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Buy now or wait?


  • Total voters
    8

JLEW700

macrumors 6502
Original poster
Aug 12, 2008
353
0
Should i buy the new Macbook (with the back to school special) or should I wait until October and buy the new Macbook pro?

Ill be heading back to school for my MBA at the end of September and will need a new computer for school work as well as personal use. Im looking at purchasing the upgraded macbook for $1,549 and taking advantage of the free beats headphones. If I wait until October I'll be looking to purchase the Pro at around that same price point.

Is it worth the wait for my specific needs? What should I do?

Please leave a reply with your reasoning if you decide to vote
 

wchigo

macrumors 6502
Apr 6, 2015
467
218
Can you provide more details of your specific needs? It's hard to make an educated suggestion if all we know is that you need it for school work but don't know what that works entails.

I haven't voted as of this post but I will say that if you need to do anything more than web browsing, using a word processor, emails and watching YouTube/Netflix/videos (such as photo/video editing or coding), then wait for the rMBP.
 

Samuelsan2001

macrumors 604
Oct 24, 2013
7,729
2,153
I would say that your assumption that there will be a new rMBP in october is your main problem, there is no indication that there will even be skylake processors for mobile units available then, and it is looking far more likely we'll get new rMBP's early next year.

As the previous poster says, unless we know what apps and workload you expect from your computer we can't give any advice on what would be better for you. I would say however that unless you are using heavy video editing apps or scientific number crunching programs the macbook is a remarkably capable machine for it's size and weight.
 
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JLEW700

macrumors 6502
Original poster
Aug 12, 2008
353
0
Can you provide more details of your specific needs? It's hard to make an educated suggestion if all we know is that you need it for school work but don't know what that works entails.

I haven't voted as of this post but I will say that if you need to do anything more than web browsing, using a word processor, emails and watching YouTube/Netflix/videos (such as photo/video editing or coding), then wait for the rMBP.


Hi. Definitely fair enough to ask for more info. Ill be working towards my MBA in finance. So mostly the office products; excel, word, ppt, etc. I dont plan on doing much video or photo editing nor do I plan on doing much coding. I have a fairly large itunes library and a bunch of pictures (but most the pictures are on a external HD). Let me know if you need any more specifics. Thanks
 

monokakata

macrumors 68020
May 8, 2008
2,063
605
Ithaca, NY
Don't forget that with the rMB you have only one port, and it's also your charging port. So, for example, if you need to be running on mains power but you also need to be connecting an external device, such as a drive, you cannot.

We have a rMB at the house here and although the single port isn't a serious issue, at times it has caused difficulty.

When thinking about your computing needs, then, don't fail to think about how often or how many devices you'll be wanting to connect.
 

wchigo

macrumors 6502
Apr 6, 2015
467
218
Hi. Definitely fair enough to ask for more info. Ill be working towards my MBA in finance. So mostly the office products; excel, word, ppt, etc. I dont plan on doing much video or photo editing nor do I plan on doing much coding. I have a fairly large itunes library and a bunch of pictures (but most the pictures are on a external HD). Let me know if you need any more specifics. Thanks
Considering that you were using the words "much" when referring to video/photo editing and coding, I will take that to mean you will do some on occasion but not frequently. In that regard, depending on how complex the coding will be, I think you should be fine with the rMB. I've heard that it can handle video editing at 1080p resolution fairly well, but can choke pretty badly if you try to do anything with 4K resolution.

monokakata does bring up a good point about the ports though. If you need power and wired connectivity at the same time, you will need an adapter. Some people don't mind this since they can just plug everything into an adapter and only connect/disconnect one plug every time instead of multiple (ie - power, external display, mouse, external hdd, etc) but they will be another $80 you'll have to spend.

Ultimately though, I've been very happy with my rMB and I don't think I'd ever go back to an Air or Pro based on my usage. A second port would be nice but not a necessity for me, and while I did buy the USB-C to USB adapter I haven't yet bought the other since I don't have a need for it yet. Maybe someday down the line.
 
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