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Buyers Outlook for 2008-2009. Penryn iMacs Soon, Nehalem in 2009

Should I buy?

I have a PowerBook G4 from 2004, and I've been saving up recently to get a new MacBook Pro. I'm a student, but will be graduating in May, so after then I won't be able to get the education discount. Is it worth it to wait for the new Montevina/new design(?) MacBook Pros to come out, or should I take advantage of the discount now and go ahead and get one? Thanks for any advice.
 
k2spitfire88 said:
Go with a refurb iMac from apple.com. It will be cheaper, and I am pretty sure you can still get a warranty
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Take a look at some of the bundles and prices on MACMALL. They are pretty good and they discount closeout models. I am buying my new machine from them.
 
sumguy687 said:
I have a PowerBook G4 from 2004, and I've been saving up recently to get a new MacBook Pro. I'm a student, but will be graduating in May, so after then I won't be able to get the education discount. Is it worth it to wait for the new Penryn/new design(?) MacBook Pros to come out, or should I take advantage of the discount now and go ahead and get one? Thanks for any advice.
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Get the book now. It's an amazing improvement from even my two year old MBP. And other than the RUMORED case redesign the speed won't improve much....
 
irun5k said:
Actually you might be surprised how many old boxes are out there in daily use. I've seen lots of old POS (point of sale, not piece of __) systems running in stores on antiquated hardware like this. I've also seen my share of old apps running on ancient DOS boxes at military bases performing mission critical tasks.

There is a good chance my PC from this area would still be running as well, if I still had it. The reality is most people don't want to use any computer from this era for personal use. However there are always a few out there though that will continue to cling to their old Commodores, Apples, Atari's, or even old PCs.
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yeah, but you know what! I seem to remember a lot less problems and the hardware lasting a lot longer from those era computers. Kinda goes with what they say "they just don't make things like they used too." Any PC I had died on me within 2 years. I am still surprised at how many old Apple/Macs are out there on ebay selling at high prices and people are scooping them up like crazy. Goes to show - Apple makes good products.
 
sumguy687 said:
I have a PowerBook G4 from 2004, and I've been saving up recently to get a new MacBook Pro. I'm a student, but will be graduating in May, so after then I won't be able to get the education discount. Is it worth it to wait for the new Montevina/new design(?) MacBook Pros to come out, or should I take advantage of the discount now and go ahead and get one? Thanks for any advice.
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get it now while you still have the discount. I am a student, but my school does not qualify me for a discount, and I just bought my first mac today.
 
Alpinism said:
Nehalem MacPro MacWorld 09.. :apple:
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That's what I want to happen, because that's the absolute latest I can buy it. If the Nehalem Xeons aren't released until Q4 2009, then we won't see a Nehalem Mac Pro before MacWorld '10, and that's a load of crap.

Assuming 518 days after January 14, 2008, the Nehalem Mac Pro will come out on June 15, 2009 at WWDC.
 
Arn

arn said:
Montevina, Penryn speedbump: Mid year (June-ish)
Nehalem (for desktop and laptop): early 2009.

arn
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Do u thing we should wait to update on Nehalem, would it offer major difference than Penryn, or is it just a little better performance like 10-15 percent? less heat?? advise please?

ANyway I dont think they will update MBs when the Nehalem chips become avialable, i mean by early 2009 probably MBP would??
Advise plz
 
Can people please stop trying to compare CURRENT technology with tech that hasn't come out yet....?

When the next MBP and MB revision come out it most likely won't be that much faster than the previous model....

It will be much faster than last years or two years ago technology, the true market for new computers.

If you get a machine now it won't be wicked slow when the new stuff comes.
 
PCNot said:
So you agree that paying top dollar for old technology? Hey, what ever floats your boat.
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Don't make excuses for not being able to afford Apple hardware.

I imagine you don't have much in the way of technological devices, unless you buy them all on day 1.

Or if you do have all of these devices and are getting some sort of fantastic savings over depreciation, please share.

I kind of like this capitalist victim mentality. I am going to call my home builder now and see if I can get a discount... due to the fact that the wood, nails and concrete aren't really new a technology and I should be paying way less for them. Or getting my $1.00 a day discount. ;-)
 
Nano-tube said:
You know, the only computer I remember being able to pull such tricks was the Amiga. It was an amazing piece of technology and it was able to work with many instances of it's OS (Workbench). I mean, it came out with Workbench 1.3 or something and it kept going with much more advanced versions. I know that some people still use it even today! (including NASA for some tasks - or at least this was the situation about a year or two ago).
Imagine that... 1985 to 2008.... wow.

