I'm going to chime in, there's seems to be some talk that the PB has better quality then the ibook. I don't think apple sacrifises quality between the two models. Additionally the ibook can handle a drop a lot better then the PB. Search the forum of all of the PB owners lamenting that they now have dents and the like because of a very minor drop. The problem is that aluminum deforms easily.

I saw an apple employee drop a running iBook on to the floor from about three feet (don't try this at home) and it was still chugging.

The plastic is just more durable pure and simple.

The iBook also gets better battery life.

The differences are under the skin. The PB has a better resolution, you can span the screens if you have an external monitor (mirror only with a ibook) you can run the pb closed. The PB has FW800, DVI and a few other bells and whistles.

For me the difference was can I handle the 12 inch screen - not with my eyes. How did the 14" feel in comparison with the PB and finally since there's only a vga out and I wanted to hook it up with my cinema display, that cinched it for me - PowerBook.

I think the performance is close enough between the two that you probably won't notice it and like my thesis above the ibook's case is studier, I think if you can read the 12" pb's screen it makes a lot of sense to go with that and save yourself some money.

Good luck
Mike