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buying dilema...

J

jwflutterby

macrumors regular
Original poster
Jul 9, 2008
148
3
I have finally decided I want to take the plunge and switch to a MacBook/Pro/Air for my primary computer and I am completely overwhelmed... My husband has a MacBook but it is so boxy and the front edge is kinda sharp and it seems like it would be painful if I had to do a decent amount of typing in one sitting... I also do not like the plastic, no good reason, just preference... I really like the Air for its size and that it is aluminum and curvier but I wonder if the lower performance will make me regret it later... I don't really need the power of a Pro and I definitely am not looking for a bigger screen but the aluminum casing is good and they aren't that much more than the Air and I wouldn't have to worry about wishing it had more "omph" later...

I am seeing rumors that MacBooks are being redesigned and that updated versions may be announced next month... From the rumors it looks like they may be aluminum and curvier which is exactly what I am looking for... Here's my dilema though, I just got the iPhone 3G on launch day and I have really really been itching to write apps for it... I have a Mac mini that I have been using to play with the SDK and I have dropped the money to become a real live developer so I really want to get going... The trouble is the mini was going to be our "entertainment" computer for watching movies/shows from iTunes so it is just plugged into our TV and the only way I can use it is to take over the TV (which my husband does not like at all) or what I had been doing which was to use VNC to use it through my Windows laptop... well, the screen on my laptop (which isn't even a year old, grr) started getting spots so I sent it in to get fixed...

I am thinking this is the perfect time to jump ship and switch to a Mac... I will have a less than a year old laptop with a brand new screen that will be all freshly cleaned up by HP and now is the time that all the college kids are going back to school and looking for shiny new laptops... So I am really itching to switch right now but I am wondering if I do if I am going to be really mad in a month when they show off the new design (maybe).

What do you guys think, should I take the plunge now or wait? If I go with the Air would I regret it later? (I pretty much just surf the web/email and I will also be running the iPhone SDK but no gaming or graphic or video editing or anything) I am new to watching Mac release info, if I wait for an announcement in Sept. how long is the delay usually between when they announce a redesign and when you can buy one?

Sorry this is so long and I apologize if I didn't post it in the right place :(
 
If you can wait until January, it couldn't hurt.

To be fair, though, I don't see the updates being so massive that you realistically regret buying today. Whatever you buy today will be a great machine and you'll be happy with it for many years.
 
I would advise anyone to hold off the current MBP simply because of the seemingly endless problems with the nVIdia GPUs.

The Macbooks are indeed rumored to be getting a redesign, and they may be redesigned with a nicer Aluminum case you might find more pleasing.

That said, regardless of whether nVidia continues to put out defective GPUs, if you buy a current or future Macbook, you won't be affected due to no on baord graphics card, which I assume you won't miss, as long as you don't game. I think you'd be happy with a next-gen Macbook.
 
First off, thanks for the advice!!!

Let me ask you guys something else then... I'm thinking in the long run I'd probably be happiest with a redesigned MacBook so I'm considering taking a half-step first... Win laptops do not hold their value over time AT ALL, that is part of the reason for my rush... I think I would have a much easier time off-loading my current laptop now since a bunch of co-workers are shipping kids off to school in the next few weeks... I could probably con one of them into giving me a decent amount for it now where as if I wait, the "market" will be gone..

I cannot be computer-less until the new MacBooks come out/all the major initial bugs surface so I am considering maybe grabbing a used MB/MBP to use for a little while then in a few months see what's available and not flakey... I am used to looking on eBay and seeing decent, dirt-cheap used Windows laptops but when I went looking for MB/MBP's I was shocked they were not really much cheaper than their brand new counterparts being sold at my local BestBuy... Where does one look for good deals on used Mac's? Kinda looked a little on the local Craig's lists, found a couple possibilities but few people that replied turned out to be scammers...

So if I wanted to buy a gently used Intel Mac laptop with at least 2Gb of RAM and Leopard and I don't care about the rest of the specs and I only want to spend $500-$800 am I out of luck or am I looking in the wrong places? I guess if it was closer to the $500 end and it had Tiger I could just buy Leopard and upgrade it so I guess I'm not even picky about the OS if the price is right...
 
I imagine you could pick up a used MacBook for around $800, but it would have to be an older, "low-end" model.
 
jwflutterby said:
First off, thanks for the advice!!!

Let me ask you guys something else then... I'm thinking in the long run I'd probably be happiest with a redesigned MacBook so I'm considering taking a half-step first... Win laptops do not hold their value over time AT ALL, that is part of the reason for my rush... I think I would have a much easier time off-loading my current laptop now since a bunch of co-workers are shipping kids off to school in the next few weeks... I could probably con one of them into giving me a decent amount for it now where as if I wait, the "market" will be gone..

