[kennedy]

I have a PB12 (love it) and am looking to upgrade by end of January (because my wife is going out of town and I want to send her with my current PB12). I do a lot of video editing on my machine, plus am a programmer, so I'd like that the fastest PB12 I can get... and FW800.

So, the questions...

Assuming the next gen of G4 PB's is announced at MWSF, would they likely be immediately available for order (so I could get it late Jan), or does it typically take longer for availability?

Does Apple ever announce for Xmas season? Or do they always wait for everyone to make their Xmas purchases of the old stuff, and then announce the new stuff at Macworld?


Depending upon the answers, I might decide to go ahead and make the switch sooner, giving me a bit more time to work out the "kinks" in her setup before I send her off with it. But if I can wait to the last minute on her in order to get FW800 (etc) for me, I'll do it!


Thanks for any insight.

[pat++]

The PowerBook line is clearly due for an update... I wouldn't bet on anything available before end of january anyway.

History has proven that new Apple products are never available before at least one month (with very few exceptions).

If you can wait until then, I would, because the new PowerBooks might get the new 7448 chip with 1MB of L2 cache which should make a significant difference with current models...

The problem is that according to the information you can find on the web, this chip will not be available in high quantity before 3 months I would say...

Now up to you to make your mind.

[cpac]

Apple has stated that the powerbook *will not* be updated before the holidays are over. MWSF is a good bet, but Apple has been moving away from introducing *all* hardware at those shows and towards announcing them in a special event, or just as a press release kind of thing. Especially since the feature bump is likely to be minor in the next PB update, I wouldn't consider it a shoe-in for inclusion in the Stevenote.

Beyond that, on popular items that are overdue for updates, availability does usually lag a while behind. And while you can get one of the first few by placing your order at the Applestore as soon as it is announced, you: (1) loose out on any tax benefits of buying through another catalogue/store and (2) are more likely, especially if there is some semi-significant hardware change, like a new chip, to get a model made before the bugs have been worked out of production.

In your shoes, I'd wait if you can anyway. (And I'd think about getting a bigger screen for video editing).

[paully dub]

Does she need a pb? Why not buy her an ibook- they've just been updated, they're a great value, and travel computer.

And then you can wait a while and upgrade at your leasure.