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$2,500 spending limit, what should i do?


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$2,500 spending limit, what should i do?
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Mero
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Join Date: Jul 2004
Location: Seattle, Washington
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2004-11-29, 02:48

Ok, I've been a loyal mac user and specifically Powerbook user for awhile. I started with the Powerbook G4, 500 (original tiBook) and its long passed its applecare warranty plan. Plus, I plan on getting into FCP so i'd like a faster computer for that anyway.

The limit: $2500 (excluding tax)
The Ideas:

A) MWSF, January 10th purchase the most up to date Powerbook 15" @$2500

B) iMac G5 17", 1.8GHz G5+ 14" ibook, 1.33GHz G4
1. Wait until January 10th (keynote+expo) to buy these
II. Buy them now, both at mid product life.

I'm in college, so I get the educational discount.

I'm spending $2500 at Apple on a computer, so don't tell me to go to Hawaii or buy a typewriter...

Suggestions welcome. Keep in mind i'd like good performance, and we don't know what the Powerbook will be like in 'O5. We can, however, guess that its either a G4 or a G5 and it is not likely that they will be over 2.0GHz, and more likely they will be the same speed as the iMac. What are your thoughts?

Burn it on a Mac, dig! :cool:
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usurp
High Monarch of MacDebate
 
Join Date: Jul 2004
Location: Kuwait
 
2004-11-29, 03:10

i like option B. u get a nice cool desk mac which u would work on most of the time comfortably. then u got an excellent portable ibook to use on your bed or around campus.

my advice would be to drop down the 14inch ibook to the lowend 12inch since its cooler, and more compact, plus with the money difference get an ipod if u dont have one already or more ram for your imac and ibook.

portable: MacBook 2.4Ghz, 2GB RAM, 250GB HD | personal: PowerMac G5 dual 2.3ghz, 6GB RAM, 6TB HD | work: MacBook Pro 2.5ghz, 2GB RAM, 160GB HD | car: Alpine iDA-W407 with black iPod 80GB | pocket: iPhone 3GS with Ultimate Ears Super.fi 5 Pro's
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Mero
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2004-11-29, 03:13

thanks for the input. Yeah, i've been really thinking about dropping down the ibook to the 14" but I think that's tooo small. I like SOME screen space and I cant see that well so it would be nice to have things a bit bigger.

Burn it on a Mac, dig! :cool:
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Wrao
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Join Date: May 2004
Location: Road Warrior
 
2004-11-29, 03:18

Personally, I plan on upgrading my Rev A. Aluminum 15" to whatever new Powerbook comes out at MWSF, after selling my 15" and selling some(or all) of my AAPL stock, I should be able to pimp out the new 15" something fierce, and be totally set for many years(I know I said that when I got this 15", but that was before garageband, which is an absolute beast, even more so when I try to use reason with it) , especially if the new version of Garageband includes some massive performance improvements.

For you, I would lean towards the iMac g5, but, that said, I think the next powerbooks will either be A) really powerful(dual core g4 or a nice g5 chip in there, coupled with faster bus speeds, faster RAM, and a better GPU) or they'll be not much more powerful than they are now, but they'll feature a lot more bang for your buck(like they did recently with the iBooks, modest speed bump but lowered prices and adding 802.11g to the whole line made them a tremendous value)

eitherway, I'd wait till the expo, because it's a given that something good will come, be it a fantastic new powerbook, or even a super powerful and cheap eMac that will offer everything(or near everything) you need for far cheaper than the iMac config.

oh yea, an important thing to consider, if you choose to get the iMac G5, you'll very quickly find that 256 RAM is unacceptable so you'll probably want to set aside $150 or so to upgrade it to at least 1 GB
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Mero
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2004-11-29, 03:26

The powerbook is nearly 2 months past its everage cycle revision date already, so that worries me. Obviously we will see speedbumps/revisions with the Powermacs so we (Hopefully) will see 3.0GHZ+ For the people who agree that a G5 is ready for a Powerbook, they all agree that it wont exceed 2.0GHz. So, paying half the price for a 1.8Ghz G5 iMac with a superdrive/larger HD/decent videocard just seems like the way to go when guessimating the future. No doubt the powerbook will be amazing, and hawt. But the iMac is such a competative system, its amazing. But yeah, I think I will have to wait another month. My tibook died a month ago, so I have been without Mac OS for that long...sigh...

Burn it on a Mac, dig! :cool:
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usurp
High Monarch of MacDebate
 
Join Date: Jul 2004
Location: Kuwait
 
2004-11-29, 04:52

just a note, the 14inch ibook does NOT have more screen space then the 12inch. They are both exactly the same at 1024x768 pixels.
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Messiahtosh
Apple Historian
 
Join Date: May 2004
 
2004-11-29, 09:38

I'd wait for the PowerBook. One machine that will do everything for you and have plenty of power to do it. Pimp the PowerBook, it's what I did and I'm not unhappy about it. I did get caught up in the iMac G5 power-hype and wanted to sell my PowerBook for a new iMac, but it never happened and I realize now what a good machine this PB is for college-use.

"We are reviewing some 9,000 recent UNHCR referrals from Syria. We are receiving roughly a thousand new ones each month, and we expect admissions from Syria to surge in 2015 and beyond." - Anne C. Richard, Assistant Secretary, Bureau of Population, Refugees, and Migration
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Mero
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2004-11-29, 17:58

Well as it stands right now the iMac G5 outperforms the Powerbook G4, yet is half the cost. Keep in mind I wont be using these for gaming, either.
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FFL
Fishhead Family Reunited
 
Join Date: May 2004
Location: Slightly Off Center
 
2004-11-29, 18:45

Now you're getting it!

In fact, I'd give strong consideration to Plan C:
-a dual 1.8 PM G5, with the best Samsung or ViewSonic digital flat panel you can get with what's left,
and
-keep the PowerBook for another year, in which time $600 and the proceeds of selling it, would give you a brand-new 12" iBook.

Reasoning:
-FCP on a dual PowerMac will be waaay better than on an iMac, and waaay, waaaaaay better than on a PowerBook.
and
-Using your "slow" PowerBook for another year won't bother you nearly as much as you think, once it becomes your secondary, portable-only machine, and you get your speed thrills from the PowerMac.

edit: this would be a great 19" LCD for $449:
http://www.compusa.com/products/prod...11509&pfp=cat3

Last edited by FFL : 2004-11-29 at 23:52. Reason: wrong Power Mac
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Chinney
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Join Date: May 2004
Location: Ottawa, ON
 
2004-11-29, 21:35

Quote:
Originally Posted by Wrao

[...]
oh yea, an important thing to consider, if you choose to get the iMac G5, you'll very quickly find that 256 RAM is unacceptable so you'll probably want to set aside $150 or so to upgrade it to at least 1 GB
Goes without saying. Steve, are you reading? Stop selling great computers without the basic RAM that they need.
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Chinney
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Join Date: May 2004
Location: Ottawa, ON
 
2004-11-29, 21:38

Quote:
Originally Posted by Mero
[...]My tibook died a month ago, so I have been without Mac OS for that long...sigh...
What happened to it? Wasn't it worth repairing?
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Mero
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2004-11-30, 02:10

well haha, right now it looks like a Dual 2.0ghz powermac with a 3rd party 19'" screen, and then get my powerbook fixed if apple still offercs the $350 flat rate repairs.

edit: powerbook=in apples hands being fixed. Waiting for keynote to make the final choice.

Burn it on a Mac, dig! :cool:

Last edited by Mero : 2004-12-01 at 00:34.
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