Repair 15" PB or Purchase new MacBook Pro??

[flippinsweetpgh]

Hi everyone,
I have a predicament that I would really appreciate everyone's opinion on.

I have a 15" 1.67 Mhz Powerbook, 100gb and 1gig of RAM that I purchased almost a year ago. Unfortunately a few months ago it suffered some pretty bad body damage--the lower right corner of the case where the Superdrive is was torqed about a 1/8-1/4 inch (and all the warping that goes along with that) so that it doesn't sit flat on a desk. I consulted the people at the Apple Store and concurred with me that if it was still working fine I might as well let it be and just to be extra careful with it from there on out.

So then just about a month ago, something finally gave and I had to send it in to Apple, who have told me it will take about $1300 to fix: $1259.95, exactly, "Tier 4" damage apparently--replacement for the logic board, hard drive, and other case repairs.

So now my question is, do I go ahead and pay for the repairs to basically get back a brand new G4, or do I get a new macbook pro for an extra grand?

I am an undergrad student doing a lot of interface and web work, and use adobe software and macromedia alot for classes and my job so I am concerned about the speed of those programs. I also need a working laptop pretty quickly, for the mean time I am borrowing a friend's laptop.

Any input woould be great, Thanks for all your help guys--

 

[RGunner]

The "A" answer is:

Sell it on EBay.

Describe it just as you did here (minus the costs to repair). Take pictures of the damage, include all the package material that you may have, the software and any accessories.

Then go order a MB Pro.

My guess is the damaged PB will fetch $500 or more.

Repairing would be foolish.

 

[GiovanniAprea]

if you want to sell your powerbook for parts, please, contact me.
i also have a powerbook who falled on floor and same damage as yours, lower right corner, dvd drive accessible and working, so, finally, just aestetic issue but i could need some of your machine parts to upgrade mine.
if you are interested, please, contact me on e mail at
giovanniDOTapreaATliberoDOT.it

thanks

giovanni

p.s. wait before ordering the intel inside powerbook

 

[RichP]

I agree, ebay what you have, and get a new machine. You will never see that $1300 again; the machine is pretty much "totalled" Especially when you consider supposedly how fast the new machines are. (and you dont even have the higher resolution screen that the last revision offered)

Only thing that sux is the wait for a new machine... not sure how long you can borrow your friends machine, it may be a month.

 

[generik]

I'd get a new MBP too if I were you.

Anyway is it just me? But why are so many "logic boards" dying? These things are not supposed to fail, EVER.

 

[GoCubsGo]

I think you would see a new powerbook before you'd see your repaired one so i say get a new one.
However, if you do opt to sell the PB in parts I am interested in the gig of ram you have there. We have the same rev of PBs and I would like to have another gig in mine.

 

[GiovanniAprea]

so, you already have two people interested, Jessica for the ram banks and me for hard drive and superdrive (also other parts like power adapter and screen), let's start auctioning!
man, i'll wait to know how the new mac book pro are before buying one, i already see a lot of new imacs on sale

 

[p:ro]

I am an undergrad student doing a lot of interface and web work, and use adobe software and macromedia alot for classes and my job so I am concerned about the speed of those programs. I also need a working laptop pretty quickly, for the mean time I am borrowing a friend's laptop.

I bet you have PowerMacs at university aswell for working. Problem is for you that you use your Powerbook along that (same as me: study architecture). My girlfriends Powerbook G4 550 collapsed right in the time of the last weeks of her final work for her MastersOfArchitecture (logic board cost 700 $). She finished her diploma on a other PB G4 550 from the University tech team. YOU got a 1.67 PB...

I use probably a lot of the programs you use and since there won't be universal versions of them for a while - or your school won't get them I do think your 1.67 G4 is a great machine and you would be happy with it at least another 1 or 2 years...and it has enough power!!! if u can access PowerMacs for the hard work!

1300$ is a lot of money for sure but I think I would repair it. The time your university switches to Intel - you get nice EDU deal for intel MacBook Pros with AppleCare for free - and the software is out there - then i'd switch to MacBook Pro. Sounds weird I know but I would look at it as a 1-time accident. Repair it and enjoy the apps which run native on your G4.

Get a MacBook Pro Rev.B with no bugs + all software accessable in 2007!!!
Your School will hopefully get a special EDU deal for MBP with applecare hopefully -
If it gets hard on hard it's allways nice to know to have a PB 1.67 for backup then.
MBP rev.A now is a waste of cash & power now i think if you use those apps & your studies!!!

 

[kretzy]

I'm kind of in the same boat. My PB is damaged (though still working fine) and I can't decide whether to sell it now and get a MBP, or just stick with it and get whatever is out in a year or two.

In your situation, if you didn't need to do so much adobe/macromedia stuff, I'd recommend selling the PB, getting an iBook to tie you over for a year or so, by which time everything will run on the intel machines.

 

[twoodcc]

if it were me, i'd do my best to manage until i got the new mbp. i wouldn't wanna spend 1300 on the same machine. but that's just me. it just sounds crazy to spend that much, when you could just go ahead and buy a new for not that much more

 

[flippinsweetpgh]

thanks for everyone's input! unfortunately i'm still undecided. (sigh)

I wonder if there is anyone that has run CS2 on an Intel iMac and can tell me how that performance was? Before I got my sweet powerbook I was running Adobe CS on an 12" iBook G4 800 and it was...bearable. I've seen on a 1.25 machine that Photoshop CS2 at least can run sparingly.

Just hoping that I'm not jumping the gun on buying an Intel just because I can. But my school doesn't exactly give us great discounts on Apple stuff suprisingly nor do I have a coordinating studio or lab to call home--so making the switch later for those advantages, I dont' know if its worth the wait.

I might be able to borrow this current laptop for a few more weeks after which my friend will start angrily charging me a daily rate

So I guess the ultimate (and ongoing) question is whether to pay the 1300 now and wait until any kinks are worked out with Rev.B.and Adobe?
or 2500 now for the intel, deal with the lag and be set for who knows how long.

Unfortunately, i'm pretty impatient and delay of gratification never worked well for me--ie, Apple does not bode well for the wallet. Anyways, thanks again everyone

 

[GiovanniAprea]

Save those 1.300 bucks!
you will never get them back again, as soon as the mac book pro, hopefully, hits the market and works fine our G4 (wow, did you mind that the G4 is a G3 + altivec instructions and some little more things?) will just be nice pieces of furniture...
with those money you could, now, buy an ibook that works pretty fine or wait a little for the new ibook that is given to be a couple hundred bucks less expensive than actual models, with a wider screen... (but being here you will for sure know about it and better than i do...).
save those money man, get a new machine and then sell your powerbook for parts and you will pay some of the new machine with your old powerbook.
my 1ghz alu is also damaged, right corner hit the ground and a new case is about 200$ (if i do it myself) but it is nor really worth, and it's just 200...