Got a tip for us?
Let us know
Become a MacRumors Supporter for $50/year with no ads, ability to filter front page stories, and private forums.
powerbooks... ough.
- Thread starter lorenzo
- Start date
- Sort by reaction score
in the hope of getting the thread back on topic - just buy your laptop now!
at the start of the year i decided to get an iBook. I wanted to wait till they were updated. Then I decided to wait till Tiger.. Then it was mid cycle so I wanted to wait till hw upgrades....
All this waiting means I got the money to buy a 15" PowerBook! So on the 30th of May I took the plunge and bought it.
At the end of the day your new computer will not be the latest after a few months. But the current powerbooks really are wonderful machines. I can easily see myself still using it in 4 years.
Get the best you can afford right now and never have regrets.
at the start of the year i decided to get an iBook. I wanted to wait till they were updated. Then I decided to wait till Tiger.. Then it was mid cycle so I wanted to wait till hw upgrades....
All this waiting means I got the money to buy a 15" PowerBook! So on the 30th of May I took the plunge and bought it.
At the end of the day your new computer will not be the latest after a few months. But the current powerbooks really are wonderful machines. I can easily see myself still using it in 4 years.
Get the best you can afford right now and never have regrets.
apple_g5 said:
I agree with this - my guess is that 10.4 will run choppy or Kernal Panic more frequently than the average user would like - sort of like using the original OS X on an old G3. It's planned obsolescence just like what Microsoft is doing with Longhorn - sure you'll be able to run it on old systems but the experience won't be very good.
As far as the VAIO thing goes - go ahead and get one if you can deal with XP. All I know is that 3 people I know with VAIOs have had many more quality control issues than I ever have had with my 17" 1.33 PB. Life's rough when your VAIO's DVD drive blows out 3 times in a month only to be followed by 2 MOBO replacements. Lucky for my friend it was all under warranty at the time.
I can honestly say that my PB 17" 1.33 was the best purchase I made and I still love it and use it every day. The machine has paid for itself several times over in the jobs I have done with it in the time I otherwise would have been waiting for the next big thing I maxed out the RAM and do some pretty serious Photoshop and video editing with it. Sure the PBs are a bit stale in comparison to the PC world but their good enough to work on almost any file.
OS X vs. XP - your call.
chibianh said:
The OS might have been OK on the INTEL CPU - but what about all the apps? if you ask me, there'll be the same problem as with classic: 50% of the apps running choppy, 30% need a mass of plugins and the rest does not work at all due to some hardware related stuff... If you ask me it's complete nonsense to code a new OS for a new Chip that has good downwards compatibilities - this requires the developers to code everything twice... who wants to do this work? This'll end up in most of the Apps not compatible to the G4 in 2-3 years, the g5 will take longer, due to the fact that apple needs to satisfy its PRO users.
Why the concern about choppy OS or apps? Don't you remember the details?
1. They have been compiling OSX and the iApps for both PPC and x86 for awhile now. OS 10.4, 10.5, and beyond will run fine on PPC and x86 machines. Let me repeat that- OSX and the iApps already run natively on both PPC and x86 Macs (which won't come out for almost a year.)
If anything, the future OS's will run smoother due to better optimization.
2. Most major apps will be compiled for both PPC and x86 well in advance of actual x86 Mac hardware. And the types of apps that you will need Rosetta for, will probably be little shareware-type programs (for most people) that will run just fine with Rosetta. If you're a Mathematica user, I don't think you have any worries...
Take a deep breath...
1. They have been compiling OSX and the iApps for both PPC and x86 for awhile now. OS 10.4, 10.5, and beyond will run fine on PPC and x86 machines. Let me repeat that- OSX and the iApps already run natively on both PPC and x86 Macs (which won't come out for almost a year.)
If anything, the future OS's will run smoother due to better optimization.
2. Most major apps will be compiled for both PPC and x86 well in advance of actual x86 Mac hardware. And the types of apps that you will need Rosetta for, will probably be little shareware-type programs (for most people) that will run just fine with Rosetta. If you're a Mathematica user, I don't think you have any worries...
Take a deep breath...
You should really watch the WWDC 2005 Keynote Quicktime stream before making comments like that. Jobs' Intel PowerMac was running just as beautifully as previous models he has used at Keynote addresses.
Steve showed off XCode 2.1 which allows programmers to write one program but lets XCode compile it (or whatever, I'm really not sure on this coding stuff) for both processors. Take for instance the Mathematica example they previewed; Mathematica was ready for Intel machines in just a couple of hours.
Please watch the Quicktime stream; lots of helpful information.
Steve Jobs' WWDC 2005 Keynote address
most signs point to a Sept update on PB's
and usually, Apple let's the stock get cleaned out in summertime
just reading the rumor sites, it doesn't seem that we'll see a G5 or a Dual Core PB
I'm thinking that the next major update might involve an HD screen, but that would be it
and usually, Apple let's the stock get cleaned out in summertime
just reading the rumor sites, it doesn't seem that we'll see a G5 or a Dual Core PB
I'm thinking that the next major update might involve an HD screen, but that would be it
Foolishness
Its just a d*mn processor people, Apple is all about the operating system. If you think that OSX wasn't meant for Intel, it was built for Intel, they knew PPC techology was too expensive, and behind the times. G5 was big and slow compared to Intel processors, and not to mention twice as much. We are going to have the same freakin apples, faster and less expensive. Stop B*tching already.
apple_g5 said:
Its just a d*mn processor people, Apple is all about the operating system. If you think that OSX wasn't meant for Intel, it was built for Intel, they knew PPC techology was too expensive, and behind the times. G5 was big and slow compared to Intel processors, and not to mention twice as much. We are going to have the same freakin apples, faster and less expensive. Stop B*tching already.
