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Considering Buying Macbook Pro this month. Should I wait?
- Thread starter shirish33
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not that much.
i say buy now, because with the $200 discount and $299 back to school ipod discount, (which probably will not apply to any new macbook pros) you're really getting your money's worth.
besides, they wont start to ship until after halfway through september at the bare minimum. I dont think that Apple will update then though, because a few months later they will be updating the processors to Nehalem. Thats when i am guessing that they will do a big update. So unless you want to wait until january 2009 to get a new macbook pro, (with generally small updates and no new ipod) I suggest that you buy now. i am
i say buy now, because with the $200 discount and $299 back to school ipod discount, (which probably will not apply to any new macbook pros) you're really getting your money's worth.
besides, they wont start to ship until after halfway through september at the bare minimum. I dont think that Apple will update then though, because a few months later they will be updating the processors to Nehalem. Thats when i am guessing that they will do a big update. So unless you want to wait until january 2009 to get a new macbook pro, (with generally small updates and no new ipod) I suggest that you buy now. i am
The Back-to-School promotion runs until Sept. 15, so I don't think there is a hurry for you to buy now to cash in on it. I'm going to grad school and I plan on waiting until August to buy a MBP. I'm fairly certain there will be an update by then, in addition to the new chipset with lower power consumption, a new Nvidia or AMD graphics card and probably some other nice bonuses like a larger HDD. Nehalem for notebooks won't be out until Q3 next year, so Apple is not going to skip this update in favor of Nehalem. If you're not in a hurry to buy the MBP, I'd recommend waiting until either it is updated or you need it.
not that much.
i say buy now, because with the $200 discount and $299 back to school ipod discount, (which probably will not apply to any new macbook pros) you're really getting your money's worth.
besides, they wont start to ship until after halfway through september at the bare minimum. I dont think that Apple will update then though, because a few months later they will be updating the processors to Nehalem. Thats when i am guessing that they will do a big update. So unless you want to wait until january 2009 to get a new macbook pro, (with generally small updates and no new ipod) I suggest that you buy now. i am
The iPod promotion runs until September 15, the rebate is good until October 15 I think. Also, Apple has to use whatever chips Intel tells them, more or less, so I would expect them to be using the newest platform they've got available.
The platform coming out is code-named Montevina:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Centrino
FSB will be bumped from 800Mhz to 1066Mhz and the CPUs that Apple puts in the MBP will probably have a 2.8Ghz BTO option. There is a 3.06Ghz chip, but I believe it is too hot for a MBP. Anyone is welcome to correct me if I'm wrong.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Centrino
FSB will be bumped from 800Mhz to 1066Mhz and the CPUs that Apple puts in the MBP will probably have a 2.8Ghz BTO option. There is a 3.06Ghz chip, but I believe it is too hot for a MBP. Anyone is welcome to correct me if I'm wrong.
Why not wait until Sept 15? The very last day.....OR get a refurb and forget about worrying about a rebate, unless you really NEED the free electronics.
And your source for your certainty??
A lot of people thought there'd be updates now, but it was just for that SILLY iphone
The only thing you know for certain.
If you can wait, just wait another couple years. Then we'll have really FAST fsb's and 4GB ram standard and 500GB HD's and superfast CPU's.....But wait, if you wait another couple of years you can get those second hand at a good price
just go ahead and go for it, i just ordered mine after waiting till today to see if there will be updates. the current one is a wicked machine
There are two general rules with Apple: it's always a good time to buy (the baseline hardware offered is sufficient for your needs for the next two to three years), and it's always a bad time to buy (either you get a new product and gamble a bit on its reliability, or you buy a stable product and it's replaced in 4 months).
Recently (well, past 5 years or so) there's been a lot of very nice options in the refurb world as well...last season's top of the line is generally on par with today's baseline and it's cheaper.
I say don't worry so much about processor speeds (2.5 -> 2.6 is a 4% boost, you will never see that), hard disc and ram can be upgraded so focus instead on form factor / display. The 15.4" vs 17" question is a difficult one; the 17"s are amazingly agile and have just about the perfect balance of resolution and definition, but they're a big pricetag. I laid out nearly 3k for my 17" HD and that's with a stack of discounts, but god damn is it great.
Anyhow, macs (unlike iPhones, apparently) hold their value very well. I sold my 2-year old MBP for half what I bought it for...33% depreciation per year is nearly unheard of in the industry. So if the new release this fall is so amazing you MUST have it, flip the current model on eBay and at most you're out $200.
Recently (well, past 5 years or so) there's been a lot of very nice options in the refurb world as well...last season's top of the line is generally on par with today's baseline and it's cheaper.
I say don't worry so much about processor speeds (2.5 -> 2.6 is a 4% boost, you will never see that), hard disc and ram can be upgraded so focus instead on form factor / display. The 15.4" vs 17" question is a difficult one; the 17"s are amazingly agile and have just about the perfect balance of resolution and definition, but they're a big pricetag. I laid out nearly 3k for my 17" HD and that's with a stack of discounts, but god damn is it great.
