Help me decide! Would you rather...

[counterculture]

...buy the new iMac G5 and an iBook, or a souped up PowerBook G4? I've saved up for this and I'm still torn.

Based on the specs ThinkSecret broke, I think I can afford to get the top-of-the-line G5 iMac plus a 14-inch, 1GHz iBook. But what I really want is a G5 PowerBook! And since it doesn't exist (yet), I thought I'd just get the G4 with 2GB SDRAM.

I'm not really a speed whore, but I tend to use a lot of applications at the same time. I'm not into graphics (games or graphic design), just a lot of surfing, writing, blogging, photoshopping, DVD-watching, music-listening, p2p-ing. The usual. So I thought a cool G4 would be enough. But just the thought that there's a new G5 iMac coming makes me want to get it! And having two computers is better than one (or is it?). Then again, I travel a lot, and I think the iBook wouldn't be nearly good enough for my needs.

Thoughts and advise much appreciated.

[Barto]

Can you use two at once? No. But you could get a really cool powerbook with the money for two. Buy a second monitor, 2GB of RAM (as you suggested)... go the PowerBook :)

[blissed]

i'm in the same boat and i think realistically there won't be a p5 for a while... wait or maybe that's just what the marketing people at aplpe want me to believe... i wish they would give us more info...

i think you'd be happy with a g4 powerbook... go to an apple store and play around with one... especially if they have the software on it you want to use... or games... i'm sure the new ones are faster....

and we are due for an update in the next 3 months or so... so if you can wait...

[usurp]

i love the ibook. definetly get that with the imac. i had a 12inch ibook and my bro and gf both have the 12inch powerbook and i would rather have the ibook instead.

i mean come on.. an imac AND an ibook or a powerbook. easy choice... 2 macs or 1 mac... definetly 2 :)

[Quagmire]

Powerbook G4 all the way. The keyboard of the pbook is way better then the ibooks. The screen is also sharper and brighter then the ibooks. Unless you are going to drop it or run over it the pbook is the best. It is light, small, and powerful.

[Purgatos]

Well, one computer certainly takes up less room than two.

Also, I'd take one amazing computer over two pretty good computers.

That's just me though.

[windowsblowsass]

if hes talking about the imac g5 cid say it wull probably constitute as an amazing comp and this way he gets horse power at home and portability on th road

[Paul]

Obviously you are(should) wait(ing) to see what the new iMacs are like before making a decision but there are other important points you should consider.
The G5 is a very important jump over the G4.
A G5 iMac will last MUCH longer then a G4 PowerBook just based on the fact that the powerbook is portable.
A PowerBook is a very large investment and you might not want to carry around that kind of value all the time; an iBook would be a significantly smaller one and (especially if you get the 12") you might be willing to be a little more "daring" and get more use out of it.

Have you considered getting a 12" PowerBook instead of a 14" iBook? They are close to the same price but you get the luxury of the PowerBook in a MUCH smaller and lighter package.

Are you eligible for EDU discounts?

[ebook]

I'm kind of in the same but. Of course, I'm waiting to see what the new iMac's will look like along with price, specs, etc. But, I'm wondering if I would be better served by just getting a powerbook G4 to replace my iMac 500 and iBook 500 (G3's). If I get the new iMac than my money sitituation makes me stick with the old iBook. I'm just not sure what to do. I would mostly be using it for iMovie, iDVD, Office programs, Photoshop, iTunes, internet, and a few games (racing...nascar). What do you guys think.

P.S. I do like the idea of just totally skipping the G4 level!!

[curiousuburb]

Another potentially important factor in the performance calculation might be the fact the Tiger will ship with Xgrid. Free clustering with as many Tiger machines as it can find on the network might influence your decision to get 2 machines instead of one.

While Xgrid will probably only matter to researchers and scientists whose apps benefit from distributed horsepower (ie. render farms, Protein folding, SETI, Crypto, etc.), it does imply a shift from MHz myth per CPU. More boxes could potentially be thrown at certain types of problems. Won't do much for the things you list as tasks, but in the long run...

Also worth noting is that once the iMac G5 is out, the next rev *Book specs may leak next.
Waiting might give you a hint about the Oct - MWSF timeline.