choices, choices

[worker201]

I'm going to be getting some fat money on January 1 - payroll has been shafting me.  I was thinking about getting a new Mac.  My 900 MHz G3 iBook (640MB RAM) has been good to me, but I feel like I need a G4.  And Tiger.  Apple sells refurbished G4 iBooks with 512 RAM, 1.42 GHz processor, and 60GB HD.  Preloaded with Tiger and Airport Extreme for $1099.  That's what I am thinking about getting.  Add an external Firewire drive (LaCie, $200) and another 512 RAM, and you've got a machine that sounds kickass.

I'm pretty set on the portables - I love carrying my computer to the bar and surfing while drinking, and other portable benefits.  Is this a good deal?  Is the G4 going to be geometrically better than the G3?  Is this even a decent computer?  My G3 was $999 stock, and I think I can get a couple hundred for it my local Apple Store.  I feel like this would be a worthwhile upgrade.

Any thoughts?

[Orethrius]

That sounds pretty badass, and you've really addressed any concerns I could consider.  What kind of warranty coverage are you considering for this?  Additionally, would you be interested if I could find a local buyer that would be willing to pay more than "a couple hundred" for the old system?  I know some local Macheads, and I wouldn't mind having one of my own...

[WMD]

The 1.42GHz model is 14".  Based you what you've said, your current one is 12".  Do you want to go up in size?  They also have 12" ones there (last I checked) for $799.

As for G4 vs. G3...I know you use Illustrator a lot, and if its opimization for AltiVec is anything like Photoshop's...holy crap.

[worker201]

My current iBook is 14":
http://www.apple-history.com/?page=gallery&model=ibook&performa=off&sort=date&order=ASC
And I will never own anything smaller than that again.

As to ways to unload old Macs, if this deal goes down, I'm all about extra money.

[worker201]

I'm not familiar with this Altivec stuff - anyone care to save me the Google search with a little primer?

[KernelPanic]

Just an instruction set, like SSE or MMX. I've heard it makes a big performance difference.

[piratePenguin]

I'm not familiar with this Altivec stuff - anyone care to save me the Google search with a little primer?

AltiVec is a floating point and integer SIMD instruction set designed and owned by Apple Computer, IBM and Motorola (the AIM alliance), and implemented on versions of the PowerPC including Motorola's G4 and IBM's G5 processors. AltiVec is a tradename owned solely by Motorola, so the system is also referred to as Velocity Engine by Apple and VMX by IBM.

AltiVec was the most powerful SIMD system in a desktop CPU when it was first introduced in the late-1990s. Compared to its contemporaries (Intel's integer-only MMX, floating point SSE, and various systems from other RISC vendors), AltiVec offered more registers that could be used in more ways and operated on by a much more flexible instruction set. However, Intel's third-generation and fourth-generation SIMD instruction sets, SSE2 and SSE3 initially available for the Pentium 4 (and also implemented by AMD in its AMD64 architectures), has many more functions than AltiVec.

More at http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Altivec

[WMD]

My current iBook is 14":
http://www.apple-history.com/?page=gallery&model=ibook&performa=off&sort=date&order=ASC
And I will never own anything smaller than that again.

1.  Wrong link

2.  You must've got your current one refurb then, as the 14" has never cost $999 stock.

[worker201]

1.  Wrong link

Fucking frames :grrrr:

2.  You must've got your current one refurb then, as the 14" has never cost $999 stock.

Yes, that's right.  Refurb is the best way to go - I'll say that for cars as well.  They've actually been tested MORE than the brand new ones, since the refurbs have to go through a much more strenuous screening process.  Anytime you can get better quality at a lower price, that's the way to go.  Anyone who complains about Macs costing too much ought to check out refurbs - the price drops to competitive levels very quickly.

Just so you all know, when I said 'stock' what I really meant was '256MB RAM and no Airport Card'.  Hope that wasn't making anyone think rice.

[WMD]

Yes, that's right.  Refurb is the best way to go - I'll say that for cars as well.  They've actually been tested MORE than the brand new ones, since the refurbs have to go through a much more strenuous screening process.  Anytime you can get better quality at a lower price, that's the way to go.  Anyone who complains about Macs costing too much ought to check out refurbs - the price drops to competitive levels very quickly.

I'll second the notion, as my PowerBook is refurb and, according to some programs, only a few weeks older than my purchase.  Yet I got it for $400 less than the original price, and $200 less than the identical "updated" model of the current time.

Just so you all know, when I said 'stock' what I really meant was '256MB RAM and no Airport Card'.  Hope that wasn't making anyone think rice.

heh

Welcome to iBook is rice, the volume goes to 11 here.