I cannot be computer-less until the new MacBooks come out/all the major initial bugs surface so I am considering maybe grabbing a used MB/MBP to use for a little while then in a few months see what's available and not flakey... I am used to looking on eBay and seeing decent, dirt-cheap used Windows laptops but when I went looking for MB/MBP's I was shocked they were not really much cheaper than their brand new counterparts being sold at my local BestBuy... Where does one look for good deals on used Mac's? Kinda looked a little on the local Craig's lists, found a couple possibilities but few people that replied turned out to be scammers...

So if I wanted to buy a gently used Intel Mac laptop with at least 2Gb of RAM and Leopard and I don't care about the rest of the specs and I only want to spend $500-$800 am I out of luck or am I looking in the wrong places? I guess if it was closer to the $500 end and it had Tiger I could just buy Leopard and upgrade it so I guess I'm not even picky about the OS if the price is right...
Click to expand...

I don't know much about used MacBooks, but I assume you could get one with the specs you want for $800. Still, that's a big investment for a one-month placeholder laptop. Why not just keep your current laptop and use it until there are new MacBooks? That's what I'm planning to do, and my current laptop is a bulky Toshiba Satellite with Pentium 4, 512 MB RAM, and a 60 GB hard drive.
 
Why not go the refurb route? They have a low end MB for 899/USD. Keep it as long as you need it, then sell it for the new one. I have a White MB/2.2. I have no issues with the edges at all. It' very comfortable to type on...
 
Shot22 said:
I don't know much about used MacBooks, but I assume you could get one with the specs you want for $800. Still, that's a big investment for a one-month placeholder laptop. Why not just keep your current laptop and use it until there are new MacBooks? That's what I'm planning to do, and my current laptop is a bulky Toshiba Satellite with Pentium 4, 512 MB RAM, and a 60 GB hard drive.
Click to expand...

Here's my thinking... I can probably get $700 - $1000 for my current laptop by selling it to someone at work that is looking for something to send off to college with their kid RIGHT NOW... If I wait, they will have already gotten a laptop from a store or someone else and I will be limited to like eBay where a) there are a ton of scammers and b) I can probably only get $300 - $400 before eBay and PayPal fees...

If I can sell my laptop now and use that $$ to get a used Mac laptop of some sort + VMWare Fusion I will break even money-wise and be on a Mac even if it isn't my dream Mac... I can then wait until a MacBook or Pro or tablet (that's what I would love but I'm not holding my breath) that I would be really happy with comes out then I can eBay the interim Mac and from the looks of it not lose much $$...
 
tmelvin said:
Why not go the refurb route? They have a low end MB for 899/USD. Keep it as long as you need it, then sell it for the new one. I have a White MB/2.2. I have no issues with the edges at all. It' very comfortable to type on...
Click to expand...

I looked... The $899 is a little higher than I want to go plus it only has 1Gb RAM, to get 2Gb is $1099 which is definitely more than I want to spend on a temporary purchase...

Is there anywhere else to look for good deals on MacBooks??
 
jwflutterby said:
I looked... The $899 is a little higher than I want to go plus it only has 1Gb RAM, to get 2Gb is $1099 which is definitely more than I want to spend on a temporary purchase...

Is there anywhere else to look for good deals on MacBooks??
Click to expand...

For the record ... 1Gb is not the same thing as 1GB

1Gb = 134,217,728 bytes or 128 megabytes
 
jwflutterby said:
Here's my thinking... I can probably get $700 - $1000 for my current laptop by selling it to someone at work that is looking for something to send off to college with their kid RIGHT NOW... If I wait, they will have already gotten a laptop from a store or someone else and I will be limited to like eBay where a) there are a ton of scammers and b) I can probably only get $300 - $400 before eBay and PayPal fees...

If I can sell my laptop now and use that $$ to get a used Mac laptop of some sort + VMWare Fusion I will break even money-wise and be on a Mac even if it isn't my dream Mac... I can then wait until a MacBook or Pro or tablet (that's what I would love but I'm not holding my breath) that I would be really happy with comes out then I can eBay the interim Mac and from the looks of it not lose much $$...
Click to expand...

Well, if you can get $700 for your current laptop, then you could definitely go ahead with that plan. Still, it looks like even refurbished MacBooks are going to run you at least $900. Also, you should consider that you're going to have to transfer all your data twice, once to a refurbished/used MacBook, and once again to the new one. For some, that can be a lot of extra work. If I were you, I'd save myself the hassle of selling and switching computers twice, and just keep the PC for a bit longer....
 
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