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Buy now or wait a few months? (sorry...)

C

Chairman.Jobbie

macrumors 6502a
Original poster
Sep 9, 2011
501
200
Sorry. I havent kept up to date with rumours and whatnot. I know these kind of threads are sometimess frowned upon. :rolleyes:

I know nobody but apple knows whats coming soon but i thought id ask the question to get a quick heads things i should consider.

I want to buy a 13" macbook pro to replace my 2011 13" macbook air.

I don't need a new macbook pro right now but id like one for the retina display. After using my brothers laptop briefly it seems worth it + i get 9 odd hours battery that i don't get right now + its faster for even general web browsing.

So if there is nothing major planned for the macbook pro range i can get it now...in the next 2 weeks. Otherwise im prepared to wait 3 odd months if there is something likely worth waiting for in the pipeline.

All i have heard rumoured is a 12" macbook air with retina...?

Thanks in advance.
 
As of now nothing concrete possibly if you wish to see if any small upgrades may happen then wait till end march or possibly june/july but i guess there wouldn't be much upgrades other then minor speed bumps. The current ones are pretty good and should suffice you for a few years.
If you want to have the latest then wait for upgrades.
I was in this scenario last year around july i waited for apple to announce updates they did not so i took the plundge and brought the early 2013 few months later an update was announced, i did not regret my decission even tho the upgrade offered alot of stuff.
 
Given that Broadwell isn't coming out for some time, I'd say buy now if you want as there's nothing coming on the horizon.
 
Chairman.Jobbie said:
Sorry. I havent kept up to date with rumours and whatnot. I know these kind of threads are sometimess frowned upon. :rolleyes:
Click to expand...

I don't get it. You want to make sure you didn't miss a rumor or something like that?

Broadwell is not happening anytime soon. It is very possible that it won't happen before 2015. Here is a very reasonable and understandable explanation of how the CPU business works:
http://semiaccurate.com/2014/02/19/sky-falling-intels-14nm-broadwell/

There is a chance that a spec bump will happen between now and August. In my opinion that is nothing to loose sleep over, and the timing is very unclear in any case.

Lastly, I will order a new MBP tomorrow, because a special education discount will end then over here, and I could use a new machine right now.
 
I'm kind of in the same boat...I want to get a new MacBook Air or Pro, but I'm a little worried of a surprise update sometime this summer.
Also I got to consider what configure I want to do if I do buy (I got 1800+$ to spend on it)...

I've been on the fence now for 2 months...just don't know what to do lol..
 
The Late 2013 rMBP's got the most noticeable upgrade, I think with PCIe SSD storage and Haswell. The next iteration will be pretty minor I think it's safe to say, buy now, enjoy.
The Macbook Air is the most likely Mac to get updated.
 
Commy1 said:
The Late 2013 rMBP's got the most noticeable upgrade, I think with PCIe SSD storage and Haswell. The next iteration will be pretty minor I think it's safe to say, buy now, enjoy.
The Macbook Air is the most likely Mac to get updated.
Click to expand...

Agree. Buy now. The current model is a pretty big step up in many ways.
 
I'm in a similar situation now: have the 2011 13 air but it's now dead due to an unfortunate water spill. Debating if I should wait for the update for MacBook Air or buy the retina 13 now. But yea the rMBP did get a major update, including a slimmer profile. I'm leaning towards getting the rMBP now, well unless there's a chance for a retina MacBook Air.
 
Considering Broadwell will be delayed until next year, go ahead and buy one now.

The rumored processor bump for rMBPs will only come around June during WWDC (that's my speculation), but the processor bump will only maybe see a 0.1-0.2GHz increase in clock speed, and that's about it. So there's barely any performance gain.
 
I was about to buy and decided to wait:

1) No one knows for sure what's happening with Broadwell. There are only rumors at this point. For all we know, maybe there WILL be Broadwell MacBooks in the second half of this year.

