Back2School Promo OR wait till end of year?

[velor111]

Anyone have an advice on whether the back to school promotion (free iPod touch) is worth the deal at this point?
Read that new chips are coming out, meaning the MBP's are likely to be renovated. Any guesses as to whether the MBP's are likely to change by the end of the year?

 

[miles01110]

The next upgrade is most likely going to be the Arrandale processors, which will more than likely be phased in sometime early next year.

 

[Ricanlegend]

Buy now , the next update will be around feburary

 

[thegoldenmackid]

The MacBook Pro's just (all of them) got updated. In fact the the entire notebook line has seen updates in the past month, including the white MacBook. Buy now get your iPod and be happy. Or in February of next year you will be wondering if you should wait until WWDC 2010.

 

[mrj205]

Anyone have an advice on whether the back to school promotion (free iPod touch) is worth the deal at this point?
Read that new chips are coming out, meaning the MBP's are likely to be renovated. Any guesses as to whether the MBP's are likely to change by the end of the year?

Definitely buy now. You get the 8GB iPod Touch, and a printer. All together it's $329 of rebates. I highly doubt the MacBook Pro will be updated by the end of the year with new chips. We may see a spec bump, but that's probably it. Don't burden yourself with the "should I wait" game, since something new will always be in the near future. Buy your MBP, get the "free" iPod and printer, and enjoy.

 

[LERsince1991]

Seriously buy them now and get the iPod too and your 14% student discount

 

[Unprocessed1]

Anyone have an advice on whether the back to school promotion (free iPod touch) is worth the deal at this point?
Read that new chips are coming out, meaning the MBP's are likely to be renovated. Any guesses as to whether the MBP's are likely to change by the end of the year?

Arrandale isn't going to be a drastic and RADICAL change, most users won't even be able to tell the difference. No point in waiting 8 or more months for another update.

 

[shollingsw3]

Another vote for buy now and get the iPod touch!

 

[yoyomaster]

Another vote for buy now and get the iPod touch!

+1 and free printer! you can sell them if you don't want them.

 

[Eric S.]

Arrandale isn't going to be a drastic and RADICAL change, most users won't even be able to tell the difference.

That depends on how you define drastic and radical. I agree that most users will notice software UI and/or I/O port differences more, but still as processors go Arrandale is significantly different than Penryn. Additionally we don't know what changes the chipset will bring, but hopefully it will include a more powerful graphics processor.

No point in waiting 8 or more months for another update.

Depends on your situation. It makes a lot of sense to upgrade a Macbook that's a couple of years old or so. For someone like me, with a recent Macbook that isn't much different spec-wise from the new ones, it's worth waiting for the Nehalems.

 

[marioman38]

+1 and free printer! you can sell them if you don't want them.

+2

 

[iMacmatician]

I agree with buy now.

You'll get a MacBook Pro and an iPod touch now.

If you wait, you'll be waiting 4-5 months for an update that may or may not happen (but may be significant). Plus you'll lose out on the iPod touch.

That depends on how you define drastic and radical. I agree that most users will notice software UI and/or I/O port differences more, but still as processors go Arrandale is significantly different than Penryn. Additionally we don't know what changes the chipset will bring, but hopefully it will include a more powerful graphics processor.

Arrandale performance is about 1.1x Penryn's in SuperPi. The Arrandale integrated GPU is 2x the performance of the current Intel integrated GPU, so I've heard.

 

[cni2i]

Definitely buy now. You get the 8GB iPod Touch, and a printer. All together it's $329 of rebates. I highly doubt the MacBook Pro will be updated by the end of the year with new chips. We may see a spec bump, but that's probably it. Don't burden yourself with the "should I wait" game, since something new will always be in the near future. Buy your MBP, get the "free" iPod and printer, and enjoy.

I agree. Something new always comes out.

