Deciding which one to buy is really dependent upon why you want the machine. Make no mistake, you may wait as long a you want to buy one, but there will always be something better. Right now, you can have the fastest machines available. If Apple follows a more or less historical pattern, then we may see a slight upgrade in late November or early December, but in the computer world, that a ways away. The next major change (ie. revamped motherboard, extensive use of DDR, Double Data Rate, or QDR, Quad Data Rate (it exists) would be Macworld SF 2002 at the earliest). Therefore, your Quicksilver will likely be cutting edge for the next six months. But, while after that it may no longer be cutting edge, it will have a long useful life. I havbe a 7600/120 which I still use for video and photoshop work. I do have access to a Ti G4, so I can tell you that new machines are nice, but how fast do you need to go? As for the Superdrive, I want one. While you may not see the use for one, one DVD can hold the equivalent of 8 CDs (74 min), which is a lot of space. This will come in handy since you probably will be working with large files if you need the latest processor. Additionally, Motorola is notoriously bad about supply of their fastest processors, so I would not expect a gigahertz processor for a while, let alone a dual or quad processor machine. If you want, check out Apple's page called the Megahertz Myth for benchmarks if it will help your decision.
- Andrew
