Helping 2 switchers - intel now or wait?

[karavite]

Okay, I think I got it. If Mom can pop for the Power Book Pro, it is hers or she can wait for an intel iBook. No G4's or G5's.

Dad should get an iMac and buy Office - I may not even mention that he is not running Office "native" and he'll never know the difference!

Thanks!

[fryke]

I'd be open with him about it. You can tell him that this version runs okay and that any next versions should run even better, so he might evaluate whether the performance is okay for him or whether he really needs something faster when the next Mac version of MS Office comes out...

[chevy]

It's now or never.

Don't expect Apple hardware to become stable and have no evolution anymore. Graphic card will change, RAM will change, CPU will change... and software will change. I buy a new computer every 3-4 years and I renew paid software every 5-10 years (faster for iLife and MacOS as its price/performance is better).

[baldprof]

I would like to second that about the memory needed to accomodate Rosetta. With 1 gig of ram my iMac Dual Core runs all the Office apps quite well. Your dad has nothing to lose really. The only time I notice a lag is if I have two or more Office apps open at once. But then that was true on my G4 as well.

So if you start with 1 gig+ of memory, Office will run just fine.

[Shookster]

Would a MacBook Pro or Intel iBook replacement even be necessary? The G4 PowerBook was good enough for Office before the Intel machines came out, and they don't sound like the sort of people who tax their machines too much. Heck, maybe even a G3 off eBay would do the job.

[karavite]

Originally Posted by Shookster

Would a MacBook Pro or Intel iBook replacement even be necessary? The G4 PowerBook was good enough for Office before the Intel machines came out, and they don't sound like the sort of people who tax their machines too much. Heck, maybe even a G3 off eBay would do the job.

Yea, but this will be the loooonnnng haul for my Mom - remember, she still has her Cube and before that I think she had an LC II!!! I don't like the idea of her buying a computer that is on the way out - especially in terms of software. I put this intel change up there with the PowerPC and OS X.