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I know it's been beaten to death, but...

M

MarkW

macrumors newbie
Original poster
Apr 25, 2008
23
0
Okay, let me explain my situation:
I have been wanting to get a mac for ages. Today, my laptop died. Well, it decided that it doesn't want to charge any more unless I plug in the charger in the exact right way.
So, I need a new laptop, and like I said, been wanting a mac, so a macbook it is!

But here comes the dilemma: this update which is due.
Obviously, I need a new laptop. But I feel I should wait if an update is just around the corner (and I can wait a little while)

So like, if it's going to be released in mid-July with the new processors, I shall wait - but if it's not going to be released until September when the back-to-school promotion ends in the states, I'll just buy it now.

So what do you think I should do?
 
I say pick up a used iBook on eBay for like $150-200 just to get your feet wet. Make sure it has at least Tiger on it. I wouldn't bother upgrading it to Leopard since now your talking about $129. So stick with the old junker until the new machine comes out. And then buy the new machine. Sell the iBook back on eBay for $150.
 
Thank you both for your opinions :)

krye said:
I say pick up a used iBook on eBay for like $150-200 just to get your feet wet. Make sure it has at least Tiger on it. I wouldn't bother upgrading it to Leopard since now your talking about $129. So stick with the old junker until the new machine comes out. And then buy the new machine. Sell the iBook back on eBay for $150.
Click to expand...

While this is an interesting idea, I am in the UK: prices are higher and Macs are less common: the cheapest ibook I could find on ebay with tiger+ is £255 including postage costs (about $500) and I don't have that kind of money to splash around.
 
Why not go ahead and buy now? I can understand if the update was going to be in a few days why you might wait. In fact I got lucky because when I bought my MacBook the day I ordered it was the day they started shipping the Santa Rosa MacBooks. However, since we are looking at at least another month here if you need a notebook computer go ahead and get the MacBook, you won't regret it. You will have what you need.
 
There will not be an update for a while sense there is no new technology to put into it. The next platform they were going to use has been delayed (due to a small catch, it doesn't work) until sometime in July, so the new Macbooks probably wont be available until end of July/start of August, and shipping two weeks after that. If you can wait 2 months go for it.
 
Call me crazy, but it sounds like your current laptop needs a minor repair. Why not just get it fixed and keep using it until the upgrade hits...?
 
The current Macbooks are great. I recently bought a blackbook (replaced a two year old 1st gen Macbook and a MBP (purchassed last Nov)), and couldn't be happier with it.

It stays a lot cooler than my 1st gen Macbook and my previous gen MBP. I loaded it up with 4GB ram and a 320GB hdd (both purchased from newegg) and it has been a workhorse. (I do a lot of virtualization, primarily with VirtualBox, and have been very happy with the performance.)
 
munckee said:
Call me crazy, but it sounds like your current laptop needs a minor repair. Why not just get it fixed and keep using it until the upgrade hits...?
Click to expand...

It is out of warranty, the manufacturer won't repair it and local computer shops have also advised the cost of repair wouldn't be worth it.

I have decided I am going to go ahead and purchase now :) Thanks everyone.
 
MarkW said:
It is out of warranty, the manufacturer won't repair it and local computer shops have also advised the cost of repair wouldn't be worth it.

I have decided I am going to go ahead and purchase now :) Thanks everyone.
Click to expand...

Well... just plug it in the right way and let it charge and use the laptop. I'm sure you can live with it for a month or 2, and I'm SURE the new MacBook's will be released before September.
 
acfusion29 said:
Well... just plug it in the right way and let it charge and use the laptop. I'm sure you can live with it for a month or 2, and I'm SURE the new MacBook's will be released before September.
Click to expand...

It's kind of hard to explain without actually seeing the computer, you kind of have to hold it in position at a certain angle - it's very temperamental.
 
Playing the waiting game for too long will drive you nuts. You have to bite the bullet at some point.

