I’m currently running an old PB G4 ( 2004 vintage ) and I would really like to get a new one.
With buying apple hardware there’s always a waiting game and a cult of “but the next rev will have XXX that will really be worth waiting for.”
In the end, I just usually get fed up and say, “Eff it”, plunk down a charge card and am happy.
But I’ve made so many friends in the world these-a-days, perhaps some of them could help me.
- Is it time to upgrade?
- Should I go for the 15” ( love the LED, form factor, right size, better weight ) or the 17” model (screen real estate and HD are nice )
- Is there some other factor that would make you hold out on this rev until some point in the future, and if so, what’s that thing you have to see before you buy another dose of mac kool-aid.
Me, I want to get Textmate and Coda and Xcode running with some more snap. Besides, if I ever get around to writing something in Cocoa again, I certainly don’t want it to be limited to the testing that I could do on an old PB, I want to make sure that I can service the vast ( and growing ) world of the IntelBook.
So, comments, please! What should I do.
I say, hang on to the Powerbook unless you really feel the need to upgrade.
The main problem with developing on the Mac is that compilation is just plain slow. There’s no doubt about it. However, how often do you recompile your app completely? Outside of that, if you’re simply writing the code, it’s not like you need faster processors for Textmate On the other hand, if your app simply can’t be optimized down to your Powerbook, then yeah, that’s a legit concern.
My primary mac at home is a Quicksilver G4, however I also have a MBP (rev d, first gen) assigned from work. And while yes, the MBP compiles very fast, the dual G4 feels snappier in normal day to day usage outside of compilation. There’s a few things about the Intel architecture that’s nice, and there are many things to me that are subpar. As for testing, unless you’re calling endian-dependent stuff or vector libs, it probably won’t make much difference.
If in the end you buy a MBP, there’s two pieces of advice I have.
1) Max out the ram. 2gb minimum.
2) 7200rpm harddrive.
If you ever hit swap on a Intel Mac, you’re hosed in a way that you’d think you were on a first gen iBook.
Get the 15” MacBook Pro. You won’t regret it.
My friend, MacBook and MacBook Pro’s are entirely different Beasts.
If you are talking about backlight leds, then you are definitely talking NEW MacBook Pro’s.
For a computer that will run circles around your current one, at 1099 the MacBook lineup is pretty hard to beat. The reasoning for buying that, is the same as for the buddha shirt.
If you wan’t to splurge and swagg with that peculiar, I am an alpha male simian kind of hairy eyebrows deep-thought way then the MBP might be your only way out. Keep in mind that it.
1.Loose portability
2.would run spheres around your current one.
3.Even with the santa rosa hooplah, i am inclined to beleive they run hot. Last gen runs really hot.
But my post is just a pack of lies, so go with you got little swimmer.
-h