Hey everyone. So I have never really posted in this forum before however I used to be an avid reader of MacRumors.com so i thought i'd really trust you guys with this. So here it goes and thank you guys for your help!
So in i believe may of 2007 I got a really expensive dell laptop for my confirmation. It had cost an upwards of like $2100 i think and i believe it was an Inspiron E1505 (Just a guess can't really remember, I don't even know if that is a real model haha). Well long story short it sucked and lasted less than a year. So in October of 2008 (Literally the day the Unibody came out) I ordered my first Mac, and by far was the best decision I have ever made. My parents spent a lot of money on the laptop ($2700 i believe) with the promise that it would last me through high school (which it did without a hitch). I became the biggest apple fanboy EVER. I had about 10 websites i'd check daily including mac rumors, Gizmodo, Engadget, BGR, Apple Insider... the list goes on haha.
So to get to my point, my current MBP is a 15" (really wish the 13" mbp was available at the time) original late 2008 Unibody. Looks brand new, not a scratch on it. I at all times have a keyboard cover, invisible shield on the inside components, hardshell case on the outside, and transport it in a neoprene sleeve. People often don't believe me that it is 4 years old haha. It has a 2.8 GHz Intel Core 2 Duo processor, 4 GB 1067 MHz DDR3 memory, NVIDIA GeForce 9400M 256 MB graphics and a 320GB HD (which is almost full). The laptop has been flawless until recently. It constantly shocks me, the enter/return key has stopped working (have to use on screen keyboard), the trackpad gets jammed down a couple times a week, Hinge is so loose that the screen falls backwards while sitting by itself on a table, and in the past week has shut off by itself in the middle of tasks (thought maybe battery was coming loose however every time it was plugged in as well and you can take the bat out while it's plugged in and it stays on). Also recently i've definitely noticed a decrease in performance.
Now that i'm in college and taking my computer everywhere smaller would be so much nicer. Since starting college last fall i have completely halted my apple fanboy antics and am completely out of the loop and it sucks. It's so bad i don't even know the product upgrade cycles anymore (For instance like when a MacBook Air refresh is imminent). I'm looking to possibly upgrade(?) to an eleven inch macbook air (fully upgraded) which would be ≈$1700. How would that compare to my current MBP? How would the performance compare to it? At this point i pretty much do nothing but use word processors, web browsing, watch hulu and such. Would this be a fit for me? or do i need something more powerful? Currently i have a 320GB HD that is almost full. About a year ago i had to transfer my iPhoto library to an external hard drive (which i'm fine with because i rarely look at the photos). I have 90 GB of Movies and 20GB of music. The only things i really need on my HD are music, applications (predominantly just a productivity suite, thinking about switching to the Apple equivalent) and documents which are just syllabuses and essays nothing too large.What does the 151 GB of "other" consist of on my HD? I'll admit, when i was younger i had a lot of games installed and would often download stuff from the internet. Do you think that 256GB will be enough? Or would i have to get a 13" MBP instead with the 750 GB HD (i'd upgrade to 8GB of ram too) which is also ≈$1700.
Preferably i'd love to get the macbook air for the weight, or lack there of. Also am i right that there is no difference between the fully upgraded 13" and 11" except screen size and card slot, no difference under the hood right? How will the 13" MBP and the 11" MBA compare to my current system (Minus the hardware problems i'm having. Also Battery life is important, there is a minimal about of power outlets in the Library haha.
The last question I'm going to ask is when do you think i should upgrade? Preferably i'd like to wait until right after they refresh the lineups but since i'm out of the loop i'm not really sure when that is. Any word on the rumor mill that might shed light on how long i'll have to wait? I'm a firm believer waiting until right after they refresh the line and fully upgrading the system so it doesn't become obsolete and outdated quickly. Preferably i'm looking for a machine that will get me through college (which my parents would greatly appreciate). On a side note, do any of you foresee a major refresh in the new future? (like within 2 years?). Lately they have pretty much been doing just performance and battery upgrades (which is totally fine). But (your opinion) do you guys see a major refresh (like the addition of the unibody housing in 2008) on the horizon such as like touch screen or retina display?
What do you guys think would work for me? Sorry this is so long but your help would be much appreciated and respected given that you guys are probably more in the know than me.
One last thing that i have never admitted that you guys might enjoy... in late 2009 when the rumors about apple releasing a device in between an iPhone and a Notebook (Now we know it is the iPad, but it wasn't announced until Jan of 2010) My friend and i on a rainy day (literally) were bored and decided to have fun. We turned an old voice recording picture frame into a double touch screen apple netbook prototype. It was actually picked up by many gadget websites including Engadget although they didn't take it seriously but a lot of people did! Haha it literally took us an hour to make and if you still google "Macbook Micro" today on google you can find hundreds of pictures and articles online so do it!
