The Pismo is a great laptop. I don't own one, but I do have its grand-daddy, the Wallstreet (available in 233-300 MHz, instead of the Pismo's 400-500 MHz). Judging by how good the Wallstreet still is, I'd imagine a Pismo would be wonderful. Here's why it's so great: 1. Beautiful 14" screen (same size and resolution as 14" iBook screen, but brighter and the screen size seems to fit the laptop well) 2. Fairly light weight. It's about 6 pounds, which is two pounds lighter than the Wallstreet and only half a pound heavier than the Titanium. 3. Expansion bays. It came with a DVD-ROM drive, but you can put a floppy drive, zip drive, hard drive, extra battery, CD burner, or many other devices in the expansion bays. The bays are hot-swappable, so there's no problem with burning a CD and then watching a DVD, just swap the drive. 4. Appearance and design. The Pismo is really stylish. It's black with that rubberized finish in the middle. They keyboard is really nice and feels just right for a laptop. The trackpad is far better than either of the trackpads on the new Apple laptops, which many find too big. The Pismo is also the only Apple laptop with two FireWire ports on it. The iBooks and the Titanium both have just one. It also has an audio-in jack, which isn't on any new Macs except the eMac. What's great about it is that it's so expandable and versatile, and it's really what the 14" iBook should have been. If I could choose, I'd take a mint condition 500 MHz Pismo over a 600 MHz 14" iBook. You can upgrade the processor to a G4/500, so if you plan on doing that, you may as well spend less and get the 400 MHz version to start out. It'll still be plenty fast. If you're reading, you'll appreciate the larger, clearer resolution of the 14" screen. The 12" screen on the iBook is either too low resolution (800x600, for the old colored iBooks) or too small (1024x768 on the new iBooks). A lot of people like the new iBook's 12" screen, but I find it too small. For writing, the same thing applies, but you also have to take into account how good the Pismo's keyboard is and that the trackpad is smaller so you're less likely to bump it accidentally when typing. This happens a lot on iBooks and Titaniums because their trackpads are so big. For surfing, same thing as reading, and the Pismo is fully compatible with AirPort (and it has much better range than the Titanium). For music, you'll have to get different speakers. The built in ones are crap. The Titanium has better speakers but they're still a bit tinny, and they can't get very loud. Get some nice headphones and/or some external speakers and you'll be happy.
The other good advantage to the Pismo is that you can replace the hard drive by removing only a few screws, while the iBook requires disassembling almost the entire computer and rebuilding it around the new hard drive. The Pismo has two expandable RAM slots, while the iBook only has one plus a built in 128 MB (not enough). Hope this helps On Wednesday, September 4, 2002, at 04:59 PM, Demetrius wrote: > > > Hi, > > I'm new to the list. I'm looking for a laptop, and I always hear > great things about the Pismo. What is it about the Pismo that makes it > so well loved? How does it compare to the iBook and Titanium G4? For > the price it seems like a great deal. Can it be upgraded to a G4 in the > future if needed? My needs are pretty basic:reading, writing, surfing, > music.............. > > thanks > > Demetrius -- G-Books is sponsored by <http://lowendmac.com/> and... Small Dog Electronics http://www.smalldog.com | Refurbished Drives | -- Check our web site for refurbished PowerBooks | & CDRWs on Sale! | Support Low End Mac <http://lowendmac.com/lists/support.html> G-Books list info: <http://lowendmac.com/lists/g-books.html> --> AOL users, remove "mailto:"; Send list messages to: <mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED]> To unsubscribe, email: <mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED]> For digest mode, email: <mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED]> Subscription questions: <mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED]> Archive: <http://www.mail-archive.com/g-books%40mail.maclaunch.com/> Using a Mac? Free email & more at Applelinks! http://www.applelinks.com
