n00b PowerBook

First, just let me start off by saying that I am completely ignorant. The last time I bought a laptop was in 2000...and things have definitely changed.

I'm buying a PowerBook, I know that. I just don't know whether I should wait for the Intel Processors or not. Any advice would be great.

 

mm ok well
first off.. powerbook--great choice
ok and really important: tmrw is steve job's macworld keynote
which every mac user in the world has been waiting for
u shud wait until at LEAST tmrw b4 deciding to choose a new lew notebook..
tmrw is the day: jobs will either announce the new intel iBooks or pBooks or not... and they mite b announced but not ship for a while

but most importantly it matters on what you will b using the notebook for.. seeing that ur last laptop was in 2000... im *guessing* that most laptops in the market these days will suit you fine =) (definitely go for macs tho my biased opinion. im a mac switcher recently (2 weeks) myself.. and i love it)

so if ppc pbooks will suite u and u hate waiting and steve jobs either announces the intel pbooks but not ship for a couple months i'd say go for it because ppc notebooks are not obsolete.. they will b supported for at least 4-5 years and the new programs will b programmed thru universal binary meaning most softwares will support both ppc's and intel processors. (fyi ppc=power pc just incase)

so bottom line:
1. steve jobs announces and ships immediately (pbooks.. highly unlikely i think)
go get the intel pbooks
2. steve jobs announces but does not ship immediately
go get ppc's if they will suite u cuz they will b supported for quite a while or just wait if u can wait
3. steve jobs does not announce at all
just get the ppc's

also.. just a side note.. the ppc notebooks are at their end life cycle according to some ppl but i see it this way.. even tho their processor's mite b outdated... their stability is i daresay at their height right now because most of the bugs have been ironed out since.. on the otherhand.. intell pbooks--u'll b a guinea pig of a sort =) u hav no clue what kind of bugs will b there (even tho mac os x is known for its stability) and it will b quite a time b4 most if not all the bugs r ironed out.. =) that's why i chose to go for the ppc's but i guess its all purely opinion-based
good luck

 

i 2nd lifeisgoods post, although i am somewhat more optimistic that there won't be quite as much trouble as some people think there will be.

 

ahhh so i was totally wrong
did ya see the keynote? a line above the pbook
now i say if u can afford that definitely go for that..
it looks like the best choice to me.. and wow those stats r incredible for an apple laptop .. the only thing i dont like about that laptop is its name.. macbook pro? lol and i thot apple had some creativity ..lol jk

 

Well, I also hope that Apple brings down their prices - $2000 base for a PB? That's a bit much.

 

wow, thanks for all the help guys.

Except, now I am seriously confused. Is Rosetta bad? I don't need my new computer until August...is it worth waiting to see what happens? Should I just buy the MacBook? I'm SO confused.

 

Rosetta won't affect you too mcuh - you're already running an Intel CPU if you buy a PB Pro. Rosetta is only for PPC CPUs that need to run software based on Intel CPUs. However, I think that Rosetta can be used vice-versa, to run PPC software on Intel CPUs.

 

so would it be better to wait until, like, July to buy the MacBook or should I buy one now? Should I even consider the PowerBook anymore?

 

Well, it all depends - what are you using your notebook for? It's mostly personal preference, nothing else really. Rosetta won't slow down the computer unless your doing major work (Video Editing, Photoshop, etc.).

 

well, I just bought a brand new digital camera (my first ever) and the only thing I might be using is Paint Shop Pro...other than that there's nothing I can really think of...main reason for buying it is for school, but I want to have some fun with it every now and again.

 

Just aftermarket some extra RAM (512MB-1GB) in there and you should be just fine.

 

You actually have that kinda backwards. Rosetta is for when you need to run a PPC coded program on an x86 CPU.

Rosetta has been sped up quite a bit and will run things quite quickly. An average photoshop user will not be too restricted with rosetta, it won't be max speed, but fast enough.

 

Really? I thought all the new software was going to be made for Intel CPUs not PPC ones.

 

What they are doing is encoding universal binaries that will work on either PPC or x86, but in the meantime, those PPC programs that haven't be made universal, Rosetta kicks in to allow you to run that PPC on the x86 processor.

When rosetta first came out, it wasn't quite as fast., but it is now been made much faster.

 

So basically, it only works one way, from PPC software to Intel software? I would think it would work both ways so that Intel software can run on PPCs.

 

Well, since new intel based stuff is universal, it wont really be needed. but i understand what you mean, run current, regular windows stuff on it. There prolly is someone working on it.

 

Ah, I see. O.K., thanks for clarifying that.