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The Road Warrior Mailbag/From The Archive - June 23, 2008

120 GB HD For MacBook Air?

From The Road Warrior Archive - G4 iBook or Titanium PowerBook - Which Is The Best Choice? (For You)


120 GB HD For MacBook Air?

From ncbill

It would be nice if the next MBA revision switches from parallel-ATA to micro-SATA for the storage drive so Apple can ship it with one of these installed:

Super Talent 1.8 inch 120GB MasterDrive KX Micro-SATA Solid State Drive
https://www.ewiz.com/detail.php?name=FUM20GK18H#

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Hi Bill;

Interesting, and it's thin enough to fit inside the Air too. I can't imagine that it will be too long before Apple offers a 120 GB SSD in the Air.

Charles

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From The Road Warrior Archive - G4 iBook or Titanium PowerBook - Which Is The Best Choice? (For You)

In November, 2003, I posted the following Road Warrior column comparing the merits of the then recently introduced G4 iBook with the recently discontinued PowerBook G4 Titanium, and determined that it would ultimately depend on your needs and tastes, but that they were remarkably closely-matched in performance and value in most respects. Pretty much the same dynamic would apply today for someone shopping for a bargain-basement laptop still capable of running OS 10.4 Tiger very respectably, or OS 10.5 Leopard less respectably (the last three TiBook models and all G4 iBooks except for the first-generation 800 MHz machines are officially supported by Leopard).

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G4 iBook or Titanium PowerBook - Which Is The Best Choice? (For You) - Originally Published November 17, 2003

Since the G4 iBooks were announced last month, several readers have written to The Road Warrior MailBag pondering whether their best choice for a Mac portable system purchase or upgrade would now be an iBook, one of the lower-priced aluminum PowerBooks, or perhaps even a used or refurbished unit.

Certainly if I were currently in the market for a laptop, this would be a conundrum for me too. I'm very happy with my 10 month old 700 MHz G3 iBook, but the PowerBooks do offer certain features not available on the iBook, and the high-end models are of course the ultimate in Mac portable power and expandability.

The new 12- and 14-inch iBooks have, in addition to the PowerPC G4 processor, DDR memory architecture providing improved speed, efficiency and overall system performance, ATI Mobility Radeon 9200 graphics with 32MB of dedicated DDR memory and AGP 4X for gaming performance and watching DVD movies, USB 2.0 connectivity, support for AirPort Extreme that is Wi-Fi Certified and based on the ultra-fast 802.11g standard, offering data rates five times faster than 802.11b while maintaining compatibility with millions of 802.11b products, optional internal Bluetooth for wirelessly connecting peripherals such as Apple’s new Wireless Keyboard and Wireless Mouse, as well as the carryover I/O ports from the previous G3 iBooks, including FireWire 400, and a built-in 56K v.92 modem and Ethernet (10/100BASE-T).

The G4 iBooks thus offer a tremendous amount of value for the money, and their G4 power plus a raft of heretofore PowerBook-only features make the case for buying a new PowerBook instead considerably less compelling.

However, there is also the option of buying a refurbished or leftover Titanium PowerBook at somewhat more than the price of a 14" iBook, and if it's been refurbed by Apple, it will come with a one-year warranty that can be extended to three years with AppleCare, just like a new machine. A recent-generation TiBook will also come with L3 cache, have a PC card slot, and with its two RAM slots can be expanded to 1GB of memory more cheaply than the iBook, its hard drive will be easier to replace, and it has that big 15.2" 1280 x 854 resolution screen (although that can be a mixed blessing if you ever have to pay to replace it). On the downside are the TiBook's limited Airport signal range and more fragile construction, with it's too-easily-chipped, worn, and scratched paint finish and easily dented thin sheetmetal skin.

So which is the best deal? As they say, that depends. Lets compare a couple of TiBook/G4 iBook saw-offs:

PowerBook G4 Titanium 867 MHz/ 933 MHz 14" G4 iBook
Active-matrix 15.2" display (1280 x 854)/14.1" display (1024 x 768)
256MB SDRAM, expandable to 1GB (two slots)/256MB SDRAM, expandable to 1GB (one slot)
Lithium Ion battery (up to 5 hours use)/Lithium Ion battery (up to 6 hours use)
tappable trackpad/tappable trackpad
2 built-in speakers and microphone/2 built-in speakers and microphone
1 PC card slot/no PC card slot
10/100/1000BASE-T (Gigabit) Ethernet/10/100BASE-T Ethernet
Built-in 56k Fax/Modem/Built-in 56k Fax/Modem
Infrared support and S-video-out/Composite and S-video-out (with optional adapter)
16-bit stereo sound /16-bit stereo sound
Slot-loading Combo drive (DVD-ROM/CD-RW)/slot-loading Combo drive (DVD-ROM/CD-RW)
40GB hard drive standard, with up to 60GB optional/40GB hard drive standard, with up to 60GB optional
One FireWire 400 Port/One FireWire 400 Port
Two USB 1.1 ports/Two USB 2 ports
Maximum RAM 2 GB (256 MB standard)/Maximum RAM 1 GB (256 MB standard)
PowerPC (G4) 867 MHz/PowerPC (G4) 933 MHz
133 MHz System Bus/133 MHz System Bus
1 MB Level 3 cache/256K on-chip level 2 cache running at full processor speed
DVI, DVI to VGA adapter, S-video ports, monitor spanning/VGA video output for video mirroring with included Apple VGA Display Adapter, S-video and composite video output requires Apple Video Adapter, sold separately
audio line-in and audio line-out ports/ audio line-out port
ATI Mobility Radeon 9000 graphics processor with AGP 4X support and 32 MB of DDR video memory/ATI Mobility Radeon 9200 graphics with 32MB of DDR memory and AGP 4X
16-bit CD-quality stereo input-output sound/16-bit CD-quality stereo input-output Sound
AirPort ready with integrated antennas and card slot/AirPort Extreme ready with integrated antennas and card slot
Weight: 5.6 pounds/Weight: 5.9 pounds

