Wait for Intel or buy now

Cabaal

I've been looking into buying a 12" Powerbook w/Superdrive since before Intel chips changeover was announced.

However now I don't know if I'll splash out and basically spent 1600e on it now or hold out and wait for the first Intel models sometime next summer.

What would you do given the same situation?

SouperComputer

buy PPC, intel wont be here until next year at the earliest and PPC will still be around for a long time.

Rest assured there will be some teething problems with intel, despite how much testing they do. Chances are when intel comes out, you will be waiting for the next intel batch, ad infinitum!

Cabaal

SouperComputer wrote:

Rest assured there will be some teething problems with intel, despite how much testing they do. Chances are when intel comes out, you will be waiting for the next intel batch, ad infinitum!

Thats true I suppose, but I've been thinking surely applications could become a issue maybe two years down the line...especially of people/companys get lazy and don't compile them from PPC/Intel.
Also will the next version and next version of OSX work continue to work on PPC...

SouperComputer

OS X has been in development for x86 since its inception. Developers have already been given their kits to recompile their apps. Most developers will be compiling for both intel and PPC for the next couple of years, maybe even beyond. AFAIK they can create a "fat" binary which contains both PPC and intel code, and compiles depending on what platform it is deployed on.

also, the next version of OSX will come with an app called rosetta will run PPC apps on intel machines. So your old photoshop, quark etc etc will work fine.

So you are covered either way it seems. Intel and PPC will live beside each other for a good while.

uncle_sam_ie

I just bought a G5 iMac and I'm not worried at all about the switch. There's 100% PPC users now. In three years it will probably be at 60% to 50%. In five it will probably be at 30% and thats enough to see my iMac out. Developers wont get lazy if they want to sell their products to us. I'll most likely upgrade in three to four years. By that time the bugs will have been worked out of the Mactel's and they'll have blue-ray as standard.

Cabaal

Thing is I realise Rosseta is their so PPC apps will run on x86 but will it allow binarys only compiled for Intel to run on PPC?

SouperComputer

actually come to think of it, I have a brother in law who does sound design in hollywood. He's on OS 9 still!

babypink

i'd buy PPC to be honest.... it's more than likely going to be desktops that are released first then laptops. There's far more engineering in laptops and they'll probably hold them back until they're satisfied with the final result. Furthermore as uncle_sam_ie points out about the user base of PPC, it's not gonna present any problems at all. All the apps are gonna go Universal Binary for at least 4 years after the first MacTel units i rekon while the PPC units are obsoleted, that'll take far longer. By that stage the powerbook would be due an upgrade.

go for it

Hugh_C

Cabaal wrote:

I've been looking into buying a 12" Powerbook w/Superdrive since before Intel chips changeover was announced.

However now I don't know if I'll splash out and basically spent 1600e on it now or hold out and wait for the first Intel models sometime next summer.

What would you do given the same situation?

tough question.

I'm in the position that my current machine is a 3 year old TiBook which is coming to the end of its life. Things are beginning to go wrong hardware-wise. It's not as quick as I'd like.

intel laptops are unlikely to be out for a long time it seems. I'm thinking that the iBooks look like good value at 1370 euos, if you want something to bridge the gap.

So I dunno. What do you want to use it for? If it's nothing too graphic intensive, then the iBook might suit.

As an early adopter of the you'll probably be creamed anyway pricewise

SixShot

intel are not going to make Apple Better Apple were always great on there own chipsets & aparently intel Mac's wont be avalable for almost an other year so could be round 2007 before we can get them The G4 & G5 are the better buy no point in wating a year & a few just to get a Powerbook intel which will look & feel like present day Powerbooks *Powerbook is only Exsample* they say June 2006 will launch intel Mac's & now its not for an other year late 2006 early 2007

SixShot

SouperComputer wrote:

buy PPC, intel wont be here until next year at the earliest and PPC will still be around for a long time.

