computer advice?

[arguchik]

hey all you mac people out there, i'm trying to decide on a course of action with regard to my laptop. here's its particulars:


model: 12" powerbook w/ aluminum case, 3+ years old
under the hood:
867 MHz PowerPC G4
20G hard drive
640 MB DDR SDRAM (i had extra installed a couple of years ago...it only came with 128 MB, so i must have had 512 MB installed.)
DVD read only, CD R/W
(i'm happy to include more info if requested.)

recently i've been having some trouble with the machine...some minor stuff, a couple of major things. here's the litany:

--the battery is clearly nearing the end of its life--i get an hour's life or less out of a full charge and yes, that's with the screen brightness turned down to about half. a new battery would cost around $120, plus the guy at the computer store told me they are WAY backordered on replacement batteries because of the huge number of warranty replacements apple has been doing lately. (alas, my battery was not part of the recall--i have checked 3 or 4 times.)

--it seems to be slowing down a lot, somewhat inexplicably. is this a memory issue? how much more memory would i want/need to install to make it run faster? might it be something else? an aging CPU?

--a couple of the keys aren't working properly, most notably the space bar, which is super annoying and problematic given that i'm in the process of writing a dissertation. probably an easy fix, but i'm willing to bet it would cost $100 or so. i'm pretty sure the space bar needs to be replaced--it acts like one of its brackets is cracked or broken.

--i'm running OS X.4.8 (panther with all updates, the most recent installed about an hour ago). tiger is out now, and it would probably make sense to upgrade at some point. full retail for tiger is $129 for an individual; i would also have to buy some extra software--either apple's iWork or the new office for mac. i just checked the mac website, and they're already talking about releasing leopard...when's that coming out? the main reason i like to upgrade my OS is because once they really get going with the newly released OS, they stop writing security upgrades for the previous OS. annoying...

--aesthetically speaking...the aluminum housing is all bent up in a couple of places. i have never been happy with it, and i think it's a *huge* mistake for them to use such a malleable material for a laptop housing. i love the way it looks (industrial yet clean), but it bends out of shape if you look at it cross-eyed.

THE UPSHOT: so my bottom line question is: does it make sense to basically recondition this computer, to bring it up to snuff and speed? or should i start thinking about replacing it, perhaps with one of the new macbooks? (i think the macbook pro would be overkill for me, plus i don't want a laptop as large as 15".)

here's what i could get:
2.0 GHz Intel Core 2 Duo
512 MB (2 x 256) or 1 GB (2 x 512) RAM
80 GB hard drive or 120 GB hard drive
6x DL super drive

the lower end specs refer to the white macbook, which retails for $1299; the higher end specs refer to the black macbook, which retails for $1499. i could get a slightly better price if i weren't on leave from UW, $1199 and $1399 respectively. they're also having a sale right now--again, only for registered students, faculty, and staff of UW--such that i could get the black macbook for $999...if i were enrolled...which, alas, i'm not, and not planning to be any time soon. again, i can include more specs if requested, or you can see for yourself by surfing over to the apple store: http://store.apple.com

advice? what would jesus do?

Comments

[glaucon.livejournal.com]

no thoughts on what could be up with your current one, but one thought on the purchase option. that being that you might be able to get one at the UW discounted price if you have a friend buy it for you. they don't have to sign a document stating "I am definitely not buying this on behalf of someone else, really really really" do they?

[arguchik.livejournal.com]

no, that would work, as long as they don't plan to buy a new machine within the year. the UW bookstore people keep track of how often you buy equipment...and i actually think you do have to sign something saying that you're buying the equipment for your own personal use.