To Buy or Not To Buy

[Twylo]

Hell, isn't that always the question?

Until two weeks ago, I had an iBook 500. It was my constant and loyal companion, and I loved it dearly. Oh how I loved it. But then, cruel fate snatched it away from me when my upstairs neighbor's toilet overflowed and dumped six gallons of water onto it. While it was open. And running.

Insurance was kind enough to give me a check for the replacement value. In fact, they gave me $300 more than I paid for it, plus money for a lot of other things that were destroyed in my apartment. So, now I have plenty of money, but no laptop.

You can see where this is leading.

I need to replace my laptop, and I have my eyes on a 15" PowerBook G4. But with all the rumors of a new Aluminum model right around the corner, I'm going crazy. Should I just wait, and wait, and wait, and go without a laptop, and hope for an update soon? Or should I just say "To heck with it!" and trot down to the apple store and buy one this weekend?

Help me decide! This insurance money is burning a hole in my pocket.

 

[SoonToGetAMac]

If I were you, AirPort would be my only concern. If you use AirPort alot you may want to consider waiting. Otherwise, I'd go tomorrow and get one. Think of it as a gift, that you're getting one at like 50% or more off, and you were looking for an upgrade anyways. Acutually, I really reccomend a refrub. one from applestore online, if they have them. You save a lot of $$, and I have never been able to tell the difference with a refurb product.

 

[rebscb]

Airport is really not a concern with the current 15" powerbook. You can now purchase a third party 2.4ghz wireless station and a 2.4ghz pc card that will slide right into the pc card bay on your powerbook. Voila, you've got 54 mpbs wireless speed on your powerbook without airport extreme.

Why doesn't Apple service its loyal customers in this way? So that they can sell new stuff.

 

[mymemory]

Hold on...

and tell us how you suffer in the mean time

 

[SoonToGetAMac]

Originally posted by rebscb
Airport is really not a concern with the current 15" powerbook. You can now purchase a third party 2.4ghz wireless station and a 2.4ghz pc card that will slide right into the pc card bay on your powerbook. Voila, you've got 54 mpbs wireless speed on your powerbook without airport extreme.

Why doesn't Apple service its loyal customers in this way? So that they can sell new stuff.

I was talking about the bad recpetion, actually. (with built in AirPort)

 

[cr2sh]

If you buy it now you'll complain like mad in two weeks when the 15" comes out, the old loses mad value, and you're still waiting for yours to arrive. If you don't wait you'll go without a laptop for maybe as long as two months, then when the Al15 is annopunced, youll still have a shipping time of a month.

If I were you I'd buy now...

 

[rebscb]

Good point - I did not even think about the reception issue - and you're right - the reception in the tibook sucks. But, perhaps the pc card will net you with better reception because I assume that the card (sticking out of the card bay) is the attennna?

 

[hugemullens]

External Cards on a TiBook are MUCH better for reception. Our campus has a 802.11 network and you have to use an external for it to have much range at all. If it were me i'd buy now. Airport extreme and FW800 are the only technoligies waiting to come out for the new one. Other than that you'd gain may .2" of screen space and a Alu paint job. Not worth the month or 2 back order i'm sure the new ones will have.

 

[beez7777]

Originally posted by hugemullens
External Cards on a TiBook are MUCH better for reception. Our campus has a 802.11 network and you have to use an external for it to have much range at all. If it were me i'd buy now. Airport extreme and FW800 are the only technoligies waiting to come out for the new one. Other than that you'd gain may .2" of screen space and a Alu paint job. Not worth the month or 2 back order i'm sure the new ones will have.

i would agree with hugemullens. if you like how the powerbooks are now, then go for it and don't look back. if you don't, you may end up waiting a month or two for the new ones to be released, and then god knows how long for them to be shipped.

 

[NavyIntel007]

I've heard that some people have gotten four back orders on their new Ti15's. Also a lot of vendors don't even have them in stock. This is a really good sign that the new 15" is coming very soon. I'll be in the market for one in June. My ibook500 will go to my girlfriend.