Will powerbook prices drop?

I have a pc laptop, but would love to get a mac. I used OSX when it first came out and loved it, but at the time I needed pc apps. Now, things are different.

The new macbookpro looks great, but I do photography along with general use and no photo apps (save for iPhoto which doesn't have enough editing tools) so far are universal binaries yet. Photoshop elements will only cost me 5 bucks or so to get adobe to send me a mac version, but if I have an intel mac, it'll have to run in emulation. The same story goes for the lightroom beta.

Plus...I have some games that are PC/Mac combo and they wouldnt' work under emulation. So couple these facts with my also wanting a 17 inch screen, and you get a person who's seriously considering a powerbook.

But...and it's a bit but...the older powerbooks are selling for the same cost as the new ones! (15 inch compared to 15 inch) The new machines have double the memory, double the FSB speed, and a much better video card wtih double the video memory...plus iSight built in.

I just can't make myself pay the same thing as the new macbookpro for the older spec powerbooks. Does anyone have any experience with Apple in recent years to know whether they tend to lower the prices on the older machines? If they don't, I'm afraid they'll lose a sale and I'll stay with my windows box. Sad but true...I'd really love to have a mac, but I want to pay some semblence of what the hardware is worth.

 

i am guessing that once more of the mac intel conversion is complete and they comes to be their mainstream models, the powerbook g4's "should" come down in price as they are old technology. or at least there prolly will some get rid of stock sales.

 

Often the price remains, but a bundle is offered to accomodate. Appple likes to maintain prices.

Also the PB will just disappear without notice when the company decides to do so. At least that is what has happened in the past.

susan

 

Sigh...well...this is a bummer. The older powerbooks would work better for me (user experience wise) at the moment since my games and photo manipulation software would be native, plus I can get a 17 inch screen. But technically, I'd be overpaying quite a bit for the hardware..by probably 200-300 bucks.

With the older hardware I do get to keep the modem port, the firewire 800 port (not really relevant to me) and the pc card slot. But the hardware upgrades of the new machines really are much more expensive than what little they took out.

So I'm seeing at least a 200 dollar differential (overpaying) if I guy the previous powerbook. I did call the local applestore. When Apple announced ilife 06 and iwork 06, they dropped the new software bundle into the powerbook boxes so there would be parity with the macbooks. You can upgrade the OS so that's a no brainer. If you order one, it'll probably be preinstalled. So the software equals out.

But knowing that I'm overpaying for hardware that's got an even speedier road to obsolescence is killing me!

Sigh...double sigh...

 

Well, do you need the notebook now? If not, then just wait for everything to pan out before you do anything.

 

If you have more use for the PB hardware, refurbs on Apple's site may be an option for lower pricing for the time being.

susan

 

The sad part is, EVEN running under Rosetta, I suspect the apps will run faster on the new MacBooks than on a PB. The G4 in those things are not merely slow, but *ancient* in computer terms, plus the rest of the system really doesn't have anything to write home about either. These machines were way overpriced to begin with from a strictly hardware performance perspective, whether one is willing to pay for the intangibles is another matter...

Also remember that the bread-n-butter apps for Apple: the Photoshop suites, the media softwares, probably will be the first batch that gets a native port, as they cater to Apple's main target audience -- the creative professionals.

Macbooks are pricy, but their performance will easily trump the PBs, emulation or not.

cheers,

yass

 

i am not a apple user but am looking at buying a new macbook pro when they come out with the 12" but from the research i have done is that they are still about the same speed running the rosetta or not. and the price i do not think is so bad considering you get the software. but like anything else im not going to buy the first round that comes out, but time will tell i would hold off a little while till i buy one

 

If you decide to buy a Mac, I suggest you wait for at least half a year to one year from now so that most of the critical software runs on Mac Intel. By then, more hardware is introduced, you are offered by more choices, and the MacBook Pro prices will eventually drop.

Now is the worst time to buy a Mac because the hardware component is relatively ancient -- and expensive.

 

You won't see a significant drop in price in the MB Pros - Apple might knock off 100-300 dollars off the Yonah ones after the newer Merom ones replace them, but probably nothing drastic like you see in the PC world.

 

I second xAMDvsIntelx 's post.