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Buy a PowerBook G4 now, or wait for G5?

lewdvig

lewdvig

macrumors 65816
Original poster
Jan 1, 2002
1,416
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South Pole
I am sure it has been asked. But I am hoping someone with some inside knowledge or a good feel for these sorts of things can help with my decision.

I just sold my MDD and think a PB is the way to go. I want a 15" model.

Is a 15" G5 coming soon?
 
Re: Buy a PowerBook G4 now, or wait for G5?

Originally posted by lewdvig
I am sure it has been asked. But I am hoping someone with some inside knowledge or a good feel for these sorts of things can help with my decision.

I just sold my MDD and think a PB is the way to go. I want a 15" model.

Is a 15" G5 coming soon?
Click to expand...

It all depends on wether or not you have the desire to have the latest and the greatest. Technology is always changing. However, the current PowerBooks are great machines. If you believe that a 15" PowerBook is what you need to get your work done, then spring for the PowerBook now. But if you are going to be disappointed in the PowerBook's performance, then I suggest waiting for a newer model to come out. :cool:
 
Re: Buy a PowerBook G4 now, or wait for G5?

Originally posted by lewdvig
I am sure it has been asked.
Click to expand...

what? that? no! never! ;) hehe...

just razzing ya a little bit... if youre in a rush, get the g4.... doesn't look like any g5 notebooks for a while
 
Get it now you won't be disappointed the slightest.

However if you don't need one for work right away then sure wait but who knows when the new G5s will be out.
 
THe new G5 powerbook will not be seen at least until august, if even then. But i think they will be killer machines and i may start saving up to get one.
 
I was in the same boat as you, but after reading up on the possibility of G5 powerbooks, decided to go for a G4 right now. I haven't gotten a G4 yet, I'm still trying to decide which one to get, but I thought I would share my knowledge on the situation with you. From what I've read, the current G5 processors require a lot of power to run, and run very hot. If you look in the inside of the G5 towers you can see they require quite a bit of cooling. Plus the fact that we haven't heard hardly anything from apple on G5 powerbooks, mostly speculation. Apple would probably announce the G5 powerbook a few months before they plan to ship them. My thought on it was that apple powerbooks have excellent resale value, I was looking at them on ebay and saw that used ones go for practically the same price as new ones. So if your really set on a G5 powerbook, you could get the G4 now, and sell it on ebay when the G5 comes out. You may take a loss of a few hundred dollars, but just keep it in good condition and you should get most of your money back. Then apply that to a new G5, and you get the best of both worlds. They fastest powerbook now, and the fastest powerbook later.
 
I too am waiting, but I will wait for the G5 PB because I want to keep this for 3-4 years and so want to get the chip which they will be optimising code for. I also hope they make a number of improvements to the technology which is a little dated, such as graphics card, screen resolution. I also think the G5 will get rid of the bottleneck bus that inhibits the current G4 range, making it faster than the Ghz would suggest at first glance. With optomised code everything should run faster and in a few years that will be important for me...
 
there is going to be one more undate to the g4 line before the pb's go to the g5. i would say wait till april or may if you can hold out that long. expect a speed bump and hopefully an update to the new ati video card. just my thoughts on the matter.
 
Originally posted by Steven1621
there is going to be one more undate to the g4 line before the pb's go to the g5. i would say wait till april or may if you can hold out that long. expect a speed bump and hopefully an update to the new ati video card. just my thoughts on the matter.
Click to expand...

Right, hopefully Apple will put ATI's new 9700 mobility chip inside the 17" model.
 
I'm just going to echo what others have said:
If you need it or just want it now, get it now. If you can wait for a few months (ie, you have a backup machine), then wait. Personally, I couldn't live without a computer for more than a week.

I bought a G4 PB. The 12", it's the 867 MHZ with 640 RAM. I run Photoshop CS on it, Final Cut Express 2, Dreamweaver, word processor, etc. I'm very happy with it -- even in those larger apps. I don't play games, but I did try Halo and was a little disappointed. But, again, I'm on the older 12" unit. This little machine is just so portable that it makes up for any speed difference for me.

Do I want a faster computer? Yes, eventually. I'm saving up for a G5 desktop :D The little unit will be for portability, the big unit for the heavy graphics and other stuff.
 
Next year

Hey,

A friend at an Apple Resellers told me that the new G5 Powerbooks wouldn't be out until Spring of next year, and that they'd be more expensive than this years model again, which I guess is understandable. She said to expect a speed increase in Summer though. Take from that what you will; I would say not to hold your breath. The G4 is an incredible machine as is :)

peace.
 
Re: Next year

Originally posted by _pb_boi
Hey,

A friend at an Apple Resellers told me that the new G5 Powerbooks wouldn't be out until Spring of next year, and that they'd be more expensive than this years model again, which I guess is understandable. She said to expect a speed increase in Summer though. Take from that what you will; I would say not to hold your breath. The G4 is an incredible machine as is :)

peace.
Click to expand...

Well thats not an unlikely scenario BUT there are plenty of people who have an opinion based on little more than gut instinct. Only the Apple Elite know for sure.
 
You should buy one now or soon ;-)

I think you shouldn't wait, if you ssay so, you'll always wait and wouldn't get a PB in long time :D.
I think the Rev.B PBs will be much better now and without any heat problems.If you'll wait, you even shoud wait longer for rev. B PB G5 because of any Problems which will come with the first rev. of them ;).
 
Yep, that's for sure aswitcher, but that's why I said 'take from that what you will' :) You're right about only the Mac elite knowing for sure; in fact, she told me that many times, they only hear about new release dates when the public do and they're resellers.

I only mention it because, imho, they'd probably more likely have a better idea than the average person, and I thought I'd add another POV to the equation :)

peace.
 
My opinion is that the current 15" superdrive and backlit PB is just great !

But if you don't need it urgent then wait and see what the next revsion will bring.

But only if you have the time, because it can be month.
 
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