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Do I wait or not. Freakin Apple!

thejadedmonkey

thejadedmonkey

macrumors G3
Original poster
So I'm in a bit of a pickle. Last night around 3am, my laptop went screwy. I think it's the video card in it... but after a few minutes the screen goes nuts and it locks up. It does it in XP and Ubuntu, so it's not a software/driver issue. The screen even flickers in the BIOS, so... it's pretty much shot.

Right now I'm in an Engineering Program at University, but I plan on taking film classes 3rd quarter, and possibly taking a year off to try to figure out what I wanna do with my life... but for the next two weeks, I need a laptop.

I'm no gamer, but after 3+ years with an intel GMA855, I never wanna touch a crap intel gfx card again *cough 950 cough*. So I'm leaning towards a MacBook Pro, but that's a lot, plus $240 for Leopard and iLife '07, and maybe an upgrade of FCE whenever that's released. That would more than erase the student discount I can get.

I don't need the latest and greatest, but I'm opposed to buying right before I know a upgrade is coming out.

What would you guys do? I could either buy a macBook pro from a store, and eat the costs and no Santa Rosa Chipset which'll be out by the end of the month knowing my luck...get a MacBook and sell it on ebay when Leopard comes out, or I could do.........? (anyone wanna sell a Windows laptop on the cheep & local!)

I almost want to start a WTR [Want to Rent] thread in the market place and rent a laptop for a little, or buy one from the Apple store and sell it for a loss when 10.5 is out, but I don't wanna do that unless I know I'll have a buyer.
 
You sound like you're already set on buying an Apple laptop this weekend.

So do it.

I'm sure, even if there was an upgrade to the hardware soon (or I guess if Leopard came out, too), you could always find a buyer for whatever Mac you'd bought in the meantime. Just don't expect to make back every last cent. 😉
 
C2D 1GB MacBook Is Only $1099 Refurb

thejadedmonkey said:
Yeah.. but I'd have to get it by monday morning.. and with the EDU discount it's not worth refurb unless I got a model that is way under-specked from what I want. ie no DVD burner
Click to expand...
Refurbished MacBook 2.0GHz Intel Core 2 Duo - White
13.3-inch glossy widescreen display
1280 x 800 resolution
1GB memory (2x512MB SODIMMs)
80GB 5400-rpm Serial ATA hard drive
SuperDrive (DVD±RW/CD-RW)
Built-in iSight camera
Learn More
Price: $1,099

What's wrong with that?
 
devilot said:
You sound like you're already set on buying an Apple laptop this weekend.

So do it. I'm sure, even if there were an upgrade to the hardware soon (or I guess if Leopard came out, too), you could always find a buyer for whatever Mac you'd bought in the meantime. Just don't expect make make back every last cent. 😉
Click to expand...

So if I want to maximize the dough I can get back on a sale, is there anything I should do.. macbook/macbook pro or spec wise?
 
Multimedia said:
Refurbished MacBook 2.0GHz Intel Core 2 Duo
Price: $1,099

What's wrong with that?
Click to expand...
Please re-read what the OP said, he can get the higher education discount, therefore it's nearly the same price as the refurb. Plus, s/he is in a rush to obtain a laptop before Monday. You can't do that if you buy a refurb machine. 🙄

thejadedmonkey said:
So if I want to maximize the dough I can get back on a sale, is there anything I should do.. macbook/macbook pro or spec wise?
Click to expand...
I'm not too sure. I'd think that it might be simpler just to get a stock build of whatever you buy. And you should really consider whether or not you actually need a MBP or if it's just you wanting one. 😛 Especially since you keep stressing 'saving money.'
 
How about using the computer lab until the end of the month or until the one you want comes out?

If you don't feel you'll be satisfied with the current offering, i'd wait.
 
thejadedmonkey said:
I'm no gamer, but after 3+ years with an intel GMA855, I never wanna touch a crap intel gfx card again *cough 950 cough*. So I'm leaning towards a MacBook Pro, but that's a lot, plus $240 for Leopard and iLife '07, and maybe an upgrade of FCE whenever that's released. That would more than erase the student discount I can get.
Click to expand...

I suppose it depends where you are but at my university Leopard will sell for $10 to staff and students. iLife is about $50. FCE can be had on ebay for v.little too.

Also, I think that buying off of amazon is cheaper than a student discount unless you get one of the older cd 1.83 machines.
 
Here's the deal.

If you wait there is no telling how long you'll have to wait. There is no set dates for Leopard or upgraded MacBook Pro's. Not only that, but allot of the time when Apple announces new products they aren't shipped for another few week/months... like the AppleTV. You could be waiting months.

It sounds like you really need the machine right away, so just go buy it and stop worrying.
 
I also had laptop issues and wanted to get back to photography. With the unknown wait for leopard I went ahead and got a MBP.

The 950's are a far cray from the 855's that were in your old laptop, but neither hold a cnadle to the x3000 ( rumored for the new MacBooks ) or the radeon x1600 ( in the current MBP ).

Good luck and I'm sure you will be happy with whatever mac you end up getting.
 
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