Age of Domain vs Domainname

The relative importance of the age of domain vs. keywords in the domainname

[selomelo]

I need your insightful comments on a practical question.

A friend of mine has two websites: Old and New.

The old one was launched early this year, has a unique name, and a PR 5.
The new one was launched recently (now has just an index page), and has a keyword rich (3 keywords) name.

Now, he wants to permanently redirect his old site to new site to benefit from the keyword rich name of the new site.

What would you suggest? Should he switch to new domain with a 301 redirect? And how long it would take to inherit the PR5 of old site to new site. (Note: Inbound links to the old site are coming mostly from another site of my friend in another language, so updating backlinks would not be a problem.)

And in general, in the light of recent developments, what do you think about the relative weights of Age vs. DomainName in search indexes?

Thank you all in advance

[Section_8]

I'd keep it simple with the 301.

[Rollo]

I think keyword based domains are passé. It's alway better to create a strong brand than do keywords IMHO (unless you can do both at the same time). A three keyword domain I'd guess would be too long and not memorable. I'd stick with the old one. No sense risking dupe content issues just for a three keyword domian.

[aris1970]

If I were in your position, I would definitely keep the old site and simply ignore the new (keyword reach!) one.

Just my 2 cents

[hmpphf]

Old domains are worth their weight in gold.