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Buy Macbook Pro now or wait?
- Thread starter sugarray3000
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Uh, unless you count updating everything in the MBP, save the RAM and the case as nothing, there has been a pretty significant development in apple's line of notebooks.
As for OP, if you play the waiting game, you'll just be stuck waiting for one more new revision. Now if you set a time when you need the computer and you don't mind waiting until then, that's not a bad idea.
The last innovation from Apple in laptops was the Air, and really that is a failure that they have done nothing to correct.
In the PC lineup there is the Sony Z, the Toshiba Portege 705 13" 3lb model for $800 at Best Buy, and the 16" Dell Latitude Z.
The PC innovations above should have happened four years ago and been vastly improved upon. The Air should by now be the same weight, with a 15" screen and twice the battery life.
Six years ago laptops were not much different in weight and style than they are today.
Six years ago cell phones were so grenade like and heavy a carpenter could use them to hammer nails. Now some fit in the palm of your hand and have near laptop functionality.
The difference is stark. Laptop development ground to a halt while cell phone development has become feverish.
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The development of laptops as a whole has dropped off somewhat, PCs and Macs alike. Macs are still the best in terms of hardware and PCs can be suped up more, but I would certainly agree with you that at the present time cell phone development has taken center stage
True story, my cell phone now is bigger than the one I had six years ago. But I do see your point. There really have not been any huge revolutions on the laptop market, seeing that there really isn't new enough tech out there to make one. Internally, there are definitely improvements being made, but also not as rapidly as they had been a while ago
I say wait so that when the new update releases, you can ask the same question and wait some more for another update and then another. It will become a never ending cycle of exhilarating anticipation...
This way you'll NEVER be the guy who bought the an ipod the day before refresh, win win right?
This way you'll NEVER be the guy who bought the an ipod the day before refresh, win win right?
i also think about maybe buying a 13" MacBook Pro right now, but somehow i just have the feeling that apple is going to replace these ancient intel core 2 duo maybe this fall/winter ( i even just read that intel will stop the production of this CPUs this fall)
what do you think? Do you think they are going to build in a i3 oder i5 this year?
Yeah that's what im wondering also! I just wish i knew what apple has planned.
They have nothing new to give us in that area this year and the unibody form factor is nearing a redesign point... so I'd guess we get a new form factor and architecture at some point next year.
maybe a port swap or something.
But otherwise, unless there are some serious technical issues preventing them from using the current enclosure on future chipsets, one would expect it to stay a little while. Apple probably spent alot of cash on the design, and lets not forget the older Powerbook design was used for about 5 years (Janurary 2003 - October 2008) before the unibody design.
In 3 days IPS displays will make their way in a 300$-ish ipod touch, marketed also to kids.
Then there's the iPhone 4.
Then there are the ACDs (for a while now).
Then there are the iMac, even the lowest-end model (since 2009, before october 2009 only the high-end model).
Then there's the iPad, starting at 499$.
Don't the 2000$ MBPs deserve some IPS love too?
So that's my bet for the next big thing for MBPs, gorgeous IPS displays.
That's the only reason I'd be happy to wait a few months, that's the only reason I'd be pissed off for if I bought the old model.
Then there's the iPhone 4.
Then there are the ACDs (for a while now).
Then there are the iMac, even the lowest-end model (since 2009, before october 2009 only the high-end model).
Then there's the iPad, starting at 499$.
Don't the 2000$ MBPs deserve some IPS love too?
So that's my bet for the next big thing for MBPs, gorgeous IPS displays.
That's the only reason I'd be happy to wait a few months, that's the only reason I'd be pissed off for if I bought the old model.
A pittance compared to what they have spent designing pads, pods, and phones for morons.
Here's hoping that the Sony Z and Toshiba Portege (especially this one at $800) are followed by similar designs from other companies that make Apple's MBP line seem like massive paperweights.
If I might interject; the MacBook Pros actually may be scheduled for a refresh fairly soon, since by Apple's own reports they were delayed in releasing the current models by around two months. Also, Apple has dumped NVidia from their lineup (witness their entire desktop range besides the Mac Mini) for a good reason, and I think they intend to refresh their notebook lineup with a competent offering (unlike the garbage that is the GT330m in them right now). So, I'd wait, if not for the processor refresh, but for the certain GPU update. Also, if you look @ the MBP/powerbook major design refresh timeline, they're due for one (2006 - 2008 = non-unibody design; 2008 - 2010 = unibody). The iMacs are also a good indicator.
i smell an insider...
but seriously, i wonder if this might be true, given the smattering of problems with the 2010 iX mbps... i've been looking into buying one the past week and the freezing problem(s?) seem to be rather unpredictable (cf. http://discussions.apple.com/thread.jspa?threadID=2420192&start=1005&tstart=0)... especially considering the firmware update that was released on the 26th doesn't seem to solve the problem..
seems apple can't get a handle on it despite these issues being known since launch, yet they don't seem to be addressing it outright.. maybe they'll try to get a refresh with new gpu out asap? (the problems seem to related to gpu / gpu switching)
i'd like to pull the trigger on a 15" but its a little disconcerting..
This is why I am waiting until the next refresh next year in May or June. It is finally time for Apple to do another major redsign of the MBP's, and I am hoping that they will finally get rid of the CD drive, making the unit a lot lighter, or leaving room for more cooling/graphics/hard drive space. Also, better screens and perhaps a move to SSD as a standard would be amazing, but as I'm not a tech geek I don't know if SSD would be economically viable as a standard by that time next year or not.
At the price Apple is charging for the 15" and 17" there should be at least a 256GB SSD inside.
They need to lose more than a pound off each screen size without removing the DVD drive. Go ahead and get rid of it to save some additional weight, but that can't be the big weight reduction.
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