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New Powerbooks?

S

strether66

macrumors newbie
Original poster
Aug 10, 2005
2
0
Hello,

I'm a student needing a new PowerBook. I have an older one that works okay, but the display is having a few problems and it would cost like $700 to fix.

Does anyone know the status on the new line of PowerBooks? The Buyer's Guide on MacRumors says the average cycle is over, and now is not the time to buy.

What do you think?
 
If you need one then go for it. If not, then wait it out as the updates are coming soon. I just ordered one becuase I don't see the update being anything major. However, if you can wait then do it.
 
You're probably safe

There are 2 reasons why I'd say that all bets are off when it comes to the buyer's guide.

1) The intel transition throws a severe monkey wrench in the possible regularity of product updates. I wouldn't go as far as to say that the powerbooks won't be upgraded again until there is an intel inside (though many on this forum might), but I think the paradigm shift in roadmap has taken some of the validity out of monitoring "average update cycles."

2) It also seems that apple is steering toward less regular and less frequent updates in general. This may be a side-effect of my first reason, and may be temporary, but I think we've been busting past averages on a lot of the product lines in the last 12-18 month. This is mostly a gut feeling.

What the next 400 posters behind me will say: "If you need one, buy one" is actually probably pretty true with the powerbooks right now.
 
topher said:
There are 2 reasons why I'd say that all bets are off when it comes to the buyer's guide.

1) The intel transition throws a severe monkey wrench in the possible regularity of product updates. I wouldn't go as far as to say that the powerbooks won't be upgraded again until there is an intel inside (though many on this forum might), but I think the paradigm shift in roadmap has taken some of the validity out of monitoring "average update cycles."

2) It also seems that apple is steering toward less regular and less frequent updates in general. This may be a side-effect of my first reason, and may be temporary, but I think we've been busting past averages on a lot of the product lines in the last 12-18 month. This is mostly a gut feeling.

What the next 400 posters behind me will say: "If you need one, buy one" is actually probably pretty true with the powerbooks right now.
Click to expand...

I could not agree more
 
Often when it's a bad time to buy a new mac, it's a great time to buy a refurb. Check out Apple's special deals section and some other retailers. I'm going to pick up a refurb PB at the end of this year.

I do think there will be a PBG4 update this year, but it'll be pretty pathetic, like a 33 mhz speed bump and a 5 gig larger hard drive. You won't be missing anything. Then the Intel PBs will come out next year, and they'll be really cool but there won't be any software for them and everybody will grumble that they can't play Warcraft III or the Sims anymore. And you won't be missing anything there either. So perhaps now's a better time to buy than people think?
 
Do yourself a favor and listen to Chrispy and tristan. If you need one now, buy one or check out a refurbished model from the apple store. You can't really trust the buyers guide at the time being. Personally, I feel that the "imminent" updates to the powerbook will be a little better than what tristan has said, but anything we say regarding the future specs of powerbooks is purely speculation.
 
If you need a computer now, and prefer portables, pick up one of the newly updated iBooks. They are awesome little machines, and with the latest update the 12" iBook is closer to the 12" PB then it ever has been. So unless you need built-in superdrive and/or audio-in or must have HDs at 5400 rpm or higher, check out the 12" iBook. It even has 512 MB RAM with a free RAM slot to fill with nice, cheap 3rd party RAM. :)
 
If I was in your position, (which I was a few months ago) I'd go used. There are some great computers available for sale in MR's own Marketplace. It allows you to get some newer technology to hold you over for a year or two, but does it at a lower price tag. Then, when your dream computer is released (i.e. Intel PB), you can upgrade to that.

Well... at least that's my plan.
 
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