I have a Cube and I don't know what to upgrade to. For me nothing is as quiet and elegant as this beautiful machine. This being an anniversary year, I hope Apple comes up with something that is both as beautiful and has dual G5's. If not, I'll wait a little longer and go for a dual G4 upgrade for my cube.
I'm not sure what time span is best... Hens the topic...
- Every year (with selling via ebay a 1 year old machine)
- Every 3 years or so (with no sale due to the age of the machine)
Hmmm help me make a case to my wife for selling and re-buying early (and often) ... please!??!
That depends on what you got three years ago. It could be anything from a dual G4 down to a little clamshell iBook G3. Any more onfo to offer us?
I'm running three and a half years on my current Mac and nearly all the newest software still runs beautifully. The latest games lag a bit, but I'm no gamer. The only place I really feel I need more power are with code compiling, Virtual PC, and multimedia apps like FCP, C4D, etc.
My 3.5+ year old Mac is a Dual 500 G4 (gig eth.) with 864 MB RAM, original 32MB AGP ATI Radeon, ATI XCLAIM 128 PCI card, 36 GB 10000 RPM SCSI drive, 60 GB 7600 RPM ATA drive, 120 GB 7600 RPM ATA drive, and a DVD/CD-RW combo drive. I can easily see myself getting another year or two out of this as my primary computer, *many* more years as a really good server.
I'm not thinking about replacing this as my main machine until later this year when (if) the PowerBook G5 is introduced. I've been looking at the 15" PowerBooks and I think one would be perfect for me as a university student (even though I don't really have much time left here) and for general traveling in the future. It's a real PITA to lug a 70 lbs monitor along with a 30 lbs tower wherever I go!!!
A nice rule of thumb I have set for myself: don't buy a net computer unless it can literally run circles around the old one, performing at least 2 or 3 times better in all operations. The desktop G5s could easily do that right now. The notebooks, though... I'll wait just a bit longer.
I have a Cube and I don't know what to upgrade to. For me nothing is as quiet and elegant as this beautiful machine. This being an anniversary year, I hope Apple comes up with something that is both as beautiful and has dual G5's. If not, I'll wait a little longer and go for a dual G4 upgrade for my cube.
Seems to me you'll be waiting for quite a long time, especially if you would like your machine to be quiet...
No set thing really, but I'd like to stick it out for a good 2-3 years AT LEAST.
February 1994-February 2000: Quadra 610 w/ CD (6 years)
February 2000-March 2002: iMac DV
March 2002-September 2003: iMac G4 (800MHz, 15", SuperDrive)
October 2003-present: PowerBook G4 (1.25GHz, 15", SuperDrive)
So far, kinda all over the place: 6 years, 2 years, year-and-a-half.
But considering the money I spent on this PowerBook (AND the fact that it is - IMO - the perfect computer), I plan on having it for a good while. Easily well into 2006, I'd imagine. Maybe fall of 2006, to make it an even three years? At which point I'll splurge on a 2.6GHz G5/G6 17" PowerBook.
But I love this one I have now (get one Brad...the 15" is really an ideal size, just right). It'll only be laptops from here on out. I've bought my last desktop, I can promise you that. Just WAY too cool to have this thing with me whenever and wherever I want...
[note: I also briefly owned a Rev. B iBook during the same period I owned the iMac DV, but I only had it for about 8 months and hardly ever used it. Ended up selling it for what I bought it for, so...]
Macintosh LCII (2001) friend gave it to me, I had fun playing with it, and it reintroduced me to the concept of "using" a computer. At the time I was working in the automation section so I spent my days fixing PC's, so at the end of the day I didnt really feel like screwing with mine. The mac allowed me to play shufflepuck cafe and dark castle (some favourite games from my childhood, I used to play on my friends computers) and it didnt crash or require drivers so I had great time (also got to fool around with linux for making floppies and copying the downloaded software files to the older format before loading on the LCII). Unfortunately I had to leave this computer in the states when I cam to Korea.
