Is it a good move to buy a 12,1" Powerbook now?

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k_harris

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I'm (linux user) very seriously thinking at buying a Powerbook and this must surely be the place to ask for advice .

I was on a business trip to London last week, and two of my colleagues had little 12" powerbooks. One sysadmin has one and loves it, and the other pointed to it and said "that's the best machine for connectivity I've seen".

I really hated carrying my old heavy old 650mhz brick around and whilst wifi worked everywhere else under suse linux, it didn't work in my office (new standards/drivers). grr..

Snag is, there are new intel macbooks coming out now, so is buying a powerbook now a bad idea? Am I likely to buy one and then two months later see a new super mac that is loads quicker? Is the powerbook a nice responsive machine as it is?

I want the small one 12", and won't be doing anything too intensive on it i.e. web dev / office / internet etc. It won't be my main machine, but since travel a lot, I need a something portable. Can you advise please?

Many thanks
 
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If you're not planning to do any kind of intensive graphic development, I would highly recommend picking up one of the new Intel MacBooks that will be coming out here in the next couple months. There's nothing wrong with the PowerBooks, but if you can wait, why not grab the newest technology. They are going to be 13.1" laptops. Let us know what you decide to do! :)
 
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Just some thoughts for you...

The 12" PB is mature in the sense that it has gone through several revisions and so there should be no major bugs with the hardware. The new intel macs are first generation (so called revision A, or rev A) and so although it's bleeding edge there might be little hardware bugs sometimes (the new 15" macbook pros have various (small) issues for some people, if you have a read around you'll get an idea. I don't think it's fair to say that every new macbook pro is totally bug ridden though; remember that people who have problems tend to be more vocal than those who don't).

There will be a macbook pro coming out to replace the 12" powerbook, I think it might be towards the end of the year, the macbook (that replaces the ibooks) is a 13.3" widescreen like slyydrr said, and will come out before this. Even when they come out you would be wise to wait a month or so to see what kind of bugs (if any) get reported by the internet communities.

If you are willing to wait then an intel mac makes more sense, but the powerbook 12" won't stop doing a fantastic job just because a better (intel) upgrade comes out :) and the powerbook 12" does indeed do a great job! (It's my first, and at the moment, only mac).
 
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It is never a bad idea to buy a Mac. If you have the means and want it now, then get it.
 
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k_harris

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Thanks for the replies guys. I do very much like the idea of mature hardware. I was hoping to buy one before my next UK trip in May, but I think will wait until those new 13" machines come out.

I will certainly write here what I decide and how I get on with my new mac when I get one. :) Can't wait.

Cheers.
 
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definitely wait for the 13" one comes out....most of the bugs should be fixed by then
 
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I can't ever say this enough, because everytime I say it 5 people drown me out. The problems with the MacBook Pro are NOT as bad as everyone makes it out to seem.

1) Heat: This is only an issue (for me at least) when the laptop is charging. Otherwise, the laptop is not all that hot, and completely comfortable on the lap.

2) Whine: There were two types of this whine. One had to do with a display inverter, which was fixed early on. The second has to do with something relating to iSight/CPU. I personally never hear it when the device is plugged in, and only very rarely when running on battery. Opening/closing the Mirror Widget fixes it. While I agree that one shouldn't have to do this, the noise is within the acceptable decibal ranges for the specs of the CPU. I can deal with it.

3) Others: These problems include the supposed "Moo" which has only had a few reports, the "widespread magsafe fires" which have only hit a couple computers, and even then, have questionable photos (possibly suggesting other causes). There's also the dreaded lack of Universal software. I still don't understand why this is an item of complaint for people (I haven't heard it as much lately). We all knew buying our Intel Macs that plain and simple, there wasn't a full line of Universal Binary supported software. Time will alleviate this.

If you search for another post I made elsewhere, I comment on the fact that people who have NO issues with their MacBook Pro are generally going to be too busy enjoying their computers to take the time to find a forum in order to obtain help.

These Intel Macs are great computers, and while it really does suck that some people have experienced some crappy problems, they're not as prevalent as they're made out to be.

You will enjoy your MacBook - it'll be a great computer :)
 
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Mate the bottom line is this.
1) PowerBooks are great machines and my 1Ghz isnt going to be replaced anytime soon.

2) Your a linux man so can always install your flavour of linux ;)

3) If you need one now buy one

4) You will never have a brandnew machine and if you can manage on a 650MHz machine a mac will last forever
 

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