Ding dong, the iBook is DEADDEADDEAD

Well, they just called. According to them, the logic board is fried. The part would cost $925 to replace and $45 labour. For almost a thousand dollars, I might as well buy a new laptop. If they're telling the truth. Which I'd like to believe; they struck me as real Mac geeks.

So, unless someone presents a compelling argument for the Powerbook (which is lighter and smaller, but has a shorter battery life and less durable casing), I'm going for the 12" iBook again. Which leaves me with the following decisions:

1. (a) How much SDRAM is enough?
It comes with 512 MB.
Upgrade to:
768, $65 (although my old 128 card from the old laptop might serve for this)
1 G, $130
1.5 G, $390
(b) What about buying SDRAM for cheaper elsewhere and installing it myself -- will that void the warranty? Is non-Apple SDRAM particularly good or bad? Thanks to nathanw for this suggestion.

(2) How much hard disk space is enough?
It comes with 40 Gigs.
Upgrade to:
60 G, $65
80 G, $130
100 G, $260

(3) Do I want iWork? What the hell is iWork anyway?

(4) Do I want to spend the $389 to get AppleCare (a three year warranty)? This time, it would have covered things. Last time, when I had it, it wouldn't have. Argh, I say.