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Powerbook advice sought--buy now or wait?

Buy PB now!

Originally posted by gemio17
... I just got sick :rolleyes: of going to visit
my PB at the Apple store and said -
f%!@ it, :mad:
"you're mine bitch!"
Click to expand...
:eek:
I love it!
You go, guy! :D Congratulations.

Not to go too far off topic, but did anyone notice what happened this morning in the online Apple Store? (Deals)

another $5 per 5-pack drop in price of Apple
4x DVD-R media to $9.99 ($2 each) and
2x is missing! :confused:
8x DVD-R media - coming? end of February, or early March?
Verbatim, Apple, others?

http://store.apple.com/1-800-MY-APP.../wo/cg1qOTa5NwIk3g5GAm7044xoDan/1.0.7.1.0.5.3

http://store.apple.com/1-800-MY-APP...oDan/0.0.7.1.0.5.13.0.3.0.0.0.0.3.1.1.0?94,27

DVD-R Media - These products are new and unopened units.
Apple 4x DVD-R media kit (5 pack) Add $9.99
Click to expand...
8x Pioneer DVD/CD±R/RW internal SuperDrive price drop at
Fry's Electronics this last weekend from $229 list to $199.99 in-store price, and
Pioneer selectively offers a $30 mail-in Rebate Go to:
http://www.videoguys.com/pioneer.html
Then look for: $30 Pioneer mail-in rebate coupon!! Click here to download - coupon expires 03/31/2004
I swapped out my original 2x SuperDrive with the 8x Pioneer DVR-A07 -
it works perfectly and started up automatically with an Apple supplied driver in Panther for DVR-105 (4x) until the 8x media is released and Apple updates drivers for all 8x burners. Awesome!
 

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keep working on the HD

Of course you want a new PB - who doesn't? But I bet you could get your old PB working.

Back up your HD, and then wipe it and do an install.

If you do buy a new HD, it's not that much money, and you can put it in a firewire enclosure when you get your next PB and get some external space out of it.

One thought - find somebody who has an old laptop HD lying around that did an upgrade, and buy that one from them cheap. Lots of PC guys upgrade their laptops hard drives. I have three laying around from my PC days. Or you might be able to get one from an old MP3 jukebox.

Just some suggestions. If you were going to buy, I think the best time to do it is right after a release. Then you have lots of choices - buy the newer models, or discounted older models. Between releases, there's just too much uncertainty for me to buy - but that's just my opinion.
 
PB advice...

Naimfan-I also have a Pismo(w/a broken optical drive, boo-hoo), but I have a G3 900 upgrade as well as a 7200rpm drive installed...coupled with 1G of ram, it is still a very competitive machine and has many features lacking in Ti/Al PB models(dual battery capability being the biggest)...video card is its' only limitation(a rather bad one), but the point is w/ G5 powerbooks only a rumor at this stage, I would take this opportunit y to install a nice fast internal HD and possibly a processor upgrade and keep on going until the rev.B PB G5 are out (there has been alot of speculation on cooling methods w/G5 PB and I have a feeling that rev A G5 PB might be iffy...just a guess). If you need a superdrive, buy external...think the current PBs are beautiful, but not fast enough(or upgradeable) to warrant the $$. My 2 cents...hope to be helpful
(BTW, yes there are alot of these threads, but there are specific needs in each and different, unique opinions/responses in kind...)
 
Re: PB advice...

Originally posted by blackfox
If you need a superdrive, buy external...
Click to expand...
For a PowerBook SuperDrive 2x DVD burner replacement, we are talking $300; for an iBook ComboDrive replacement $259.

For a solid LaCie d2 external firewire 8x DVD/CD±R/RW with free $99 full version of Roxio Toast 6, we are talking only $249. An external can go anywhere, including to help out your iMac or G5 at home. It's a great alternative for a PB, and a significant upgrade to SuperDrive from a mere combo for an iBook.

Great advice blackfox, including the rest of your post.
 
Update and Thanks to all!

All--

Thanks to everyone for your constructive suggestions! I really appreciate them.

What I've done is to buy a 160 Gb external HD (Seagate), backed up the internal HD to it, and then did a clean install of Panther. Everything works perfectly. And as an added bonus, the machine runs noticeably faster.

What I now plan to do is to have the internal HD and processor upgraded per Blackfox' suggestion. I'm a bit hesitant to do the processor upgrade only because Applecare doesn't run out until August of this year. Suggestions on HD upgrades?

And I'll wait on a new machine until either the G5s come out or my educational eligibility is about to run--I graduate law school this coming December (knock on wood!).

Best,

Bob
 
maybe on Feb 24th!

it is steve's birthday afterall (and mine as well) and it is a tuesday... :)
 
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