I currently have the platinum for Logos 5. Would anyone recommend upgrading to Portfolio? Is it worth the price?
Go to the upgrade page
[products] [upgrade]
Click [portfolio] [new to you]
Copy the list to a document
Look up every resource listing price and if you would useit
Add up the numbers
I did not find that it was worth it for me, [nor is Diamond]
Peace to you, Scott! Your question, of course, is quite subjective. For each Logos Bible Software User there would be many factors involved in making a God-Pleasing decision.
I've had L4 Portfolio since November 2009 and am totally pleased with it! When Logos 5 came out, I went for Portfolio immediately and am now in the midst of "rating" many new resources. I actually am quite happy with what I've received.
But, regarding the purpose of your posting ....... back to Square One, Do Not Pass Go! *smile*
This is a very subjective matter indeed! On my way to being a Pastor in the Lord's Church for just shy of 44 years, I had 9 years of study after high school, including a year of internship. We were blessed (in my formal studies) to have studied Latin, Greek, Hebrew, German and many, many, many other sujbects over those years, especially The Holy Bible. I have tried to keep up my scholarly studies since 1962 when I entered the Pastoral Ministry. Frankly, Portfolio suits me "to a 'T'"!!! YMMV! *smile*
Always Joy in the Lord!
Hi Scott,
To echo what David and Milford have already stated, the decision is very much a personal matter and depends upon your needs, interests and present means. The sheer number of books on offer can prove enticing, but quantity does not always equate to quality or relevance to your particular interests.
I would concur with David's suggestion to calculate the cost of the books you will gain if purchased separately. In addition, evaluate carefully and honestly which resources will add value to your library and then divide the total upgrade cost to the number of resources (which you consider to be of use to you). This will give you a more helpful 'cost per book' and may give you some indication of the worth of Portfolio in your particular circumstances.
I did take the decision to upgrade this year (from Platinum). The upgrade cost was personally affordable as I had bought a number of the books included in Portfolio separately (many on pre-publication). Of the remaining 800+ resources identified as 'new to me', a significant number were on my wish list. The cost of buying these 'wished for' resources considerably exceeded the cost to upgrade to Portfolio.
Blessings in your decision [:D]
Hi Scott. I agree with David and Milford concerning how subjective the decision is. If you do decide to upgrade to Portfolio, you will probably find greater savings in "returning" your L5 Platinum and then upgrading to L5 Portfolio from L4.
I would love to have Portfolio, but it's not feasible for me to do so. However, i do plan to bite the smaller bullet and upgrade from L4 Platinum to L5 Platinum.
If you do decide to upgrade to Portfolio, you will probably find great savings in "returning" your L5 Platinum and then upgrading to L5 Portfolio from L4.
Apologies, I missed that you had upgraded to L5 Platinum. Bill is quite right. Make sure that you contact Sales directly to ensure that the 'introductory discount' is applied appropriately, or else return Platinum and repurchase Portfolio.
This all depends on where you are now and where you are going in the Word of God. If upgrading is not an easy decision, I would say pray on it and wait on the LORD for the answer.
A little about myself. I currently have L5 Platinum (upgraded from L4 Platinum). For me, the entire Logos resources are for a better understanding of the Word. I am not a pastor, seminary student, professor, or even an ordained teacher of the Word; But what I have is a very strong desire for further understanding. I am no longer satisfied with the english translations (KJV, NIV, NASB, etc.) alone, and want to go right to the source of those translations myself (the original languages).
With that being said, just about any upgrade is not worth it if I look at it as a monetary value only. My thoughts are that any investment in understanding the Word of God is well worth it. This is why I say that it "It depends on where you are now and where you are going", and to pray on it.
My next upgrade will most likely be the Diamond, and that will be by the leading of the Lord.
Be Blessed!
Not unless there are resources in PF that you would be buying anyway. While a big library is tempting, having two thousand resources that you never use gets in the way of efficiently using the two hundred that you consult regularly.
When I started with L3, I thought the best approach was getting a top-end package up front. Looking back, that strategy worked pretty well then, because the top-end packages (I went with Platinum) weren't as big as they are now. If I were starting now, I'd get a mid-range package with the highest density of critical resources I could find, then buy individual resources to finish my library.
That's just my two euros...YMMV.
I would not and do not think it is worth the price. There is a caveat.
The caveat is that there would be in Portfolio more than enough resources you would already like to own that the price makes it a good deal. You alone can determine that by going through the list of what you'd receive in the upgrade.
For me, the lack of good commentaries in all the Logos base collections would steer me to something like Gold and then some of the Customize commentaries available when you upgrade. The large price differential between Platinum and Portfolio would get you some good commentaries. I'd also want the IVP Reference Collection if I did not have it, the Anchor-Yale Bible Dictionary and the ISBE, the New International Dictionaries of the OT/NT, and if you do original language studies the BDAG/HALOT package. AYBD is no longer on special but many others are.
If you buy Gold at $1,549.95 rather than Portfolio at $4,979.95 (base prices w/o upgrade) you have $3,430 to spend on resources you know you want to own rather than the ones Logos just chose to put in Portfolio. Obviously if you upgraded from L4 the difference is less and you may own some of the resources I mentioned above.