If nothing Macbook-related is announced at WWDC 08, then go ahead and buy. At least you'll get a free iPod out of it! :)
 
MarkW said:
Okay, let me explain my situation:
I have been wanting to get a mac for ages. Today, my laptop died. Well, it decided that it doesn't want to charge any more unless I plug in the charger in the exact right way.
Click to expand...

Which laptop do you have? Perhaps it can be repaired.
 
NOOOO!!!! dude just wait a couple more days, Jobs will be done with the WWDC keynote, if anything major is going to be revealed, it will be revealed there. if there is nothing at WWDC you probably should go ahead and buy the laptop with the backtoschool offer.

Best of luck!
 
MarkW said:
It is out of warranty, the manufacturer won't repair it and local computer shops have also advised the cost of repair wouldn't be worth it.

I have decided I am going to go ahead and purchase now :) Thanks everyone.
Click to expand...

Wait a second. It sounds to me like your DC jack has become disconnected.

All it needs is to be soldered back on. Take it to a reputable computer repair shop. Around here something like that only costs $60 or so.

Thats all it is. It's not a dead motherboard or anything like that. The jack just has to be soldered back on.
 
:) I have taken it into a computer store, they said the port itself is damaged and it would cost a lot to fix it. The laptop isn't a known brand and basically, is a cheap piece of crap - it doesn't have the same sized port as say for example, Dell laptops (or any other popular brand) so it's not an easy fix. I could really do with a new laptop anyway - this thing has very little storage and yesterday I had to move some files on to a pen drive so that the Internet would work properly (there wasn't enough space to download anything to the temporary files folder).

So I'm just waiting until monday when I get paid (so if some by kind of miracle means something is announced at WWDC I won't miss out, but I'm not counting on it) and then I'm going to buy :D
To be honest, what are these new macbooks going to bring? Faster processors and new case - 2.4GHz Core 2 Duo will be plenty of an increase from my 1.5GHz Celeron, and I quite like the black plastic

Thanks again for everyone's help, but as nothing is coming in the next few weeks, I'm quite happy to go ahead with it now :)
 
The latest rumors say the MacBook refresh is now scheduled for late August/early September. Since I expect the MacBook to continue to use the Intel integrated graphics chip, they're likely affected by the errata in the X4500 and as such will have to wait until around July 14th when Intel releases that GPU.

Also, since we have yet to hear any peeps about a new case design or material since the initial rumor two months ago, I imagine the MacBook is either not going to change in those areas, or it was always meant to release later in the year then WWDC.

The main advantages Montevina will bring to the MacBook are faster Penryn processors, faster memory speeds and a roughly twice-as-fast integrated GPU (x4500).
 
Just get it now (or wait a couple of days till WWDC, if you're really paranoid ;) )

MacBooks aren't expected to be updated until late august/early september.
 
Yea you might as well just buy it now...the next revisions most likely won't come until after the back to school promotion ends. So thats around september 15th I believe.
 
Is there going to be a redesign of the macbooks sometime this year? There were rumors of mulit touch or something like that. I'm thinking about getting the black macbook.

This would be my first mac purchase. I do have an iphone however.

Another question, I'm not really a laptop person. I was just going to connect the macbook to my 22" westinghouse monitor and buy an external keyboard. Should I just buy an iMac instead? Does the macbook perform as good as an iMac?
 
poblack said:
Is there going to be a redesign of the macbooks sometime this year? There were rumors of mulit touch or something like that. I'm thinking about getting the black macbook.

This would be my first mac purchase. I do have an iphone however.

Another question, I'm not really a laptop person. I was just going to connect the macbook to my 22" westinghouse monitor and buy an external keyboard. Should I just buy an iMac instead? Does the macbook perform as good as an iMac?
Click to expand...

MacBooks are rumored to be redesigned, but no one knows for sure.

Do you need a portable or not? You can connect monitor, kb, mouse to MacBook - and it will perform just the same as if nothing was connected to it. But iMac is more powerful - it has faster processor, faster (and larger) hard drive, A DEDICATED GRAPHICS CARD (which is like 8 times faster than integrated Intel s*** in MacBooks), and a FireWire 800 port.
 
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