Ok. So, on the way home from the workshop, Tim turns to me in the backseat of the SUV Greg & Jenn rented and he says, "We should really buy you a new laptop."

Yay!

My old iBook is very pretty (a graphite clamshell) but it's nearly 4 years old and pretty clunky at this point. It also weighs 6 pounds, which these days is ridculous, especially with a 12" screen. Since I don't have a desktop, and I can't afford a new laptop very often, whatever I buy needs to last me awhile and work well. I'd also like it to be portable, so I'm more likely to lug it out to cafes to write (my old one is heavy and no longer under warranty, so it makes me nervous to do this).

I've narrowed it down between two laptops, a slightly souped-up 14" iBook or a slightly souped up 12" Powerbook. I'm going to list as many specs as I can think of below, along with any pros or cons I know of. What i'd love from you, dear readers, are any opinions as to which way I should jump here. Or, if you have an entirely different suggestion, let me know that too.

The thing is, I may very well run out and order this baby tonight, so comment quickly :-)

12" Powerbook

(souped up from standard configuartion: RAM from 256MB to 512MB and Ultra ATA drive from 40GB to 60 GB (I'd do 80 but I'm given to understand that at 4200rpm this might actually make the machine run more slowly) and Airport Card for cafe surfing)

• 1GHz PowerPC G4
• 512MB DDR266 (256MB built-in & 256MB SO-DIMM)
• 60GB Ultra ATA drive @ 4200rpm
• Combo Drive (DVD-ROM/CD-RW)
• AirPort Extreme Card
• Keyboard/Mac OS - U.S. English
• 12.1-inch TFT Display

Subtotal $1,848.00

Or

14" iBook

(souped up: RAM from 128MB to 640MB (which is the max) and Airport card for cafe surfing)

• 640MB DDR266 (128MB built-in & 512MB SO-DIMM)
• 60GB Ultra ATA drive
• Combo Drive (DVD-ROM/CD-RW)
• AirPort Extreme Card
• Keyboard/Mac OS X - U.S. English
• 14.1-inch TFT XGA display
• 1GHz PowerPC G4
• ATI Mobility Radeon 9200 w/ 32MB DDR video memory

Subtotal $1,748.00

The cons of the iBook: bigger and heavier than I'd like it to be and 640MB of RAM is the max it will take (the powerbook I'm looking at will take up to 1.256GB)

The cons of the Powerbook is that I hear that it gets warm/ hot right under where your left hand rests. Now, since I usually use my computer plugged into an external keyboard, it's not such a big deal, although part of the point of the smaller screen is that I'll be more likely to take it with me places, but if it's too hot to use then that's pointless. Also, it's about $100 more for the Apple Protection Plan on a Powerbook than it is for an iBook, but I have a year to worry about that.

If you're wondering why I'm not interested in a 12" iBook, it's because I want a 1GHz processor instead of a 800MHz one.

So, any opinions on which way I should go?