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FFTT

macrumors 68030
Apr 17, 2004
2,952
1
A Stoned Throw From Ground Zero
The average is 4-6 years because the gear holds up so well. Or you just decide you want more power.

My 7 year old G3 tower is still running fine
and my new G5 dually has me totally spoiled rotten.

Most of the time the hardware requirements of the software tend to dictate when you really need to upgrade.
 

iGary

Guest
May 26, 2004
19,580
7
Randy's House
edesignuk said:
It normally winds up being ~2yrs for me. Of course that depends on how my wallet has been doing...:eek:

About every two years for me...This October would have been two years for my last PowerMac.
 

Jovian9

macrumors 68000
Feb 19, 2003
1,968
110
Planet Zebes
1-2 years. If there is not another machine I really want I'll buy AppleCare and keep my machine for 2 years before selling it and getting another. If there is another machine that I'd like to have more than the one I currently have I'll sell it before the 1 year warranty ends and upgrade. I sell all of my iPods after I've had them b/t 10-11 months and upgrade (I end up spending about the same amount as what it would cost for me to get a warranty for another year on the iPods.....+ what I sell my iPod for).
 

Nereus

macrumors member
Sep 13, 2005
81
0
Uppsala, Sweden
Haven't bought my first Mac yet. I am waiting until after Paris Expo and then I'm going to buy a 15" PowerBook. So we'll see, I'm counting on that I can use for 3-4 years.
 

Bear

macrumors G3
Jul 23, 2002
8,088
5
Sol III - Terra
I upgrade when it's needed. My last PowerBook I had for two years before that happened. The current one will probably be around longer.

My PowerMac is 2.5 years old, I'm probably going to order iwth the next PowerMac announcements.

As for iPods, as long as it does the job, why keep replacing it?
 

Bear

macrumors G3
Jul 23, 2002
8,088
5
Sol III - Terra
edesignuk said:
MovieCutter said:
6-8 months, or every revision of the Power Mac and Powerbook.
:eek: :eek: Are you serious?

Man, wish I was loaded.
I agree with edesignuk. Also, some of the revisions just aren't worth the change. For instance going from dual 2.5 G5 to a dual 2.7 G5? Why bother?
 

yg17

macrumors Pentium
Aug 1, 2004
15,027
3,002
St. Louis, MO
Well with PCs, it was always changing. I built my own, so I was always upgrading a processor here, a videocard there, ect. But that seemed to be neccesary since Windows seemed to want more processing speed the longer it was installed. I went more than 2 years with my iBook before selling it, and I've had my PowerMac for a year and plan to keep it for several more. Unless something bad happens to one of my Macs or I win the lottery, I don't plan on purchasing another one until Rev B Intels make their way out.
 

dornoforpyros

macrumors 68040
Oct 19, 2004
3,070
4
Calgary, AB
ussually when the wallet says it's ok! hehe
Once I get my current g5 payed off I'm gonna get an iBook and then I think that'll be my last mac purchase for a little while enless I find a great deal on a cube or something else fun :p
 

JupiterTwo

macrumors 6502
Mar 29, 2003
276
3
GB
Coming from wintel land, my machines just tended to metamorphise as time went on. Work provided a laptop, which was refreshed every 3 years.

With my macs, I've had my iBook over 2.5 years now. I thought that would only do 2, but it's ticking along fine. A bit underpowered maybe, but it has it's place now as a web machine. My iMac took over duties, and I think I've hit a sweet spot for the combination. Any serious stuff and I used the iMac - big screen, full size keyboard, hd etc. Just casual stuff, the iBook does admirably, so it's hard to equate a big spend to replace it.

However, if the powerbook line was a bit sweeter, then I could have had a change earlier :p
 

mpw

Guest
Jun 18, 2004
6,363
1
3years between first iBook and present iMac and only then 'cause the iBook was going to be 'at least' £300 to fix with no guarantee it would be!

I bought the iMac to replace the iBook and then 9months later had a pop at repairing the iBook with nothing to lose. I did it easily and now have two Macs :D

I should probably sell one but can't decide which.
 

beige matchbox

macrumors 6502a
Mar 16, 2005
521
0
Oxfordshire, UK
5 years ish

I went from a 300Mhz ibook bought back at the end of '99 to this PB, desktop wise, dad now has my imac (he was using a B&W G3) and is quite happy with it. It runs all of the desktop type apps as fast as you like, a few synth packages etc. great stuff

However, i am feeling the need for a new mac desktop, i want a mac mini, but with somewhere near the oomph of my powerbook :cool: :rolleyes:


The PC (when i had some money coming in) was getting upgraded in some way about twice a year, but that stopped when it all got silly (again) with the competing standards. Now thats pretty much settled i'll be going that route for my gaming needs


Oh, and i was still using my 5400 (180Mhz 603e) for TV and MP3's while in bed until about a year ago :D
 

risc

macrumors 68030
Jul 23, 2004
2,756
0
Melbourne, Australia
The moment my computer feels slow to me. I replaced my iBook G4 with a Power Mac Dual G5 within 6 months (gave the iBook to my sister), and at the start of the year I bought a PowerBook G4 1.67 GHz 15" I can't see myself replacing these at least until the Mactels hit Rev B or C.

My GF has an iMac G5 1.6 GHz I can't see her replacing that for years when I started going out with her in 2001 she was still using Windows 3.1.
 

7254278

macrumors 68020
Apr 11, 2004
2,365
0
NYC
risc said:
The moment my computer feels slow to me. I replaced my iBook G4 with a Power Mac Dual G5 within 6 months (gave the iBook to my sister), and at the start of the year I bought a PowerBook G4 1.67 GHz 15" I can't see myself replacing these at least until the Mactels hit Rev B or C.

My GF has an iMac G5 1.6 GHz I can't see her replacing that for years when I started going out with her in 2001 she was still using Windows 3.1.

Windows 3.1
DAMN!!!!!!!!
 

doucy2

macrumors 65816
Jul 7, 2005
1,013
0
never have bought new before
i just buy used ones when ever i want
ive prob had 10 in the last 2 years
 

MovieCutter

macrumors 68040
May 3, 2005
3,342
2
Washington, DC
Bear said:
I agree with edesignuk. Also, some of the revisions just aren't worth the change. For instance going from dual 2.5 G5 to a dual 2.7 G5? Why bother?


Well, I'm 21-year old full-time student with 3 jobs, one of which is a video editor so I have to stay ahead of the pack as much as I can...especially in the Powerbook arena. I skipped the Dual 2.7 upgrade because I thought it was pathetic, but I usually upgrade every Powerbook rev. I rarely ever pay more than $100 for a new one after selling my old one btw.
 

Blue Velvet

Moderator emeritus
Jul 4, 2004
21,929
265
Ideally, when I buy a new Mac, I like to experience a massive jump in processing power... coming home from work on a dual 2.5 G5 to my dual 1.42 G4 doesn't yet quite feel a hugely massive step down for 90% of most tasks.

I've had this machine for about 3 years and it'll do for another 2-3, I guess. I'm not really into editing video or rendering 3D work so it'll be OK for print graphics for a while yet.
 
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