to macintel or not to macintel?

[flacochala]

I've been doing some serious thinking the last month. I own a perfectly good iBook g4... but for some reason i wanted the black macbook the minute it hit the streets... my iBook works like a charm, and i haved it for 3 years now, but i thought it was time for a change (although buying a mac where i live is extremly difficult and expensive). So as i always do before investing a lot of money in something, i started researching about the macbook, it cons, it pros.. everything i can to convince myself that the macbook was the notebook I needed. But something happend, i started to notice that the macbook is full of problems, and everyone is complaining about a lot and different issues. Ant whats worse about it, is that everyone es covering the hole problem behind sayings like "its a rev a computer", or "its a core duo chip, its supposed to be hot". Come on people, let face the truth, apple has lost a some quality in the past few years, you only have to compare the materials of the computer to notice, look at the clamshell ibook against the icebook or the last ibook, and youll see. But, that is a lost of quality im able to bare with, because apple is in the computer bussiness and they want to make money. But with the recently change to the intel platform, apple has started to lose a lot(and i mean a LOT) of quality in its products. I personally think that apple has lost a lot by joining with intel, the new machines are no longer different, they are the same as a pc, in fact they have the same components of a pc, but in a fancy and slicker case; inside there is an intel northbridge, intel logic board, intel graphics, intel ethernet, c'mon... is an intel machine (apple is no longer controlling the hardware), inside an apple case, with osx running on top... And from what ive heard, its not running perfectly... 'cause people have been experiencing kernel panics, shutdowns, cpu throtelling, etc...
So, to conclude, i think that apple is loosing with the intel change, ill stick with my reliable, warm (not hot), ultra tought ppc computer (that only has hang on my once) until apple releases an apple ibook predecesor i can count on... not some cheesy intel box, that ill have to return in 5 days, because is discolouring, because it melted down, mooing, whining, killing dvd's with its superdrive, blowing up batterys, burning up magsafes, flaking, making noises that no one can descipher, etc... what do you think??

[Mobius Rex]

I do think there's evidence of a drop in quality with the MacBooks and MacBook Pros, and possibly the last generation of Powerbooks.
My Powerbook, though, has been pretty solid; just a failed hard drive after a year and a half of steady use, replaced free of charge under AppleCare's warranty. Hard drive failure in laptops, after a year and a half to two years seems to be not all that uncommon. Laptops use miniaturized components.
As far as the new MacIntels are concerned, they do seem to have their fair share of problems, running too hot being a big issue. Reading other Mac forums and Mac focused sites, it's pretty clear that there are no small number of new MacIntel owners with laptop problems.
I, for one, wouldn't buy one right now. I'd wait 'till the problems are worked out, probably at least another 6 months to a year(if ever!).
If Mac quality and reliability have, indeed, slipped, then who knows if and when those issues will ever be successfully addressed.

[MisterMe]

The time to buy a new Mac is the time that your old Mac can no longer do the job you need done.

[Qion]

Originally Posted by MisterMe

The time to buy a new Mac is the time that your old Mac can no longer do the job you need done.

Agreed.

[Veljo]

I'm also pondering whether or not I should upgrade. My iMac isn't what I'd call unusable, but it's definitely annoying sometimes (and extremely slow other times).

In saying that, I wanted to upgrade to something portable like a MacBook Pro. Problem is, I read somewhere that later this year the MBP could be receiving the Core 2 Duo processor. Would it be wise waiting for some kind of significant upgrade? (I'm not super desperate....yet)

[Qion]

If you can wait, wait. Only jump if it's getting dire. The reason I haven't upgraded is that Apple -to me- is a bit customer abusing in that you never know when something better is coming out. No prescheduled dates, no warning, nothing. I would have buyer's remorse a month or less after buying the "latest" hardware.

[ecirtap]

My mantra is: never ever buy a first generation Apple computer!

They always have some (more or less) serious issues.

Now that you can find new PowerBook and iBook laptops at highly reduced prices, I think I would rather buy one of those. (Even though the iBooks have been having logic board issues since the days of the G3 ones; they have never been fully eradicated, afaik.)

patrice
http://www.patriceschneider.com/apple-osx/blog/

[Mikuro]

Originally Posted by Veljo

In saying that, I wanted to upgrade to something portable like a MacBook Pro. Problem is, I read somewhere that later this year the MBP could be receiving the Core 2 Duo processor. Would it be wise waiting for some kind of significant upgrade? (I'm not super desperate....yet)

It's likely that we'll see the Merom (which I think is officially called "Core 2 Duo") in MBPs in August, which is when the chip is slated for release. Apple won't want to drag their feet while the rest of the industry moves forward.

One of the advantages to Apple's switch to Intel is that now they have more direct competition, which will force them to stay on their toes a bit more. We can also better predict when Apple will revamp their machines based on Intel's public roadmaps. One of the disadvantages is that now they, like other companies, might be racing to get releases out quickly, sacrificing testing time and quality.

It's always a good idea to wait a while after a product is released, so you can hear of any issues early adopters are having. But of course, if you wait too long, then a new model will be just around the corner! So there's the choice: Brave the dangers that come with being an early adopter, or buy a machine that's likely to be "obsolete" soon.

You might want to think in terms of software updates instead of hardware; Apple will probably release Leopard in 6 months or so. If you'll want the latest software, and your current machine is getting the job done, then it makes sense to wait a while and save yourself the $129 to buy Leopard.