My other mac,
ibook 12" 600mhz (2001-now) I bought this because I really was tired of working on windows, even brand new dell and ibm laptops were unstable running win2k under real world use. So I made the decision to get an ibook, love it, the hard drive burnt out once but on reflection I realize tha was my fault (left it crunching a Divx file under a ceiling heater vent, not sure how I didnt notice that) and I was able to install a new one. I really want to upgrade to a powerbook but I can never justify the cost, after I upgraded to Panther and installed the max ram, it runs great for what I use it for, which is internet, connecting to the TV to play Divx TV shows (friends, dark angel etc.) playing dvd's and other media when Im on the road. Maybe later this year, I'll upgrade to a 12" or 15" powerbook. I did recently purchase a G4 ibook for my mother, at the time I really just wanted to hand her down mine and keep the G4 for myself but I decided she should have the new book because really, at the end of the day my ibook still works fine for me. And now has lots of "character" due to its age and being pulled apart to replace the hard drive !
1992 LCII Upgraded with 32 MHz 030 in 1993 that made that slowpoke quite useful.
1995 7200/90 (loved it) Upgraded 2001 with a 7600 MB and 200 MHz 604E CPU
2000 G4/400. Loved the case but both the CPU and the ATI 128 was lackluster at the time. A ATI 8500 card and a GigarDesign G4@ 1200 MHz later I am quite pleased again.
When I can get a tower with two dualcore G6 at 3GHz or more I think I will make the leap8)
My computer history has been erratic. I actually upgraded every year or two when I was quite young because I'd get hand-me-down computers from my parents. So, I went from a IIcx to a Quadra 610 to a PowerMac 7100 from about 1994 to 1997. Then I stayed with the PowerMac 7100 for five years, until 2002. After that it was a roller coaster ride and I have done numerous "sidegrades" as Eugene calls them. I got a Wallstreet PowerBook (my last hand-down) in early 2002, which I replaced with a dual G4/500 in October of that year. A couple months later I got some idea in my head that I would like a laptop so I sold the G4 and bought an iBook G3/800. That only lasted about 9 months before I decided it was too slow and I needed something that didn't lag when using a web browser and iChat at the same time. So in September of last year I sold it and bought a 1 GHz eMac. I was vaguely dissatisfied with it, so in November I traded it to progmac for a dual G4/450 and a GameCube. I have been very happy with both. Funny that I have come full circle - I went from a dual 500 to a dual 450, and I couldn't be happier (well, I could be happier - I could have kept the dual 500 and not done anything to it!). At least now I know what I like and what I don't. I know that I won't buy any of Apple's consumer Macs, and that I won't spend any money for a laptop unless I can afford at least a 15" PowerBook with a 5400 RPM hard drive. The 12" screen and 4200 RPM hard drive of the iBook (not to mention the slow G3 processor) really got me down and I am not a big fan of laptops right now.
So I guess you could say I replace it more than once a year but I am not made of money, I just end up selling whatever machine I have for about what the new one costs.
My first mac was x-mas of 99. It was an iMac DV 400MHz. Since then I've purchased a PowerMac 733 (me and the wife were fighting over the iMac, no one wanted to use our PC anymore), and then I replaced the iMac DV with an eMac. Most recently (last April) I sold my PowerMac to help buy the 17" PB (on which I type this post now). I've had the PB for 10 months and it's great. Likely though I will want to upgrade to a future 17" model when either a) the processor speed has doubled, or b) they put a reasonably fast G5 in it.
Since I don't think we'll see a 2 GHz G4 chip, then likely I'll go for it once there is a 1.8 GHz G5 chip in the 17". Of course, I like shiny new things, so if another year-and-half goes by without the above happening, then I may just to add a PowerMac back into my life
iMac DV - December, 1999
PowerMac 733 - October, 2001 (Milestone - both me and wife now have our own Mac)
eMac 700 - December, 2002 (replaced the iMac DV)
PowerBook 17" - April, 2003 (replaced the PowerMac)
Comments
November 1997 - G3/233
August 1998 - iMac (Bondi) - this wasn't so much an upgrade as a sidegrade.
January 2002 - 2x1000 MHz QuickSilver
Between 3-4 years, I suppose.