2) Broadwell or no Broadwell, IGZO is out there, and IGZO is a huge leap forward. Notice the difference between the iPad Air and the previous iPad? IGZO should make a very significant difference in shaving some thickness and weight of the Pro, or enabling a retina Air. Buying a MacBook without IGZO is like buying an iPad 4.
 
MrT-Man said:
I was about to buy and decided to wait:

1) No one knows for sure what's happening with Broadwell. There are only rumors at this point. For all we know, maybe there WILL be Broadwell MacBooks in the second half of this year.
Click to expand...

Highly unlikely though, as the newest leaks point to a Q1'15 availability for mobile Broadwell. Finished products are going to take even longer to appear.

MrT-Man said:
2) Broadwell or no Broadwell, IGZO is out there, and IGZO is a huge leap forward. Notice the difference between the iPad Air and the previous iPad? IGZO should make a very significant difference in shaving some thickness and weight of the Pro, or enabling a retina Air. Buying a MacBook without IGZO is like buying an iPad 4.
Click to expand...

IGZO might be an improvement, or it might not, depending what you expect from the screen. The currently available IGZO models are a mixed bag. The improvement over a-Si IPS panels was not quite the quantum leap Sharp had made it out to be.

IMHO neither Broadwell nor IGZO are worth waiting almost a year for.
 
laurihoefs said:
IMHO neither Broadwell nor IGZO are worth waiting almost a year for.
Click to expand...

Agree.

All these people that post these types of threads and then decide to wait never needed a computer in the first place....it they did, they couldn't wait. It's a never ending story. Before Broadwell releases there will be rumors of how great the next processor will be ....and so on.....and so on. It's a game and the weak fall right into it. Some never buy, and others can't help but to rebuy and rebuy for an unneeded small improvement in an artificial geekbench score.
 
MrT-Man said:
I was about to buy and decided to wait:

1) No one knows for sure what's happening with Broadwell. There are only rumors at this point. For all we know, maybe there WILL be Broadwell MacBooks in the second half of this year.
Click to expand...

Second half includes december, and thats 9 months away. Anytime earlier than the end of october refresh window seems highly unlikely. A very thorough explanation here: http://semiaccurate.com/2014/02/19/sky-falling-intels-14nm-broadwell/

And I don't think I have to remind anyone of the slow staggered Haswell launch. I don't expect Broadwell MBPs in 2014 - maybe Airs.

Of course there might be other things, like that rumored 12'' (retina) Air, the IGZO screens you mentioned, and Maxwell for the high end 15'' maybe.


Another thing to consider although this is very vague:
Big model changes seem to be on a ~4 year cycle with MBPs. Retinas are in their second year, so you have a good chance to be on the current design for a long time if you buy now, modulo some internals that don't matter so much. I feel it is a good time to buy, machines are solid, OS is solid, battery life is excellent. Whatever happens in the future, you get a great machine now!
 
Thanks all. It looks like I should just buy now unless I want to wait for the rumoured 12 MBA... My MBA sits at home these days so no need.

I asked the question to get a heads up on any particularly relevant information that I might influence my decision. I was pretty clear that I can wait if necessary.

I recently got my 2011 MBA screen replaced for free at apple - I got lucky. This would have cost £380 out of warranty. I'm also streaming a lot these days with netflix etc and the fan on my MBA is CONSTANTLY on in background - not good.

So the thinking is to put money into a new mbp now rather than any potential future repair costs. I can cash in on my MBA on eBay whilst it's fully working and buy a pro machine that is comfortable with a bit more heavy usage.

I'll have alittle think over the next week or two and then decide if it's worth a birthday upgrade to myself :D but I probably will...
 
Brought MacBook Pro 13" Retina 2.6Ghz / 512 / 8Gb. Done. Happy :D

Now i'm just hoping no MBP upgrades beyond a mini speed bump until next year ;)

Or they do it in the next 14 days :p
 
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