If you can wait 2-3 weeks, wait. Pretty much everyone is still expecting Tiger to be released some time this month. You'll hate yourself later if you don't get Tiger. Mac OS X 10.3 Panther is a really good system, but 10.4 Tiger will bring all sorts of improvements to even your general workflow.
Here's a brief list of
some changes in Tiger.
Besides the new OS-wide features and updates and bug-fixes you'll get with Tiger, don't forget that some new software titles will start
requiring you to run Tiger, just as some titles today require Mac OS X 10.3 or higher.