Hello!!

  First of all, i have to say i am a French Canadian, so I sometimes make mistakes when i’m writing. Sorry… but thanks for your advices in advance!

  Okay. I recently took the decision to buy a new computer, and I chose to consider the Mac platform. And frankly, I am seriously considering to go Mac. The thing is I have a big choice to make. There is two computer I am considering right now, and they are very the opposite of each other. So I am asking you all what you would buy and why. The two computer I am considering are the iMac 17” and the PowerBook 12”, because they have approximatly the same price tag.

  Personnally, I want a computer to help me in my studies (I am a university student in electrical engineering), which consist essentially in typing and searching the internet for informations I need. I also want a computer for watching DVD (perhaps connect it to a TV), burning CD (I don’t really need DVD burning right now…), listening to music (perhaps I’ll consider the iPod for that…) and of course for gaming. I am not a big gamer, but I would like to be able and confortable playing Diablo II and Warcraft on my next computer.

  I like the portability of the PowerBook and is power, but I don’t know if I would be confortable with the small 12” screen. On the other hand, I like also the power of the iMac and it’s huge TFT screen, but it lacks mobility. I am also noting that the iMac is not very upgradable, but I don’t really know if the PowerBook marks more point on this side.

  So I am there, wondering which one of this two computers I should buy. I would appreciate you advice on that matter. Thanks you in advance to all of you, even if you just read it through here because I know I can be difficult to read sometimes, and it proves that you are considering to help.

  Please feel free to ask me question if you would like precisions to better make a final choice.

  Christopher Scrosati
  Sherbrooke, Quйbec, Canada

Welcome to the forums!

I would like to suggest you seriously consider the 15” PowerBook.  If you need mobility (as a student, you certainly do), but want to play games and watch movies, the 15” PowerBook is definitely the right compromize.  It’s a bit more expensive, but not too much more, and it is worth the extra money.

Wacrcraft III and Diablo II both play very well on my 800 MHz PowerBook, which is of the previous generation, and the current models offer a little bit more.  For the things you listed as being important to you, the 15” PowerBook is the perfect solution.

If your budget does not allow for the extra money, I would say that the 12” PowerBook would be the better choice between the two, but only because I think mobility is very important.

Is it possible to hook up your Powerbook to a monitor when you are home and use it like a desktop computer?  If you can,  12 inch may be okay if you can use your larger monitor at home.

It is.  No idea about the resolution, though.

While the iBook only supports mirroring on an external display (shows the same thing as on the LCD), the 12” PowerBook supports spanning, so you can use the LCD and an external monitor at the same time, with an extended desktop covering both. Not sure of the max resolution, but it’s probably something obscenely big.

Personally, I’d go for the PowerBook. Not that the 17” iMac is bad (it’s awesome), but I’d really like to have the portability.