Im getting a G4 Powerbook! Good idea?

[GoogleBerrY]

Hi!

I think im gunna get a 12inch G4 powerbook, like 1ghz with 1gig of ram and a high speed firewire hardrive to use with both a digi-002R and an M-box. (not at the same time though.).

This will be the first Apple computer ive ever owned, It will be replacing a 1.7ghz 256MgRam desktop running Windows XP.

Do any of you foresee any issues with recording and (mainly) mixing up to, but no more than 14 tracks? I have access to a few G4's and a G5 at uni so if i need to overload something wih plugins and editting i can use those...

[citi]

you should be fine with 14 tracks.Is there a reason that you are getting the powerbook now? Is it imperative that you have a notebook now? Reason being is that 1ghz is not a lot of power and if you can wait, I would. I am waiting for the g5 pb WHENEVER it comes out.

All I am saying is that if you don't need the pb for any other reason than a MAC than I would wait. Would kinda suck if 6 month from now they come out with a 2.0ghz G5 powerbook. But to each his own. Good luck.

[Slim Shady]

Would kinda suck if 6 month from now they come out with a 2.0ghz G5 powerbook.

Dude, you're killing me. A 2.0ghz G5 laptop? In the eternal words of Wayne and Garch "Cha! As If!"



As for the original poster, now is as good a time as any to get a G4 powerbook. If we were closer to a product release date, I would echo citi's sentiments and say wait, but there's no indicators that G5's are coming any time soon - end of the year at the earliest. The 1ghz 12" Powerbook G4 was just introduced in September, so it will still be another 4-6 months before we see another update there - just guessing of course, but I've been following the mac pipeline a long time and I'd be pretty shocked to see any updates to the powerbook line for several months, and they'll be G4's for a while longer than that. Just max it out with 640mb of RAM and you'll be good to go.

[GoogleBerrY]

Dude, you're killing me. A 2.0ghz G5 laptop? In the eternal words of Wayne and Garch "Cha! As If!"



As for the original poster, now is as good a time as any to get a G4 powerbook. If we were closer to a product release date, I would echo citi's sentiments and say wait, but there's no indicators that G5's are coming any time soon - end of the year at the earliest. The 1ghz 12" Powerbook G4 was just introduced in September, so it will still be another 4-6 months before we see another update there - just guessing of course, but I've been following the mac pipeline a long time and I'd be pretty shocked to see any updates to the powerbook line for several months, and they'll be G4's for a while longer than that. Just max it out with 640mb of RAM and you'll be good to go.

max of 640mb or ram? you must be thinking of an Ibook. a 12inch powerbook has 256mb of built in ram and a SO-Dimm slot with overall support of up to 1.25Gig of ram...

[citi]

As I said before to each his own. I would wait because even if the g5s don't come for a year there is still going to be at least one more speed bump to try to get the people who can't wait a year to buy now. So if you can wait...I would. That's all. I am an optimist for a 2.0 ghz cuz that's what I want. I would be happy with a 1.6 or 1.8 but I can not justify buying a 1.0 or 1.2 ghz powerbook for 1500 to 2k. Lot of money. So I am waiting. So if he can wait, like maybe his pockets are burning (like mine do on a daily basis for the pb)than that would be the best bet.

[JFreak]

buy when you need one, but i'd strongly recommend the 15" version since the 12" screen is really tiny

[Gods Mistake]

I'd wait a few weeks too...rumors are rumors, but I've seen on some Mac sites that a price drop of about US$300 on all PB's is expected around 2nd or 3rd Feb.
Pinch of salt and all that, but $300 is $300

[pacificboychoir]

Having all sorts of trouble with mBox and 17-inch PB (see other thread "simple setup renders mBox useless"), but otherwise the PB is a great machine. Don't hold your breath for a G5 PB for the same reason it took so much time to get G4 laptops after the G4 desktops came out: heat. The G5 towers are designed to disperse the heat, and any processor putting off that much heat that requires so many compartments for heat dispersion would melt anything in a laptop. It will happen, and I'll get one myself when they come out, but I don't think it's any time soon.

[GoogleBerrY]

I need one for the start of Uni which is in a months time. I am in the middle of replacing my gear (cubase stuff, and interfaces and stuff with PT's gear) so i wont be getting a Powerbook til the middle of february or so... maybe even towards the start of march.

Im not interested in having the fastest, or latest computer out there. Those things dont bother me. Just as long as it does the job at hand.

[JFreak]

G4 powerbook will get the job done; it is "more than enough" in recording and mastering, and "decent" in mixing. you will not get as many plugs as you would with dual G5 desktop; however, it will get the job done.

so i repeat myself: buy when you MUST.

i did a good job with my previous 667mhz powerbook and expect to do even better with the next one i'm waiting to be delivered at the end of the week; it's a 1.25GHz powerbook that has 1GB ram and a 7200rpm hard drive installed. it will be nice mobile audio workstation.