[Phossil]

Ok, as of the announcement about Intel chipsets being phased in over the next two years I think that college students like myself have a unique situation. I will be starting in August and as of now the only mac I have is a mac mini I got free from free mini macs.com (sans the spaces). I was going to buy a new powerbook for college, and I was hopeing for an update at WWDC, but instead I fear that if I get one now it just won't live up to what I need it to do.I have thought about it quite a bit and I think I have come up with a few possible plans for action.

1. Buy a new windows based computer and dual boot it windows/linux (I've been a Linux user for two years, and honestly it's my fav OS, but OS X is growing on me ) bring the mac mini, hook them up to one monitor. Purchuse a new powerbook in 2+ years when the new intel based ones are out.

2. Wait until the last possible minute (Mid-August) and hope for a powerbook update, Buy a new powerbook (decked out or not?) sell it in 2+ years, buy an intel based one. Survive with it (although I think the powerbooks are just not powerful enough for what I am looking for in a computer, which is why I was really hopeing for an update at WWDC) Bring Mac mini (although it really wouldn't hurt to have an x86 based comp around)

3. Switch to quill, pen and abakuss.

Right now I'm think option #1 is best for a college student in my situation - any feedback appreciated and I'm sure it will help other students like me.

[misc]

It depends on your situation. I don't know your intended major, but check out an iBook. It's powerful and cheap. I am starting college this fall also, I am pretty sure I am going to buy a Powerbook. It's not required but pretty much expected at my college. I will be doing art intensive heavy CAD work. Buy what suits your needs.

[OperaMan]

I'm in that boat, but I'm planning to survive on a 300mhz G3 powerbook till those sick intelbooks come out. With the amount of changes is could bring, like DDR2 and PCIe, as well as being able to play all those PC games after installing windows on it, I'm willing to wait quite a while.

[redheadfred]

Well, I too am a college student. I had an x86 desktop and an old powerbook. My desktop motherboard died so I have been living off this 800MHz powerbook for a few weeks right before finals...not the best timing, but I survived. I plan on getting a new powerbook in the next week or two. This announcement hasn't changed my mind too much about getting one. The only thing I really had my desktop for was counterstrike, burning stuff, and playing music/movies/etc... Now that I have been forced over to my powerbook, it doesn't seem that bad.

I guess it depends on whether or not you see yourself buying a new computer in 2 years. I can manage through the transition with a current powerbook, then get a new intel based one 2+ years later after everything is transfered. Also, the first intel based powerbooks might be prone to problems, as first revisions of new products tend to be.

[Link]

I ended up getting a 15" 1.5ghz.. nice, has all the fancy stuff, pretty fast, but wasn't too huge a worry for me down the road. Doubt I could have gotten a more favorable buy from anyone else and what I've accomplished with it so far was well worth not waiting until august

[rhythmicmoose]

I'm in the exact same boat. I've held off getting the new college computer all year, and now that I know the computer that I actually want isn't coming out until at least a year from now (the first ones are shipping in 2006; the whole lineup will be done in 2007), and not in September at Apple Paris or January at MacWorld, I'm in a bit of a bind. The thing that makes this urgent is screen size. I'd like to get a 15" or 17" so I can continue to do the graphics stuff that I do and not have to crowd my dorm room with the external monitor that I use currently.

If I'm going to get a computer between now and when the Intel systems are out, I guess I might as well do it now, since any PowerPC pipeline updates between now and then will be irrelevant. So, ideally, I'd be getting a machine that'll have a lifespan of 1-2 years...

Anyone want dibs on a 1.67 GHz PowerBook G4... in 2007? I'm selling.

[Dinan]

Originally Posted by rhythmicmoose

I'm in the exact same boat. I've held off getting the new college computer all year, and now that I know the computer that I actually want isn't coming out until at least a year from now (the first ones are shipping in 2006; the whole lineup will be done in 2007), and not in September at Apple Paris or January at MacWorld, I'm in a bit of a bind. The thing that makes this urgent is screen size. I'd like to get a 15" or 17" so I can continue to do the graphics stuff that I do and not have to crowd my dorm room with the external monitor that I use currently.

If I'm going to get a computer between now and when the Intel systems are out, I guess I might as well do it now, since any PowerPC pipeline updates between now and then will be irrelevant. So, ideally, I'd be getting a machine that'll have a lifespan of 1-2 years...

Anyone want dibs on a 1.67 GHz PowerBook G4... in 2007? I'm selling.

do you think that if we bought a PB now that it would work for a good 4 or 5 years in college (not for heavy graphics work)? i want to get one but dont want to have to upgrade for a long time..

[Pennstate]

Here is my recent experience switching from IBM TP T40 to Apple Powerbook.

THe T40 was a great laptop. It has arguably the best built-quality among PC laptops. However, it just didn't have the Classy and sleek Powerbook feel to it.

The primary reason that I switch was superior software (WIth the exception of office X)and the superior entertainment hardware interface.

Using an ipod with the T40 was a constant struggle. Buggy USB 2.0 drivers, lack of powered firewire ports etc..... Even though my T40 was smoking fast compared to a powerbook, ran cool, and has a long battery life, the Experience using a powerbook was much more enjoyable. The powerbook also looks a lot sexier than the T40.

While I can't ditch pcs all together, I did decide to sell my T40. I ended up buying a cheap $400 IBM Thinkpad X22 (P3 800Mhz, 12.1" 3.4lbs, usb 1.1) in addition to a POwerbook. In terms of web browsing, word processing, emails etc, the X22 performs just as well, and sometimes (using MS word) even better than the powerbook. It actually runs cooler than my Powerbook. I've installed StyleXP and ObjectDock to make it look and feel like OSX.


I think this is the best compromise. $400 PC laptop + $1200 Powerbook.

That's about the price of a new T43. But I get the best of both worlds.