newbie question: to buy now, or to wait?

[brooklyn_seahawk]

Hi folks,

As a newbie to all of this and with all of the new Apple products in the past couple months I am at a bit of a loss of what to do...

I have been using my faithful 550 TiBook for the past three years, but I fear it has sustained a serious screen problem rendering it basically useless. So I definitely will need a new laptop by the end of next week at the latest!

The only thing stopping me from buying the 12" iBook is the possibility of new Powerbooks coming out in the next few days. If that's the case, do the prices of the current models typically drop? 10%, 20%?? I'm willing to pay 1250 or so for a 12" PB, so I am at a bit of a crossroad as to what to do...

Thanks to all who know more about Apple's pricing policies than I do...

[chucker]

So I definitely will need a new laptop by the end of next week at the latest!

So wait until the end of next week. If you can wait until then, you do want to.

The only thing stopping me from buying the 12" iBook is the possibility of new Powerbooks coming out in the next few days. If that's the case, do the prices of the current models typically drop? 10%, 20%?

Apple won't offer previous models as new (for discount prices), but they will offer previous models as refurbished, which I'm told are really fine quality (including full eligibility for warranty, so no increased risk).

? I'm willing to pay 1250 or so for a 12" PB, so I am at a bit of a crossroad as to what to do...

The previous-generation 12-inch PowerBooks are currently available at the refurbished store for $1299/$1449, depending on the configuration.

[Matsu]

buy the cheapest model you can. It looks like a 14" iBook would be best for you.

[brooklyn_seahawk]

Thanks for the replies on how the pricing system tends to work!

So is it correct to assume that iBook pricing (both new and refurb) will be unaffected by any upcoming Powerbook release?

[FFL]

So is it correct to assume that iBook pricing (both new and refurb) will be unaffected by any upcoming Powerbook release?
Yeah, that's a very reasonable assumption. I'd buy an iBook and get a 3rd party RAM upgrade (I'd recommend a 1 GB chip).