Bought MBP last week - should I go for the exchange or the refund of price difference

[amytrip]

So, purchased a (previous generation) MBP last week (inopportune catastrophic failure and urgent need)...I knew the announcement of the new products was coming this week, and figure, hey, I'll just make sure I get that nice "within 14 days" refund when the previous gen price drops. Went in to claim it and discovered that they would also flat out trade my new purchase out for the new machines if I preferred, so devious bastids got me in danger of being suckered into letting them keep that approx. 500 dollar price difference, so....

Any opinions/good arguments for doing the exchange rather than taking the price difference refund? I can say that I'm not a gamer or big graphics user, and I THINK I don't care that I'd be behind the curve on the whole "new trackpad" thing. My impulse is to take the savings and run, but thought I'd see what others would do in my situation.

 

[Abstract]

If the money is important to you, I say take the $500.


If the money isn't important to you, then base the decision on whether you like the looks of the new machine more than your current MBP (last gen). Personally, if I got a new, last generation MBP with a matte screen, I wouldn't trade. It wouldn't be worth losing $500 over.

 

[Chupa Chupa]

So, purchased a (previous generation) MBP last week (inopportune catastrophic failure and urgent need)...I knew the announcement of the new products was coming this week, and figure, hey, I'll just make sure I get that nice "within 14 days" refund when the previous gen price drops. Went in to claim it and discovered that they would also flat out trade my new purchase out for the new machines if I preferred, so devious bastids got me in danger of being suckered into letting them keep that approx. 500 dollar price difference, so....

Any opinions/good arguments for doing the exchange rather than taking the price difference refund? I can say that I'm not a gamer or big graphics user, and I THINK I don't care that I'd be behind the curve on the whole "new trackpad" thing. My impulse is to take the savings and run, but thought I'd see what others would do in my situation.

It's your computer. You are the one that has to be happy. Go with your impulse and take the money. I bought the new one, but if I already had the "old" model I'd take the money. That is a significant chunk of change. Other than video, performance between the old and new are pretty much the same. Keep your machine for a year, sell it for $1200. $1200 plus $500 will almost get you a brand new MBP next fall when the Nehalem chips come out.

 

[bushbaby]

I would go with the exchange due to 1) the known faulty Nvidia 8600 chips in the previous MBPs and 2) the better resale value of the newer machine

http://www.appleinsider.com/article...ook_pros_affected_by_faulty_nvidia_chips.html

In July, Nvidia informed the Securities and Exchange Commission that it would incur a $150 million to $200 million charge to cover repair and replacement expenses resulting from "a weak die/packaging material set" in certain versions of its previous MCP and GPU products employed by various notebook vendors.

"The previous generation MCP and GPU products that are impacted were included in a number of notebook products that were shipped and sold in significant quantities," the chipmaker told the Commission. "Certain notebook configurations of these MCP and GPU products are failing in the field at higher than normal rates."

If you go to the forums for MBPs in MacRumors, you'll see a long thread about the Nvidia 8600.