I agree with you War, for the most part.  Apple does need to speed up their updates.  The 750gb Seagates have some pretty serious speed issues right now, especially on Macs.  I believe the reason for the wait on the c2o books is that Ati just announced their new protable gpus.  The MacBooks are not Pro models and they are for are for everyone else.  Hence 7200 is a bad idea....they suffer from some heat issues already.  I did use one today at school and I must say the new keyboard sux, in IMHO.  I would by the Pro just for that.  But, just because people want the Pro models doesnt mean they need them, as you said.  But many Mac users are pros.  Getting more than you need is good too, as no one wants a obsolete computer.  It causes problems other than damaged egos.

I know Apple has a certain thing about not being too cheap, but I thought the Intel transition was supposed to make Macs cheaper. The first batches all went up in price, the entry level MacBooks still cost more than the 12" iBook used to. The iMacs are probably best value right now, but even they are not the cheapest they've ever been.

Ummm. The Powerbooks are for the rich, the ibooks for the poor j/k.

I believe most people who buy powerbooks buy them just to be cooler then the ibook crowd, I have seen about half the folks with powerbooks not really use them as powerful tools but coffee shop paperweights.

Now don't get me wrong, if you can afford it then it's all good but I don't think anyone should diss you just because you have a slower computer. If you were really into the Apple logic then speed doesn't matter, it's all about creativity.

Now I know there are some hardcore, shake, motion, finalcut pro users out there but don't you think that they would be gearing it all up with a Quad G5 or some super fast Mac desktop rather then a barely adequate powerbook?

Powerbooks are cool but they aren't faster then desktops, so Teapots should stop calling the Kettle black, cause we are all in the same boat, relatively.

I still love the ibooks and the "vintage" machines but I don't do a whole lot of hardcore graphics or video, other then building a few simple websites a day and editting a short occasionally. I also have a powerbook but I have found for the most part that having a superduper laptop doesn't make you cool, it just breaks your bank.

Eventually I will get a new mactel but for now I would rather occasionally surf the web and write, maybe make a website or two with my acient G4 PB and my favorite G3 ibook.

I always believe that creativity has nothing to do with your CPU, it is the end user that creates.  :compute: