So, I know there are tons of threads about haswell vs. ivy bridge and I apologize in advanced for making another one. Anyways, I start high school is exactly one month, and I am looking at the 15 inch MBP non-retina. I found one at my local computer store on a huge sale. Instead of 2199.00 it is $1799. I thought this would be a great deal. The specs are a 15" screen, 8gb ram, 1 GB GDDR5 NVidia 650m. A 750 GB HDD, and a ivy bridge quad-core i7. While I love this deal, I also feel as though the wait for Haswell might be worth it. I am planning on doing school work, learning iOS development, writing android apps, and doing some light gaming (minecraft, civ V, etc..) . I may do video editing but not that much so I don't think I need Iris Pro. Any help with deciding is appreciated.
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Going into highschool should I buy now on sale or wait for Haswell?
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Yes
IMHO, that is a great deal! You should so get it. I am also going into Freshman Year and i got a Non-Retina MBP and love it! Mine is just the 13 inch and super fast, the 15inch Quad i7 will be even faster!
Yeah, when I was 14 I was lucky to have $100 to my name after collecting all my birthday money. Having $1700 to spend would have been insane.
This is something to keep in mind. The rumours don't really direct us in any particular direction when it comes to this. But since you're getting a pretty good deal on that MBP, I think it might be worth it to get now.
I don't think I'd be the person I was today had I access to that kind of money at that age! I liked the innocence of being young actually, that's lost on some kids today. Saying that I'm not that old myself, still in university.
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I wouldn't buy a laptop without SSD these days. So for me it is not a good deal.
Also, OP should keep in mind that as a student, he is eligible for the education discount + back to school promotion - taking this into account, the savings are not that great.
Looking at other options:
Refurbished store: I think the cheapest 15'' retina MBP starts at $1700 when it is available. It comes with 8 GB Ram as well, but less storage.
Sale:
http://appleinsider.com/articles/13...st-sales-on-apples-all-day-power-macbook-airs
$1850 for the cheapest rMBP
Concerning the waiting for Haswell: I don't think you will need a laptop for high school right away (and you might not want to bring it there every day anyways). You might as well wait to see what the new models bring - the old ones will only get cheaper.
Also, OP should keep in mind that as a student, he is eligible for the education discount + back to school promotion - taking this into account, the savings are not that great.
Looking at other options:
Refurbished store: I think the cheapest 15'' retina MBP starts at $1700 when it is available. It comes with 8 GB Ram as well, but less storage.
Sale:
http://appleinsider.com/articles/13...st-sales-on-apples-all-day-power-macbook-airs
$1850 for the cheapest rMBP
Concerning the waiting for Haswell: I don't think you will need a laptop for high school right away (and you might not want to bring it there every day anyways). You might as well wait to see what the new models bring - the old ones will only get cheaper.
If my parents and the law only knew
no I think he needs a a new Mac Pro, he's gonna need those 12 cores and 24 threads.
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OP but the computer your parents or guardian think is the best, they know you we don't.
While I agree that the refurb rMBP would be a good alternative, the upgradability of the cMBP does add some value (maybe not to everyone, but some people value that). Not sure though if the OP cares about that or not.
Dude, I'm a few years into HS and have been hoofing it with a late 2008 MBP that I bought myself, and doing just fine. There's not a whole lot in HS that will need anything maxed out. As for app development and video editing... I do those myself on a 5 year old beast.
My tip: Save it for College.
I wish i had this problem...
My tip: Save it for College.
I wish i had this problem...
When I was in HS, my first computer was Atari 1200XL I didn't like bulky Apple 2e and there was no notebook/laptop exist back then. 
This thread made me think of this. It's terrible, but as any of us out there in the real world with jobs and mortgages can tell you, it's 100% true:
When I was your age I didn't even have a cell phone...
In all honesty you probably won't really need a laptop unless you don't have regular access to a computer at home. I know a lot of schools are starting to use iPads and iPods for things in the classroom. I've only been out of high school for 4 years, and I was just fine with my families 2003 Compaq tower running XP. We had computer labs and a couple carts with laptops at school.
If I were you, I'd wait until college unless you really need it for high school. You don't want to be stuck with a four+ year old laptop in college when you have no money.
In all honesty you probably won't really need a laptop unless you don't have regular access to a computer at home. I know a lot of schools are starting to use iPads and iPods for things in the classroom. I've only been out of high school for 4 years, and I was just fine with my families 2003 Compaq tower running XP. We had computer labs and a couple carts with laptops at school.
If I were you, I'd wait until college unless you really need it for high school. You don't want to be stuck with a four+ year old laptop in college when you have no money.
The other side of this:
Do not wait! Live now. Life does not begin after 4 years. Life is now. Life is all about what happens when you wonder what you will do after 4 years. Only the rest of your life begins after 4 years.
And do not care about the others. How they lived is not your problem
Totally agree.
The other side of this:
Do not wait! Live now. Life does not begin after 4 years. Life is now. Life is all about what happens when you wonder what you will do after 4 years. Only the rest of your life begins after 4 years.
And do not care about the others. How they lived is not your problem
Totally agree.
The OP is 14 or so, he/she doesn't need a $1700 computer at that age. IMHO of course
Okay to everyone who comments on how I'm spoiled to get such a high end computer? I'm paying 1/2 of the cost. I have money for this, because I haven't bought much stuff. To comment on earlier post. No I don't have a phone. I've never spent money I've gotten. So yeah I have a lot saved up and I can buy something nice if I want to. My parents wanted me to buy a mac, the main reason I can go so high end is that I am putting a lot of my own money into this. So keep that in mind before comments about how I'm spoiled. I have a small business, I saved up my money to pay for half of it. I am willing to listen to suggestions for lower end models, but I don't want to hear comments on how spoiled I am and I have seen a couple. Please, just stop. I was asking a question, it doesn't mean I'm buying THIS model. I'm also looking at a dual-core i7 model and a dual-core i5 model.
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I don't think its so much as you're spoiled that its not the best time to be buying a new macbook pro. High school really doesn't require it. You can get by using pretty much any computer, actually (well, maybe not a TRS-80)..
Truly though, I would recommend waiting for college. Yes, the next 4 years will be heck waiting to get it, but I'd go and save more money and get a truly maxed out machine, + accesories (external HDD, 802.11AC router, etc). Going to college with a 4 year old computer isn't a great plan. Of course, if your business (may I ask what it is? iPhone repair?) starts really making money, and you will have enough money in 4 years to buy a new computer, go ahead I suppose. Its really not up to me.
Personally, my parents are getting me a baseline macbook once I am out of HS. And then I'll be footing the bill for the upgrades, so I'll be in the same place you are.
And if you do choose to get a computer, at least wait for the haswell release and see if you like the specs. If not, go buy a refurb or used on ebay/similar.
Best of luck,
T
To be honest, you do not need a high end laptop for High School. I graduated HS in 2012, the most we did with our crappy school laptops was writing papers and doing research. You could easily do that on a cheap Dell/HP laptop and continue to save that money for College. If you have to have something new and shiny for High School, you can get a Macbook Air.
It makes more sense to buy a laptop for College. But High School usually provides you with computers/laptops to work with. Good luck with your first year!
It makes more sense to buy a laptop for College. But High School usually provides you with computers/laptops to work with. Good luck with your first year!
Well if OP wants to game and do iOS development then the 15" would be better due to its dGPU. A 13 inch could probably work for basic things like minecraft though. Also the 15 inch has a bigger screen so you can multitask better, which could be a good thing or a bad thing.