How often do you buy new?

[plasticparadox]

Just wondering what the average time between new Mac purchases is for you all.

[Patmian212]

usually 3 years between computers.

[FFTT]

The average is 4-6 years because the gear holds up so well. Or you just decide you want more power.

My 7 year old G3 tower is still running fine
and my new G5 dually has me totally spoiled rotten.

Most of the time the hardware requirements of the software tend to dictate when you really need to upgrade.

[tuartboy]

my 7100/80 still holds up fine...

[edesignuk]

It normally winds up being ~2yrs for me. Of course that depends on how my wallet has been doing...:o

[iGary]

It normally winds up being ~2yrs for me. Of course that depends on how my wallet has been doing...:o

About every two years for me...This October would have been two years for my last PowerMac.

[Jovian9]

1-2 years. If there is not another machine I really want I'll buy AppleCare and keep my machine for 2 years before selling it and getting another. If there is another machine that I'd like to have more than the one I currently have I'll sell it before the 1 year warranty ends and upgrade. I sell all of my iPods after I've had them b/t 10-11 months and upgrade (I end up spending about the same amount as what it would cost for me to get a warranty for another year on the iPods.....+ what I sell my iPod for).

[Nereus]

Haven't bought my first Mac yet. I am waiting until after Paris Expo and then I'm going to buy a 15" PowerBook. So we'll see, I'm counting on that I can use for 3-4 years.

[Bear]

I upgrade when it's needed. My last PowerBook I had for two years before that happened. The current one will probably be around longer.

My PowerMac is 2.5 years old, I'm probably going to order iwth the next PowerMac announcements.

As for iPods, as long as it does the job, why keep replacing it?

[MovieCutter]

6-8 months, or every revision of the Power Mac and Powerbook.

[edesignuk]

6-8 months, or every revision of the Power Mac and Powerbook.:eek: :eek: Are you serious?

Man, wish I was loaded.

[Bear]

6-8 months, or every revision of the Power Mac and Powerbook.:eek: :eek: Are you serious?

Man, wish I was loaded.I agree with edesignuk. Also, some of the revisions just aren't worth the change. For instance going from dual 2.5 G5 to a dual 2.7 G5? Why bother?

[yg17]

Well with PCs, it was always changing. I built my own, so I was always upgrading a processor here, a videocard there, ect. But that seemed to be neccesary since Windows seemed to want more processing speed the longer it was installed. I went more than 2 years with my iBook before selling it, and I've had my PowerMac for a year and plan to keep it for several more. Unless something bad happens to one of my Macs or I win the lottery, I don't plan on purchasing another one until Rev B Intels make their way out.

[Abstract]

I do it on a whim.

Man, I feel a "whim" coming right now!

*looks around at current PB lineup*

Oh, nevermind. :p

[dornoforpyros]

ussually when the wallet says it's ok! hehe
Once I get my current g5 payed off I'm gonna get an iBook and then I think that'll be my last mac purchase for a little while enless I find a great deal on a cube or something else fun :p

[Artful Dodger]

It's been every 2yrs for me but I should be set for 3 this time ;) Now for software every year, usually means an upgrade but sometimes not so :cool:

[ham_man]

Once every 4 years...

[JupiterTwo]

Coming from wintel land, my machines just tended to metamorphise as time went on. Work provided a laptop, which was refreshed every 3 years.

With my macs, I've had my iBook over 2.5 years now. I thought that would only do 2, but it's ticking along fine. A bit underpowered maybe, but it has it's place now as a web machine. My iMac took over duties, and I think I've hit a sweet spot for the combination. Any serious stuff and I used the iMac - big screen, full size keyboard, hd etc. Just casual stuff, the iBook does admirably, so it's hard to equate a big spend to replace it.

However, if the powerbook line was a bit sweeter, then I could have had a change earlier :p

[mpw]

3years between first iBook and present iMac and only then 'cause the iBook was going to be 'at least' £300 to fix with no guarantee it would be!

