When to upgrade?

[Niall]

I have the last rev of the 15in Powerbook, bought in November 05, and its absolutely fantastic. Its fast and powerful, for the most part, and is a delight to use, compared to any PC I've seen. But then you all know this :) .

I use it exclusively for personal use, games, movies, music, all basic home stuff, and also as my TV with eyeTV. The transcoding of eyeTV recordings, and newer games such as First to Fight are the only things to slow it down.

So the question is - When can I justify upgrading to an intel Mac? I'm dying to sign up for Boot Camp, and play all the games that allows, and the extra speed will certainly be put to good use. My work as an engineer requires CAD and other PC software, although this would only be a small proportion of its use, at most.

The advice on here is of course not to spec whore, which is fair, but in general, when can one justify upgrading? Is 5x faster, plus Boot Camp, enough to justify it (I know the realworld speed increase is a lot less, of course), or should I sit on my Apple Store Basket for another half year or so? Am also keen to get a bigger HD this time.

Looking for some fresh insight.
Thanks all.
Niall

[BarracksSi]

Compare your needs to mine and see what you come up with --

My iBook is almost exclusively used for web browsing, email, music, and photos. If I got Finale installed, I could bring work home. I've used it in the garage as a display for my car's service manual. I don't use it for games (don't even have enough leftover space anymore), and the only Windows software I would need would be an ECU reprogrammer for my car. I need hard drive space more than a new Mac.

In general, though, I would say that an upgrade is worth it when the new features can be useful enough. Up until this year, the new features were all pretty much hardware-based. CPU speed wasn't enough for someone like me, though, so I paid more attention to data ports, hard disk size, and the optical drive -- those things give a more tangible benefit, IMO.

With the Intel chips and Bootcamp/Parallels/CrossOver, things are different. Would you use the Windows side often enough? Do you need to use your CAD software now, or can you wait for the Windows-on-Mac thing to fully mature?

Your PB is pretty kickass already. But, it's also new enough that you probably won't take much of a financial hit if you sell it. Apart from the speed boost (and built-in iSight), the MBP's hardware is pretty much the same as far as the user is concerned, and taken alone might not be worth the upgrade. I'd base my decision on its new software abilities.

[Mac+]

Hi Niall - I don't have too much in the way of upgrade advice. I usually wait for a significant leap in processor (G3 to G4 to G5 to Intel) as opposed to just clock increases. However, I also assess what I'm missing out on if I hold onto the old technology too long. At some point, the features available for newer machines (or OS) become a compelling case for me to upgrade. This can be related to software, hard drive size, optical drive options and graphics card capabilities too. With all of this, I also take into account my budget, and the physical design of the product. Aesthetics come into play here.

Anyway, for fresh insight (not mentioned thus far), you might also consider bookmarking this page ( http://buyersguide.macrumors.com/) if you are trying to judge the best time to jump in on the upgrade cycle.

[Luca]

I'd wait longer. You should probably go at least two years before upgrading. I mean, why not? Your PowerBook can already handle everything you throw at it short of games (which never work well as long as you're booting the Mac OS anyway). I know the new Intel Macs are supposed to be so much better than the old PPC Macs in every way, but what stops the old ones from performing admirably for as long as you want them to?

Once your computer starts bogging down for everyday tasks, it's time to replace it. If your old one is sufficiently quick, what will upgrading accomplish? You should wait until you are actually starting to get frustrated with your old computer. That makes upgrading all the more worthwhile.

[Niall]

Gents,
Thank you all for your input, it has been interesting and thought provoking.

BarracksSi - I don't need a laptop for work, otherwise they would buy me a 600 craptop - (I doubt I could negotiate a deal with them), but in any case I would seldom need it, only on long business trips, and being a fairly recent grad, there ain't too many of those. I agree with you about hardware features being important, which is why I was more impressed with the improved screen resolution last Oct, than the 0.03 Ghz speed dump that was rumoured at the time. Sadly I probably would use windows a lot, unless Parallels gains video support or the holy grail of WINE appears. Games mostly, and a few other things. With regards to sale price I'd consider anything over %50 of retail to be a bonus, as it has a few minor dings.

Mac+ - I like your idea of assessing what you're missing out on. That sums it up quite well. The PB does everything I bought it for and more, but with intel chips, "imagine the possibilities". Am keen to see a redesign with the arrival of Merom, although I cannot say exactly why. I'm familiar with the Macrumors buyersguide, and used it to buy the PB. Although the recent crackdown on info leaks and redesign of product lines means less accuracy.

Luca - You may not know me, but I know you well enough to guess you'd say that, valid though it is. :) A question for you, if I may. Is your 12in PB your only/primary computer? I ask because I am short on HD space, power, and screen size, to a degree, and feel that more of all would be a bonus. If I had a desktop, I would not feel the need to upgrade a laptop as much. I take your point re. upgrading only when frustrated with the PB, but what about upgrading because I'm frustrated with all the games I can't play, my g/f's crap PC which I play Morrowind on sometimes, and the 17hrs it takes to turn LOTR into H.264, for instance.

Summary so far - I came here looking for a good reason to wait, or a good reason to buy. Instead I got rational discussion! Looks like the only justifiable reason to upgrade is games, and how much is it reasonable to spend on that? Far less for me than for many people here, as I don't spend all that much time on it. But it can be valuable time.

Any more angles on this, keep 'em coming.

Cheers all
Niall

[Kickaha]

Let's see... my PowerBook G4 is coming up on 3 yrs old, is my primary machine, I use it (literally) about 12 hrs a day, and my work depends on it utterly.

I don't think I'm the person to be asking about upgrading if it's been less than at least 2 years... ;)

(My home server is a B/W G3 PowerMac that's coming up on 8 years, still chugging along strong...)

[Luca]

Luca - You may not know me, but I know you well enough to guess you'd say that, valid though it is. :) A question for you, if I may. Is your 12in PB your only/primary computer? I ask because I am short on HD space, power, and screen size, to a degree, and feel that more of all would be a bonus. If I had a desktop, I would not feel the need to upgrade a laptop as much. I take your point re. upgrading only when frustrated with the PB, but what about upgrading because I'm frustrated with all the games I can't play, my g/f's crap PC which I play Morrowind on sometimes, and the 17hrs it takes to turn LOTR into H.264, for instance.
Yeah, my 12" PB is my only computer. Until recently, though, I had a 17" LCD that I'd use in addition to the built in display (or sometimes, instead of the built in one). I'm going to be moving to China by the end of the month, so I needed to dump my display, but I'm planning on getting another external LCD once I show up there. Also, I use an external hard drive (320 GB) and I have a PS2 hooked up to a TV on my desk for my gaming fix. So that's how I do that.

In my particular situation, keeping my current machine is working out fine and buying a new one would be a waste of money. Not a total waste, of course, but I wouldn't see enough of a benefit for it to be worth it. I also don't use my computer for very demanding tasks at all, to the point where I would very strongly consider getting a very basic PC in order to save money, when the time comes to upgrade that is.

[Niall]

Guys thank you all for your input. This has really helped to coalesce my thoughts. Rather than simply wondering when I can justify upgrading, I now have a simpler question to deal with- to decide whether gaming is important enough to upgrade for.
Other features are of course exciting but not enough in themselves to upgrade, as Kick pointed out.
Luca thanks for your info - I have an external HD as well, but more internal space would be nice, especially if some of it is given over to windows. I have no PS2 though. I really would prefer to game on my primarly computer - ie a MBP, but I'm still not sure whether I should afford it!
Thanks again. Will be back for more advice when I've made up my mind. :)
Niall