Hippy Hollow

So there looks like there will be a slew of new PowerBooks out later this month - see here. However, it looks like it will focus on the 15" and 17" PBs, not the 12".

I have a Sawtooth with a Gigadesigns 1 GHz upgrade that does okay, but my iBook G3/500 is horrendously slow. Last week the tip of my Madsen power adapter broke off, and I basically now have the iceBook completely taken apart awaiting a DC power input board - hopefully it will work when I put it back together! In any case I saw this as an opportunity to upgrade.

This particular iBook has been a road apple for me. Trust me, I've had some winners: my Centris 610 and Performa 5200 weren't exactly speed demons when I bought them back in the day. This Rev A iBook has had numerous problems - a strangely warped keyboard, faulty trackpad, broken drive door... but I did buy it refurbished - a mistake perhaps? I've learned my lesson, and I am now going to buy the ultimate Mac that addresses all of my needs, price (mostly) be damned. My uni is offering a really good price (compared to the Apple Store) on a PB 12", 512 MB memory, 60GB hard drive. It has everything I want, and I will add the memory later myself. Plus the school is bundling an iPod mini with it as well! The deal ends next Wednesday though.

I use the iBook for surfing the web, typing papers, and I would like to be able to watch DVDs, VCDs, and MPEGs with VLC when I'm on a plane. I also do GarageBand and it would be very cool if this machine was up for the task as well. Most of the heavy-duty graphics and sound stuff is on my desktop but it would be cool to be able to do some of it on the PowerBook.

My question is: should I go ahead and get the PB as listed at the uni website? Will the performance bump for the 12" PB be worth waiting for? If it goes up to 1.67 GHz, is it worth losing the good deal and the free iPod for it? What other enhancements might be worth waiting for the in new PowerBook?

(I want this size PB because it is the most portable, so I don't want to be swayed into buying a 15" or 17", no matter how cool they are. They won't fit in my backpack easily! Storage isn't an issue, as I have a few LaCie pocket drives for more space if I need it, but the PB will not be my primary computer.)