I currently own 12" 867MHz Powerbook and am looking at upgrading my setup for work reasons. Any advice would be much appreciated.

I am trying to decide between a 12" 1.5GHz Powerbook, a 20" Cinema Display and wireless keyboard and mouse, or a 20" G5 iMac and a 12" 1.33 GHz iBook, again using a wireless keyboard and mouse. Using the Powerbook I have the advantage of dual screen action, but the iMac/iBook setup means that I can have a better data backup system. I guess there is a cost differential also.

Secondly, I frequently use the audio-in port on my Powerbook. Would something like an iMic be a sufficient replacement for this if I were to take the iBook path? Are there any disadvantages to using a USB based audio-in?

Any opinions or are there any other setup options?

I would go with the 12" PB and 20" display - you can get an external drive to add storage. There are plenty out there and not budget breaking.

If you are used to the portablility and the power and functionality of the Powerbook, you may be disappointed with the iBook. The other consideration is RAM. More RAM in the PB.

The iMic is OK - just OK. The advantage of the powerbook is that you can connect a midi, if you need to do so. Also the audio in is self powered/amp'd, so you don't need to be preamped. Whereas in the iBook, you need to preamp your Audio In, hence the need for an item such as the iMic.

Reality is - what works best for you.

I have gone from a 17" PB with a 23" Display to a G5 Dual 2.7 and 8 Gigs of RAm, now. My intention is to get another PB, possibly after MacWorld - but just to see if anything really is happening. It really is time for a major PowerBook upgrade - and wouldn't that just take the pi$$ outta everyone if Jobs intro'd PBs first in the new Intel Architecture.

Good luck, no matter your choice, it will be a good one.

what are you going to be using it for primarily?

Thanks for the good advice fotodivr.

My main use for my Powerbook has been coding in C (working in an evironment over SSH), typesetting documents in Latex, and music production using Garageband and Logic. Obviously I have really been pushing it with only a 12" screen.

I wouldn't buy anything before Jan 9!

And for Logic... you're really going to need as much of everything you can get CPU speed, HD speed/size, RAM.

Depending on what you end up getting, it'd probably outperform the PBs internal A/D converters and an iMac by a large amount.