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Powerbook G4 Future Buyer - ADVICE!

T

TheSith

macrumors regular
Original poster
Hi all..

Lately, I've been really keeping my eye on this site as well as the Apple site itself. The *only* thing on my Christmas list at the moment is a Powerbook - I am a PC user and am looking to switch to Mac. I have done lots of research blah blah blah.. decided on the PB.

So far, this is what I have configured:

1.5GHZ, 128MB Video Ram, 512MB RAM (standard, will upgrade later via Crucial.com), 80GB HD 5400RPM.

However, my eyes are now focused on the SF Expo on January 10th-14th. Given from the information you guys have read, do you recommend to NOT buy a laptop at this moment (and no, it is NOT a necessity)?

From what I've gathered, we are expecting a dual-core G4 powerbook and maybe a G5 somewhere along the line/middle of 2005? I admit, I have not read all the rumors here. Sorry. 🙁 I am just wondering your guys' advice..

The real question: Buy now and risk the G4 dual-core coming out 20+ days after Christmas (yes, I know there is always new technology coming out but this is an important update to me and there might be enough evidence to prove so 😛) or Wait and see what happens at the SF Expo, i.e. see if the dual-core is released.

Thanks to anyone who replies - sorry if I am totally misconstruing these rumors but this is what I have gathered.
 
im not expecting a dual core, but a speed bump. I am however allmost certain of it at MWSF. if you can bare to wait, you might get lucky.

Im planning on getting the same system as you. One of the expected speed bumps is 128 mb video becoming standard on the 15 and 17" models.
 
If you can stand to wait, then wait. Whether it's dual core, G5, or a speed bump that is announced in January, you're going to want the best possible machine. Save up your Xmas money, and wait for the new ones. In all honesty, based on the nature of Apple with their Powerbook updates, this won't be just a speedbump. Look through the procedural history. Apple has never done more than a couple of speedbumps on Powerbooks without adding some major feature. While this may not be processor related, it will be something hefty. While the 15" has only gone through one speed bump (before that it was changed from Titanium to Aluminum), and the 12" is in the same boat (867 to 1GHz was a major improvement), the 17" has received two speedbumps already. Look for something major at MWSF. So, what does it hurt to wait? You'll likely be very glad you did.
 
It might be hard to wait, but ya never know. If you get it now, and something better comes along..you will want the upgrade, but if you wait... It'll be all work it..

GO POWERBOOK!
 
I wouldn't buy one right now. I'm in the market for a PB too, but I'm not gonna buy one right now. Why? ATI 9700 pro. If you're just gonna play itunes w/it, then fine, but there are two awesome portable graphics processors that have just come out... and their both twice as fast as the 9700 pro. Nvidia 6800go (pushes close to same pixel rate as a 9800pro), and the AIT 9800m (which kicksAss too).

This is a sad time for the PB really. A year ago my friend asked me if he should buy a PB, and i told him that in 6months to a year, the powerbook G5 should be out. So i recommended that he wait. Well, that was almost a year ago, and now ppl are saying another year. It's crazy that this laptop line will lack any significant upgrade over nearly a two year timeline. Even if Jobs announces the dual core, or a PBG5, it's not going to be avaliable till september! We all know the drill. I'm not saying buy a different brand laptop, i'm just saying it's not the best days this laptop line has seen. At lease you'll get a VPU upgrade(and a damn good one) if you wait a little while.

Also note, right now PowerBooks are cheap as hell. I paid 3.4k for my Ti 800mhz/15inch. Now you can get a 15" for under 2.5k! (i bought EDU) As soon as they introduce a significant CPU upgrade, you'll pay $500 bucks more for it.
 
you probably already know this but your decision to buy now/later should also depend on what you plan to do with your pb. i've been using my pb for handling media files (i.e., photoshoping old pics, dl'ing mp3s and burning cds), surfing the internet, email, drafting docs, ppt prezos, etc. this along with the fact that mac osx is better in terms of security (at least for now) vs. windows made me feel like the existing pbs on the market are good enough for what i intend to do with it. all the activities that i listed really don't require a high end notebook.

also, the existing pbs handle current games pretty well. i own a 15' pb with a 1.33 MHZ processor and a 9700 radeon. i did upgrade the memory and that made a world of difference.

hope this helps.
 
Yes, all of these responses have helped.. Thank you!

