PB Dilemma

[mfacey]

Hey guys,

I'm having a really tough time making the decision of whether or not to buy a new Powerbook. Maybe you guys can talk some sense into me!

Here's the situation. I currently own a Powerbook 667mhz with 512 MB Ram. As you can see from my signature I destroyed the screen. And having to hook my powerbook up to an external monitor everywhere I go just sucks (sort of defeats the purpose of having a notebook). Anyway, now for the dilemma. I have two choices:

1) Buy a new top of the range powerbook now with maxed out graphics card and 1GB of ram and a fast HDD.

2) Wait for an upgrade which is, as far as I can see, either going to be a dual core G4 or a G5. My guess is it'll come out in Jan/Feb 2005.

Ok, so here's my question. How long is the current line of powerbooks going to last me? No doubt I will be upgrading to tiger as soon as its released. I want that to be able to run (very) smoothly. I'm not planning on upgrading for at least 3-4 years if a get a new powerbook (unless I stand on the screen again).
My other concern is that if I get Rev. A next generation powerbook I'm gonna get stuck with the stuff with all the early stage issues. And that would just suck. I guess rev. B would be at least another 4-5 month wait though!

I'm not in a real hurry to get one, but I'm just getting fed up with my current set up! All help is appreciated!


EDIT: I'm not really a pro user, I use mostly iLife, Office, Internet, Photoshop. I just want a laptop that'll blow the socks off any new Dell Hope that'll help you in helping me find a solution to my dilemma.

 

[zelmo]

If you can afford to wait until MWSF, I'd do it. Personally, I expect they will make some very modest changes to the PB, with a small price break as well, just enough to make it a more viable option to the revised iBook line. Right now, other than screen resolution, there isn't a whole lot going for the PB line. I doubt we'll see any major PB revisions before WWDC, and I honestly think you'll be waiting until MWSF '06 before you see a G5 or Dualcore G4 PB released.

Regardless, any PB you buy will last you several years (standing on it notwithstanding ). It won't mysteriously get slower when the next rev is released. It'll just be slightly less cool.

 

[emw]

If you're not in a rush, wait for the new PBs to come out and then buy the previous rev and same some cash. But I wouldn't hold my breath waiting for them.

From the sounds of it, the current version of PB will definitely handle your needs - I'm still running a 1GHz Ti with 1GB of RAM, and I do some fairly intense work with Photoshop and other graphics/design apps.

P.S. How, exactly, did you end up standing on your screen

 

[wordmunger]

You could do what I did and buy a 14-inch iBook now, expecting to upgrade to a Rev b (or c) PowerBook in a couple years. This thing is really pretty speedy--hard to tell the difference from my wife's 1.5 Ghz 15-inch PB.

 

[mfacey]

I've considered getting a top of the range ibook. But the fact of the matter is that I just don't like it. I think the PB looks a lot better. I want a decent size screen aswell (15 inch at least) and the resolution of the ibook screen really puts me off. Besides that I've been reading on these forums that the graphics card in the current ibook is not optimal for Tiger (when it comes out).

How did I manage to stand on my screen? Well that's easy!
I had my powerbook in its Incase sleeve. I just got into my house. Put it down on the ground (you can feel it coming, right?). Then I was talking to somebody, took a slight step backwards and clipped the upper right hand corner of my screen with the heel of my shoe. I took it out when this happened, gave it a quick look over and thought all was well. Then the next day I had the shock of my life when I saw a huge tear running from the top right corner to the bottom left!! That was black day in my life...