Rest assured there will be some teething problems with intel, despite how much testing they do. Chances are when intel comes out, you will be waiting for the next intel batch, ad infinitum!

an exsample of this is the mac Mini I splashed out the first day for the Mac Mini with the 80GB I payed 600 yoyos for her I love it.
bout 4 weeks later they changed the mini giveing her wifi & bluetooth & also 512 Ram with Tiger,
so you could say I got F*cked sidways upside down & left side up so your better off in the long run. if you going to wait for intel Mac's DON'T BUY the First batch you could get bug's & be well F***ed by them

wes

Erm first Intel Mac's are apparently gonna be laptops and the low end models and then the G5's high end stuff is gonna be replaced last. Its mentioned several times by Apple whats gonna be changed over first. This is all of course subject to change.

At the recent Paris expo Apple again said the first Intel Mac's are gonna be out for June 2006 (thats what there aiming for and they say there gonna hit that release date). Check out Think Secret etc for information.

I reckon unless you need a machine right away you might be worth waiting on Intel Mac's.

Urban Weigl

Different people will tell you different things. The bottom line is PowerPC will be supported for years to come, and if you need a Mac now, get it now, there's no point in waiting.

That being said, have you considered the 12" iBook? It's cheap, and it has almost the same features (even has bluetooth and wifi standard). If you get the PowerBook, personally I'd go for the 15" wide screen. It isn't that much more, and the screen is so much bigger without adding a huge amount of weight or bulk at all.

wes

Have to agree with the above poster about the 12 Inch iBook, I decided to get it over a Power book as the difference between the 2 isn't all that great. When ever I decide to upgrade to a Power book it will probably be a 15 Inch model unless there is a considerable improvement in the 12 Inch Power book.

gutta

SixShot wrote:

intel are not going to make Apple Better Apple were always great on there own chipsets & aparently intel Mac's wont be avalable for almost an other year so could be round 2007 before we can get them The G4 & G5 are the better buy no point in wating a year & a few just to get a Powerbook intel which will look & feel like present day Powerbooks *Powerbook is only Exsample* they say June 2006 will launch intel Mac's & now its not for an other year late 2006 early 2007

Man, you've got the worst spelling & grammar on the planet! I can barely understand what you're on about...

Are you dyslexic? Is English your first language? Maybe you need to see someone about it.

Shadow_2k5

gutta wrote:

Man, you've got the worst spelling & grammar on the planet! I can barely understand what you're on about...

Are you dyslexic? Is English your first language? Maybe you need to see someone about it.

Give em A Brake .
he or she might be dyslexic.
you heartless F*ck, they went on this to give some one advice not take your crap & you could of giveing them a Free Dyslexic cite to help

Cabaal

gutta wrote:

Man, you've got the worst spelling & grammar on the planet! I can barely understand what you're on about...

Are you dyslexic? Is English your first language? Maybe you need to see someone about it.

I don't think we need to have personal attacks over spelling & grammer, maybe mention it but there's certainly no reason to start saying he may be suffering from something.

Anyway.....
I've priced the iBook & Powerbook from the apple site (with a discount), I have to say I prefer the build quality of the Powerbook over the iBook & part of my reasons for a Powerbook were build quality, size, weight.

All I basically changed on both laptops were hd space to 80GB, Ram to 768MB and a bag.

So right now I'm slighly undecided


However I have to now agree that their probably will be bugs with the first Intel release.

nadir

SouperComputer wrote:

OS X has been in development for x86 since its inception. Developers have already been given their kits to recompile their apps. Most developers will be compiling for both intel and PPC for the next couple of years, maybe even beyond. AFAIK they can create a "fat" binary which contains both PPC and intel code, and compiles depending on what platform it is deployed on.

but when you have a binary it's already compiled. You cant compile a bin for different arch, or am I missing the point?
Or do you just mean they use cross compatible libs like sdl or something?

Gyck

I read somewhere that they'll be dropping OS9 support when they move to Intel... I've still got a few OS9 apps knocking around that need to run in classic.