T.J. Kozikowski on 8/27/01 12:56 PM wrote:
> I am interested in purchasing a laptop for my 14 year old daughter and am
> looking for recommendations related to either the PB 1400 or 3400. While I
> am sure that she would prefer an Indigo iBook 366 or a G3 Wallstreet system,
> these systems are not in my budget.
>
> I have seen the 1400c (or cs) 166 listed on lowendmac.com as a good choice
> and appreciate the ability to upgrade to a G3/333 or 400 at a relatively low
> cost. The negatives I see are the lack of an Ethernet card, limited (64MB)
> RAM capacity and 33.6 modem.
>
> The 3400 is attractive largely due to the 200 or 240Mhz speed, built-in
> Ethernet and higher RAM capacity.
>
> I expect that whatever I buy will be used largely for school work (mostly MS
> Word using Office 98), web surfring with IE 5.0 and IMing her friends.
>
> While I have considered a desktop Mac, we already have two and a laptop
> seems like the best idea. I have also thought about a Wintel machine, but
> would prefer to stay with Apple. My budget is around $500, but would go
> higher for the right system. I have seen 3400s on eBay for $450-600 and
> 1400s for $300-500.
>
I hope your daughter has very strong shoulders. The 3400 is one of the
heaviest PowerBooks Apple made (along with the 3500 Kanga & Wallstreet) and
thick as a brick. This would probably be the only drawback I would see.
If I were buying for my daughter (although she's 13) I would probably buy
the 1400c/166. I had a 1400c/133 and loved it. I also added a G3 at a later
date. It's more compact and, in my opinion, engineered better. Same screen
resolution of 800x600 but an inch smaller. You can get a Global village
56k/10T ethernet card for them or buy separate cards. I loved the keyboard
on my 1400, which is infinitely better than the one on the
190/5300/3400/3500 (all the same).
If you do decide to go for more bulk, then why don't you spend a few more
bucks and get the Kanga G3. I went from my 1400 to the Kanga. The prices are
dropping on those and you can probably get one for $500-600.
It took me a while to realize that the sharp pain running from my shoulder
to the base of my skull was from the strap of my brief case. I've since
started switching shoulders. That Kanga was heavy (same weight as the 3400)
and I only toted the thing from my car to my office. Will she be carrying
this around school? She had better have a backpack or even one of those
nifty 2 wheel bags kids are using now.
One other note. The 3400/3500 use a combo modem/ethernet card and require a
special dongle and system extension to use. Both are limited to 33.6k.
-makmac
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