Well, now I have a decision to make. Based on available reports, the consumer line of desktop Macs has been end-of-life’d at Apple, which means that product revisions are coming down the pipeline. I’ve been debating the PowerBook purchase for a bit now, because rumors have been spreading of updates to the line sometime in the next two months.
As it is, the current line of PowerBooks has been in service almost as long as most lines have been just before being updated. Almost every buyers’ guide mentions that it’s getting close to product revision time. The only question is - what kind of product revision will we be seeing?
While sources confirmed that PowerBook ‘updates’ are being readied, they were unable to provide details about the flavor of processor that will power the new laptops.
That only makes the decision harder. Do I go for the more immediate gratification and (obvious) usefulness of picking up the 17 now, or do I wait and see what the next revision is going to be? Most people are pretty skeptical about the PowerBook revision, even though it’s long overdue - the news of better, faster G4 processors has pretty much put a wedge into the idea that we will be receiving G5 PowerBooks anytime soon - which is really what I would prefer to wait for.
The general rule when buying a laptop - since the technology changes so quickly - is that you should buy it when you need it, regardless of market factors. I don’t think this pans out as well as some people think it should… a G5 laptop would obviously have some distinct advantages and be ridiculously powerful. And the G5 is really where the future of Apple is right now.
I know that, of course, in typical computer-purchasing fashion, as soon as I place my order, the G5 PowerBook will be announced - which is really my nightmare about the whole thing. Most people have been guessing that the path will instead be a G4 speed bump before the end of April, with the move to a G5 in such a factor sometime late in the summer - right before we go back to school, of course.
Bah. This is not an easy decision, but at least the government is making part of it for me - I still don’t have my refund, so the question of whether or not to purchase is entirely moot at this point.
I think I’ll at least wait until the expected Power Mac update announcement (many are saying in the next two weeks, as the current memory promotion ends soon), and see if they’re sneaking in anything under the radar for PowerBooks.