I for one am very impatient when it comes to.. well, everything! However, when something this expensive is involved, I will try and hold out as much as I can - as I said before, it isn't a necessity at the moment.

I'm certainly not hoping for a price bump.. I am almost already at my limit right now and that is around 2.5k.. I guess I would have to buy a new (yet old if a new model/speed is released) 1.5GHZ for much cheaper if they increase the price much! I wasn't really expecting a G5 PB myself but.. I dunno, lol.
 
So if we see an update in January like we are all hoping for, what would be a possible ship date that we could expect?
Obviously the more they change the longer it would take to ship assumably. I would personally hope to see a screen up, but some new v.cards and more built-in ram (12") would be great updates IMO. The current speed of the PBs seems to be adequate for most things, so I would like to see some other updates...anyone have any educated ideas of what might change and a decent attempt to guess how long it would take to changeover and ship?
I know its asking a lot, opinions are fine. 😉

Edit: Oh yea, I guess my reason for wondering is because I would like to wait until after Jan. to see what happens, but I would need the PB sometime end Feb. or early Mar. at the latest, which makes a shipdate rather important to me. Even a pricedrop on the current rev.C would make me buy almost instantly, could that at least be expected sometime soon for Xmas?
 
G5 POWERBOOKS NEXT TUESDAY!!!!!!

Juuussstt kidding.

I'd recommend waiting until after January. Something will happen. But I doubt it is a G5 based PowerBook... Oh well.

Save up your Hanukah money and get ready for at least a Rev. D PowerBook. Maybe they will be made out of some other kind of metal... they were Titanium, now Aluminum... call it, say, Tungsten? 😉 🙂 🙄
 
Without knowing the full properties of all the metals, Magnesium would make a cool case material. Strong, light, and if it was used in its natural color, pretty dang sweet IMO. It would change the whole silver look, but a gold metal theme could be pretty sweet...although I guess that would lead to OS changes to make golden window bars, etc 🙂
I like it, Magnesium is the way to go.
 
Converted2Truth said:
I wouldn't buy one right now. I'm in the market for a PB too, but I'm not gonna buy one right now. Why? ATI 9700 pro. If you're just gonna play itunes w/it, then fine, but there are two awesome portable graphics processors that have just come out... and their both twice as fast as the 9700 pro. Nvidia 6800go (pushes close to same pixel rate as a 9800pro), and the AIT 9800m (which kicksAss too).

This is a sad time for the PB really. A year ago my friend asked me if he should buy a PB, and i told him that in 6months to a year, the powerbook G5 should be out. So i recommended that he wait. Well, that was almost a year ago, and now ppl are saying another year. It's crazy that this laptop line will lack any significant upgrade over nearly a two year timeline. Even if Jobs announces the dual core, or a PBG5, it's not going to be avaliable till september! We all know the drill. I'm not saying buy a different brand laptop, i'm just saying it's not the best days this laptop line has seen. At lease you'll get a VPU upgrade(and a damn good one) if you wait a little while.

Also note, right now PowerBooks are cheap as hell. I paid 3.4k for my Ti 800mhz/15inch. Now you can get a 15" for under 2.5k! (i bought EDU) As soon as they introduce a significant CPU upgrade, you'll pay $500 bucks more for it.
Click to expand...
Well said but i think most of it is because they want to keep the powerbook so thin and with the kind of heat the g5 produces it hard to keep that efficient in a 1 inch thick laptop
 
waiting

i also expect to see something happen to the pb in jan.

i certainly would love to see a big processor upgrade, but i expect a speed bump may be al (+better video, hd, perhaps)l.

hopefully, if there is only a speed bump, they will do something great to differentiate them more from the ibook.

i'd love a higher res screen. just how likely that is without a new processor is the question. is it worth doing so much work on the computer, 'just' for that?

one thing i'm pretty sure is this: they will avoid announcing a big pb ugrade without having them pretty much ready to ship. it just takes a big chunk out of their sales and hits their stock price at the same time.

also, i do not see price increases coming. the trend has been improve and keep the price constant, or even lower.

why change the form-factor? what is there now works and is appealing. ibook went from g3 to g4 with only minor changes to its appearance.

i however am waiting for jan to buy.

🙂
 
Wait til January

If you want my advice, wait until January.

MWSF always brings interesting upgrades - most likely a speed bump for the processor, upgraded hard disk, video etc. If it's any help - I've recently put the wheels in motion to sell my first edition 15inch 1.25Ghz powerbook to make way for what Apple release in January.

