I'm thinking of "switching"
 

I sell PC's for a living (among other things :D) However my friend works at a store that sell Mac's and he showed my the new Powerbook.

I'm so tempted to buy one (15" I think, 17" is pricy) anyone have one?

Just want some feedback on how good/bad they are.

They are godlike!
HOWEVER...
Not worth one BIT the price they ask you to pay.
Unless you have lots of money to throw around (which is perfectly reasonable) your better off going with a PC which will be faster and cheaper.

However if you don't want to save 600-1000 dollars then go with the powerbook because they are simply a pleasure to use. There is no comparison really.

steer away from macs. i find macs to be very unique. i've worked with 4 macs in my life and all of them have had their own problem. one's screen would just go black and lock up when running programs such as safari, chess, etc..., the other would need to be refortmatted every month cause after a couple of weeks it would just run so god damn slowly, the other would lock up and just freeze while running WarCraft III, and the 4th one sometimes doesn't even let me log in, it crashes before I even get to the desktop. I don't know what all the fuss about Macs are, they are inferior to PC. PC's now can handle media and work with it just as well, if not better, like a Mac. Macs are also overpriced for the system that you're actually getting. Their CPU's are garbage, this also includes the new G5, woop de doo! a 64 bit CPU, too bad Panther isn't a 64 Bit OS, so you won't even notice the difference. Stick with PC, Mac has made a hater out of me (10 day return policy), and they piss me off how they hide behind their hardware to promote their software. If they were so damn good, they should just come out as a full fledged software company and compete with MSFT. Sigh, they call it the 'switcher' campaign for a reason, and that is to lure into buying one of these boxes with a half eaten fruit on it.

I was tempted as well, but have not made the switch. I used macs for years, since the first mac came out until 2000, when I finally ditched my last mac (a powercomputing clone) and did the reverse-switch. Why did I unswitch (and haven't switched back)? Comes down to my work. I'm a consultant that helps businesses understand and justify technology decisions and I'm not prepared for the inevitable question of why I use a mac. In my professional world, "because I think it is cool" doesn't cut it.

Considering your job, it sounds like you might be in a similar situation. If you don't want to use it, will you be able to sell it?

Depending on what you want to use it for, they're good, reliable machines. It depends, though, if you want it for general websurfing, Photoshopping, or games. If you wanted it for games, I'd stick with the PC due to sheer numbers. For the other two, though, the Powerbooks should work well. I'd wait about a month, though, since the rumors have been circulating about updates across the line (or at least to the 15") soon.

I'm not sure what happened to SiphonX, but in all the Macs I've worked with, I've never had any significant problem of note. On a side note, though, the next update of OS X, Panther, while not being optimized for 64 bit procs, is tweaked to run faster on the new G5. Also, they have a year long return policy, so I don't know where you got your mac(?)

I bought my mom a powermac g4 a little while ago because I was tired of her calling me up about problems with her pc. Turns out the machine is actually quite nice, and I've been using it more than her! :) If and when there is a powerbook g5, I'm all over it! :D

I've owned several Macs over the course of 18 years, and each one has serviced my needs and gone above. I don't buy them because they look cool, though that is a bonus. Some people might consider me stupid for paying more for a computer than an average PC, but I'm happy with it, and that's all I care about. Others must have had bad luck/user error.

I encourage you to go to an Apple Store and just play around on their laptops/whatever else you want. If you feel comfortable with it, purchase. Unless you are buying this computer for mainly business purposes, a Mac laptop will provide you with all of the services you need.

Personally I'd wait a bit though. We're due for a laptop update within the next 6 months. Best of luck in your decision.


--EDIT-- More Info On New Powerbooks

Thanx guys.... its not going to happen right away... I just saw the prices :D

But I'm very interested in the 15" Powerbook, that way I'll keep my PC as my home/games unit.