G4 price drop in July?

[Mike Brosco]

People are warning me to hold off from buying a G4 until the Mac expo in July. If a new G4 is announced (a 1.4 I'm told) they expect the 933 to drop in price. Right now they have a $300 rebate on the G4 and the 17" flat monitor has a $200 rebate (if purchased with a G4 system). Do people expect the price of the monitors to drop as well or do you think they will remain at about $1k? If we expect the monitor to go back to its regular price then the question is do we expect the 933 to drop more than $500 in price next month? Because if I wait I have to pay full price on the monitor I've lost $200 for waiting. I want to order my HD3 this week for the plug-in bundle and introductory price. It will suck to wait three weeks to order the Mac. I don't want my short Digi warrenty time passing as the system sits in its box awaiting a computer. Any advice?

Thanks,
Mike

[Boom Chic]

Let me look into my crystal ball, I see, I see, .....nothing. [img]images/icons/frown.gif[/img] It's very cloudy, yes I'm geting something now, wait, no, nothing. It's gone dark. [img]images/icons/wink.gif[/img]

I wish someone knew for sure what's gonna happen with the rebates/prices/ new computers, it's kind of a crap shoot or "dooky" shoot.

It doesn't cost me anything to wait to see if the prices drop on the G4 in a few weeks, but you want that monitor, so that changes the equation.

If they are going to introduce new monitors, then the price may drop on both computers and monitors, but no one can say for sure, or can they?

[Lee Blaske]

The real quandry, as I see it, is that the coming machines might have the new 1394b 800Mbs Firewire bus, making Firewire very practical even for HD sessions. They're also rumored to have the USB2 bus, which might be nice for MIDI, and 8x AGP.

Regarding monitor deals, the computer market is quite soft these days, so I wouldn't expect the deals to disappear.

Lee Blaske

[MattiMattMatt]

Answer:

Order PT now, wait until after Macworld announcements to get the computer, either a new one (my recommendation), or an old one at a discount.

The overlap in time that amounts to a partial loss in PT warranty coverage is a price worth paying for getting what you want.

Don't fret the nickles and dimes.

-M.M.M.

[Jan Folkson]

The problem with computers is that no matter when you buy one another is coming out in a week that's cheaper, faster and better looking. At some point you just need to jump in.

I agree with Matt, I got my 867 just after the 933s were announced and got it for about $1800.

In addition, the current machines have been out for a minute and there'll be no surprises after you buy one.

[Boom Chic]

How long do you think it will take for Digi to approve of these "new" computers coming out in July? Are there any compatible preipherals for this USB2 midi, and 1394b FW?

If you're the first one to "jump" on the bandwagon and have to be on the cutting edge, you also get to be a beta tester for everyone. It's going to be a whole new ball game with the new computers. What system was HD tested and designed on? [img]images/icons/wink.gif[/img]

I used to surf a lot before I had kids, and when a good set would come in, I would always let the first wave go by, and look at the horizon to see how many more waves were coming, everyone else would make a mad scramble for the first couple of waves, a lot of them getting caught inside, in the soup, and then I had my pick of the last, and best waves in the set. [img]images/icons/smile.gif[/img]

Ride ride ride the wild surf! Dude, you're gettin' a G4! [img]images/icons/grin.gif[/img]

[Lee Blaske]

How long do you think it will take for Digi to approve of these "new" computers coming out in July? Are there any compatible preipherals for this USB2 midi, and 1394b FW?

<font size="2" face="Verdana, Arial">I've already seen announcements of Oxford 922 equipment (taking advantage of the new Firewire bus). Haven't seen and USN2 stuff yet, but I can't imagine it won't be backward compatible. I figure a more robust USB implementation can only help MIDI on the USB port.

If you're the first one to "jump" on the bandwagon and have to be on the cutting edge, you also get to be a beta tester for everyone.

<font size="2" face="Verdana, Arial">I bought my last two computers before they were approved by Digidesign, and had no trouble (although I did wait to hear some preliminary reports).

I can't think of any Apple tower configuration that hasn't been good for Digidesign hardware. The two biggest historical issues I can think of are the need to disable the second processor in dual G4 machines, and the early problems of running dual monitors with the first G4's (until the dual AGP cards came out).

Since it's so close, I think the thing to do is wait for July 7, and make the decision after seeing what's up Apple's sleeve. You'll either end up with a better deal, or the new machines might be too tempting (i.e. too many important advances in architecture, speed, etc.) to pass up.

That being said, I think Apple's new machines would probably be more attractive to PT HD owners. The current 1394a 400 Mbs Firewire works quite nicely with Mix systems.

Lee Blaske

[fourthtunz]

Dude, don't you have a Mac rightnow? Oh well I'm gonna wait until the new Macs come out with faster ram,faster processors, hopefully a faster ide controller card,firewire,usb even the slowest cheapest new Mac one oughta kick booty on the 933. But buy HD now I did, I can't wait to put it to full use. Tonite I had HD and my Paris system Both playing back tracks on the same mac at the same time, boy was I surprised!
Daniel

[Didier de Roos]

There's another element to keep in mind regarding the new G4s that we might see in a few weeks: it is very possible (maybe even probable if we believe Steve Jobs) that they simply won't be able to boot in OS9! OK, they'll still run fine in Classic mode under OSX, but I don't think Pro Tools will appreciate...

D.

[fourthtunz]

Yeah OSX may be the default os but not being able to boot 9.2, isn't that a little premature?
I would think that would kill sales, I wouldn't buy one at least not for quite a while.
Daniel