Thursday, December 09, 2004
Should you keep buying software for your end-of-life'd Mac?
On Monday I explained why I've decided not to put any more money into my aging Titanium G4 PowerBook when it comes to hardware add-ons or upgrades. I can admit now that it wasn't until I was about three-fourths of the way through writing the article that I realized that my thinking hadn't yet stretched to include software. So I made sure to strictly word the closing few paragraphs of the article to make it clear that I was only referring to hardware-related purchases, in order to buy some time to think about the software issue. But at least one reader saw right through it, and wrote in to pose the same question that I've been asking myself all week:
When you've set a timeframe for buying your next Mac and you've decided to cease investing any money into your old Mac in favor of setting that money aside for purchasing the new one, does that purchasing moratorium extend to software?
And the answers are yes, no, and I don't know -- in that order.
If something like Keynote 2.0 comes out before I buy my next Mac, something that I know I'll want and I know I'll put to good use immediately (especially if it's something I use for business purposes and not just for personal amusement), then I'll gobble it up in a heartbeat. I mean, why wait? Any new Mac I buy won't come with Keynote 2.0 pre-bundled, so I might as well go ahead and buy it when it comes out. When I get my new Mac, I'll install it there instead. So the answer, in this case, is yes.
If something like iLife 05 comes to market before I make my next computer purchase, I'll be tempted to want to get my hands on it right away, but two things will prevent me from doing so. The first is that it's a given that my new Mac will come with the latest version of iLife, so if I buy a retail copy, I'll pretty much be throwing it away when I buy my new Mac. The second thing is that, as much as I love the entire iLife suite, I just don't use iPhoto or iMovie that frequently. Although I have easy access to both a digital camera and a digital camcorder, I don't actually own either one. So unless some major multimedia project comes along, I'll likely stick with iLife 04. Don't get me wrong; if a new computer were not on the horizon, I'd be line to buy iLife 05 as soon as it comes out. But I really can't justify buying a new version of software I don't frequently use, when I know that it's going to get handed to me for free when I buy my next computer. So the answer, in this case, is no.
But then we come to the touchy subject of operating systems. Why is this one a bit tricky? Because, simply put, the operating system is the computer. It's what makes a Mac a Mac, and it's what makes a PC a joke. I've bought every new version of MacOS X the day it's been released, and each of them has been worth every penny. As solid as Jaguar was, the thought of using it now makes me want to hurl; Panther just blows it out of the water. So my first instinct would be that I'll snap up Tiger at the release party, even if it means that I'll end up effectively losing some money in the process.
But then I think back to the fact that, by virtue of having been an educator, I've never paid more than $69 for any MacOS X upgrade. That won't work this time. If I want Tiger for my current PowerBook, it'll run me nearly twice as much. And so I really have to think about whether it's worth blowing $129 just to run Tiger on my old Mac for the relatively brief period of time until I buy the new one.
Part of the answer comes down to the actual amount of time involved. The only official timeframe we have for Tiger's release date is "the first half of 2005," which could mean anything from January to June, and probably means March or April. If Tiger comes out in June and I'm planning on buying my new Mac in July, then no, I'm not going to blow $129 just for one month of usage. But if Tiger rolls out in February and I end up not buying my G5 PowerBook until next November, then it's a whole other issue.
And finally, what it comes down to is this: when I buy my new Mac laptop, will I be keeping the old one as a secondary machine? If the answer is yes, then I'll certainly want to have it running the same Tiger operating system as my new laptop, so I'll likely end up buying a license for Tiger for my old laptop. But if the answer is no, then that means that I'll be selling my old laptop on eBay, and I doubt I could get an extra $129 for it just because it has Tiger on it instead of Panther. Just like with a home or a car, you don't want to invest money into a computer that you don't think you can get back out of it when you go to sell it.
So I guess the answer to whether or not I'll be buying Tiger for my existing Mac laptop, is the same as the answer to whether or not I'll be selling my existing Mac laptop to help pay for the new one.
