Buying a PowerPC Mac or waiting for Intel Mac?

If you need/want a laptop now, get it now. Software will be made PPC compatible for years to come yet; there's no way that Apple or the developers would leave 100 percent of their installed base high and dry.

Not only that, but you do NOT want to get a first revision Macintel. It's best to wait for a second revision at least so they can get the bugs out.

Mmm... as a 12" 1.5 GHZ PB owner, I would say wait if you can.

I am betting that P-M based PowerBooks are out in less than a year, and they will most likely be very sweet. I love my PB to pieces, but an x86 P-M PB would be so much better.

Wait if you can, if not buy now knowing that you'll have PPC support for many years to come.

Another opinion...... I own both a Mac IIX and X86 Machines.... I know the software base for X86 is far ahead of what Apple has to offer.
So Apple is going to an X86 OS (and Apps ????)...... Thats going to take a long time to achieve....
And, there will be a LOT of interest in this so getting the new apple system debugged will be years away......

So, soon, you may have the best opportunity to pick up the most expensive Power Book for a fraction of it's original cost.........

PPC apps will run on Intel Macs just fine through the Rosetta emulation layer.

Also, if Apple is going to introduce Intel processors from the bottom up, as has been speculated, Intel based PowerBooks won't be arriving until late 06 or early 07 followed quickly by Intel based PowerMacs.

Apple ISNT going to "introduce Intel processors from the bottom up".... Apple is going to Switch thier OS to Intel Processors... Which means a complete rewrite of the OSX ....
PPC apps may run fine on X86 machines with an emulation layer but that is really going to hurt performance bad and the apps will all be "dead end".. no updates....

But dont underestimate Apple, a great power base of intelligent minds.... My personal guess is they are floating in a sea of sharks right now.....

If you want or need the computer now, get it. If not, wait. Same computer-buying-practices of every other computer apply to Macs. I plan on getting a Mactel Powerbook at some point, but I'm steadily enjoying my g4 one, too.

OSX is already compiled for x86, and has been since they upgraded from OS9. Apple is making this transition as safe and seemless as possible, given what the circumstances are. I'm looking forward to the future of it!

Me Too.... (but it's more than just the OS..)

Uh, first of all, OS X has been running on Intel processors for the past 5 years, and for almost 15 years before that when it was NeXT.

Second, as was reported by C|Net and The Wall Street Journal several days before the official announcement of the switch to Intel processors, Apple is going to start moving the consumer computers over to Intel before the pro computers—thus they will be starting "from the bottom up". As C|Net and The Wall Street Journal were right about the switch, it is safe to say they are right about the stratagem Apple will use when the switch begins.

The Mac Mini will assumably be the first to get the Intel Inside make over, followed by the eMac, iMac, iBook, PowerBook, and lastly the PowerMac in mid to late 07 when the transition is nearly complete.

As far as the emulation goes; at the Keynote Jobs demonstrated both Adobe Photoshop and Microsoft Office running through the Rosetta emulation layer. On a SINGLE P4 chip running at 3.6 GHz the emulation ran at a respectable speed. By the time Intel Macs finally start coming out expect the Rosetta technology to have been enhanced, and expect the chips included in the systems to be much more advanced than the P4. Also the Pro systems will be dual systems, and I doubt Rosetta would be made in such a way that it can't take advantage of SMP.

As far as there being no updates to PPC only apps...why would companies just completely drop their support for PPC Macs? 100 percent of their user base is on PPC Macs and will be for several years to come if historical trends involving Apple computers continue. Mac users hold onto their machines for a very long time, and even though OS X has been out for 5 years now and OS 9 development has been stopped, there is still a large base of installed OS 9 machines out there running in professional environments. Don't expect this to change over night just because Apple's switched to Intel.