I have determined that my decision to purchase an Intel PowerBook comes down to the following Pro/Con chart:
Cons:
- A bit pricey (but I can shave $300 off with student developer…).
- Apple Rev.A’s have an uncanny ability to get screwed compared to the Rev.B’s, where Apple fixes most issues with the Rev.A.
- Merom comes out in half a year (but will the 15” be updated then?).
- Other Apple Intel offerings are coming (but how soon, and how comparable to the 15” in size/power?).
- No reviews yet (does it get hot? what’s its battery life? any unusual common defects?).
- Ability to install Windows XP uncertain.
Pros:
- puuuurrrrrddddyyyy
Edit: Hehe, ok, really, another major pro is: OS X on Core Duo. Really, my main beef with the last PowerBook I had was that it got insanely hot and was not very impressive performance wise. OS X is no lean machine and it requires a pretty hefty system to achieve that “snappy response”… the PowerBook I had just didn’t cut it, despite the many other things I liked about it.
I do like Apple software, generally, I like the way I can switch between “noob GUI mode” and “l337 h4x0r pwn3d y0! CLI mode” rather seamlessly. That plus is also in recent Linux distros, however, OS X is a bit better when it comes to plug-and-play hardware issues (though, Linux def has its merits and it better in many other situations… which is why its on my mac mini right now). Apple also has the support of software companies such as Microsoft and Adobe, where Linux has to fall back on WINE (man, I’d like to see a Linux-native build of Photoshop… that’d be HOT).
Anyways, I think the Core Duo will likely solve most of these issues… of course, I should probably wait for reviews regardless. Heh…