I like the look of option 4. Purchase an IBM/ Lenovo Thinkpad - and get rugged and unparalleled reliability for todays global warrior.

I did that when I left IBM David, and (i) it was not as rugged as the Powerbook which has survived worse treatment and (ii) it uses an operating system that makes 18th Century medicine look humane in contrast.

OK guys, serious suggestions please

Option 3 is best. The 13" Macbook is a match for the old G4. Transferring apps, files and settings is as simple as plugging in a firewire cable. 13" is not that small for mobile work, and I assume you connect a second monitor when at a desk. The Macbook will be a better hand-me-down for your daughter than a knackered and bigger 15" machine. You can always buy some memory at crucial.com/uk (cheap and easy to install) to boost the Macbook later on - they can take up to 4Gb these days. I am on my third or fourth Macbook and I prefer them to the Pro in terms of form factor, but like you I will go for the slim model when it comes out.

Dave, this may not be timely enough, but you seem to get to the US often. The cheaper MacBook can be found here at an Apple store for $1,099 (around $1150 with sales tax), the more expensive one for $1,299. So, roughly 550 pounds or 650 pounds.

So if you can wait, it's much cheaper.

Regards, John

If I were set on buying a Powerbook later on, especially the slim model, I'd buy an iMac instead of buying a MacBook. Having the more powerful desktop in combination with the MacPro would be better than having a MacBook and a MacPro. Or if you just want a stopgap measure and the cheapest combination, look at the mac mini. The cheapest version is a about 1/2 a Macbook.

The Mac ultra portable is very likely to be released next week at Macworld. Stay tuned to the news on Tue the 15th.

If it is not released, I would buy the 13" MacBook. A backup laptop - or a gift to your daughter - is never a bad idea.

The 13" MacBook will be much nicer than your current G4.

If you buy this at an Apple Store, make an appointment for them to help you move the files. If you do it on your own, investigate using the migration assistant and firewire disk mode.

http://www.apple.com/pro/tips/migration.html

Dave

You may be interested to see this test of the Lenovo ruggedness, which I am certain Apple could not possibly match!

http://www.lenovo.co.uk/tapes/kent.html

Dave, how about replacing with a decent s/h PowerBook to tide you over (£300 at a push) or wait until what's released at MacWorld next week. There's quite a high probability of laptop updates to some degree and the new super thin notebook, although not sure on screen size.

Otherwise, picking up a MacBook in the US seems like an excellent idea. The latest models have 128MB combined graphics and are much faster than the PowerBook (I'm using a last revision PowerBook 1.67 and it often feels very lethargic next to my recent intel iMac desktop).

Have to say, though, that if you're on Tiger, Leopard seems like a step backwards at the moment.

Is the 13" Macbook as powerful as my 2.5 year old Powerbook?

I have an older Macbook which is much faster than my 2 year old G4 Powerbook; the newer ones are faster still.

Anything else I should think about?

Yes, resale value of the Macbook when you upgrade. A friend has just got GBP 600 for his 1st generation Macbook on Ebay.

Re: Migration assistant.

If you're going from Power PC to Intel, and especially Tiger to Leopard, I'd recommend a far more particular, cautious transfer than the "everything, including the kitchen sink" process of Migration Assistant.

It's more time-consuming to do it piece-by-piece, but you'll have a much cleaner installation at the end.

Dave, I have a 1.42 GHz iBook G4 (14") that is a couple of years old and find it powerful and tuff.

Transferring files is no problem with a firewire. If you do not have too many files, a memory stick works great. You can also transfer files wirelessly with an Airport (highly recommended if you have more than one Mac at home) as even this old laptop has wireless capabilities built in.

Not a big mac fan as you know :) but faced with the options, option 3 would seem the best.
New machine so no more stability problems, even if you shell out to have the current one fixed something else may break (been there done that). With the new 13" you can hand off to your daughter or resell later to recoup costs when the new model comes out.

Hi Dave,

A few points ( as a fellow MacBook Pro owner).

1) I would not recommend moving to Leopard yet. There are a number of issues that are casuing concern and I am aware that you rely heavily on your machine for day-to-day work. (If you had multiple machines you would take the chance.) There are numerous sites and podcasts reflecting this concern.
2) I would repair the old machine anyway. You could use it as a back up and/or let one of your children make use of it when needed.
3) The thin MacBook (if it comes) will likely not have a cd/dvd rom and may be constrained in other ways. It will be good to have a second machine in addition to this much-desired new product.
4) As for your immediate dilemma I would concur with others who suggest buying a refurbished machine from Apple or a relatively cheap MacBook in the interim. As mentioned above I believe that you will need a second machine when the new laptop finally comes out.

For all the others shouting in favour of IBM/Lenovo, I concur completely with Dave. I own both and both are good machines. The MacBook Pro is unquestionably my favourite for the operating system, ease of use, design and sheer ruggedness of the unit.

Good luck Dave.

A word of caution on getting logic boards replaced on 15" models that are out of warranty.

I notice you say it's only got 1GB of RAM, which is quite unusual these days given you're a pro user and the slots can take up to 2GB.

If it's an earlier revision of the 1.67Ghz model Powerbook and the reason the logic board has gone is because one of the RAM slots is fried, then there's a very high chance if you get it fixed it will go again. It happened three times to my original machine.

The later revisions had DDR2 RAM and different logic boards, and didn't suffer this problem.

If it is a DDR2 RAM model, or the logic board has gone for a different reason, then disregard this comment, but there's no way I'd spend money to repair an earlier version.

I think this episode makes it clear that you need a backup machine of some sort. It's a critical tool of your trade and, considering your charge-out rate, not that expensive.

Backup your data if you haven't already, buy a small portable external hard drive which you can take with you to wherever. Wait till next week. Then when you have your new Mac running Leopard you can use the drive with Time Machine. Or if you're off travelling and suddenly need extra storage space, erase the backup, but please remember to re start it.

Keep the small portable hard drive in a different bag to your MacBook. Then if something happens to it you still have your data.

Thanks to everyone for their help. I bought a macbook (the higher spec plus an extra gig of RAM) today, left it with the old Powerbook at the Regent Street Store and came back four hours later. Its almost magical the way the new one works without any set up demands and I love Leopard.

Reasons: I didn't want to risk waiting two weeks to get to the US, if the logic board failed then all would be over. I decided having a backup would be useful anyway (and with an English nt US keyboard).

Congratulations !

Last time I bought a new Mac (when my old one blew up, my fault) I too was delighted when a staff member at the Mac store transferred all my old files to the new one in one hour, whilst I went and had a coffee.

Congratulations on the purchase Dave, that's a good choice. It will be interesting to hear your thoughts on Leopard following extended use.

A question?
In the above discussions power and cost seem to be a dominant themes. IMHO devices are for enabling people to do things. In this context, how essential is the 'power' of the device?

I tend to think in terms of the capacity to the 'device+user' and make judgements based on this complex (emergent) operational criterion. This often leads back to clearer purposes and processes and additional possibilities at very little additional cost.