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Open an ING savings account. Shove the money in there (interest @~4%) till next Jan. By yourself a kick ass Macbook with MEROM processor, a batterylife of 7 hrs and a blue-ray drive.

But that's just me!!!

:)
 
I was trying not to post in this thread because I really dislike all the negativity that's being tossed about but here it goes. Do what YOU want with the money. Buy whatever item you wish, spend or save it, it's up to you. Don't feel guilty about it just because some people here are so bitter they love nothing more but to crap on your fortune. And above all else, enjoy it. It's not often you can play around wuth $3000. Have fun :D
 
corywoolf said:
My family is not well off and this is a very rare circumstance for me. I always told myself I would be smart with my money and not greedy when I get an opportunity like this.

corywoolf said:
I plan on selling the Powerbook when everything I use is universal. This setup would cost me around $2000 (w/ monitor and accessories) and I would keep the monitor when I upgrade to the MBP. So what would you do in my situation?

I think your expectations are rather contradictory... First off, the software you named off... isn't cheap at all. FCP, CS2, After Effects... and on top of that you're planning on buying a Mac Book Pro?

If its rare for you to have $3k... I'm not sure how you can plan to sell everything once all your software is UB and upgrade to a MBP. That seems like a rather trivial point to chuck it all out the window and upgrade... especially since you don't often come across this much money.

If you plan on buying a MBP, but don't often have this much money... you're either going to have to buy one now and wait to use the software, or save the cash right now... and buy a MBP later.

The idea of buying a machine right now to tide you over.... until all the software goes UB and you can really buy the machine (and software) of your dreams - does not make sense.

--

If there is nothing else you can possibly take from my posts... it should be : DO NOT BUY A 1GHZ 17" POWERBOOK. :D


jadekitty24 said:
I was trying not to post in this thread because I really dislike all the negativity that's being tossed about but here it goes. Do what YOU want with the money. Buy whatever item you wish, spend or save it, it's up to you. Don't feel guilty about it just because some people here are so bitter they love nothing more but to crap on your fortune. And above all else, enjoy it. It's not often you can play around wuth $3000. Have fun :D

You must have clearly missed the title of this thread: What would you do with $3000 Dollars? :confused:
 
Don't worry about the arguments concerning G4's -- you can go quite far with Final Cut & the latest 17" pB just learning, as the stuff you'll use professionally will probably be rather different a few years down the road.

Invest in a good scriptwriting program, too, such as Movie Magic Screenwriter. Developing your own material will help immeasurably with learning editing, as going from script to finished film is often an eye-opening experience.
 
do not get a 1 Ghz 17" PB. Just don't. A 1 Ghz G4 is old and slow. If you want what you get to last a few years DON'T get a 1 Ghz G4. Hell, if you really want a G4, get a reburb 1.5 Ghz G4 powerbook from apple for about $200 more than that 3 year old 17".
 
cr2sh said:
You must have clearly missed the title of this thread: What would you do with $3000 Dollars? :confused:
How so? It seemed the OP couldn't make his mind up, then some people bashed him/her a bit, and then I offered my opinion which was spend it how you want. YOU clearly missed the title. It didn't say "Please nit-pick my thread to death instead of answering a simple question with a simple answer". Oh, wait, I see you've moved on to nit-picking the posts within that thread...
 
jadekitty24 said:
How so? It seemed the OP couldn't make his mind up, then some people bashed him/her a bit, and then I offered my opinion which was spend it how you want. YOU clearly missed the title. It didn't say "Please nit-pick my thread to death instead of answering a simple question with a simple answer". Oh, wait, I see you've moved on to nit-picking the posts within that thread...

A simple answer in fact you did supply.

Question: What would you do with $3000 Dollars?
Answer: I'd spend it how I want.

Should we not have a discussion on why it may be wasteful for a poor kid to buy an outdated laptop?
 
thegreatunknown said:
I'm going to try to go easy on you since your profile says you are only 17.

1st, don't go around blabbing about how much money you are getting, thats inappropriate. 2nd, don't follow it by telling us you aren't well off. if you aren't well off then you should be learning how to save money, learning about savings accounts, ROTH IRA's, etc, or even better saving for a college education.

if you just want recommendations of what to buy don't give us the story, just ask... many people here will help.


way to go not being a jerk buddy, the kid needs advice and he had to start off with a story... did it hurt you at all? is your day ruined by it? no... and his day is probably a little better from positive reinforcement or positive encouragement either way...
 
cr2sh said:
A simple answer in fact you did supply.

Question: What would you do with $3000 Dollars?
Answer: I'd spend it how I want.

Should we not have a discussion on why it may be wasteful for a poor kid to buy an outdated laptop?
I guess you could look at it like that, or you could say he's still a kid and why not have fun before you hit 18? He's got the rest of his life to be an adult, and he was never well-off. The chance to blow $3000 would be kind of cool. Maybe the wrong advice for me to give, but I know at 17 I made a lot of "smart" financial decisions, and a few of them could have been more fun. Had I known then what I know now I would have been a bit more carefree. Plus, we are talking about a gift, not money earned, or next months' rent. I don't know why but I've always felt gifts shoud be enjoyed, money earned is for rent, bills, blah blah. When I give out gift certificates for, say, Christmas I tell whoever I get it for to spend it on something you want and not something you need. And I really don't think buying a G4 would be buying an out-dated laptop. What makes it out-dated? That he didn't pay over $3000 for it? Because it isn't the latest and greatest? Will a G4 not surf the web? No programs will work with it? What makes a computer out-dated is all in the eyes of the beholder, in my opinion. If it does what you need it isn't out-dated.
 
jadekitty24 said:
What makes it out-dated? That he didn't pay over $3000 for it? Because it isn't the latest and greatest? Will a G4 not surf the web? No programs will work with it? What makes a computer out-dated is all in the eyes of the beholder, in my opinion. If it does what you need it isn't out-dated.

