One and a half years ago, I made the decision to buy a new 1.67 GHz G4 PowerBook, even though it had just been announced that Apple would switch to Intel. Part of that decision was based upon the announcement that the transition would begin one year later and might take another year before all the models had made the switch; that meant a potential 2-year wait for a high-end laptop to come out.

Another part of the decision has to do with my standard 3-year turnover with such purchases, and the idea that early adopters sometimes get burned with problems in the new hardware. I decided that if I bought a PowerBook G4 in June 2005, I would then wait 1-2 years for a new Intel model to come out, then another year or so for the second-generation model to be released, and that would mean a smooth transition.

One other factor that motivated me was that I was, at the time, stuck with an 800MHz PowerBook G4 that was way too slow for me, and was itching to upgrade. So I made the decision to go for the 1.67 GHz G4.

Well, Apple switched to Intel way faster than anyone anticipated; in fact, the MacBook Pro was one of the first new Intel models to come out, in January of 2006, just six months after my purchase. Furthermore, there were no significant reports of problems with the new hardware, so early adopters weren’t really burned.

So, a year after the MacTels came out, I’m saddled with a G4 PowerBook that will have to last me for another year and a half. Not the first wrong move I’ve ever made, that’s for sure.

But just yesterday, I came across an article that caught my attention. The story was on the excellent resale value of Macs, something that helped me make the decision to get this G4 PowerBook in 2005: I was able to sell my aging 800 MHz machine for ¥80,000, which subsidized maybe 30% of my new purchase. My current PowerBook now has a resale value of $975. At almost the same time as I found the first article, I saw a report on refurbished MacBooks, where a top-of-the-line black MacBook model is selling for $1300. That got me to thinking. A refurbished MacBook with a new 1-year warranty could very easily outshine my old, out-of-warranty PowerBook, and it would cost me a lot less than a brand-new computer would.

Hmmm…

Of course, there’s more to it than that. The models are fairly different from each other. I’d have to give up my 15″ screen for a 13.3″ one; however, the smaller screen would have nearly the same resolution, and perhaps better contrast & brightness, so that’s kind of a wash. The MacBook has no PC Card slot, which for me is a bit of a big thing as I always use that to load my digital camera images via a Compact Flash card reader. However, I could just bite the bullet and start using the camera-to-computer USB cable like most people use (I just don’t like to carry cables around). The new MacBook also has an inferior graphics card (an Intel GMA 950 versus the G4’s Radeon 9700–I think the Radeon is much better, I’ll have to research that). The MacBook has fewer ports, but none that I’d miss; the FireWire 800 port is the only one not matched, and I never use that anyway. Also, the MacBook’s DVD burner is 6x speed, as opposed to the G4’s 8x–a difference I’d hardly notice–just as I’d never use the MacBook’s dual-layer option.

These disadvantages are minor, however, compared to the plusses of the MacBook. First, it has a 2.0 GHz Core 2 Duo processor, which is a huge leap ahead of the 1.67 GHz G4. The MacBook also sports a 4MB L2 cache and 667 MHz system bus, compared to the G4’s weak-ass 512 KB cache and 167 MHz bus. The hard drive is bigger (120GB vs. 80GB). The MacBook also comes with an iSight camera, one of those magnetic power adaptors, and might even have the upgradable WiFi-n option (I’d have to look that up as well). The MacBook is also smaller and a little lighter.

Additionally, the ability to run Windows using Parallels would be a huge thing, as I teach Windows in my Computer course and XP under Virtual PC on an aging G4 just isn’t cutting it. Using Parallels would be a major improvement for me.

The MacBook comes with Apple’s crappy new 2-chip RAM arrangement, with 1 GB built-in, meaning that if I want to match my current 1.5 GB of RAM, I’d have to shell out close to $90 for a 1GB replacement chip, or $180 if I wanted to go for 2GB (which is likely).

SofMap says that they would pay ¥108,000 ($900) for the G4 I have now. That’s their top range and could be reduced if they find anything they don’t like, but this machine is in good shape and even has an extra GB of RAM inside. If I tried to sell the computer through ads, I might get an extra ten thousand yen or two.

The refurbished MacBook is $1400 including tax. Add $70 for shipping from the U.S., and $180 for new RAM, and it comes to a whopping $1650. That would make the difference $750 (or $590 to $670 if I can get a better price by selling via an ad)–more than a thousand dollars less than the same un-refurbished MacBook would cost with the same configuration ($1812, add $70 for shipping).

This idea has occurred to me just now, and this blog post is kind of a part of my rumination process on the issue; I am still pretty far from making a final choice, and have some looking-into to do (e.g., are there refurbished MacBooks here in Japan and for how much, etc.). I’d love your feedback as well, of course, and any alternate ideas or information.