[jam8]

I'm new to Apple, and i'm about to purchase my first.

I understand that their will be a significant overhaul in the near future of the apple cpu. After doing research, i've decided to buy either an ibook or a powerbook; however, i'm wondering, how well the laptops hold their value after a major revision such as the one looming ahead? Because, i may wish to buy a newer model when it's released, but i need a new computer now.

If i were to buy an apple, say, 17 inch powerbook today, would i be able to resell it in a year and make back about 80% of the price that i had paid for it?

Thankyou to all who can help me out!

[sodamnregistered2]

Originally Posted by jam8

If i were to buy an apple, say, 17 inch powerbook today, would i be able to resell it in a year and make back about 80% of the price that i had paid for it?

There will be a market, but, the iBook and Powerbook lines are somewhat unimpressive by today's standard, so... I'd say they would not resell as well as they used to due to the switch.

I'd spend as little as possible, ie get a iBook.

[Dakkon]

having been looking on ebay for a powerbook, i would say in a year, you would be lucky to get 50% back....

[I was David B.]

Originally Posted by jam8

I'm new to Apple, and i'm about to purchase my first.

I understand that their will be a significant overhaul in the near future of the apple cpu. After doing research, i've decided to buy either an ibook or a powerbook; however, i'm wondering, how well the laptops hold their value after a major revision such as the one looming ahead? Because, i may wish to buy a newer model when it's released, but i need a new computer now.

If i were to buy an apple, say, 17 inch powerbook today, would i be able to resell it in a year and make back about 80% of the price that i had paid for it?

Thankyou to all who can help me out!

In the first time after a switch to intel the prices for ppc macs may drop a bit. But then the same thing will happen that happened with OS 9 capable machines. Everyone will find that Rosetta does only a mediocre job (like any emulator on this world Rosetta will be much slower than a real ppc equipped computer). This is why professionals will hunt for old systems to be able to use their software investments for a longer time.

Professionals have invested a lot of money for the OS X switch recently and they will hate investing more money soon for fat binary updates or intel compiled software.

A couple of months ago I sold a TiBook 867 for a real good price to a magazine editor who needed a OS 9 machine. And I could have sold 3 or 4 machines, so many people contacted me.

[Randman]

If your machine is in good shape, it could fetch more. Extra ram and AppleCare will raise the value a little. Depending on the Mactel specs and reports of how they fare for rev As, the price of a current G4 PB will either drop or rise a little as some people will want to hold on to an IBM chip.

[Phat Bastard]

As others have mentioned, there will ALWAYS be a market for older Powerbooks out there. I sell my old Macs on eBay and I can always find a buyer.

I always scope out the market on eBay by watching auctions selling equivalent or similar Macs and averaging the final prices after a couple of weeks of this. Then I decide if I'm satisfied with what I'd get for my Mac. I suggest you browse around eBay for some older Macs and see what they're fetching.

Having said that, I would consider fetching 50% for a year-old Mac a pretty good deal and more than I usually get. You'll NEVER get 80% back for it, even if it's in perfect condition because it still is a used Mac.

[hakstooy]

If I were you I'd buy an older TiBook on eBay. One of the late ones, maybe an 867 MHz or a 1 GHz, those things have been rock solid at sale prices for the last year. The 1 GHz still pulls in over $1500 on occasion.

An older AlBook would probably be a safe bet too. You'd have a safer chance getting a significant amount of money back from one of the older machines, since they are already "discounted."

I really don't see why anyone would pay the premium for a PB right now unless you absolutely needed it or work was paying for it.

[jam8]

I may have an opportunity to get a used 1.07 ghz ibook for exceptionally cheap with a bunch of extra software, still under the original year warranty.

Think i may do that =]