This machine was announced in January 2003. I owned one for two years and trust me, its outdated. I'm fairly certain that by most people's standards.. a computer that is 3 years old is a little out dated.

He wants to use with FCP, video editing, graphics - this is not that machine. It would be fine for web-surfing and common tasks... but he wants a workstation... not a portable... and certainly not that portable.

I agree gift money is gift money... and spending it on something he wants is important... but with his education near by, it would be great if it were a fun and smart decision.
 
If you wanna be smart with your money, be smart with it. If you're hard up for money, the best thing you can do with money is use it to make more money. Take that $3k and start a business. At your age, if you're smart and talented, you've got a good chance at making money doing something that you enjoy.

A computer is great, especially if you don't have one already and you're going to college soon, but don't blow your wad on it. Get something reasonable.

The second best thing you could do with your money is invest it...do you have a college fund?
 
ieani said:
As much I want a new mac if I had $3000 to spend I would be heading to Barcelona or Reykjavik or Munich or Toyko or New Zeland. There are hundreds of places Id rather go then get a new computer.

Another great suggestion, I would put this as the third option in my list above.
 
You should really wait at least for FCP to come out before you go selling your iMac because as of now it won't run on the new ones. You shouldn't have to wait long though... I do believe it comes out in March or April
 
I have to jump in this is getting dumb. First to the OP, If you think that you need the portablity of a laptop i would get an ibook and for home i would go with a 20inch iMac. I would try and save some of the money if possible just to have in the bank. And to every one bashing him for not wanting to save it, leave the kid alone. He is 17 and just because most of you cant afford to speed $3,000 bucks on a computer is no reason to bash him..
 
Good for you have $3000, my wife gave me $5000, We purchased a iMac 20 Core Duo and it is so sweet, go for a maxed out iMac you will have a lot of cash left over for extra stuff, like software games, a new digital camera etc. It cost me under $2000 for 20" iMac, 1 GB ram, 3yr apple care. wish i got the 2 gb ram.

Well I planning on adding another 3000 to my 5000 and when the quad 64 bit intel come out I buying one with a 30".
 
Deepdale said:
That is one very nice grandmother you have. When I graduated high school, I believe I was treated to a slice of pizza. Okay, perhaps it was two slices and a Coke.

I thought I was the only one. I think I had enough money to start a lemonade stand, after my graduation.
 
dferrara said:
I thought I was the only one. I think I had enough money to start a lemonade stand, after my graduation.

I got little as well, just enough for a passport. And had to endure a party with relatives my parents invited yet do not really get along with.
 
well from I am reading from your post you are currently still in high school getting some dual credits (smart move btw) and I am going to guess you are going to be leaving home next fall. Since you are doing great right now I would say wait until closer to the fall sesmester is starting and buy a mac book pro and a Dell monitor and all that jazz because I think you are really going to want a laptop that can move around. Since you are buying a extranal monitor the laptop only really needs to be 15 ins at most. No need to pay the extra for the 17 in. 30 gig ipod will do you just fine. Yes I know you may have more songs than that but come on think about it how much of you stuff do you really listen 2. how much of it is really rated and how much of it has a play count over 10 times.

Just some food for thought.

Either way I am on the side of getting an intel mac over the summer with the money. And the extranal monitor.
 
Timepass said:
well from I am reading from your post you are currently still in high school getting some dual credits (smart move btw) and I am going to guess you are going to be leaving home next fall. Since you are doing great right now I would say wait until closer to the fall sesmester is starting and buy a mac book pro and a Dell monitor and all that jazz because I think you are really going to want a laptop that can move around. Since you are buying a extranal monitor the laptop only really needs to be 15 ins at most. No need to pay the extra for the 17 in. 30 gig ipod will do you just fine. Yes I know you may have more songs than that but come on think about it how much of you stuff do you really listen 2. how much of it is really rated and how much of it has a play count over 10 times.

Just some food for thought.

Either way I am on the side of getting an intel mac over the summer with the money. And the extranal monitor.


I agree with this guy! :) In college, the best thing to do is be minimalistic. Buying some sweet set-up will be a waste of money(since college is so pricey) and a big distraction. And with the Ipod thing. I bought a 4 GB Nano even though i have enough music for a 60GB because its easier to carry around, wont ever be damaged by movement and it can double as my mp3 player for running.
 
thegreatunknown said:
I'm going to try to go easy on you since your profile says you are only 17.

1st, don't go around blabbing about how much money you are getting, thats inappropriate. 2nd, don't follow it by telling us you aren't well off. if you aren't well off then you should be learning how to save money, learning about savings accounts, ROTH IRA's, etc, or even better saving for a college education.

if you just want recommendations of what to buy don't give us the story, just ask... many people here will help.

I HATE your attitude. All I see is envy that you don't have the money. HAVE FUN with this guy and help him spend his money where he wants to. He wants to buy a Mac and I don't blame him. He could also takes what he buys and start a small business for himself doing video or photography or whatever. So don't 'take it easy on him' because he's 17. Keep your snide @$$ remarks to yourself.

There are far too many jerks on this forum.
 
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