The new things ARE so much better. Maybe not the iBooks, which currently suck, but new is usually better than old. And it certainly is true in this case.
Well for one, I did. I sold my old powerbook G4. But very soon realized how much more time i had to stay up in the office to get a lot of work done. (the OSX86 hack not working well ) so endup buying a refurb ibook (the last version) as i did not have the cash not the time to get a Macbook Pro or mac book. If your work depends on it ... it just get it. It is not worth the wait as i realized in less than 3 weeks. If you donot require a mac for what ever reason i suggest getting a PC.
The new things ARE so much better. Maybe not the iBooks, which currently suck, but new is usually better than old. And it certainly is true in this case.
Get a used G3 iBook for under $500. For all those things you mentioned, you don't need more. It's a brainwash that the G3 iBook is "outdated""slow""uncompatible", it'll do everything you need, you'll save a quick $500, and shove apples "The newer things are SOO much better" up their ass.