MacRumors Buyer's Guide

[MacRumors]

A new section has been created on MacRumors...

The MacRumors Buyer's Guide (http://buyersguide.macrumors.com/) which will be located at http://buyersguide.macrumors.com (http://buyersguide.macrumors.com/) and is also accessible from the tabs at the top of the main page.

This new section will provide a product summary for each Apple model and will try to provide buyers with some information as to when individual product cycles are coming to a close.

As with any system based on rumors and speculation, this information is provided only as a guideline.

[voicegy]

Wow, what a unique idea!

(as I sit here at midnight PST waiting for Apple to update their page regarding an unreliable iPod update rumor!)

This is very cool...keeping such info in one handy place...with pictures even! This board just keeps getting better and better.

[Stike]

Now this is a great new feature to stop the "Should I buy now?" threads...

Dang, I missed the first post... :o ;) :p

[backspinner]

not really unique, but nice initiative it is indeed!

i miss the classic imac, and the apple software as well

oh wait, the iapps are free so they don't need a buyers guide

[springscansing]

Wow, its definitely a cute concept. :-) Useful too!

Mm.. I cannot wait for my 970 laptop next year.. no I can't..

[yosoyjay]

I could have used this when I purchased my iBook for $2300. If I would have waited two weeks my iBook would have been faster and cost $1800. I'm sure many people will appreciate this nice tool...

[chewbaccapits]

More then original, this idea is very thoughtful...Macrumors is really a website on a class, all on its own...Great job guys.

[stefman]

Great! Wonderful!

[kishba]

agh, please make the text larger...

i'm blind ;)

[Daaavek]

This is an excellent idea! Great job!

[voyagerd]

Waiting for iPod.... do di do di do:p ;) :D

[theranch]

This is a good idea and good tool, nice work!

[OSeXy!]

forget watching the grass grow - seeing those red bars growing longer day by day in anticipation will be a great new form of meditation;)

fantastic idea, nicely executed!

[minimac]

Thumbs up from me too! Now where are the updated iPods you promised? ;)

Ok, I'll settle down now and try to be patient...
<drumming fingers on the table>

[itmdramaguy]

Very cool. I am waiting for iPods also.

[MacFan25]

This is a great idea!

Thanks for the great site arn! :D

[sparks9]

Great Great Great...

Very handy!

[ipiloot]

Very good idea indeed, but let's add now the software section also, caus this drives more-and-more importance in Apple.

[ipiloot]

I think, that 12, 15 and 17 inc Powerbooks have to be separated. The same applies to 15 and 17 inch iMacs.

[Mr. Anderson]

Originally posted by Macrumors

This new section will provide a product summary for each Apple model and will try to provide buyers with some information as to when individual product cycles are coming to a close.


Very cool, what will be nice in seeing in a year or so once more data is collected on release of new hardware is trending. Love it.

What about software? FCP, DVDPro, iApps, etc. It could also be useful.

D

[FlamDrag]

A very handy feature and nice to have it all in one place. I'll second the request for 12 / 15 /15 PB split out for now until we're sure they end up on the same cycle.

The major software updates would be cool too. I can't wait to see how this begins to take shape after more data is available.

MacRumors is one of two sites I take seriously (thinkSecret being the other) and appreciate all the hard work.

[dongmin]

Smart idea, well executed. I like how you've streamlined and packaged all the relevant info.

I'm amazed at how much this site has grown over the last few years. I remember way back when (two years and two months ago for me) when this was just another obscure mac rumors site trying to establish itself against the likes of ThinkSecret, MOSR, and AsTheAppleTurns. Now, I think it's safe to say, it's the best managed, most informative, and most active Mac junkie site out there. Nicely done indeed. Keep up the good work.

[jamilecrire]

This saves me the time of keeping up with this info myself.

Love to be lazy!

FlamDrag > Melissa is the way to spell her name.

[yzedf]

very cool.

thanks!

[rkilcoyne]

Every purchase I've made from Apple has been followed by price/feature regret. While I'm glad I made the switch, the typical problem of "I'm waiting until X comes out" is exacerbated by the fact that most hardware comes from a single source.