And that answer is, quite simply, that I don't know yet.
On Monday I explained why I've decided not to put any more money into my aging Titanium G4 PowerBook when it comes to hardware add-ons or upgrades. I can admit now that it wasn't until I was about three-fourths of the way through writing the article that I realized that my thinking hadn't yet stretched to include software. So I made sure to strictly word the closing few paragraphs of the article to make it clear that I was only referring to hardware-related purchases, in order to buy some time to think about the software issue. But at least one reader saw right through it, and wrote in to pose the same question that I've been asking myself all week:
When you've set a timeframe for buying your next Mac and you've decided to cease investing any money into your old Mac in favor of setting that money aside for purchasing the new one, does that purchasing moratorium extend to software?
And the answers are yes, no, and I don't know -- in that order.
If something like Keynote 2.0 comes out before I buy my next Mac, something that I know I'll want and I know I'll put to good use immediately (especially if it's something I use for business purposes and not just for personal amusement), then I'll gobble it up in a heartbeat. I mean, why wait? Any new Mac I buy won't come with Keynote 2.0 pre-bundled, so I might as well go ahead and buy it when it comes out. When I get my new Mac, I'll install it there instead. So the answer, in this case, is yes.
If something like iLife 05 comes to market before I make my next computer purchase, I'll be tempted to want to get my hands on it right away, but two things will prevent me from doing so. The first is that it's a given that my new Mac will come with the latest version of iLife, so if I buy a retail copy, I'll pretty much be throwing it away when I buy my new Mac. The second thing is that, as much as I love the entire iLife suite, I just don't use iPhoto or iMovie that frequently. Although I have easy access to both a digital camera and a digital camcorder, I don't actually own either one. So unless some major multimedia project comes along, I'll likely stick with iLife 04. Don't get me wrong; if a new computer were not on the horizon, I'd be line to buy iLife 05 as soon as it comes out. But I really can't justify buying a new version of software I don't frequently use, when I know that it's going to get handed to me for free when I buy my next computer. So the answer, in this case, is no.
But then we come to the touchy subject of operating systems. Why is this one a bit tricky? Because, simply put, the operating system is the computer. It's what makes a Mac a Mac, and it's what makes a PC a joke. I've bought every new version of MacOS X the day it's been released, and each of them has been worth every penny. As solid as Jaguar was, the thought of using it now makes me want to hurl; Panther just blows it out of the water. So my first instinct would be that I'll snap up Tiger at the release party, even if it means that I'll end up effectively losing some money in the process.
But then I think back to the fact that, by virtue of having been an educator, I've never paid more than $69 for any MacOS X upgrade. That won't work this time. If I want Tiger for my current PowerBook, it'll run me nearly twice as much. And so I really have to think about whether it's worth blowing $129 just to run Tiger on my old Mac for the relatively brief period of time until I buy the new one.
Part of the answer comes down to the actual amount of time involved. The only official timeframe we have for Tiger's release date is "the first half of 2005," which could mean anything from January to June, and probably means March or April. If Tiger comes out in June and I'm planning on buying my new Mac in July, then no, I'm not going to blow $129 just for one month of usage. But if Tiger rolls out in February and I end up not buying my G5 PowerBook until next November, then it's a whole other issue.
And finally, what it comes down to is this: when I buy my new Mac laptop, will I be keeping the old one as a secondary machine? If the answer is yes, then I'll certainly want to have it running the same Tiger operating system as my new laptop, so I'll likely end up buying a license for Tiger for my old laptop. But if the answer is no, then that means that I'll be selling my old laptop on eBay, and I doubt I could get an extra $129 for it just because it has Tiger on it instead of Panther. Just like with a home or a car, you don't want to invest money into a computer that you don't think you can get back out of it when you go to sell it.
So I guess the answer to whether or not I'll be buying Tiger for my existing Mac laptop, is the same as the answer to whether or not I'll be selling my existing Mac laptop to help pay for the new one.
And that answer is, quite simply, that I don't know yet.
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