So in i believe may of 2007 I got a really expensive dell laptop for my confirmation. It had cost an upwards of like $2100 i think and i believe it was an Inspiron E1505 (Just a guess can't really remember, I don't even know if that is a real model haha). Well long story short it sucked and lasted less than a year. So in October of 2008 (Literally the day the Unibody came out) I ordered my first Mac, and by far was the best decision I have ever made. My parents spent a lot of money on the laptop ($2700 i believe) with the promise that it would last me through high school (which it did without a hitch). I became the biggest apple fanboy EVER. I had about 10 websites i'd check daily including mac rumors, Gizmodo, Engadget, BGR, Apple Insider... the list goes on haha.
So to get to my point, my current MBP is a 15" (really wish the 13" mbp was available at the time) original late 2008 Unibody. Looks brand new, not a scratch on it. I at all times have a keyboard cover, invisible shield on the inside components, hardshell case on the outside, and transport it in a neoprene sleeve. People often don't believe me that it is 4 years old haha. It has a 2.8 GHz Intel Core 2 Duo processor, 4 GB 1067 MHz DDR3 memory, NVIDIA GeForce 9400M 256 MB graphics and a 320GB HD (which is almost full). The laptop has been flawless until recently. It constantly shocks me, the enter/return key has stopped working (have to use on screen keyboard), the trackpad gets jammed down a couple times a week, Hinge is so loose that the screen falls backwards while sitting by itself on a table, and in the past week has shut off by itself in the middle of tasks (thought maybe battery was coming loose however every time it was plugged in as well and you can take the bat out while it's plugged in and it stays on). Also recently i've definitely noticed a decrease in performance.
Now that i'm in college and taking my computer everywhere smaller would be so much nicer. Since starting college last fall i have completely halted my apple fanboy antics and am completely out of the loop and it sucks. It's so bad i don't even know the product upgrade cycles anymore (For instance like when a MacBook Air refresh is imminent). I'm looking to possibly upgrade(?) to an eleven inch macbook air (fully upgraded) which would be ≈$1700. How would that compare to my current MBP? How would the performance compare to it? At this point i pretty much do nothing but use word processors, web browsing, watch hulu and such. Would this be a fit for me? or do i need something more powerful? Currently i have a 320GB HD that is almost full. About a year ago i had to transfer my iPhoto library to an external hard drive (which i'm fine with because i rarely look at the photos). I have 90 GB of Movies and 20GB of music. The only things i really need on my HD are music, applications (predominantly just a productivity suite, thinking about switching to the Apple equivalent) and documents which are just syllabuses and essays nothing too large.What does the 151 GB of "other" consist of on my HD? I'll admit, when i was younger i had a lot of games installed and would often download stuff from the internet. Do you think that 256GB will be enough? Or would i have to get a 13" MBP instead with the 750 GB HD (i'd upgrade to 8GB of ram too) which is also ≈$1700.
Preferably i'd love to get the macbook air for the weight, or lack there of. Also am i right that there is no difference between the fully upgraded 13" and 11" except screen size and card slot, no difference under the hood right? How will the 13" MBP and the 11" MBA compare to my current system (Minus the hardware problems i'm having. Also Battery life is important, there is a minimal about of power outlets in the Library haha.
The last question I'm going to ask is when do you think i should upgrade? Preferably i'd like to wait until right after they refresh the lineups but since i'm out of the loop i'm not really sure when that is. Any word on the rumor mill that might shed light on how long i'll have to wait? I'm a firm believer waiting until right after they refresh the line and fully upgrading the system so it doesn't become obsolete and outdated quickly. Preferably i'm looking for a machine that will get me through college (which my parents would greatly appreciate). On a side note, do any of you foresee a major refresh in the new future? (like within 2 years?). Lately they have pretty much been doing just performance and battery upgrades (which is totally fine). But (your opinion) do you guys see a major refresh (like the addition of the unibody housing in 2008) on the horizon such as like touch screen or retina display?
What do you guys think would work for me? Sorry this is so long but your help would be much appreciated and respected given that you guys are probably more in the know than me.
One last thing that i have never admitted that you guys might enjoy... in late 2009 when the rumors about apple releasing a device in between an iPhone and a Notebook (Now we know it is the iPad, but it wasn't announced until Jan of 2010) My friend and i on a rainy day (literally) were bored and decided to have fun. We turned an old voice recording picture frame into a double touch screen apple netbook prototype. It was actually picked up by many gadget websites including Engadget although they didn't take it seriously but a lot of people did! Haha it literally took us an hour to make and if you still google "Macbook Micro" today on google you can find hundreds of pictures and articles online so do it!
