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Buying an iBook, now?

Q

Quadari

macrumors newbie
Original poster
May 14, 2002
3
0
Cambridge, MA
A fried of mine (a former PC user, I might add) is planning on purchasing an iBook to replace her old huge Dell laptop, and to use on her summer travels. Being the local mac-pusher that I am, I'm helping her buy one.

There have been lots of rumors floating around about new iBooks coming out soon, and so we thought it might be good to wait for the new ones to see if a) they are really cool, or b) the older (but still really good) ones drop in price. I was hoping that they might announce the new ones at the news conference today, but that didn't happen. My friend is taking off for the summer in two weeks, so it needs to be purchased before then. Do people think it is worth it to wait, or do most people think that the new iBooks won't be announced until later (such as MWNY in July) and so we should just go for it now?

Thanks for the input.
 
if i was your friend

i would take the dell with me on my travels (unless something is realeased in the 2 weeks before she leaves) and wait for the new ibook (we're gettin somethin by mwny...)
 
I would wait. That Rage mobility 128 is looking really old and will be replaced with something more robust in the next revison. The rage 128 will look especially sad when Jaguar is realeased.
 
Get the iBook now...

For "summer travels" it would certainly be best to have a smaller and lighter laptop than the Dell. If anyone knew any concrete time for when the new models are coming out, then it may make sense to wait.

New iBooks could come out tomorrow, next month, or July... who knows? The best time to buy a new computer is when you need it. There will always be new models on the horizon, but it sounds like your friend could get some good use out of a new laptop now.

In addition, if the new TiBooks were any indication, the new iBooks may cost more than the current models, and thus the current ones won't drop in price that much anyway.

Tell her to go for it!
 
I think... wait.

Hey Quadari,
I think you should advice her to wait, if possible.
I agree that people should by computers when they need it, and not always wait for upgrades. It is after all a tool to get your work done.
If she was to run OS 9 on the ibook she could buy it now. Even the 500's run OS 9 great, but, I definetly think she should run OS X and right now they're a bit too weak to run OS X smoothly. And I think the new ones will be alot better prepared for OS X. That way maybe she'll be able to keep it for 2-3 yrs...

Just my opinion. I'm also waiting.

/Jollygods
 
While I agree that it might be nice to wait, it may not be possible. I don't think it is really an option to use the old laptop on the trip because it is just too big and heavy and not running well.

The one thing that does worry me is the thought of not being able to run OSX very well. I hadn't heard that from anyone in the past. Are there specific problems, or just general slowness overall? I wouldn't really want to run OS9. Once you've done X you can't go back.
 
I have iBook and run OS X ...

Originally posted by Quadari
While I agree that it might be nice to wait, it may not be possible. I don't think it is really an option to use the old laptop on the trip because it is just too big and heavy and not running well.

The one thing that does worry me is the thought of not being able to run OSX very well. I hadn't heard that from anyone in the past. Are there specific problems, or just general slowness overall? I wouldn't really want to run OS9. Once you've done X you can't go back.
Click to expand...
I have the slowest white iBook. It has a 500mhz G3 (66mhz bus) with the Combo Drive and 640MB of RAM.

I'm running OS X exclusively and it runs pretty good. Each update since 10.1 fixes little problems and makes it run a little faster.

I wouldn't worry about running OS X on a new iBook as long as you get enough RAM. Max it out .. you know you want to.

Oh, and when OS X 10.2 (or whatever they end up calling Jaguar) comes out, a 600 iBook should run really good. Even without Quartz Extreme.
 
Well... The iBook 500's (with the painfully slow 66 Mhz system bus) are quite slow with OS X. Like someone said - "steer clear of that sucker". I'm not saying you can't run OS X on it, but it is not exactly snappy.
The 600's (with 100 Mhz system bus) are much better but still, in my humble opinion, a bit too slow for me to be happy. Sure, I could use it over the summer and be happy, but what about in a year or two. When I buy a computer I'd like to think that I could have it for something like 3 yrs without being ridiculusly left behind. And my point is that OS X is here to stay and that it's important to get a machine that can handle this new superb OS in a nice way.
Which ever way you go, pump it full of RAM. Absolutely no less than 384 - but preferably 512.

Cheers,
Jollygods
 
How about simply holding off as long as possible? If new iBooks haven't been released the day before she has to leave, get an old one.
 
I agree with Beej here to some degree. I can say that the last time that I bought an iBook (before my 2 icebooks) they came out with the Indigo models. Needless to say they were 100$ cheaper, with 4 more gigs of HD space and the firewire. I would wait as long as possible. ;-)
 
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