1989: Mac 512ke
1992: Mac IIvx
1994: Power Mac 7100
1996: PC Bowerbase 180
1998: Power Mac G3
2001: Power Mac G4
Originally posted by DaveGee
Truth be told...
I'm not sure what time span is best... Hens the topic...
- Every year (with selling via ebay a 1 year old machine)
- Every 3 years or so (with no sale due to the age of the machine)
Hmmm help me make a case to my wife for selling and re-buying early (and often) ... please!??!
That depends on what you got three years ago.
I'm running three and a half years on my current Mac and nearly all the newest software still runs beautifully. The latest games lag a bit, but I'm no gamer. The only place I really feel I need more power are with code compiling, Virtual PC, and multimedia apps like FCP, C4D, etc.
My 3.5+ year old Mac is a Dual 500 G4 (gig eth.) with 864 MB RAM, original 32MB AGP ATI Radeon, ATI XCLAIM 128 PCI card, 36 GB 10000 RPM SCSI drive, 60 GB 7600 RPM ATA drive, 120 GB 7600 RPM ATA drive, and a DVD/CD-RW combo drive. I can easily see myself getting another year or two out of this as my primary computer, *many* more years as a really good server.
I'm not thinking about replacing this as my main machine until later this year when (if) the PowerBook G5 is introduced. I've been looking at the 15" PowerBooks and I think one would be perfect for me as a university student (even though I don't really have much time left here) and for general traveling in the future. It's a real PITA to lug a 70 lbs monitor along with a 30 lbs tower wherever I go!!!
A nice rule of thumb I have set for myself: don't buy a net computer unless it can literally run circles around the old one, performing at least 2 or 3 times better in all operations. The desktop G5s could easily do that right now. The notebooks, though... I'll wait just a bit longer.
1990: Macintosh SE/30
1994: Performa 648CD
1997: PowerMac 8600/250
2000: PowerMac G4 (Gigabit Ethernet, Dual 500)
2004: PowerBook G5??
So, I've got a good 3-4 year record going.
Originally posted by macanoid?
I have a Cube and I don't know what to upgrade to. For me nothing is as quiet and elegant as this beautiful machine. This being an anniversary year, I hope Apple comes up with something that is both as beautiful and has dual G5's. If not, I'll wait a little longer and go for a dual G4 upgrade for my cube.
Seems to me you'll be waiting for quite a long time, especially if you would like your machine to be quiet...
February 1994-February 2000: Quadra 610 w/ CD (6 years)
February 2000-March 2002: iMac DV
March 2002-September 2003: iMac G4 (800MHz, 15", SuperDrive)
October 2003-present: PowerBook G4 (1.25GHz, 15", SuperDrive)
So far, kinda all over the place: 6 years, 2 years, year-and-a-half.
But considering the money I spent on this PowerBook (AND the fact that it is - IMO - the perfect computer), I plan on having it for a good while. Easily well into 2006, I'd imagine. Maybe fall of 2006, to make it an even three years? At which point I'll splurge on a 2.6GHz G5/G6 17" PowerBook.
But I love this one I have now (get one Brad...the 15" is really an ideal size, just right). It'll only be laptops from here on out. I've bought my last desktop, I can promise you that. Just WAY too cool to have this thing with me whenever and wherever I want...
[note: I also briefly owned a Rev. B iBook during the same period I owned the iMac DV, but I only had it for about 8 months and hardly ever used it. Ended up selling it for what I bought it for, so...]
1998- Bondi iMac
2001- PowerMac G4 533 MHz
2003- Powerbook G4 17" 1GHz
2004- Powerbook G3 Wallstreet
ok. that last one is not really an upgrade. I bought it at $275 on ebay and I plan just to **** with it.
Originally posted by knappa
Seems to me you'll be waiting for quite a long time, especially if you would like your machine to be quiet...
fear so too
First mac,
Macintosh LCII (2001) friend gave it to me, I had fun playing with it, and it reintroduced me to the concept of "using" a computer. At the time I was working in the automation section so I spent my days fixing PC's, so at the end of the day I didnt really feel like screwing with mine. The mac allowed me to play shufflepuck cafe and dark castle (some favourite games from my childhood, I used to play on my friends computers) and it didnt crash or require drivers so I had great time (also got to fool around with linux for making floppies and copying the downloaded software files to the older format before loading on the LCII). Unfortunately I had to leave this computer in the states when I cam to Korea.