Whatever Steve has up his sleeve for January, be it G5, Dual Core, or just a faster G4 it'll be better than any 15inch your money will buy you now - you might as well wait for the sake of a few days/weeks. Even if you're not impressed by Steve's updates - you'll be able to pick up your desired 1.5Ghz, 128MB, 5400rpm for a bit cheaper and spend the difference on an iPod/Airport Express/Bluetooth accessories!


You can't loose either way. Roll on MWSF05.
 
If you are not in dire need, by all means wait until MWSF in January.
While it is highly doubtful that we'll see any radical change in the PB line before WWDC (or even MWSF 2006 😱)), there should soon be at least be a minor bump and/or a price drop to refresh the line and separate it from the iBook line.

On the other hand, you can just get a new top-end 14" iBook and a mid-line G5 iMac for the same price as a 17" PB. Best of both worlds?
 
CaptainCaveMann said:
What does mwsf and wwdc mean??? 😕
Click to expand...

MWSF = Mac World San Francisco, at the Moscone Center, 1/10 thru 1/14?
WWDC = World Wide Developers' Conference, I think in June?

anyone with more details? Bueller?
 
I was on the fence this time last year - all the G5 in the spring rumors drove me nuts. i finally bit the bullet and on Nov. 28th bought a PB 17" 1.33 GHz - best decision I made. My productivity in the past year has paid for the PB several times over. Glad I didn't wait for the G5.

That said, if I had to buy a PB right now I would wait until MWSF - it's not that far off. Expect at least a better graphics card, maybe faster superdrive - maybe dual core - no G5 though.
 
powermac666 said:
If you are not in dire need....

On the other hand, you can just get a new top-end 14" iBook and a mid-line G5 iMac for the same price as a 17" PB. Best of both worlds?
Click to expand...

Well I guess dire need is defined differently for all people. I would not say my need is dire, rather overly excited as this will be my first Mac and I just want to make sure I can be comfortable and proficient with it prior to my departure in late March for Europe for three months, where this *Book will be my only computer.

As far as the best of both worlds comment, I don't need to replace my desktop currenlty. I have a lot of software for it, it runs games fine, and it does all I really want it to. Even if those two are the same price as one, I would rather purchase one Mac for starters and just go between platforms for the sole purpose of gaming (assuming I like the Mac for everything else 😛). I appreciate the suggestion, personally its not me but it does make a strong arguement for a 2fer1.
 
I'm in the same boat. Been holding on to my cash since may already!!!
I've been sooooo close to hitting that buy button on apple.com but so far I've managed to control myself.

Man this sucks! I WANT A NEW POWERBOOK!!! NOW!!!

Hmmmm. Jan 10th. That's only 53 days! Woo-hoo! 🙄
 
At least you have a powerbook, I don't have any Mac stuff to even tide me over. I am overly excited but thankfully I can see that, therefore I am going to wait at least until Apple lowers the current price, then I might jump. Depending when they do that, I might just as well wait until after MWSF in Jan.
 
efoto said:
At least you have a powerbook, I don't have any Mac stuff to even tide me over. I am overly excited but thankfully I can see that, therefore I am going to wait at least until Apple lowers the current price, then I might jump. Depending when they do that, I might just as well wait until after MWSF in Jan.
Click to expand...

You could always get an iPod to get into the mood 😉
 
mfacey said:
You could always get an iPod to get into the mood 😉
Click to expand...

I would, but the budget is not all that extravagant. I plan to get one but I am hoping that either a nice deal for Xmas or some price break on the PBook can leave me the extra cash to put towards one. Not only are they are great music platform, they double as a super-stylish external drive (wish I could convince someone else enough to where they cared to contribute).

In time I shall have them both!...all in due time 🙁
 
efoto said:
I would, but the budget is not all that extravagant. I plan to get one but I am hoping that either a nice deal for Xmas or some price break on the PBook can leave me the extra cash to put towards one. Not only are they are great music platform, they double as a super-stylish external drive (wish I could convince someone else enough to where they cared to contribute).

In time I shall have them both!...all in due time 🙁
Click to expand...


I consider the iPod one of my best buys ever. Its a superb gadget. You won't regret the investment!
 
The ipod saved me from having to buy a new cd player for my car since now i just use the ipod and a tap adapter its better than cd's.My car didnt come with a cd player 😀
 
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