Toggle sidebar Toggle sidebar
Become a MacRumors Supporter for $50/year with no ads, ability to filter front page stories, and private forums.

Should I get a PB now?

B

brian4610

macrumors regular
Original poster
I'm in the market for a new laptop, and was 90% sold on the 12" pb, because everyone (independent retailers) was saying that the new upgrades would be large. Obvioulsy the current PB is a solid machine, but my question is three fold:

1- do i buy a newly upgraded (assuming the prices stay the same) 12" PB or...

3- buy a current PB (if the price drop is significant) or....

2- Wait until june when it's possible that the big upgrades could be annouced?

Lets pretend that there will be a new PB in June, with everything everone expects it to have (G5, etc)...How much better will it be then the rumored new PB will be?

I appreciate your help...I want to make the switch, but want to get the best for my $$$.

thanks.
 
brian4610 said:
I'm in the market for a new laptop, and was 90% sold on the 12" pb, because everyone (independent retailers) was saying that the new upgrades would be large. Obvioulsy the current PB is a solid machine, but my question is three fold:

1- do i buy a newly upgraded (assuming the prices stay the same) 12" PB or...

3- buy a current PB (if the price drop is significant) or....

2- Wait until june when it's possible that the big upgrades could be annouced?

Lets pretend that there will be a new PB in June, with everything everone expects it to have (G5, etc)...How much better will it be then the rumored new PB will be?

I appreciate your help...I want to make the switch, but want to get the best for my $$$.

thanks.
Click to expand...

- I think if your priority is "best for my $$$" and you want a 12", you should look for great deals on the Rev. Cs, or consider an iBook if you don't need some of the extra speed/features of the PowerBook. I have already seen massive price cuts at my local retailer on the current-until-tomorrow PBs.

- If you just want the best 12" Mac laptop you can buy, get the new ones. If the price stays the same, it's not too bad of a deal, especially with edu discount if applicable.

As for waiting until June ... just buy it when you need it and can afford it ... maybe that's now, maybe that's June.
 
Thanks for the info.....i'm an apple newbie, so forgive the lame question here...i've seen people use the term Rev C, or Rev B, and i'm not sure what it means...

I dont need PB until spring (april/may), and would be pissed if i bought the rumored pb only to have the 'super' pb out the following month....I've gotta say, i'm pretty disappointed in the "upgrade"....I was hoping that it would be a monumental change from the current PB's....what are the chances that TS is wrong with their report? (fingers crossed)

I know that with ipods, if you bought you're ipod at best buy and could return it within a decent amont of time (i thought it was 4-6 months, could be wrong) if it was upgraded...would that be the case with a potential PB upgrade in june?

I know i'm talking about "if's and but's" i'm just trying to make the best use of my money...

thanks again...
 
The aluminum-encased PowerBooks are currently in their 3rd version, or revision. Rev. A being the original aluminum PowerBook G4, Rev. C being the current, and Rev. D supposedly coming tomorrow. See one of the many Apple history sites like www.Apple-History.com, or download Mactracker 3.0, for more details on the differences from revision to revision.

I can't answer your timing question, and really no one can. Sure, there is a good chance that 2005 will see a substantially new PowerBook, but then again if you search this site you will see plenty of people predicting massive changes for them by now, and so on. Still, I'm sure others here know a lot more about this than I do. Personally I think you should buy it when you need it and have the funds to do so, and that's something only you can decide (in other words, you define what "need" means to your own satisfaction). I will also say that Apple will sometimes come out with nice bundles when model changes are afoot. For example, anyone who purchased the previous generation of iBooks (or PowerBooks) in the month prior to the latest iBook revision got $200 off an iPod through the "Cram and Jam" promotion. Things like this can help make the decision easier. But if the current G4 PowerBooks and iBooks just don't do it for you, I guess you'll have to wait at least until June... and even then, who knows ...

Others can answer the return policy question better, I don't know all the ins-and-outs but I've seen others post about it. You could just check in advance with the retailer.
 
You will forever be kicking yourself if you:

Wait for the 'Latest and Greatest'

Want to get the most Umph for your bucks.

Because there will always be progress, something better will come along, and the technology companies really hate it when someone pre-announces a product upgrade (release){it cuts into sales of existing models by those awaiting the new model}.
Buy the best you can afford when you can afford it and need it.
 
thanks again for the help...

King, you're right when you say ''it's always going to change"....I'm still with my G3 ipod (30gig) and have no need to change to the click wheel or photo etc, yes they havnen't improved that much, but i'm satisfied with what i've got....

my only concern is that if i get the PB in the spring, will the new 'super' pb will put it to shame...like a going from a Model T to a porsche....I'm still learning about computers and the terms, in you're best guess, could the change be THAT dramatic...64bit, G5, dual processor, etc....on a scale from 1-10 how big of a change would that be from the current PB? (10 being the greatest)....

thanks.
 
brian4610 said:
on a scale from 1-10 how big of a change would that be from the current PB? (10 being the greatest)....
Click to expand...

