Personal opinion, but I would stay away from the passive matrix screen
models. I traveled with a 165c and a 520c for a long time, they were
great machines but the screens wore out my eyes when I used them for
long periods of time. I spent a year in Saudi Arabia with a 165c and the
screen was worse on my eyes than staring at the desert all day at work.
The 165c and 180c models will seem really slow compared to your 520,
even if you max out the RAM.
Which leaves the 1400c, which I have one of. Nice machine, but slow...
(I have a 166, with the RAM maxed out). The screen is great, it has the
best keyboard of any PowerBook I have used, (I haven't used any newer
models for a couple of years, I am hooked on 3400's) and it is light
weight enough to carry around for a long while. The "Book cover" option
is a cute idea - mine has a print of Monte Dollack's "Blackfoot River"
under it. I would, also, consider using flash memory for a start up disk
on the 1400c - I do on mine and I don't think the hard drive has had to
be "spun up" to start it in months. The drawback is no Ethernet or
Modem, unless you add a PCMCIA card, which is not a major problem for me
as I don't use it on the net. I use it, mainly, with Word 5.1 and to
play simple games. It spends most of the time on the headboard of my bed
in my loft...
Still given the price of all these machines, why not go for a 240MHz
3400 that can be maxed out with 144MB of RAM? I have found, in
PowerBooks, RAM is paramount. I have picked up very nice 3400c's with
240MHz processors and 32MB of RAM, then upgraded them to 144MB for less
than $150. I keep thinking I should trade up to a G3 PowerBook, but then
have to ask myself, why? My 3400c does a great job...
I would avoid the low end 3400c's, especially if they don't have an
internal modem/ethernet card.
Doc..
John Perkins Jr. wrote:
I am going to have to get a different PowerBook, due to the fact that
the hard drive in my current 520 is dying. Here are the models I am
considering:
165c
180c
1400c
1400cs
which one should I get?
Here is basically what I do on my PowerBook:
Play an old Mac Classic version of Oregon Trail
Write things (using ClarisWorks)
Use SimpleText for Text-to-Speech (I use MacinTalk 3)
Play with Apple Script
As you can see, I don't need alot of RAM, a fast processor, or a big
screen, but color would be nice.
Thanks
-John
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