In summary, the two machines are remarkably well-matched. The new iBook has a slightly faster processor but a bit less efficient cache performance; the same speed system bus; the disadvantage of a single RAM slot; a better graphics card with the same amount of video RAM, Airport Extreme support but no gigabit Ethernet; no PC Card slot or audio line-out port; USB 2.0 instead of USB 1.1; external monitor mirroring only instead of monitor spanning; the smaller, lower-resolution display and not as nice a keyboard. Other than that it's pretty much a wash. The 933 MHz iBook sells for $1,299, which is a stupendous deal considering that the 867 MHz TiBook sold for $1,000 more than that when it debuted a year ago, offering very similar performance, and still is running several hundred dollars more used/refurb./leftover.

PowerBook G4 Titanium 1.0 GHz/G4 iBook1.0 GHz
Active-matrix 15.2" display (1280 x 854)/14.1" display (1024 x 768)
256MB SDRAM, expandable to 1GB (two slots)/512MB SDRAM, expandable to 1GB (one slot)
Lithium Ion battery (up to 5 hours use)/Lithium Ion battery (up to 6 hours use)
tappable trackpad/tappable trackpad
2 built-in speakers and microphone/2 built-in speakers and microphone
1 PC card slot/no PC card slot
10/100/1000BASE-T (Gigabit) Ethernet/10/100BASE-T Ethernet
Built-in 56k Fax/Modem/Built-in 56k Fax/Modem
Infrared support and S-video-out/Composite and S-video-out (with optional adapter)
16-bit stereo sound /16-bit stereo sound
SuperDrive (DVD-R/CD-RW) optical drive/slot-loading Combo drive (DVD-ROM/CD-RW)
60GB hard drive standard, with up to 80 GB optional/40GB hard drive standard, with up to 60GB optional
One FireWire 400 Port/One FireWire 400 Port
Two USB 1.1 ports/Two USB 2 ports
Maximum RAM 2 GB (256 MB standard)/Maximum RAM 1 GB (256 MB standard)
PowerPC (G4) 1.0 GHz/PowerPC (G4) 1.0 GHz
133 MHz System Bus/133 MHz System Bus
1 MB Level 3 cache/256K on-chip level 2 cache running at full processor speed
DVI, DVI to VGA adapter, S-video ports, monitor spanning/VGA video output for video mirroring with included Apple VGA Display Adapter, S-video and composite video output requires Apple Video Adapter, sold separately
audio line-in and audio line-out ports/ audio line-out port
ATI Mobility Radeon 9000 graphics processor with AGP 4X support and 32 MB of DDR video memory/ATI Mobility Radeon 9200 graphics with 32MB of DDR memory and AGP 4X
16-bit CD-quality stereo input-output sound/16-bit CD-quality stereo input-output Sound
AirPort enabled with integrated antennas and pre-installed AirPort Card/AirPort Extreme ready with integrated antennas and card slot
Weight: 5.6 pounds/Weight: 5.9 pounds

In this comparison, the gap widens a bit, notwithstanding the parity in processor clock speeds. With the high-end last generation TiBook, you got all the stuff that came with the 867 MHz unit, plus 512 MB instead of 256 MB standard RAM, 64 MB instead of 32 MB video RAM, a SuperDrive DVD-burning optical drive (which is not available on any iBook), and an installed Airport card. If any of those features are compelling to your needs or wants, then the 1 GHz TiBook is an awful lot of computer, but it will set you back $1,800 - $2,100, while the 1 GHz G4 iBook is still a relatively modest $1,499.

There is also one TiBook capability that some users still might find very compelling, namely the Ti's happy facility for booting into OS 9, which the G4 iBooks cannot do. The last-generation Ti's are the extreme ultimate in Classic-booting Apple portables.

The question boils down to not "which is the best choice?" in an absolute value sense, but rather: "which is the best choice and/or value for me?" One size does not necessarily fit all in this context.




If what you're looking for is a quite powerful basic computing platform with which to do the things most users do with computers -- email, word-processing, Web surfing, a bit of image-editing with your digital photos, etc., then it is hard to beat one of the G4 iBooks as a combination of power/features/value. You get a rugged, attractive machine with an G4 grunt and "almost" all of the features traditionally offered in PowerBooks, as well as USB 2.0 and Airport Extreme, which are not available in the Titanium PowerBook. If you do serious road warrioring, the compact, 4.9 lb., 800 MHz G4 iBook makes an ideal choice. If you're looking for more of a portable desktop substitute unit, one of the 14 in. iBook will do very nicely. My personal value pick is the $1,299.00, 933 MHz model.




On the other hand, if you do things like video editing or high-end graphics, the TiBook's 64 MB of video RAM (on the 1 GHz unit), more flexible RAM upgrade facility, level 3 cache, and that glorious 15.2 in. high-resolution screen will probably tip the balance in its favor, notwithstanding the significantly higher price (you might also include the new 15.2 in. aluminum PowerBook in your considerations, once Apple gets the "white spots" on the screen issue ironed out). If you need to monitor spanning, DVI video output support, PC Card support, or a SuperDrive, a PowerBook is your clear choice, since these features are not available on any iBook. And as noted above, if you require, or just want, OS 9 bootability, the TiBook is your machine here. G4 iBooks and aluminum PowerBooks can't boot OS 9.

And finally, a partly intangible point is the fact that as much as I love my iBook, nothing else is a PowerBook -- the PowerBooks mystique still applies.



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cmoore@macopinion.com

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