I have a friend who recently purchased a 22" Cinema Display for his 500MHz TiBook on the advice of Apple that it would work with the appropriate adapter. After waiting about 2 weeks for his adapter to show up he found the TiBook wouldn't support Millions of colors at full resolution. A few days later the price on the 22" drops significantly. He got about 5 days of use out of the monitor before the price was significantly dropped, yet CompUSA wouldn't accept the return.

Perhaps this feature could've helped him avoid this situation because I think we all know Apple certainly will not.

Rick

[jamilecrire]

Originally posted by rkilcoyne
Every purchase I've made from Apple has been followed by price/feature regret. While I'm glad I made the switch, the typical problem of "I'm waiting until X comes out" is exacerbated by the fact that most hardware comes from a single source.

I have a friend who recently purchased a 22" Cinema Display for his 500MHz TiBook on the advice of Apple that it would work with the appropriate adapter. After waiting about 2 weeks for his adapter to show up he found the TiBook wouldn't support Millions of colors at full resolution. A few days later the price on the 22" drops significantly. He got about 5 days of use out of the monitor before the price was significantly dropped, yet CompUSA wouldn't accept the return.

Perhaps this feature could've helped him avoid this situation because I think we all know Apple certainly will not.

Rick

X has been out for a long time, quit waiting.

[dricci]

Originally posted by ipiloot
I think, that 12, 15 and 17 inc Powerbooks have to be separated. The same applies to 15 and 17 inch iMacs.

Yeah, that's the first thing I thought when I saw it, too.

Anyway, great idea, but Apple is going to hate you even more now :p

[rkilcoyne]

Correction: X was used as a variable in my previous post. :)

[MrMacMan]

Very Nice, very thought throught.

Good job. :D

[zed]

Originally posted by rkilcoyne
Every purchase I've made from Apple has been followed by price/feature regret. While I'm glad I made the switch, the typical problem of "I'm waiting until X comes out" is exacerbated by the fact that most hardware comes from a single source.

I have a friend who recently purchased a 22" Cinema Display for his 500MHz TiBook on the advice of Apple that it would work with the appropriate adapter. After waiting about 2 weeks for his adapter to show up he found the TiBook wouldn't support Millions of colors at full resolution. A few days later the price on the 22" drops significantly. He got about 5 days of use out of the monitor before the price was significantly dropped, yet CompUSA wouldn't accept the return.

Perhaps this feature could've helped him avoid this situation because I think we all know Apple certainly will not.

Rick

You should always research a new item to see how long it has been on the market. If it has been out for a long time it is safe to anticipate an update. This goes for anything, not just Apple.

I have been reading these boards for a long time, and there is one thing that I have noticed. If Apple decided to start taking back recently purchased items whenever they put out an update; they would quickly go out of business. I have never seen people fuss so much about Apple making progress and updating their product lines. :eek:

[howard]

fabulous idea, but please make the text bigger, i couldn't see it without zooming in

[pseudobrit]

The bar graphs are okay, but for an easier to decipher "at-a-glance" graphic, I would suggest a timeline at the bottom of each product's graph with alternating colors between updates and a separate color for the current time.

This way you could also see the introduction, and everything would be in better perspective. Perhaps even include clickable update links to apple-history.com for each model so people could see the changes, or use your own with just the changes noted; the info is easily obtainable from MacTracker's program.

Something like this: (only with actual graphics): w= snow g=graphite b=blue

Intro:
wwwwwwwwgggggggggwwwwwwwgggggbbbb...
7/00.............9/01.........4/02..........1/03...???

[etoiles]

whow, this is getting closer to stock trading: buy-buy-buy-SELL !! :D

I like it a lot. Now all you need to add a 'buy now' link next to each item and your sponsors will make a fortune... BT2M ? ;)

[OSeXy!]

What about a vertical, dotted line which runs through the bars which shows the current overall average apple release time (this would change slightly with each new release). Then you could see how far over or under the line any product is, and which tend to be updated more quickly than average, which more slowly.

[Timothy]

This is a great feature, Arn!

As much as I love Apple, I am dismayed that within their market, they have no competition. This is what makes the rumor sites vital to our community. We need the ability to get information about the future of the Mac world.

I applaud this effort; your site was already first on my list, and now it is that much more important to me.

