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Deliberating a new White Macbook - Seeking Advice

A

amabo

macrumors member
Original poster
May 2, 2009
44
0
So i'm at the stage where I'm currently in talks to sell my old laptop and need a replacement asap. It's come to the point that where, if the buyer isn't interested in purchasing at a later date, I will be without a computer (which can't happen). The worst part of this is the looming WWDC date which is about 4 weeks away.

This isn't a "I absolutely can't wait" type deal since of course I can keep my laptop for another 4 weeks and try selling it then, but if the fish don't bite I'll be out a lot of money. I don't want to have buyers' remorse over buying something 4 weeks before the latest & greatest comes out, yet I'm in a type of emergency situation. So it's come to me asking whether or not it's worth the risk. Financially, it isn't. Technologically, well I don't know. That's what I'm asking you.

WWDC isn't known for debuting laptops, yet they might come out with Snow Leopard which would sit me out an extra $100. They might come out with some sort of tablet, yet that's not a laptop which is what I need. They probably won't drop prices since WWDC isn't known for doing that.

Can someone give me some more facts? Give me some more advice? Tell me whether or not it's worth buying? I'd appreciate any input on this. Thnks!
 
I was deliberating in much the same way as you a couple of weeks ago. Except I had no laptop as my M1330 had died and I was managing with my desktop and my Asus eee 701.

My thoughts were these:

1) Loved the Macbook and wanted it
2) The general 'vibe' seemed to be that no new laptop announcements were likely, more like a tablet or netbook, at WWDC
3) Snow leopard does not seem to be a massive change and if I fancied upgrading to it, it would likely be later this year - I could wait and it wasn't a deal breaker.

Overall, I took the decision that I would rather be enjoying my Mac now, rather than wait for upgrades/updates that may or may not happen. Tech moves quickly and there is always something new in the offing.
 
+1 for buying soon.

I sincerely doubt the WhiteBooks are going to get much more special treatment. It was a blessing from above that they got the nVidia chipset (most likely to save on logistical costs), but Snow Leopard isn't going to be a mind blowing OS. Not to mention that fact that when Leopard came out, it was pretty buggy, so the same will probably happen with Snow Leopard. If I were you, I'd go ahead and buy. You may have to pay to upgrade down the road, but it's no big deal.
 
If it's a good price for your old system, sell it now and buy a refurbished white model off of the apple store ASAP. If they come out with 10.6 at WWDC you may qualify for a discount for upgrading the software. If they don't, you can use the savings to buy the new os. (Although personally, I think I'd wait and let some others beta test it for me.:D)

I think I'd have to agree with the opinion of others when they say that a release of 10.6 or new hardware is unlikely. They may have a developer's version of 10.6, but probably not for you or me.

Another consideration is that if they DO upgrade hardware at WWDC, assuming that your buyer is still interested, they'll offer less money for your existing rig since it will be a generation older. Unless your a power user, you'll more than likely be unable to tell any difference between the current models and any speedbumped models they'd release at that time.
 
clyde2801 said:
Another consideration is that if they DO upgrade hardware at WWDC, assuming that your buyer is still interested, they'll offer less money for your existing rig since it will be a generation older. Unless your a power user, you'll more than likely be unable to tell any difference between the current models and any speedbumped models they'd release at that time.
Click to expand...

I doubt they'll do anything to the laptop line at WWDC. While I could be wrong, here's my thought - if Apple were to bump the processor speed, they'd need a new high-end, too, which currently tops out at 2.93GHz. I don't think there is currently a faster part available from Intel with the same power consumption rating as the 2.93GHz C2D chip. While there is the 3.02GHz chip Apple uses in the top-end iMac, I don't think this would do well in a thin/light laptop like Apple's MacBook Pro - too hot of a chip and too much power consumption. Thus, Apple has no faster chip to offer as a high-end option.

So I think it will stay at 2.0GHz - 2.4 - 2.66 - 2.93GHz as the spread across the laptop lines. I think we'll need to wait for the next Intel processor part revision to see any significant bump in processor speeds.

I think the most that could change, though I seriously doubt it, is that Apple would add FireWire to the MacBook. But again, I seriously doubt it given how Apple has positioned the MB in the market (consumer/non-pro machine).
 
amabo said:
WWDC isn't known for debuting laptops, yet they might come out with Snow Leopard which would sit me out an extra $100. They might come out with some sort of tablet, yet that's not a laptop which is what I need. They probably won't drop prices since WWDC isn't known for doing that.
Click to expand...

https://www.macrumors.com/2007/05/31/new-macbook-pros-on-tuesday/

Release date intervals from the buyer's guide: (guessing roughly here)
5 months
6 months
6 months
9 months
10 months
6 months
6 months
3 months
8 months
and 6 months and counting.

The spread is between 3 months and 10 months. this isn't looking at the upcoming kit they could change to (penryn vs Arrandale, Clarksfield, chipsets etc). Seeing as it's been 6 months, i'd say you could potentially get a bump of the uMBP prior to WWDC. Maybe not likely, but it's happened previously. Could be between now and August - i'd imagine they'd bump them before back to school.
 
Well, as it is right now I just bought one of the refurbished ones from the Apple Store online. I also got a slight discount on it concerning my previous experience with a more expensive laptop.

Knowing this, there was a recent post by Ryan Block in which he detailed how he felt about last year's model. I somewhat agree with him, and the fact that the white macbook has the nvidia graphics makes it more acceptable to go ahead with it knowing that better will be around in October and I'll have this for (what I'm hoping to be) more than 3 years.

Snow Leopard will be out in the fall, AFTER the back-to-school promo, and Leopard will still be the norm for give or take 4-6 months after that due to ironing out applications and such.

Yes, the unibody is nice, but it's unnecessary for me (and also $150 more in the refurbished category). I'm fine with my purchase, although I'd like a free iPod Touch, I'll settle with getting a replacement and being able to sell my old one. That's just fine.

I want to say thank you to everyone that had an input in this thread - I really appreciate it.
 
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