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Would it be foolish to buy a pb 12" Now?

N

nyprospect

macrumors 6502
Original poster
May 3, 2004
451
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I was just wondering with all the chatter about the new chips and the g5 line getting makeover.Would it be dumb to just buy a pb? i have about 3 thousand left in my bank.I dont need a pb i have a pc.But I want a pb.or save the money and take a vacation :D
 
I don't expect any updates to the Powerbook line for quite a while. Rumors state that the current Rev. C systems will be the last wave of G4 Powerbooks. So when they do go G5, some time from now, they will be Rev. A Powerbook G5s - Apple is notorious for producing buggy Rev. A hardware.

The Powerbook G4 is at the height of its lifecycle - all the kinks have been worked out, and it has matured into a great system.

I believe this so much that I ordered my first Mac - a 12" stock Powerbook - last Monday. I am waiting for it right now, and waiting is HARD.

I have a Windows PC as well - I don't need the laptop really until September, when I go back to University. But for the reasons stated above, and the fact that Apple's pricing rarely changes, I figured why wait?

The ONLY thing I can see happening at WWDC is a new sales promotion (the current RAM sale ends June 26th). But since I'm a student, I qualify for Educational Pricing. This usually supercedes any promotions anyways, so I wouldn't be able to take advantage of any new promotions offered. Needless to say, I'm a little anxious waiting for my Mac!
 
Congrats Nina.You got guts lol.Im squeezing my credit card so hard i can read the numbers and exp date on my hand.Goodluck with your PB:)
 
Guts? I bet we'll see at least one more revision of the G4 powerbooks before we see a G5 since they were talking about those new G4's that would be pushing 2.0ghz and beyond. And I will go on record right now saying that I could see yet another revision of G4's coming out at the same time as the G5 powerbooks, whenever that does happen. Meaning, I could basically see 3 lines of apple notebooks coexisting at some time in the relatively near (but not near enough) future. However, with the most recent revision being very recent, you're not in danger of your machine being outdated any time soon. At least, not by something from Apple.

Edit: Oh yeah, I forgot to mention how pleased I am with my first mac, a 12" powerbook combodrive of the most recent revision.
 
nyprospect said:
I was just wondering with all the chatter about the new chips and the g5 line getting makeover.Would it be dumb to just buy a pb? i have about 3 thousand left in my bank.I dont need a pb i have a pc.But I want a pb.or save the money and take a vacation :D
Click to expand...


There will not be another upgrade to the PB lineup until maybe Sept, more likely in Jan at MWSF.

The new ones just came out 6 WEEKS ago, some people are just getting them now after ordering them quite some time ago. Apple isn't about to upgrade the lineup anytime soon. There was also a nice price drop at the same time.

Wait if you want, but expect to wait at least another 4-7 months before another revision. To believe it will come sooners is foolish in my opinion.

If you buy now, from my opinion you will have no regrets. I have been editing a movie in Final Cut Express and creating graphics for it in Photoshop CS all morning, with a one hour break to play Call of Duty in the meantime. Great machine!

Cheers!
 
nina said:
The ONLY thing I can see happening at WWDC is a new sales promotion (the current RAM sale ends June 26th).
Click to expand...

Whats the current RAM sale? I looked on Apple's website but didn't see anything.



Thanks,
--michael
 
well if you currently have a pc, then a 12" PB would be a vacation of sorts!!

its a great time to buy a 12" PB i think.
my 867mhz chomps through 95% of what i throw at it. the other 5% being UT2004, and Waves 4.0 LinMB VST effect in realtime. both of which have workarounds (play UT2003 instead, and run the LinMB in Peak as a post-effect).

it kinda depends on your uses, needs, and demands of the PB.

are your main demands:
ProTools realtime recording of 16+ channels... ?
Adobe CS rendering... ?
Playing Halo or UT2004... ?

if not, the current 12" PB will suit you.
 
I wouldn't wait. The PB's are great machines, and they will not have the G5 in them for a while (I think MWSF 2005). So you'll get plenty of use out of your PB. I have the 12" Rev. B PB and it's great - I wouldn't trade it for the world (but I would trade it for a brand new 15" PB with a backlit keyboard and 128 MB graphics card :D).

Best wishes,
JOD8FY
 
Well, I bought one and am still waiting for shipping, so I may be biased...

But all the signs point to either a long wait before going G5, or more G4 revisions. Go for it.

On a slightly related note... if the G5 has heat issues (blah blah, covered already) - you think they'd go so far as cutting out the 12" from the lineup? The little thing surely can't have any more room for heat dissipation hardware, I'd love to see watercooled G5s, but how on earth would they fit in such a form factor?
 
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