I was never a mac guy, but when Mac OS X came out in 2000, I had the same feeling as when I first saw the Amiga (I was drooling :)
But since I was suspicious a little, I waited a few years to see how things will develop. Panther broke me. I went and bought this PowerMac baby and it is rock solid. Today, the Mac is the Amiga.

Does anyone else feel the same about that (especially Amiga old timers)?
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I totally agree! I had just got an Amiga 2000 HD when the crap hit the fan. Boy did they blow it! So much it could do and run all 3 OS's at the same time. Ya know even it's 8 bit built in sound was outstanding and I loved the file structure! Tis a shame what they let happen to it. To put it bluntly their marketing sucked, especially here in the states! But oh well now we have Apple and IM content again. The thing I liked the most was the OS kick start (boot loader?) was in ROM. No need to worry about it getting infected. It was just a Great machine. Now back to our Apple! ;)
 
Thunk! Thunk! Thunk!

... oh, sorry. That was just the sound of my heading pounding the wall.

Buy for the next case redesign or wait until Nehalem sometime in 2009?

Thunk! Thunk! Thunk! Ouch!
 
The macs are now so good that unless its a total overhaul, there isn't even any reason to upgrade.

With a summer 07 aluminum iMac I'll be set until they cram a quad core into an even smaller larger display.
 
sebastianlewis said:
Wikipedia is not clear on that so I'm going with the information from the Ars Technica article until I find out otherwise.
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What do you mean? They have a table indicating which motherboards have Quickpath. Besides, Anandtech has information along those lines as well. Of course, if you prefer to keep your hopes alive for a miracle, it is up to you.
 
AppleMojo said:
Don't make excuses for not being able to afford Apple hardware.

I imagine you don't have much in the way of technological devices, unless you buy them all on day 1.
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Why the sudden shift to making a personal attack?

What is so magical about Apple hardware? I only care about OS X, but not so much the hardware, at all. It's all the same stock of the barrel crap assembled alongside Dells and Toshibas in the same factory.

If you choose to be deluded, so be it. But I find something really wrong when I get flyers from Dell advertising a QUAD with a monitor for less than a Mac Mini. If Apple wants to charge a premium at the very least have the courtesy to keep their specs up to date, please.

Oh and by the way, you do seem to own a lot of technological devices right? Do you own a Mac Pro? Please excuse me while I go and compute on a computer twice as powerful costing 1/3 of your "i"Mac, because i is for Internet and the Internets is so "in" in 2008.
 
Apogee said:
Why the sudden shift to making a personal attack?

What is so magical about Apple hardware? I only care about OS X, but not so much the hardware, at all. It's all the same stock of the barrel crap assembled alongside Dells and Toshibas in the same factory.

If you choose to be deluded, so be it. But I find something really wrong when I get flyers from Dell advertising a QUAD with a monitor for less than a Mac Mini. If Apple wants to charge a premium at the very least have the courtesy to keep their specs up to date, please.

Oh and by the way, you do seem to own a lot of technological devices right? Do you own a Mac Pro? Please excuse me while I go and compute on a computer twice as powerful costing 1/3 of your "i"Mac, because i is for Internet and the Internets is so "in" in 2008.
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The guy you're quoting was wrong for the personal attack, but what Quad core machine (current tech) comes with a monitor for less than $800, sans rebates and special deals?

And a third the cost of which iMac? You mean about $800 for a machine faster than a dual 2.8 GHz machine with a 24" display?
 
shervieux said:
And who made the Amiga - oh that's right.. APPLE with a joint venture with Commodore, 80% Apple's innovative just a Commodore logo on it....

Of course I remember the same whining over computer technology back then...
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Sorry mate, but as much as I know, Apple had nothing to do with the Amiga. In fact, Steve Jobs viewed the Amiga the greatest threat on the Mac since it was so advanced for it's time.
But enough with the Amiga stuff. Let's concentrate on our Macs!
:D
 
PCNot said:
I said it once before, and I will say it again. APPLE does not care about it consumers. Anyone who buys a device that is 8 months old, and pays top dollar for it is a fool. And thanks to these fools, Apple will continue this practice because the bottom line is they are making money on an outdated machine.

All the loyal mac users can argue this point all they want. The facts are the facts. Apple is the only company that I know that does this. They dont even give you the option of customizing the IMAC ...