I bought the iMac to replace the iBook and then 9months later had a pop at repairing the iBook with nothing to lose. I did it easily and now have two Macs :D

I should probably sell one but can't decide which.

[beige matchbox]

5 years ish

I went from a 300Mhz ibook bought back at the end of '99 to this PB, desktop wise, dad now has my imac (he was using a B&W G3) and is quite happy with it. It runs all of the desktop type apps as fast as you like, a few synth packages etc. great stuff

However, i am feeling the need for a new mac desktop, i want a mac mini, but with somewhere near the oomph of my powerbook :cool: :rolleyes:


The PC (when i had some money coming in) was getting upgraded in some way about twice a year, but that stopped when it all got silly (again) with the competing standards. Now thats pretty much settled i'll be going that route for my gaming needs


Oh, and i was still using my 5400 (180Mhz 603e) for TV and MP3's while in bed until about a year ago :D

[risc]

The moment my computer feels slow to me. I replaced my iBook G4 with a Power Mac Dual G5 within 6 months (gave the iBook to my sister), and at the start of the year I bought a PowerBook G4 1.67 GHz 15" I can't see myself replacing these at least until the Mactels hit Rev B or C.

My GF has an iMac G5 1.6 GHz I can't see her replacing that for years when I started going out with her in 2001 she was still using Windows 3.1.

[Patmian212]

The moment my computer feels slow to me. I replaced my iBook G4 with a Power Mac Dual G5 within 6 months (gave the iBook to my sister), and at the start of the year I bought a PowerBook G4 1.67 GHz 15" I can't see myself replacing these at least until the Mactels hit Rev B or C.

My GF has an iMac G5 1.6 GHz I can't see her replacing that for years when I started going out with her in 2001 she was still using Windows 3.1.

Windows 3.1
DAMN!!!!!!!!

[doucy2]

never have bought new before
i just buy used ones when ever i want
ive prob had 10 in the last 2 years

[MovieCutter]

I agree with edesignuk. Also, some of the revisions just aren't worth the change. For instance going from dual 2.5 G5 to a dual 2.7 G5? Why bother?


Well, I'm 21-year old full-time student with 3 jobs, one of which is a video editor so I have to stay ahead of the pack as much as I can...especially in the Powerbook arena. I skipped the Dual 2.7 upgrade because I thought it was pathetic, but I usually upgrade every Powerbook rev. I rarely ever pay more than $100 for a new one after selling my old one btw.

[Blue Velvet]

Ideally, when I buy a new Mac, I like to experience a massive jump in processing power... coming home from work on a dual 2.5 G5 to my dual 1.42 G4 doesn't yet quite feel a hugely massive step down for 90% of most tasks.

I've had this machine for about 3 years and it'll do for another 2-3, I guess. I'm not really into editing video or rendering 3D work so it'll be OK for print graphics for a while yet.

[RobHague]

When i was using a PC, every 6 months more or less. I would either make incrimental upgrades (more Ram, new Video Card) or grab a new mainboard and CPU (usually resulting in me wanting to change Video/RAM and Case too).

I just spend a load on my new powermac (and now there is talk of upgrading in teh PowerMac line :p thankyou apple) so im hoping to hold onto this thing for at least a year or more. Hopefully 2.

Im sure in that time though i might end up either getting another Cinema Display (i wish) or upgrading the RAM (most likley) or the graphics card if something substantial arrives.

Most likley upgrades though for me would prolly be (in the next 6 months) adding AirPort Express (just because its cheap and i can XD) and adding maybe another 512mb of RAM (ideally another 1.5 to take it upto 3Gb).

[FFTT]

As you can see here a lot of people buy a new machine simply because they want one more than they need one.

As long as the system you buy today does everything you need it to do with todays software, you're fine.