That is a loaded question, if you are just doing email, surfing the web, using iTunes then a G5 PB (and frankly I think G5 in June is a big assumption) would be a 3 - 5. If you are doing video editing or major audio encoding then it'd be a 10. I am a J2EE application architect (so I write lots of code), and while I prefer working on one of my dual G5s, I can very comfortably work on my rev. C 15" pb; so for me G4 to G5 is a 7 tops. That is just my opinon, results will vary from user to user. If you run some benchmarks (which can be somewhat subjective to begin with) then my dual G5 pm blows my G4 pb away, but that is to be expected.

Hope that helps.
 
After writing the question, i realized how tough it was to answer, so thanks for your input......

As i said earlier, I'm planning on making the switch....I was hoping that my first venture into the Mac world was going to be with a MONSTER computer....mabey i need to just dip my toe in Mac water (Understating it of course) with the rumored new PB and maybe when it's time to get a new one i'll get the MONSTER that i wanted now....
 
I would get the current 12" PB (rev C) rather than the rumoured 12" PB if I were to get one if the drop in price was $200 or greater. If you need the faster HD, it would be tough to find a current 12" PB with a 5400rpm harddrive included in the system, so if you need a faster HD, you would probably have to get the new 12".

But yeah, I'd get the current 12" PB and use the money I save on getting a 1 GB stick of RAM.

Several exceptions:
- If they freed up both RAM slots so that you had the freedom to switch out both sticks of RAM rather than have Apple solder one of the RAM sticks onto the "motherboard".

- It had a widescreen LCD.
 
I was in the same boat, kinda. I waited and saved, and when I finally got the money for a 12" pb, i went w/the ibook. Regardless of what they announce tomorrow, the ibook seemed to fit me needs. Why?
*If they announce a G5 pb, I wouldn't buy a revision A apple anything - not a shot, just from my readings.
*A minor speed bump, better graphics wont justify the 50% (?) increase in cost. If I wanted great graphics I would get the powermac.
*If they did release something great, at a reasonable price, the delay for a new powerbook may be long
Anyway, I went ahead and got the ibook 12" from amazon with the rebate and maxed out the ram This even came out cheaper than my student discount🙂 good luck!
 
As an Amazon Associate, MacRumors earns a commission from qualifying purchases made through links in this post.
brian4610 said:
.I was hoping that my first venture into the Mac world was going to be with a MONSTER computer....
Click to expand...

I agree, the PB G4 doesn't qualify as a "MONSTER" computer by most definitions I can think of, but we're comparing it to things that don't (yet) exist. But it's still a great computer. In other words, think of it this way: it's the best laptop Apple's ever made (barring certain sentimental attachments), and will be at least for another few months-- which is the best you can ask for at this point. Will you pay a little premium for having the latest-and-greatest, whenever it is you decide to buy? Sure, but that might just be worth it to you.

And if you want to save some money, I agree that the Rev. C might be a good deal; if you want to save a little more money the iBook might do the trick.
 
you should buy when you need it, wait till april/may there might be rev between now and then, also the speed bumps may seem indignificant coming from the pc world, but on a mac the bump means more, it is easily 15-20% increase, if its just speed, if they change any other internal stuff it may mean more, all from a 0.2-3 GHz increase
 
Echoing one of the other posters, the 12" iBook is now a storming deal. If you don't use pro-applications it has to be worth considering.

If you like the Apple experience then wait until the Super-PB is released and all the bugs have been ironed out. Sell the iBook and buy it. Got to be the best route.

The 12" PB looks (to my untrained eye) like a terrible deal right now - it is missing quite a lot of the "pro" features of the other PBs (decent video card, FW 800, card slot, decent screen) yet is several hundred £s/$s more than the not that much weaker 12" iBook.
 
What if i do get a PB or ibook in april, does apple buy them back, is that where they get their refurbished computers? if thats the case, what is the % they buy it back for?

That way, i could get my computer when i needed it, but then upgrade to the super PB (assuming it's on it's way in june) and pay the difference.....
 
...
Benj said:
the 12" iBook is now a storming deal.
Click to expand...
<snip>

If you are after a storming deal, and want a PowerBook, I still say look for the Rev. Cs on closeout. I've already seen them as low as $1110, making the iBook still a great computer at a great price, but maybe not cheap enough in such a case to justify taking the speed/graphics/features hit; however minor or meaningless the difference is to some, ultimately that's your call and depends on what you want out of your laptop.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Register on MacRumors! This sidebar will go away, and you'll see fewer ads.
Top Bottom
Back