Gold $1549.95
NICOT/NICNT $1349.90
IVP Reference collection $99.95
BDAG/HALOT $248.95
ISBE $96.95
AYBD $269.95
New International Dictionary of the OT/NT $263.98
Total: $3779.68
Change from Portfolio: $1200.27
I currently have the platinum for Logos 5. Would anyone recommend upgrading to Portfolio? Is it worth the price? I would not and do not think it is worth the price. There is a caveat. The caveat is that there would be in Portfolio more than enough resources you would already like to own that the price makes it a good deal. You alone can determine that by going through the list of what you'd receive in the upgrade. For me, the lack of good commentaries in all the Logos base collections would steer me to something like Gold and then some of the Customize commentaries available when you upgrade. The large price differential between Platinum and Portfolio would get you some good commentaries. I'd also want the IVP Reference Collection if I did not have it, the Anchor-Yale Bible Dictionary and the ISBE, the New International Dictionaries of the OT/NT, and if you do original language studies the BDAG/HALOT package. AYBD is no longer on special but many others are. If you buy Gold at $1,549.95 rather than Portfolio at $4,979.95 (base prices w/o upgrade) you have $3,430 to spend on resources you know you want to own rather than the ones Logos just chose to put in Portfolio. Obviously if you upgraded from L4 the difference is less and you may own some of the resources I mentioned above. Gold $1549.95 NICOT/NICNT $1349.90 IVP Reference collection $99.95 BDAG/HALOT $248.95 ISBE $96.95 AYBD $269.95 New International Dictionary of the OT/NT $263.98 Total: $3779.68 Change from Portfolio: $1200.27
[Y]
I urge anyone reading this post to read Mark's Post Carefully! Thank you so very much, Mark, for an excellent post!
Yes, you are absolutely correct! *smile* I've been with Logos for almost 20 years now; and I've had opportunity to acquire the resources you have mentioned in your post. What you have mentioned is more "basic" than Portfolio in many respects; and I most certainly would NOT recommend Portfolio until one has acquired some of these great works (or their counterparts), at the minimum. Peace to all! and Always Joy in the Lord!
Hi Mark, you have done it very wisely.
Mark, did you review the theology books included with Portofolio?
No. That is one of the areas Portfolio and Platinum differ greatly. If that is what Scott feels a need for he needs to weigh the cost of those versus the cost of the upgrade, etc. No one can decide for another person what is best. That's one reason I am not a big fan of a collection like Portfolio. The cost per book may be low, but you may not end up with what you really need or want. It's Logos' decision what is in your library rather than your own.
But if anyone wants to go the route I've suggested there is still $1200 on the table before you hit the cost of Portfolio. Lots of options with that much money. And that collection I put together was just a suggestion.
There is a $3430 difference between Gold and Portfolio. You lose a few things not going with Platinum, but in my opinion nothing of great value in the commentary department which I think is quite weak in all the Logos packages right now. $3430 is a lot of money to work with.
I'm strongly considering it....but I already have L4 Portfolio, so the "leap" for me isn't that large, and I do end up getting some wishlist resources. My only gripe is that I also get much "fluff" (imo) which I will never use. I wish I could swap out certain items--I'd be happy to do it on a 2-1 value swap. I doubt that's possible. I will say that the additional resources from Diamond to Portfolio are not exactly "plums". I see that some are high-ticket items, but that's mainly because they are absurdly overpriced. Still, I wanted to pick up the JSNTS collections (although the NT one seems packed with tedious navel-gazing) at a reasonable price and this is probably my best chance to do so. Devotionals are a genre for which I have absolutely no use...but if I'm going to be saddled with some, the Daily Readings in Hebrew and Greek is one I might actually consider using. I really like that I'm picking up the two Hebrew grammars...I've wanted to get those for some time. The Exposition of Ephesians will be a nice addition.
All that said, unless you are into Hebrew and Greek and don't mind plodding through sometimes pedantic scholarly articles for an occasional nugget, I would drop down to Diamond. As a matter of fact, the more I consider it, I may just do that myself. Although I would like a few of the things I mentioned, overall the totality of Portfolio-only items leaves much to be desired. Logos could have done a much better job of making their "cream" package have some actual cream and not so much dregs. For instance, their so-called "Bible History and Culture" offerings could have included resources that actually have something to do with the Bible, instead of Writings from the Ancient World and the Near Eastern History Collection (blech!).
There are many similarly-priced packages, like the Magnes Press Hebrew Bible Collection and the Continuum Near Eastern History Collection (which is much more Bible oriented) which would have made me a lock for Portfolio. It's rather disappointing, actually. Maybe I won't be getting those Hebrew grammars after all. [:(]
Depends on personal value of resources in Portfolio plus budgetary constraints.
Personally choose an upgrade from Logos 4 Platinum to Logos 5 Portfolio since the delta increase over a Diamond upgrade was less than 10 % of the combined regular price for many items, which were on my wish list. Also noted the combined regular price was more than double the amount of my dynamic upgrade price. Thankful for several Theology resources in Portfolio upgrade.
Caveat: my order history includes 7 Logos upgrades and some library builders; would have been a bit less expensive if had fewer upgrades.
Many years ago learned an adage: a bargain is not a bargain if cannot use it.
Keep Smiling [:)]
The "new to you" tab is a very useful feature here to assess available "upgrade" packages.
a bargain is not a bargain if cannot use it.
I need to keep that in mind every time I think about upgrading. [;)]