I ended up leapfrogging G4 altogether going from a
300MHz single processor non-AGP beige G3 tower
with 64 MB RAM and a whopping 8.5 GB SCSI hard drive ( that cost $2700 new) + $700 in upgrades.
to a new dual processor 2.0 GHz G5 for $1699 one day after the last G5 revison.

I actually NEEDED a new machine because the new software required a faster machine.

[jamesW135]

My PowerBook 540c still runs great. :p

[RacerX]

The oldest Mac I use regularly is my Quadra 950 (from 1992), the Mac I use the most is my PowerBook G3 Wallstreet (from September 1998) and the last "new" Mac I bought was in October 2000 (an iMac 350).

I see and use new Macs all the time (working with my clients), but I haven't felt any real longing for a newer system yet.

[G5Unit]

Usually this

5 years Packerd bell
5 years No Name
1 years Dell still in use
2 years Compaq that's un usable
Coming up to 1 year with PowerMac best compy ever
Plan on using this one for at least 5 years

[Alasta]

My upgrade cycle is three years. My G3 800MHz iBook is now nearly three years old and, despite the G3 being near the end of its product life when I bought it, I have found that this machine has served me well throughout the three year period.

In the next few weeks, I intend to buy a G4 1.42GHz iBook. I would expect to upgrade it to Leopard when it's released, and add some RAM at the same time, and it should then easily serve the balance of three years without any further maintenance. I don't expect the Intel transition to affect its useful life.

[applekid]

It used to be 5 years. But this year or next year it'll be 3 or 4. I'm going to need a PowerBook for college which will most likely have a Intel processor inside. And I want to replace my Bondi Blue iMac with a Mac Mini and that could happen soon, depending on how well this job for the library pays :)

[xparaparafreakx]

My Mac, iMac 1998
Lil Bros, iBook 2000
My Mac, TiBook 2002
Lil Bro, AlBook 2004

Looks like next year is my time to get another machine if Apple comes out with a good mactel machine

[galstaph]

I just bought my first mac, hope to use it for 3-4 years.
My PC's are o l d lemme see:
AMD 751Mhz duron 512mb ram 80gb hd Win2k... had for 4 years with minor dvd-rw (16x DL) upgrade
Winbook XP5 P75 (smoking fast! :rolleyes: ) 16mb ram 800MB hd Win95, had for 4 years as well, bought an external cd-rom for it....
(it was a hand me down, I plan to do a comparo between it and my ibook as I believe it is a 12" [or so] as well if memeory serves :D )

So not often I guess is what I'm trying to say :)

[derajfast]

i built a PC about 3.5 years ago with a 2.53 ghz, 512ram, 160gb HD + 80gb HD and an ati radeon 9800....it still runs fine actually, and im very pleased with it, but i did have a few problems with installing hard drives that gave me headaches....probably when that dies, ill buy a cheap 300 dollar machine and maybe pirate vista (just kidding)......ive had my 1.33ghz 60gb 1.5gb ram 15inch pbook since last april, and probably once the rev B intel macs roll about ill get one of those which will be 2nd quarter 2007 (just speculation)

[Verto]

Well, my month old iMac is the first Apple computer I've owned, so we'll have to see how that goes.

My HP was one I'd been using for over four years; once I've upped the ram to 1.5GB (maybe a full 2GB eventually) I'm sure the iMac will last me for several years as my main computer, and will be useful for secondary roles (acting as a guest computer, DVDs, IM/web, etc) for much longer. I'll take out AppleCare in July of next year, about a month before my first year would end, and let that carry me through to the end.

[mad jew]

I do it on a whim.


Me too. And that's generally about every two years.

[Koodauw]

Whenever the benefits of what's new out weigh the cost.

[wdlove]

My purchasing pattern varies. Usually when I see the need.

[Chaszmyr]

Ideally, every other revision (which seems to work out to every 20 months or so)

[Euan]

I always aim for 4 years - 1 year above a more normal 3 year cycle. I've had my current laptop (Not Apple) for 2 years but want to switch and will probably do so soon or within the next year.