Message-Id: <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> In-Reply-To: <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> Date: Wed, 9 Jun 2004 09:16:48 -0400 From: Peter Polshek <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> Subject: Which FireWire hard-drive?
Hello all. We need a firewire hard-drive for backup and extra storage. Which is the manufacturer of choice in terms of reliability or is it all the same?
Also, I asked last week which older laptop was the right choice and got limited response.
Are the plastic cased ibooks tough enough as compared to metal cased machines?
Is 12" screen really too small?
Are Pismos the cheapest best choice?
Thanks. -- Peter Max Polshek
I've had a couple of LaCie D2 160 Gb FW drives for about 8 months, and they've been fine. Other manufacturers' products may well just as good, but LaCie's are the only ones I can comment on.
iBook robustness: I think the iBook is a very tough little machine. A 12" G4 iBook is a very good, cost-effective machine.
12" screen too small? Not in my opinion, I have a 12" PB. If the iBook had been G4 last year I would have bought one of them instead. I use monitor spanning on the PB. You need to be aware that the iBook doesn't so this out of the box (it only does video mirroring) but there is a well-known hack that will enable monitor spanning on many iBooks (later G3s and all G4s, I believe). Here's a link:-
http://macparts.de/ibook/
Caution: this will in fact invalidate a warranty, and if done on the wrong machine, may render it inoperable. But many, many people have found that it works and enhances the capabilities of the iBook closer to that of the PB.
Pismos cheapest best choice? A good Pismo is OK, but to my mind there are some issues with them now: a) you probably need to upgrade the disks in them, the originals were small; and b) they're pretty old by now; most will now be out of AppleCare cover. Any problem and you're looking at an expensive repair or an eBay sale 'for spares or repair'. In my view the 'cheapest best choice' might be a late 14" G3 iBook (if you can manage without G4) because that way you get a DVD or better optical drive; or an early G4 iBook. That said, I still think the 12" G4 1 Ghz iBook - the current one - is a fine machine at a very attractive price if you can afford to buy new. But if you've got to look at older machines, then the late G3 14" iBooks, in my mind, are the 'cheapest best'. The 14" iBook was originally nicknamed 'Son of Pismo', and these days with the Pismo itself fast reaching doddery old age, choosing the son is the better bet.
Tom Burke
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