Buying second user Mac laptop what is best?

[Journey]

I have decided to get a second user Mac laptop of some description as I am now needing learn to use OS X and need a laptop anyhow so I am thinking kill two birds etc.

I am after a few peices of information to help me make a good decision.

1.) I need it to be able to run OSX 10.5 so I believe it needs to be G4 867Mhz or better, is this true?

2.) I would like to spend no more than £400 and have seen PowerBooks in the 12" and up to 17" for this price, are PowerBooks the best in my price bracket?

3.) Does Bootcamp with Windows XP work on PPC CPUs?

4.) Are there any of the Macs that are very upgradable, more that just RAM like putting in a DVD-RW and increasing HDD space if needed?

5.) Lot of other thing that I need to know but can't think to type

I appreciate any guidance on this and feel free to abuse my lack of knowledge with Macs.

 

[mr.sly]

2) I managed to get a 13" Macbook (1.83Ghz Dual Core, 80GB HDD, 1GB RAM) for £350 on a popular auction site recently. So you should be able to aim a little higher than a Powerbook depending on the screen size you want.

4) I bought a 2GB RAM kit from OcUK when I got it as well, and it was simple enough to upgrade. Take off the battery, take out 4 (I think) screws, then pop out the RAM. I believe you can upgrade the hard drive as well, but I haven't looked into that.

 

[apeZ]

I don't mean to be pedantic, but by 'second user', you mean 'second hand', right?

Also, check out the MacRumors site and forums, I had loads of Mac related questions answered quicker by searching their forum than asking here

 

[MagicBoy]

1.) I need it to be able to run OSX 10.5 so I believe it needs to be G4 867Mhz or better, is this true?

Yep. Needs at least 512MB, preferable 1GB for decent performance.

2.) I would like to spend no more than £400 and have seen PowerBooks in the 12" and up to 17" for this price, are PowerBooks the best in my price bracket?

I'd really try and get an Intel based machine - hold out for a Rev A MacBook Pro or white MacBook with a Core Duo.

3.) Does Bootcamp with Windows XP work on PPC CPUs?

No. You need an Intel Mac to run Bootcamp or Parallels/VMWare.

4.) Are there any of the Macs that are very upgradable, more that just RAM like putting in a DVD-RW and increasing HDD space if needed?

RAM is easily upgradeable, HDD is usually upgradeable (can be a little tricky to access on some). Optical drive replacement requires the correct Apple part. iFixit.com will tell you how to replace most parts on an Apple Notebook.

 

[Feek]

The reason the suggestion is made to go with an Intel chipset is because Snow Leopard is around the corner and that is rumoured to remove all PowerPC support.