I have a Pismo 400 and my wife has an iBook 500. I get iBook envy because of the small size and because of the ports on the side. Lugging a big Pismo around is really a pain and I hate reaching around to plug things in. Battery life is also a big issue for me. My Pismo battery is worthless, but my daughter was able to watch two DVD movies on my wife's iBook during a recent transcontinental flight. We can hook the iBook up to the TV and watch DVDs or slideshows very easily with the optional cable. I could never figure out how to do this with my Pismo.
Big plusses for Pismo over iBook: screen size and upgradability. The style is also very different, but that's a matter of taste. I don't really use audio-in or infrared, and the second fire-wire port is not a big deal. I do use the PC card slot. I don't really make use of the swappable bays either. It's a cool idea that appeals to the geek in me, but doesn't end up being very practical. I keep the DVD drive in and have a zip drive module. But I rarely use the zips. My CD burner is external. You don't really want to carry swappable bays around with you anyway, and when you're home an external drive is fine. I'm not sure about the 12" iBook screen size issue. I've never had problems with it, but I've never actually worked on it over long periods of time. The difficulty of upgrading the HD is the one thing that would hold me back from getting an iBook. I've never really used a TiBook, but I would worry about airport performance and fragility. I get the impression that they scratch easily and they seem a little flimsy to me. And then there is price... Overall I would recommend a 12" iBook, unless there is some Pismo feature you really need. Jim On Wednesday, September 4, 2002, at 06:20 PM, Luca Rescigno wrote: > 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.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. -- 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
