so apps are being increasingly made with G4s and G5s as the primary targets. You don't want to be stuck being unable to run app X or Y a year from now.
 
So what about that Microcenter one with Panther already on it? Is that alright? I heard Panther makes the G3's run much better in OSX.
 
Panther makes all of Apple's stuff run alot better. Not just that, battery life is improved with Panther.

I suggest that you purchase the iBook from your school. That 12" is prolly your best bet. Just don't forget to load that baby up with as much Ram as you can. And why purchase the G3 version of the iBook?? The G4 ones are way better, and they are basically being sold at the same price as what the G3 was being sold before.

I myself am a Windows user, building PCs and whatnot, when I purchased my Powerbook 12", I did not know what I was getting myself into. I purchased it because I needed it for school and was not planning on gaming or lugging a brick around. Never used Apple before, and hated the damn thing before. Now, I love it more than I love my PC at home.

It is true that you can do many cool things on your PC, but to tell you the truth, ever since I got by Powerbook, I have never encountered any type of OS error, and that to me is pretty cool.

Basically, if you want something light, something to get your work done, and something that looks pretty freaking cool, then get that iBook. You will NOT regret it.

Alex
 
Everything you just described as being unique to the iBook can and is already done on PC laptops...

Originally posted by Aurelius
iBook!

It might not be a speed demon, but if you're in this price range there's no point to focussing on raw performance. You want something with a good design and useful specs.

The iBook G4 has really good battery life. I've heard 4.5 to 5 hours in real-world use (browsing the web, iChat running, iTunes playing, that sort of thing). Plus, it's much easier to toggle things to increase battery life on a Mac laptop. You don't have to open a display control panel to turn down brightness, you just hit a key on the keyboard a few times.

You also don't have to wait for the system to come out of hibernation. Are you done for the day? Close the lid. Ready to use it again? Open the lid. If the system is active when you do either of those, it goes into or out of sleep in a second. Wonderful stuff if you're in college/university and you need to start taking notes ASAP.

I'd hesitate to get an iBook G3. You may be able to get one with a copy of Panther included, but it's much safer to get an iBook G4 and know that it's already preloaded. Not to mention that the Apple lineup no longer has G3s, so apps are being increasingly made with G4s and G5s as the primary targets. You don't want to be stuck being unable to run app X or Y a year from now.
Click to expand...
 
Originally posted by UoMDeacon
Everything you just described as being unique to the iBook can and is already done on PC laptops...
Click to expand...

Except the instantaneous wake-up from sleep ;)
 
Originally posted by UoMDeacon
Everything you just described as being unique to the iBook can and is already done on PC laptops...
Click to expand...

Generally not for that price, and he didn't really name the good features of the iBook.
 
Another vote for the iBook here, but with some practical reasons for you as well. I have the 14" 933MHz G4 version.

First and formost... 5.5+ hrs of battery life while coding, browsing, emailing, and having iTunes playing a 128kbp audio stream all at the same time. You can drop the screen brightness down some and get even longer.

Next up, no noise.. zip, zilch, nada. I have never had the fan come on while doing normal day to day stuff including watching full screen divx movies.

OSX... what can I say besides killer UI on top of BSD. My only complaint is some of the wierd directory structure.

It's a great development platform. Need to write code for Mac, Linux, and Windows? Not a problem with XCode, gcc, and QT libraries.

Heat isn't a problem either. The bottom gets a bit warm under the cpu and sometimes the hard drive but it is not uncomfortable. According to Temperature Monitor the cpu runs between 35-40C during normal use. A little warmer when watching video or DVDs.

I don't know why the guy complained about the keyboard, its one of the better laptop ones you will find. For the best go up to a Powerbook, that keyboard is bar none the pinnacle of laptop keyboards.
 
Originally posted by SirRuka
Another vote for the iBook here, but with some practical reasons for you as well. I have the 14" 933MHz G4 version.

First and formost... 5.5+ hrs of battery life while coding, browsing, emailing, and having iTunes playing a 128kbp audio stream all at the same time. You can drop the screen brightness down some and get even longer.

Next up, no noise.. zip, zilch, nada. I have never had the fan come on while doing normal day to day stuff including watching full screen divx movies.

OSX... what can I say besides killer UI on top of BSD. My only complaint is some of the wierd directory structure.

It's a great development platform. Need to write code for Mac, Linux, and Windows? Not a problem with XCode, gcc, and QT libraries.

Heat isn't a problem either. The bottom gets a bit warm under the cpu and sometimes the hard drive but it is not uncomfortable. According to Temperature Monitor the cpu runs between 35-40C during normal use. A little warmer when watching video or DVDs.

I don't know why the guy complained about the keyboard, its one of the better laptop ones you will find. For the best go up to a Powerbook, that keyboard is bar none the pinnacle of laptop keyboards.
Click to expand...

PB keyboard is much better; your fingers slide better. For that matter, while the G4 iBook was ~ok~ for a keyboard, I've used many much better. It's ok, but for me, as a touch typist, I couldn't stand it for long, and I couldn't touch type worth a damn on it.
 
i got the 5110 averatec and i LOVE it. i also looked at the 12" but the 5 hr battery (it realy is 5 hr) was more apealing.
 
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