first post for me...

i have a limited budget. i can:-

1. buy a new pb 12" 1.33 ghz and a lesser sound card (fw 410 or similar)

or

2. buy an older pb 12" 1ghz and a better sound card (motu 828 or similar)

which would you recommend?

cheers...

Hmmm, I would probably go with the latter, but I may be biased since I have a 1Ghz w/ Motu 828 setup. It's plenty of power. But I do also have some additional hardware which is very helpful, like an external firewire drive and additional RAM. That'll add a couple hundred to your cost if you opt for those too.

Don't know where you're looking for an 828, but I got mine off of eBay in perfect condition real cheap!