I'm Poor, Get a MBP 15 Anyways?

[diamornte]

If you're poor, don't major in film production. Stay away from the Industry... Unless you're related to someone in the Industry, it ain't worth it.

 

[chaosbunny]

Whenever you'll buy a 15" mbp (which doesn't have to be now, like others have said) you can save a fortune by waiting for a new revision and then buying a previous revision leftover stock machine. It will only be about 5-10% slower than the newer rev but if you look around you'll get it for 40-50% cheaper. I bought a pre-unibody high end 15" mbp the week the unibodies were released for 1350 € - that machine was about 2300 € before.

 

[FieryFurnace]

Why don't you just buy an iMac?

You probably won't bring your MBP to class anyways and an iMac has more power and a better and bigger screen.

 

[eninety88]

Listen very carefully... GET A DESKTOP. imac, mac mini which cost $600 + $200 monitor will run you the same, if not save you $$$ than the macbook pro. Honestly, ive been in the same situation, and justifying the cost of a macbook pro 15 is quite ridiculous. It's one of apple's more poshier rigs. The mac mini will run whatever you want just fine. Then keep your macbook for class and word processing but leave the editing to the desktop. PC's are that bad neither, i do understand that you want to use final cut and stuff though. If you want more style, grab an imac and be done with it.

 

[Cheffy Dave]

Personally, I do not invest in replacement technology until the current one is absolutely not adecuate. You cannot "foresee" that your macbook will not perform what you need it to do until you put the workload on it. Also if it is now "chugging" maybe you should invest $100 and upgrade the memory if you have not already done so? Also doing an OSX restore from fresh sometimes breathes new life into an old Macbook. But if I was in your shoes I would wait until the last moment. Technology prices go down the longer you wait anyway.

Sound advice RH

 

[palane]

I'd look at those numbers differently. Your suggestion is to spend $1000 instead of $200. Assuming a computer lasts for about 3 years, the cost per year of ownership is $300 - $400. If a memory and hard drive upgrade runs $200 and the owner gets another year or two out of the computer, it's a cost effective return.

I would note that we performed a similar upgrade on our MacBook. We saw the spinning basketball so many times that I began to think we had downloaded the Globetrotters virus! Maxed out the memory and put in a 500GB hard drive for less than $200. The computer pepped up quite a bit. We're probably getting an extra two years out of it and so the upgrade was well worth it.

Finally, I'd urge a little caution to the OP. You're in school now and strapped for cash. Jobs are few and far between at the moment and the outlook isn't brighter for quite some time. This is not the time to take on unnecessary debt. If it's on a credit card, that $1500 can easily roll into $2000 or more by the time you pay it off.

BB

I would think so. Are you willing to throw $200 at it for a new HD and Ram and not feel bad about using that toward a new machine instead.

Let's say you take that $200 you would have used for upgrading...couple that with $600 you would get selling the Macbook on craigslist. You are already $800 toward a $1500 machine. I think you have a solid machine, but I like you, hate throwing money at upgrades to put off an inevitable purchase when you could have just been using that money to buy a new machine. It's a tough decision.

 

[iMacThere4Iam]

As much as I believe that one can never have enough Mac gear, I am nonetheless compelled to advise you to resist the temptation, and hang on to the MB for at least the next year. Let the university machines do the heavy lifting; see what they're capable of first.

Start life out debt - free. There'll be plenty of new Macs waiting for you when you have the cash.

 

[waynechriss]

Ok after much thinking i'm gonna stick with my macbook throughout college and by the time i transfer schools, i'll dip my feet in the waters of how the school works with their computers and programs and then i'll think if i need a new computer or not. I'll save, maybe keep a side stash in case i do want a newer mac in the future.

Kk thanks guys for the opinions.