If I was in the market for a powerbook, I would just wait it out. There are going to be some awesome things coming in the next Powerbook revision. Think centrino-like processors that will blow today's PBs out of the water. If you can deal with Windows (not that its so bad... but some people here seem to have major problems with it), then I'd just wait it out...
Anyone know when Apple is gonna start shipping the 12" Pb/SuperDrive with Tiger? Wherever I look it's still shipping with Panther.
As for the switch, I think I'll buy this PPC PBook now and wait for some revisions of the Intel Mac before getting that (like in 2 yrs).
As for the switch, I think I'll buy this PPC PBook now and wait for some revisions of the Intel Mac before getting that (like in 2 yrs).
apple_g5 said:
Since every version of OSX has been developed for x86 already im sure 10.4 runs great on it haha. Would you rather be a pc user and be stuck with Windows XP for a LONG time and having Microsofts best attempt to improve instability and insecurity service pack 2!? My eMac has Jaguar on it still and its fine..no one forces me to upgrade.
I just bought a g4 powerbook, I figured, in 2006 when the new intel ones come out i will buy a new one. A 4 ghz dual core intel will be nice =)
One question though, do the new sells include tiger? the order doesn't say anything about what os version it has.
One question though, do the new sells include tiger? the order doesn't say anything about what os version it has.
i dont know why u guys are bitching 'bout the PBs, why do u need such a powerful mobile machine? Stick 1-2 gigs o ram in there and they will run like any PM in most tasks. If u wanna play games, get a PS2 Xbox, etc... They handle Photoshop fine, FCP fine, hell i can do that stuff, albeit slow, on my iMac (see sig)
apple_g5 said:
Well I recently bought my PowerBook and Adobe CS2. It runs very, very well. In fact it's a whole lot better then CS was.
Am I worried about the Intel machines coming out next year? No, because I hadn't planned on updating my current machine for a couple of years anyway. Besides I'm not going to be one of the suckers who buys the first revision of a MacTel. I'll wait for the bugs to be ironed out and get the Rev B or C even. That worked for me when I upgraded from an iBook to a PowerBook.
I say buy the PowerBook now and enjoy it. It's going to last for quite a few years. You'll probably laugh when your working on it and the MacTels are having issues.
apple_g5 said:
I think you've misunderstood what's going to happen. The next version of OS X will run on both Intel and PowerPC. Mac software for the foreseeable future (4 years or so in this business) will run on both PowerPC and Intel using fat binaries. Mac Developers will have to do this since they simply cannot lock out the vast number of people who have invested in PowerPC hardware in the last couple of years for fear of losing sales.
If you are worried about performance of PowerPC apps, then buy before the Intel switch. That way you will get the best of both worlds: native PowerPC apps will not run in emulation and the fat binaries will run natively as well.
Even if you bought a Wintel laptop now, it would probably not be capable of running the really processor intensive apps of four or five years hence in an acceptable fashion anyway. On the other hand, if you buy a mac now and invest in PowerPC native software, the Intel machine you will buy four years from now will be so powerful compared to todays machines that you will be able to run your old PowerPC apps natively without noticing any performance hit.
The Pentium that is currently available to developers is nothing like the machine that will actually ship next year, so don't take the benchmarks too seriously.
In response to those wondering about whether or not PB's ship with Tiger:
from http://www.apple.com/powerbook/software.html -
"Every PowerBook G4 comes standard with Mac OS X Tiger, the worlds most advanced operating system."
So I hope that means if you buy it online, you're safe...
Additionally, I have been struggling with the same problem for months too (to buy or not to buy) and have finally decided that computers progress and change so fast that I will buy a powerbook now, and love not having to deal with the joys of windows. Once I've made excellent use of it, Mactels will be well developed and reliable (rev b / c) at which point i would normally update anyway. There will ALWAYS be a new update, but the best advice I've heard yet is that if it works well for your applications now, it will work just as well for them a few years down the line.
As for what updates are to come, I also believe the final update to the PB line before the switch (if there even is one) will be a minor speed update (1.8GHz) and MAYBE a standard 128 video card.
Just so you know, I'm not qualified to make such predictions what so ever.
from http://www.apple.com/powerbook/software.html -
"Every PowerBook G4 comes standard with Mac OS X Tiger, the worlds most advanced operating system."
So I hope that means if you buy it online, you're safe...
Additionally, I have been struggling with the same problem for months too (to buy or not to buy) and have finally decided that computers progress and change so fast that I will buy a powerbook now, and love not having to deal with the joys of windows. Once I've made excellent use of it, Mactels will be well developed and reliable (rev b / c) at which point i would normally update anyway. There will ALWAYS be a new update, but the best advice I've heard yet is that if it works well for your applications now, it will work just as well for them a few years down the line.
As for what updates are to come, I also believe the final update to the PB line before the switch (if there even is one) will be a minor speed update (1.8GHz) and MAYBE a standard 128 video card.
Just so you know, I'm not qualified to make such predictions what so ever.
apple_g5 said:
That's what a desktop line is for. Really, if you were serious about graphic design and publishing--understand the nature of a portable computer, it will never achieve the same power with the constraints of size it must abide by as an entire desktop system.
The powerbooks are fine for the "studying" of "stuff" related to graphic design and publishing. Hell, most professional publishing places uses somewhat dated PCs.
I'm in photography, and want the latest and greatest too, but that's only because I want to live on the bleeding edge. For actually work's sake, I think the current portable line up will suffice.