My other mac,
ibook 12" 600mhz (2001-now) I bought this because I really was tired of working on windows, even brand new dell and ibm laptops were unstable running win2k under real world use. So I made the decision to get an ibook, love it, the hard drive burnt out once but on reflection I realize tha was my fault (left it crunching a Divx file under a ceiling heater vent, not sure how I didnt notice that) and I was able to install a new one. I really want to upgrade to a powerbook but I can never justify the cost, after I upgraded to Panther and installed the max ram, it runs great for what I use it for, which is internet, connecting to the TV to play Divx TV shows (friends, dark angel etc.) playing dvd's and other media when Im on the road. Maybe later this year, I'll upgrade to a 12" or 15" powerbook. I did recently purchase a G4 ibook for my mother, at the time I really just wanted to hand her down mine and keep the G4 for myself but I decided she should have the new book because really, at the end of the day my ibook still works fine for me. And now has lots of "character" due to its age and being pulled apart to replace the hard drive !
1995 7200/90 (loved it) Upgraded 2001 with a 7600 MB and 200 MHz 604E CPU
2000 G4/400. Loved the case but both the CPU and the ATI 128 was lackluster at the time. A ATI 8500 card and a GigarDesign G4@ 1200 MHz later I am quite pleased again.
When I can get a tower with two dualcore G6 at 3GHz or more I think I will make the leap8)
So my history is
333Mhz iMac (Summer 1999)
466Mhz G4 (January 2001)
Dual 1Ghz G4 (September 2002)
Dual 2.xGhz G5 (Hopefully Winter 2004)
But hopefully the G5 will last more like 24-30 months.
So I guess you could say I replace it more than once a year but I am not made of money, I just end up selling whatever machine I have for about what the new one costs.
Since I don't think we'll see a 2 GHz G4 chip, then likely I'll go for it once there is a 1.8 GHz G5 chip in the 17". Of course, I like shiny new things, so if another year-and-half goes by without the above happening, then I may just to add a PowerMac back into my life
iMac DV - December, 1999
PowerMac 733 - October, 2001 (Milestone - both me and wife now have our own Mac)
eMac 700 - December, 2002 (replaced the iMac DV)
PowerBook 17" - April, 2003 (replaced the PowerMac)
Shipping -- Dual 1.8 G5.
Gimme, gimme, gimme.
1994 PowerMac 7200/60?
1998 PowerMac G3 MT 266
2003 Rebuilt B&W G3 MT with 800 MHz proc. upgrade (I feel bad its just sitting there)
because:
2003 17 inch PB G4
I didnt buy the B&W, and the 17 inch PB only cost me 1500 due to a grad school signing bonus
1991 LC II
1996 6100/60
1997 7200/90
2000 iMac DVSE 500
2004 PB 15" 1.25 GHz
And I hope this will be followed by a dual 3 GHz somewhere this year.
I used LCIII's at skool then
1999 Powermac 9500/120
2001 Powermac 9600/G3-400
2002 Powerbook G3-400 Pismo
2003
1. Cube 450 (which died) then...
2. iMac G3-600 and PC (Athlon XP in Shuttle SK41) both ditched for
3. PowerMac G4 (DA) with G4/1Ghz upgrade and 1.25Gb ram (sold to finance holiday) so now I dont have a computer at all....
...(Lives vicariously thru girlfriends iBook G4-800, it is so cute....)
I am waiting for a faster ibook G4 or a powerbook G5, until then Apple gets none of my money....
1990 - Amiga 500 8)
1994 - 486 75Mhz
1996 - Pentium 133Mhz
1998 - Pentium 2 400Mhz
2000 - Pentium 3 500Mhz
2001 - AMD Athlon 1Ghz
2004 - iBook G4
.h