Anyhow, macs (unlike iPhones, apparently) hold their value very well. I sold my 2-year old MBP for half what I bought it for...33% depreciation per year is nearly unheard of in the industry. So if the new release this fall is so amazing you MUST have it, flip the current model on eBay and at most you're out $200.
barefeats.com does a nice comparison of speeds between 07 MBP (Santa Rosa) and 08 MBP (Penryn).
In short, they penryns are a little faster in all tests, except for the base model 08, which is actually slightly slower on 1-2 tests (3MB vs 4 MB L2)...
point being, that from update to update, you see modest gains...and i suspect that even with Nehalem (sp?) - Apple may just throttle back some of the improvements to keep this steady trajectory (Intel would be wise to do the same)...better to have 3 incremental updates (over 18 mos) than 1 dramatic one and 2 more that plateau (over the same period).
I'll eventually swap my 2.5 year old iBook for a MBP, but despite the slew of new revisions of MB & MBP, i still find this thing to be very useful (as is my 99 G4 AGP tower).
The point? it's tempting to wring one's hands over when the next update is coming, but in the long run, your new computer will serve you for a long time. Get it now and enjoy it - plus this will save you all the time that you otherwise would waste refreshing macrumors.com to see what the next rumor might be....
In short, they penryns are a little faster in all tests, except for the base model 08, which is actually slightly slower on 1-2 tests (3MB vs 4 MB L2)...
point being, that from update to update, you see modest gains...and i suspect that even with Nehalem (sp?) - Apple may just throttle back some of the improvements to keep this steady trajectory (Intel would be wise to do the same)...better to have 3 incremental updates (over 18 mos) than 1 dramatic one and 2 more that plateau (over the same period).
I'll eventually swap my 2.5 year old iBook for a MBP, but despite the slew of new revisions of MB & MBP, i still find this thing to be very useful (as is my 99 G4 AGP tower).
The point? it's tempting to wring one's hands over when the next update is coming, but in the long run, your new computer will serve you for a long time. Get it now and enjoy it - plus this will save you all the time that you otherwise would waste refreshing macrumors.com to see what the next rumor might be....
I agree. I was just wondering if there really was a significant gain to wait or not, but if its just the usual speed bump, then I am just going to go ahead and get it. Besides, my family really needs another computer! A 10:1 ratio isn't very good when you have a web designer in the house!
This waiting game is a problem for any prospective buyer. Just remember that taking decent care of your equipment will ensure a high resale value.
So keep it in a sleeve or Speck shell, save the packaging, and if something must-have drops in a few months, sell, buy, and enjoy life!
So keep it in a sleeve or Speck shell, save the packaging, and if something must-have drops in a few months, sell, buy, and enjoy life!
If you want a good guide to when the next MBP is coming out, look at Intel's roadmap for their high-end mobile chipset and expect a MBP to come out some time around then. The next one isn't due to hit until next month, so I thought it was a little odd people were expecting new MBPs at WWDC. Especially since there wasn't a huge run-up of rumors about new MBPs, either.
As for all the other updates, well new HDDs have come out since the last refresh and Nvidia and AMD are getting ready to release their new graphics cards this summer, so you would expect Apple to at least add in some of they stuff if they want to continue positioning the MBP as a top-of-the-line notebook. And if you look at previous MBP refreshes, Apple does indeed throw in other upgrades besides just the processor. The biggest upgrade would be in graphics, but whether or not Apple upgrades the GPU really depends on if Nvidia or AMD manage to get their mobile parts out before Apple plans on introducing the MBP. It would be a little disappointing if a GPU upgrade didn't happen, but it is a distinct possibility.
For anyone interested in the inside scoop on upcoming CPUs, chipsets and GPUs, you might want to spend a little time at http://www.theinquirer.net Apple uses mostly standard PC parts and Apple's update will follow a similar timeline.
My Titanium Book will work fine for me until school starts, so that's why I'm waiting. It's the summer, go outside and do some stuff. Enjoy the weather. Unless you really need a new notebook right now, waiting a little bit will probably be worth it.
As for all the other updates, well new HDDs have come out since the last refresh and Nvidia and AMD are getting ready to release their new graphics cards this summer, so you would expect Apple to at least add in some of they stuff if they want to continue positioning the MBP as a top-of-the-line notebook. And if you look at previous MBP refreshes, Apple does indeed throw in other upgrades besides just the processor. The biggest upgrade would be in graphics, but whether or not Apple upgrades the GPU really depends on if Nvidia or AMD manage to get their mobile parts out before Apple plans on introducing the MBP. It would be a little disappointing if a GPU upgrade didn't happen, but it is a distinct possibility.
For anyone interested in the inside scoop on upcoming CPUs, chipsets and GPUs, you might want to spend a little time at http://www.theinquirer.net Apple uses mostly standard PC parts and Apple's update will follow a similar timeline.
My Titanium Book will work fine for me until school starts, so that's why I'm waiting. It's the summer, go outside and do some stuff. Enjoy the weather. Unless you really need a new notebook right now, waiting a little bit will probably be worth it.