 

[cni2i]

Definitely buy now. You get the 8GB iPod Touch, and a printer. All together it's $329 of rebates. I highly doubt the MacBook Pro will be updated by the end of the year with new chips. We may see a spec bump, but that's probably it. Don't burden yourself with the "should I wait" game, since something new will always be in the near future. Buy your MBP, get the "free" iPod and printer, and enjoy.

I didn't know that you get a free printer also?!?! I thought it was just the iPod touch?

I will have to check online again. Can anyone else confirm this. Thanks.

 

[intensee]

the buying guide says that the ipod touch is near the end of its cycle and that a new update should be coming soon. does anyone know exactly when or what the update would consist of? should i just get the old ipod touch for free or risk the wait to see if the new one comes out before the back2school promotion ends?

 

[dukebound85]

the buying guide says that the ipod touch is near the end of its cycle and that a new update should be coming soon. does anyone know exactly when or what the update would consist of? should i just get the old ipod touch for free or risk the wait to see if the new one comes out before the back2school promotion ends?

usually, the promotions are only for the current model. any update during the promotion in the past had neen excluded in the back to school promo

 

[Tallest Skil]

I didn't know that you get a free printer also?!?! I thought it was just the iPod touch?

I will have to check online again. Can anyone else confirm this. Thanks.

Uh, that's year-round, has nothing to do with the education discount, and is good up to $100.

 

[Germwise]

DON'T BUY NOW.

I think in 2015 they will release the virtual macbook that is a chip implanted in your eye.

OMG, anyone who buys now is a sucker.


Seriously, just buy, they just got updated. no sense in waiting for a possible update 7+months up the road.


and yes you get a free printer. buy the mp480 for 99.95 and get a 100 dollar rebate. so essentially free.

I just bought a 13" 2.26Ghz mbp and it broke down like this.

1099 for the computer, plus free ipod touch plus free printer. (tax got offset by my cash back from my credit card after rebates) Sold the printer for 50 and the ipod to my friend for 150. so 200 dollars off price of computer means 899.

Great deal if you ask me.

 

[intensee]

usually, the promotions are only for the current model. any update during the promotion in the past had neen excluded in the back to school promo

but the new macbook pros should still work with the promotion right?

 

[Eric S.]

the buying guide says that the ipod touch is near the end of its cycle and that a new update should be coming soon. does anyone know exactly when or what the update would consist of?

You can peruse this thread:
https://forums.macrumors.com/threads/596359/

 

[LERsince1991]

but the new macbook pros should still work with the promotion right?

I would have thought so... 95% certain

 

[thegoldenmackid]

Why would the promotion not extend to Apple's new notebooks?

 

[dukebound85]

but the new macbook pros should still work with the promotion right?

i think so. i was talking about ipod models and what they have doen in the past. they are excluded as they want to clear the inventory of the older ipods. just check the terms in the promotion though

 

[cni2i]

DON'T BUY NOW.

I think in 2015 they will release the virtual macbook that is a chip implanted in your eye.

OMG, anyone who buys now is a sucker.


Seriously, just buy, they just got updated. no sense in waiting for a possible update 7+months up the road.


and yes you get a free printer. buy the mp480 for 99.95 and get a 100 dollar rebate. so essentially free.

I just bought a 13" 2.26Ghz mbp and it broke down like this.

1099 for the computer, plus free ipod touch plus free printer. (tax got offset by my cash back from my credit card after rebates) Sold the printer for 50 and the ipod to my friend for 150. so 200 dollars off price of computer means 899.

Great deal if you ask me.

Thank you.

 

[cu2010]

I suggest you wait two more weeks.

I say this, because I just contacted the Apple higher edu account manager in NYC and was told that "with the release of the new products on Monday, the extra discounts need to be posted for the new products. It could take a week or two."

Right now I can still get a free iPod touch, a free printer (save up to $100), save $15 on Microsoft Office and $100 on AppleCare, on top of $50-200 discounts on computers.

Sorry, I've no idea if it varies from state to state.
Actually, I was going to buy a new laptop from Apple store in NH for the obvious reason, but the manager told me to order on-line... Why?