Sidebar Sidebar
Become a MacRumors Supporter for $50/year with no ads, ability to filter front page stories, and private forums.

bad time to buy macbook pro?

zer0tails

zer0tails

macrumors 65816
Original poster
Mar 23, 2008
1,224
0
Canada
Hi everyone, apologies if this has been asked before! But was hoping you wise ones can dispense some good old fashioned advice ;)

I have tentatively decided to sell my previous Macbook pro, with the intention to upgrade to the 2.5 penryn MBP with the 512 vram and 6mb l2 cache, and 7200 rpm. I need the extra L2 cache and video memory.

However, I have 2 uncertainties:

1. Lately on the forum there has been much chatter about the nvidia card in the MBP being faulty and thus rendering it "untouchable" because there is no point spending 2500 dollars on something that is going to fail in a year.

2. According to the buyer's guide, the penryn macbook pro is going to be updated in 60 days.

What do i do then? Keep current MBP? Ok to upgrade? Wait for Montevina? Would the penryn mbps be more stable? I would prefer something stable and mature. So in that case that would be the penryn, but what then about the nvidia video card???:confused:

your thoughts and 2 cents are much appreciated.
 
I would have preferred to see what Montevina brought to the table, but I needed a new laptop ASAP so I recently bought a MBP.

Absolutely no regrets. Fabulous machine. :cool:
 
The truth is, there is much speculation as to when a new MBP would be released, but no one knows for sure. If it was me, I'd wait to see how Apple and NVIDIA are going to deal with the GPU issue before I buy.

I just got a new MBP a few months ago and I'm very happy with it. With Apple's warranty and AppleCare, I'm sure I'll be OK with the GPU issue. I've had absolutely zero problems with mine.

By the way, the current MBPs are all Penryn processors, as will the new Montevina platforms, most likely.
 
just to clarify, I am not clamoring for a new redesign, revamped macbook pro. I am very happy with the current design as it is both mature and stable. I think my biggest concern I should have underlined was the GPU Nvidia issue: <-- what confuses me is that I have not heard of that many problems with the Penryn MBP GPU, yet people are saying with certainty that it is inevitably going to fail.
 
I'm in the same position right now, but maybe with a slight urgency -- I need it for college (which starts in late August).

This whole nVidia card thing is the one potential problem that is keeping me from buying one right now.
 
I got mine couple of weeks ago and have no regrets. I've already rendered and exported hours of HD video via FCE and I am having no problems with the computer so far.
From what I heard when people are having problems with their GPUs Apple seemed to step up and fix the problem, so even if my computer decides to crap out on me I think I'll be fine (honestly the kind of support is legendary compared to my old computer's support...Dell).

I'm not worrying, if you need it now buy it and enjoy it, if not a few weeks/months wouldn't hurt right?
 
If you need a computer right now, buy it now; you want to say money, buy a refurbished unit. If you are unsure then wait.
 
Everyone who says its inevitably going to fail is an idiot first of all. nVidia had problems in a very specific chipset, on the G80 and G84 architecture. The Macbook Pro does have a G84 chipset in it, however it uses a modified version and has its own drivers. The issue is not with the card. The issue was with drivers that would not turn the GPUs fans on quickly enough. Anyways, to sum up, there is nothing to worry about. There won't be problems with your GPU if you buy it now.
 
I placed an order for a new macbook pro today at my college and this is what I figure. If it has a bum GPU, apple will replace it once I get it. If the GPU is fine, then I'm not going to worry about it and I've got a great laptop! If the GPU dies in 6 months, then apple will probably upgrade me to the montevidia one and I'll get a free upgrade.
 
kingcrowing said:
I placed an order for a new macbook pro today at my college and this is what I figure. If it has a bum GPU, apple will replace it once I get it. If the GPU is fine, then I'm not going to worry about it and I've got a great laptop! If the GPU dies in 6 months, then apple will probably upgrade me to the montevidia one and I'll get a free upgrade.
Click to expand...

Your GPU won't die. Everyone is being stupid when theyre all worried about a small chipset problen nVidia had. Notice how there were NO COMPLAINTS, ZILCH, 0, NONE before nVidia announced it. The day nVidia announces the problem everyone is freaking out. Rofl.


Also good choice, you'll like this for college =).
 
zer0tails said:
I think my biggest concern I should have underlined was the GPU Nvidia issue: <-- what confuses me is that I have not heard of that many problems with the Penryn MBP GPU, yet people are saying with certainty that it is inevitably going to fail.
Click to expand...

To listen to the pundits, every nVidia GeForce FX5700 in every HP Pavillion zd7000 was guaranteed to fail. Mine went three years, day in and day out, doing very stressful work without a single hiccup. I knew scores of other people whose machines also lasted years without issue.

If it dies, it dies. That is why I have three years of AppleCare.
 
Order you new MBP 10 days before you start school with the $18 shipping upcharge.

Then you will have the best available at the time. If you need a comp now, buy now.

The 2.5 penryn's are sufficiently speedy that you can do what you need to with ease. The big wait at the moment is not for speed boosts, but for better/Cocoa versions of Mac Office. Mac office is a surprising resource hog (ok not really surprising from MS).
 
shmutheprophet said:
Everyone who says its inevitably going to fail is an idiot first of all. nVidia had problems in a very specific chipset, on the G80 and G84 architecture. The Macbook Pro does have a G84 chipset in it, however it uses a modified version and has its own drivers. The issue is not with the card. The issue was with drivers that would not turn the GPUs fans on quickly enough. Anyways, to sum up, there is nothing to worry about. There won't be problems with your GPU if you buy it now.
Click to expand...

I'd beg to differ. The issue was also with substandard silicon that was used to fabricate these chips. So even if a new driver update was released, the fans would run at an unacceptable speed and the chip would still eventually die.
 
I wish I had as much spare time to worry about useless garbage as some of these 'sky is falling' guys =/

if it is defective and if it does break, do you really think apple won't 'step up' and fix it?

I'm on my 3rd mbp, something goes wrong they shrug and you get a new one.
 
zer0tails said:
Hi everyone, apologies if this has been asked before! But was hoping you wise ones can dispense some good old fashioned advice ;)

I have tentatively decided to sell my previous Macbook pro, with the intention to upgrade to the 2.5 penryn MBP with the 512 vram and 6mb l2 cache, and 7200 rpm. I need the extra L2 cache and video memory.

However, I have 2 uncertainties:

1. Lately on the forum there has been much chatter about the nvidia card in the MBP being faulty and thus rendering it "untouchable" because there is no point spending 2500 dollars on something that is going to fail in a year.

2. According to the buyer's guide, the penryn macbook pro is going to be updated in 60 days.

What do i do then? Keep current MBP? Ok to upgrade? Wait for Montevina? Would the penryn mbps be more stable? I would prefer something stable and mature. So in that case that would be the penryn, but what then about the nvidia video card???:confused:

your thoughts and 2 cents are much appreciated.
Click to expand...

I certainly hope not! However my MBP has been rock solid so far!
 
im in the same postion. i want a MBP for college but wanna make sure its 100% good. would love for it to be updated before school starts but idont think thats gonna happen :(
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Register on MacRumors! This sidebar will go away, and you'll see fewer ads.
Top Bottom
Back