As far as I am concerned, I am done being treated like a sheep. Apple and Steve can go **** themselves.
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If that's how you feel why not just go with Microstink on a Dell or something else? The point is that OS X is superb compared to Vista, and many, many people are getting years out of their Macs! My Toshiba is just over a year old, and already it is almost time to replace it. Boot up time is terrible, and it glitches on me at least 1 time an hour. I think that going to a Mac, while not necessarily having the newest and best options out there, will last you much longer, and give you much more bang for your buck. I also think that these new processors in the iMacs, especially if they upgrade the video card will be smoking anything else you put out there! You're not being treated like a sheep, and can go use any other platform you want, however, I think that that peace of mind about the longevity of a machine is much more important than concerns about having the latest and greatest, because most people just want something that works for them for a long time.
 
Or,another way of looking at it, the customer before the refresh gets the system with all the bugs worked out, while new customer gets rev "A"



> So, if a customer buys on Day #1, they are getting the fastest/newest
>technology for the dollar. The problem, however, is that 8 months later, on >the day prior to its refresh, that Mac costs the exact same money, but >contains 8 month old technology.
 
Clive At Five said:
What does selling a (MSRP) > (Sum of parts) machine have to do with disclosing release dates? Apple may not be persuing enterprise, but enterprise is persuing Apple, more and more every day... and Apple is practically batting them away.

As so many people have noted already, most consumers don't wait for an update to buy new computers, they just buy as they need. A small contingency of people who hold out for an update will always exist. To either of these two groups of people, Apple disclosing the release date of an updated model will not change their behavior. Indifferents will remain indifferent and wait-ers will continue to wait.

What advantage does being secretive have for Apple?

-Clive
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Why do it the same as everyone else when you can (read sarcastically) "think different" ?:rolleyes:
 
k2spitfire88 said:
If that's how you feel why not just go with Microstink on a Dell or something else? The point is that OS X is superb compared to Vista...
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Also, let's not forget, that if someone wants to buy 8 month old technology, what's it to anyone else....

And

If Apple can sell it at the same price even though it's 8 months old.... then they will continue to do it. Only an idiot business owner would lower their prices when everyone wants a piece of their product.

Yeah... Apple's a company trying to make money like everyone else, let them do the smart thing and sell 8 month old computers at full price to anyone that wants them. I won't be in line, but those that are will be happy, Apple will be happy, and I will be just fine waiting for the update.

What's so hard to see about that?
 
The wait cycle

I'm out-of-my-mind keen to jump over from my PC to a MBP. In fact after 6 months of waiting and saving finally I ordered the latest Penryn model earlier in the week then found out the case was finally going to be redesigned in a few months after staying the same for 5 years. I knew it would bug the living daylights out of me to finally receive one and then see it massively outdated by a fundamental design change a few months later. So I cancelled my order to play the wait game and now are left sitting here feeling kind of bummed.

I think I'll just hold out long enough for the redesign and the Montevina chipset but don't think I'd make it into 2009 for the next major Intel revamp. Given I plan to go for the maximum memory I'm left thinking how much performance will it gain the day to day use anyway? Having said that I work in software and drive my machines very hard.

Good article and interesting commentary. I helps to compile all this info in my head before making the 'switch'. Timing, it seems, is everything. However it seems also that you can get stuck in a permanent 'wait dealock' - always be waiting for the next big thing around the corner. And in all that time its driving you nuts waiting ...
 
kinless said:
Hahaha, well I should probably mention I maxed it out in various upgrades over the years, adding a G4 CPU, ATI Radeon card, DVD burner, USB2/Firewire (since those barely begun to exist back then), and of course maxed out the RAM to a "ginormous" 768MB. I've made it work.

I also had a 2001 dual Pentium III machine sitting next to it, primarily for my web and graphics development. It was also getting pudgy so I figured now was the time to combine OS X and Windows into one bad-ass machine.

The last 2 years on the Beige were pretty painful, as I was running 10.3 and that poor SCSI hard drive was thrashing pretty bad. After I stopped using Mac OS 9, I could safely upgrade and start doing some serious work.
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My 2002 Dell is still plugging away and actually runs very well--mostly because I don't mess with it as far as installing new software. Right now it is downloading a backup copy of a forum I manage--so it does still serve a purpose. I also can't seem to find anything that works quite as well as Arles Gallery Maker so I use it for that as well.
 
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