PowerPC in new Powerbook G4 15" - Opinions?

[palmerg]

Hope this is the right place to ask this. Looked around Tom's and this seems the most appropriate. Saw some old info on older powerbooks that doesn't really apply now, so:

My company replaces employee computers about every 3 yrs. Mine is up for replacement in March.
They supply certain bundled systems - in my case a laptop - but also allow what they call non-standard systems if they can be justified.
The bundle I am considering to replace my HP Omniobook 6100 is a Dell Latitude D800. However I have reasons to coinsider the 15" G4 PowerBook.
Specific Questions are:
- The 80 or 100 GB drives are 5400 RPM - can't find out what's in the DELL D800. Will the I/O be a bottleneck for me? I do a fair amount or MySQL querying.

- Comes with 512 MB Ram - would you go to 1GB? SOunds like a no brainer but opinions please.

- I have introduced MACs (my son's each have G4 desktops) running OSX Panther onto my home workgroup Lan and it is fairly seemless. Any snags you folks can advise me on to watch out for?

- Gripes/Kudos about any additional technical,ergonomic, whatever features are welcome too

Thanks for any advice!

 

[P4Man]

Not much of an apple expert, but let me try nevertheless.

>- The 80 or 100 GB drives are 5400 RPM - can't find out
>what's in the DELL D800. Will the I/O be a bottleneck for
>me? I do a fair amount or MySQL querying.

Yes, harddisks ALWAYS are a bottleneck, and especially on laptops. Mind you, this as true for >95% of x86 notebooks (many of which even have 4500 rpm disks), as it will be apparently for your Powerbook. If a faster disk is an option, by all means get it.

>- Comes with 512 MB Ram - would you go to 1GB? SOunds like
>a no brainer but opinions please

For OS-X I would advice 1 GB, but you'll have experienced that with your sons computers already.

>- Gripes/Kudos about any additional technical,ergonomic,
>whatever features are welcome too

I played with a Powerbook at work for a while, and they are just beautiful machines. If limited software availability is not a problem for you, and neither is the price, and the fact these machines are relatively slow compared to its x86 counterparts, well, then get one


= The views stated herein are my personal views, and not necessarily the views of my wife. =

 

[palmerg]

Thanks!
- There is no other HD RPM option. I have seen a few 7200 2.5 out there but have no stats on them - reliability MTBF and all that.
- Definately right on the RAM, will do (if I get the machine)
- Love OSX though. Expose and safari alone are reasons for me as well as the BSD-like kernel which I feel is rock solid.
The only thing is that I am always looking for at least one more button on the mouse. I think apple is a bit stubborn about that design issue but hey it is a defining characteristic.

Oh well - prolly still go with the D800 just because I won't have to jump through corporate hoops but maybe I will test the waters.

Thanks a lot for your insights.

Namarie

 

[palmerg]

FYI for anyone who cares. Some Dell D800s use 2.5 Hytachi MobileStor 40GB 4200 RPM drives.The Powerbook appears to use the Hytachi MobileStor 80 or Seagate 100GB both 5400 RPM drives.