G4 iBook + 20" external LCD, or 20" iMac G5?

I'm undecided as to what new computer setup I want to go with my soon-

to-be-bought Canon 350D (Rebel XT).

 

I've decided to go with Apple for a variety of reasons.

 

So I'd appreciate any opinions as to whether a G4 iBook plus external

LCD is up to doing (fairly basic - retouching, curves, unsharp mask,

etc. - not 'major' filter work) Photoshop work on 8MP photos, or

whether the G5 will have a significant advantage. I presume I'll

need about 1GB RAM in either? Or do I need more? Or is 512MB fine?

(Though I guess no one knows how much OS X Tiger will be eating, yet).

 

Price of iBook G4+LCD vs. iMac G5 is fairly comparable. In a way I'd

like the laptop as it'd be nice to be able to have the

portability/flexibilty, but I don't *really* need a laptop - but if

performance would be similar to iMac then I'd prefer it.

 

Any advice or suggestions would be welcome - thanks!

 

Oh - also - any suggestions of 20"(ish) LCD panels? Is the Apple

Cinema Display good? Or are there others (at comparable price) that

are better?

Beware that the iBook only has analog video out (VGA, S-Video). The iMac has a digital display. On the other hand, you can take your iBook with you. Performance wise the iMac is better, but you don't have the portability.

 

Personnally I would go for a 12" Powerbook and a DVI display.

 

Apple Cinema Displays are among the best LCD's, but expensive.

I use a Canon 300d and 12 inch Apple ibook. The portability and flexibility is excellent but if I could rewind the clock, I would buy a 12 inch Powerbook.

From what I read, the ibook screen can not be calibrated and the video output is analogue only.

I can and do use the ibook while sitting by the fireside, not tied to a desktop, just use a chessboard to reduce the heat on your knees !

jim, go into your Applications folder, then into the Utilities folder. there is a program called ColorSync, you can use that to create ICC profiles for your monitor, for me it's provided pretty accurate results. and Jonathan, unless you really feel the need to throw down serious cash on a powerbook, a 14" ibook with 1.25gigs of ram should do you just fine. i have 512mb and i'm doing great!

Yes, a G5 is going to be faster. But a G4 will get the job done just fine.

 

I don't see the point in spending the extra money on a PowerBook. It has DVI out...so what? I have an LCD on analog on my PC and it looks just as good as my cousin's Apple display on DVI. I know DVI is the technically superior interface, but I'm not seeing the difference.

 

Apple's calibration software works OK, but I actually prefer to have direct access to a monitor's RGB output for matching monitor to print. Any 3rd party LCD will give you this in its on screen menu. Apple's does not. It is an oversight which drives me nuts. I would actually go 3rd party for an LCD for the iBook. Good 19" models are now surprisingly cheap.

 

I think I would ultimately choose portability over the G5 iMac. But then, I'm trying to tempt myself into a new iBook so that might be slanting my opinion some what.

The iBook G4s can absolutely be color calibrated as I've done it myself. The thing about

the ibooks is that their video cards are pretty wimpy. Apple disabled their ability to do

anything other than mirror display when connecting using the ACD. This means that you

would only be able to use the external monitor at 1024*700, and not anything else. You

can reenable it, but it takes a piece of software from the net. This lets you extend displays

and use the ibook display along with an external monitor. Ultimately though the iBooks

have a few problems what make them less than desirable for photoshop. They have a

small level 2 cache, and the bus speed isn't what i'd like.

 

Unless you're set on having portability, I'd get the iMac G5. I believe its close to getting the

stand alone 1.8 ghz tower, with just a lesser system board, and a better cooler G5

processor (not entirely sure about the diff. proc). The G5s do offer slightly better

performance over the g4s as well.

 

I suppose it all depends on portability. If you settle on the laptop, the powerbooks are

smaller, and offer better, specs than the iBooks.

If you aren't already aware, the iBook's can only mirror the display to an external monitor,

and only at a maximum resolution of 1024x768. There is a hack which allows you to use

higher resolutions on an external monitor, but it voids the warranty.

 

--Brent

doh i really should read the posts more thoroughly....

Joey,

Thank you for the info on Color Sync for my ibook.

 

Apple continues to surprise me.

 

Jim