Hi,
If you want to get into the wonderful world of Mac then by all means go for it now. There won't be any visible differences that I know about. The intel chips will be faster but by end of 2007 that would be expected. It seems that the Power PC chip manufacturers aren't ready to go to the level that Jobs is expecting soon enough.
I've had my mac for 3 years and have been VERY happy. I will probably buy a G5 soon too.
Bill
With the pace of current technology there will always be something faster and better. Most computers are outdated 6 months after you get them. You have to jump on sometime. The G4 is a well established chip. The reason they are going to intel is for speed with lower power comsumption = less heat and faster computers. I don't know that I would like to be in the first rev. of the new machines. They try to work out all the bugs but inevitably some will get missed and you have to deal with that.
Just have to pipe in and say I completely agree with all that has been said. I just got my first Apple (a 12" iBook!) about a month ago and it's true what they say - you don't know "computer love" until you use an Apple! I've never been happier with a purchase and am so glad I made the switch. And with the 3 years of Applecare I bought I know my book will keep working or be repaired for at least 3 years and by the time I want to upgrade some great machines will be out, maybe with the Intel chip!
If you're ready to buy, do it! Now is a great time to switch 😉
By buying now, you will avoid "the heart-ache and the thousand natural shocks that flesh is heir to." At least the flesh of newly introduced computer hardware. It will take two years at least after the 2006/2007 introduction before both the hardware and the software for it are sufficiently stable to feel as confident about the Intel/Mac system as you can feel now about the present Macintoshes.
This is always the case with new hardware, no matter who the company is that introduces it and no matter whether it is a computer, a tractor, or a washing machine. And what is learned is always the result of customer usage results during the first two years. These show up findings that were not detected during product validation testing.
Buy now. The iBook has never been a better computer, and you will never regret owning it. I have been using mine for nine full months now, and it was a floor-model demo unit that I bought at CompUSA. It was a little dirty and a little scratched, but it is the first computer I have had since 1983 that has loved me. It doesn't sleep in my armpit like my cat does, but if it had legs it just might try.
I've fought with DOS/Windows for 24 years, and my iBook is the very best computer I have ever had. As Apple says, "It just works."
Hey Sandra. Unless you need a pc urgently then i think that it will be better to wait. Intel will change many things to better. A Mac PC will be ready with Intel Chips by March. Wait and check it out. Why pay for something that will be in a couple of months old.
Good Luck.
Roberto John.
"Why pay for something that will be in a couple of months old."
Technology is updated every "couple of months." EVERYTHING is "old."
To the original poster: if you want it now, buy it now. As others have said, the switch to Intel won't be completed till 2007, or later. Also, for all past updates of machines, iBooks are the lasat to be updated. I doubt that will change now.
Apple has said that the first Intel-based Macs will ship in the second half of 2006, which is June or later, not March. And nobody knows which model will be first. The iBook may not switch to an Intel processor until the end of 2007.
You can use your current PowerPC-based Mac software on an Intel-based Mac using Rosetta (a technology built-in to the Intel version of OS X that translates the PowerPC code on the fly).
Classic will
not be supported in the Intel version of OS X.
You cannot run Intel-based Mac software on a PowerPC-based Mac, but developers should be creating Universal Binaries that contain both Intel and PowerPC code so that Mac apps will run natively on both Intel-based and PowerPC-based Macs.
I'd say get a Mac now. According to the keynote and a lot of interviews with Jobs the Intel processor will actually be an exclusive one built solely for the Mac, which is good news because it means that we'll get a processor still completely capable of running native Mac programs while giving developers a little more leeway when it comes to programming. However having said that, the MacTels probably won't be as efficient and reliable as current Macs until late 2007/early 2008.
Therefore, I say buy an iBook or whatever Mac you're planning on buying now and then wait a few years to buy another Mac. That's my plan and it makes sense to me so I just thought I'd offer a little insight coming from one in a similar position.
