How does a G4 powerbook compare to a C2D vaio?

rudeboymcc

rudeboymcc

rudeboymcc

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Hi. I recently bought a Sony Vaio C1S (intel core2duo 1.66 with 2 gb ram). and have the chance to get a powerbook G4 1ghz 1gig ram.

How do these two laptops compare with eachother? Baring in mind that the powerbook will be running OSX which is much better than XP pro (although I';ll miss some of my windows apps).

I know there are C2D powerbooks out but i can get this G4 for less than £200.

any help is appreciated.
 
Could you post the spec of the vaio please, am interested in a 13" laptop. Always felt soooo much lighter to carry one around.

thanks in advance, Sukh
 
The Core 2 Duo will utterly destroy the G4 Powerbook in any benchmark you care to name. As a rabid Apple fanboy I would like to fly the flag for the Powerbook, but the difference will be night and day. In practice the 1GHz is a powerful chip, more than eqivalent to a 1GHz PIII (which was much more powerful clock for clock than the PIV). In optimised Altivec (Photoshop for instance) programs the Powerbook will exceed this again by a significant margin.

I am basing this evaluation on my use of a 13" Macbook 1.83GHz Core Duo 1gb and a 12" iBook 1GHz 756mb. The Powerbook has slightly higher FSB than my old iBook, but both had discrete graphics.

If it is the form factor that interests you, and significant battery life - almost nothing beats the 12" iBook/Powerbook. Though modern ultralight hardware has much higher than the 5 hours you would see with a Powerbook battery (new).

The best compromise would be a souped up Macbook 13". I have found the 13" to be almost as portable. It won't fit in some very small bags. That is the only downside. Widescreen is the way of the future.

Core 2 Duo goodness and Mac styling an OS or WinOS if you prefer. The Apple Refurb Store has Core Duos for £600. They lose perhaps 20% on Core 2 Duos.
 
I already got the Sony for £600 brand new from a certain auction site (sealed box - not refurbished).

specs are:
Code: 
Microprocessor:  Intel® Core™ 2 Duo Processor T5500,: 1.66   
Chipset: Mobile Intel® 945GM Express Chipset       
RAM:  Memory Speed (MHz): 533.0   
Memory Type: DDR2 SDRAM (2x512MB)   
Max. Memory (MB): 2048.0   
Memory Size (MB): 1024.0     
Cache Memory:  L2 Cache (KB) 2048.0       
Hard Drive Capacity (GB): 100.0   5400.0   
Optical Drive:  DVD+-RW/+-R DL/RAM     
Display Type: X-black LCD   Diagonal Size (in): 13.3   
Resolution Format: 1280 x 800  
Graphics:  Intel® Graphics Media Accelerator 950    
Battery Charging Time (min): 240.0   
Max. Battery Life (min): 160.0     
Dimensions(WxDxH):  329.6 x 235.6 x 37.2     
Weight:  Weight with Supplied Battery and Supplied Drive (kg): 2.3       
Operating System:  Genuine Windows® Media Center Edition 2005 
Vista™ Capable, Premium Ready

The only thing that I didn't notice is that there is no bluetooth but i got over that pretty quick.

The C1* series (comes in loads of colours) is the old version, the C1Z being the best (has bluetooth and dedicated graphics). looks like:
8424.jpg

Now there's the new C2* series but they are more expensive and i couldn't justify the differnce.

macbook beats my C1S : the processor speed (1.66 vs 2.0), the size (same nearly same realestate but c1s is 1cm thicker, and the battery life (3hr vs 6).
 
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im undecided between a similar vaio or running a mac book, but then running XP on it? is there any reason to keep OS X or whatever it is at the same time.
Ive never owned or used an apple in my life so have no idea, but on looks and performance they are sexy.
 
yeah that' the thing if I was to get a C2D apple the first thing i'd do is put xp on it which seems a shame. so I just thoguth I'd buy a pc laptop from the beginning!

sister has an imac and I made it dual boot osx and windows but in the end there's always a program that makes her use windows permanently (for her it's autocad, for me it's sonicstage which i need to put music onto my sony mp3 player).
 
Its just the lure of the shiney case and smallness, and now they are Intel so to speak its easy enough. Ive heard that you have to keep the OSX side of it though because some updates can only be done that way.
 
Firmware updates would require you to keep a partition for OS X, however that partition could be on an external firewire or USB disk, leaving you all the room on your internal for XP.

However firmware updates are mostly not critical.

However just try it... go on ...go on... go on... go on... join us!

I switched 4 years ago for my laptops. It is good(TM).
 
If i bought a refurbished mac book with 2X256 could i swap it out for more memory? Looking for 2 X 1gb or 2 X 512, dont know the rough prices though.

And does anyone know of any schemes where tax can be claimed back for students if its for education or the discount for Higher education being more or less than refurbs?
 
How much performance difference is there between Core Duo and C2D, did the architecture change significantly?

And how does the discount work, is it a percentage? I tried to get onto the higher education site but it doesnt allow me :confused:
 
shoiuld be DDR2, i don;t think ddr works with ddr2 slots they;re phsyically different.

i had 512 in my laptop to begin with so i went on an auction site and got two sticks of 1gig (so 2gig) for £80 including p&p. definatley worth it i think
 
And how does the discount work, is it a percentage? I tried to get onto the higher education site but it doesnt allow me
Click to expand...

Isn't it the VAT (i.e. 17.5%) that they deduct? A friend just bought one with his student discount and was trying to brag to me last night ...
 
Sukh said:
How much performance difference is there between Core Duo and C2D, did the architecture change significantly?

And how does the discount work, is it a percentage? I tried to get onto the higher education site but it doesnt allow me :confused:
Click to expand...

C2D is 10-20% faster than Core Duo at the same clock rate. Not only that C2D is a 64bit chip, while CD is a 32bit chip. C2D also has better power management.

CD was just the final refresh of Pentium M, with a fancy new name. While C2D is a significantly revised architecture.
 
Hmmm, you reckon apple do student discount on refurbished mac books? ;) that would make it affordable!
 
Bought a refurbed macbook in almost new condition from apple then had the VAT knocked off through my dad's business. Ended up paying £505 for my macbook :D
 
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