Brilliant.

[Dont Hurt Me]

Very nice work ,simple and to the point. That a boy ARN!

[bretm]

Originally posted by howard
fabulous idea, but please make the text bigger, i couldn't see it without zooming in

Perhaps you folks that can't read small text should increase your standard point size in your browser preferences. Given, it's a size smaller than the main body of the site, but if you can't see or read one size smaller then you need to make some sort of adjustment to your eyes, your monitor rez (perhpas you're running a 20" at 2000x1500 or some cray rez), or you simply need to press the "text larger" button in IE or whatever browser you're using. If you're using an older version of netscape, all bets are off. :)

[praetorian_x]

Excellent feature.

The good thing about this is now you have somewhere you can point people who aren't mac rumor junkies to to do some basic research on a new Apple purchase. My father, for example, could give a rats about all the rumors flying around, but he would appreciate some straightforward advice on a new purchase, and the likelyhood of an update.

I also think Apple probably hates to see this, but, really, they have no one to blame but themselves. It is a rational consumer reaction to the monopolist position Apple holds (in Apple hardware). (Please, no flames about apple not being a monopoly. It clearly is. That does not mean they are evil, it just means that thier economic model is different than a company which has to deal with direct-substitute competitors. See intel/dell road maps.)

Cheers,
prat

[evilfunkgenius]

This is just perfect. Exactly what was needed. I was actually going to try and look up all the same information via mactracker and set up my own little database of when thigns were updated to try and predict when new system updates were going to transpire, but now I don't have to.

[eric_n_dfw]

Originally posted by praetorian_x
I also think Apple probably hates to see this, but, really, they have no one to blame but themselves. It is a rational consumer reaction to the monopolist position Apple holds (in Apple hardware). (Please, no flames about apple not being a monopoly. It clearly is. That does not mean they are evil, it just means that thier economic model is different than a company which has to deal with direct-substitute competitors. See intel/dell road maps.)
So how, in your opinion, should Apple fix the problem?

[scem0]

you work too hard arn.

[macfreek57]

that's a great idea
i was actually thinking about where i could get something like this the other day
keep it up arn

[Jaykay]

exellent, i know ill be using it.

[cr2sh]

Its really is great guys! I remember asking for this a few months ago and this is absolutely what I wanted. The visulatization is perfect!

[DavPeanut]

Originally posted by springscansing
Wow, its definitely a cute concept. :-)
Cute????????????:confused: :confused: :confused: :confused: :confused:

[-hh]

Originally posted by OSeXy!
What about a vertical, dotted line which runs through the bars which shows the current overall average apple release time (this would change slightly with each new release). Then you could see how far over or under the line any product is, and which tend to be updated more quickly than average, which more slowly.

I think that this vertical line is a great idea ... what might make it slightly better would to also add a generic "Months" scale along the bottom (0-1-2-3-4-5-6-etc).

http://forums.macrumors.com/attachment.php?s=&postid=255688

For example, looking at the above looks like ~5 months is the average, and this product had previously been taking ~7 months...but it takes a minute of mental calculations to figure that out. Its easy enough to calcuate this.

Of course, the other question is what do we base the average value on? It will vary, especially if this expands from hardware into software.



-hh

[Timothy]

Hey Arn...

Here's a suggestion...

On the "bars" that indicate length of time since last update, where you have the most recent colored magenta, how about color coding that bar? For example...

Red bar=don't buy
Yellow bar=neutral
Green bar=buy

Just a thought...

[Darby]

This buyer sure appreciates the guide! :) :) :)

At a glance, it is convenient and very helpful.

Thank-you,
Darby

[arn]

Originally posted by Timothy
Hey Arn...

Here's a suggestion...

On the "bars" that indicate length of time since last update, where you have the most recent colored magenta, how about color coding that bar? For example...

Red bar=don't buy
Yellow bar=neutral
Green bar=buy

Just a thought...

thanks for the suggestions everyone... I've made some minor improvements to it in the last day or two.

I was considering having the "current" bar change color as it grows depending on the recs.

Will work on it.

As for the vertical line... if anyone has advice on how to accomplish that html-wise, I'm open to it.

arn