Hey I'm thinking about getting a Mac Book Pro fully loaded from the apple store and I here people say it's real delicate, is it really that fragile. But more important, is it worth it.
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I'm thinking about getting a Mac Book Pro
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no one would buy if it wasn't worth it 
but they're just as sturdy as any laptop out today, go play with one in an apple store or best buy
but they're just as sturdy as any laptop out today, go play with one in an apple store or best buy
If by "fully loaded" you mean with 4GB of RAM from the Apple store, then no it is not worth it.
Buy the RAM 3rd party and save $100+.
I find mine to be sturdy and well worth the money (I installed RAM myself).
Buy the RAM 3rd party and save $100+.
I find mine to be sturdy and well worth the money (I installed RAM myself).
It's made of aluminium, so I wouldn't call it "real delicate", or "fragile". It is a sturdy, well-made, powerful computer which looks great and works really well; the screen is superb and the performance excellent. I have one - which I bought earlier this year, and I am very happy with it.
Cheers and good luck
I'm 220 pounds and one morning I hopped out of bed not realizing I laid it on the floor the night before and stepped straight on it. No dent, no damage, no nothing. People who say they are delicate have never used one. It flexed in the center when my heel hit it and went right back to normal. (I have a hard floor too).
As far as being worth it, its the best computer I ever owned. (And I own 14 computers). By trade I am a windows technician but I fell in love with mac OS and have been using it since.
As others have stated, make sure you don't buy the apple ram, it is over priced. I got the minimum ram from apple, and ordered from crucial.
It's also very powerful. Here is what I have installed on mine and run all the time:
Adobe Master Collection
Maya
ZBrush (In Windows, Mac Version Sept 29!!!!)
VM Ware/XP Virtual Machine
Painter X
Logic Express
Kompakt
300Gb of sound packs (hence the 5bay hard drive w/ eSata express slot
Lightroom 2
iTunes
Notebook
and I'm always burning my DVD collection to harddrives so I can send the originals home. This happens while I'm using whatever programs I have listed above
They are very powerful laptops. I've never owned such an awesome machine. I'm about to buy an iMac or Mac Pro so I can have a desktop too.
Right now my setup looks like this when I am using it as a desktop:
As far as being worth it, its the best computer I ever owned. (And I own 14 computers). By trade I am a windows technician but I fell in love with mac OS and have been using it since.
As others have stated, make sure you don't buy the apple ram, it is over priced. I got the minimum ram from apple, and ordered from crucial.
It's also very powerful. Here is what I have installed on mine and run all the time:
Adobe Master Collection
Maya
ZBrush (In Windows, Mac Version Sept 29!!!!)
VM Ware/XP Virtual Machine
Painter X
Logic Express
Kompakt
300Gb of sound packs (hence the 5bay hard drive w/ eSata express slot
Lightroom 2
iTunes
Notebook
and I'm always burning my DVD collection to harddrives so I can send the originals home. This happens while I'm using whatever programs I have listed above
They are very powerful laptops. I've never owned such an awesome machine. I'm about to buy an iMac or Mac Pro so I can have a desktop too.
Right now my setup looks like this when I am using it as a desktop:
It's a computer, with sensitive electronics and a few delicate parts. It's also well-designed and sturdy enough for constant, daily usage. Treat it with respect, as you would treat any other $2000 purchase. Get a carrying case if you plan to lug it around a lot.
It was built to be used. And I prefer the aluminium casing over plastic 9 times out of 10.
It was built to be used. And I prefer the aluminium casing over plastic 9 times out of 10.
None of the Apple laptops are that strong when it comes to hits or bumps, maybe that will change when the new ones come out. What are you mainly going to be doing with it anyway?
Any guess on MacBook Pro price trend?
New to forum and Mac (have used PC laptops for 15years) but likely will purchase MacBook Pro soon. With the Sept. 9th Apple announcement as well of rumors of at least minor changes to MBP available in October, I wonder about the timing of a purchase?
Please share any exp. on what typically has happened in the past with minor revisions to the model. Certainly based on my experience with other tech stuff the model that is just recently been supplanted drops in price, but for MBP how much might this be?
Am also considering purchasing refurb from Apple store for the price savings of $400-$500. They typically have the processor with the most recent speed of 2.6 but also the slightly older models with 2.5 processor. So assuming that they simply bump the new MBP to 2.7ghz, any guess on how much more the refurb at 2.6 would drop? I know that Apple can be "quite strange" about announcing or simply making price changes (I note the recent unannounced drop of $500 in the Air laptop).
My purchase is for business and I need to keep my overhead down and keep an eye on deprectiation (actually I'd expect that anyone would want to do this even if purchase is only for personal use).
Anyway thanks for any advice that will cut my learning curve in understanding Apple price behavior. As already suggested I will most likely bump the Ram to 4 gig through purchasing it from 3rd party.
To OP, I hope that this is a firendly set of questions that is also helpful to you - do not want to hi-jack your thread.
New to forum and Mac (have used PC laptops for 15years) but likely will purchase MacBook Pro soon. With the Sept. 9th Apple announcement as well of rumors of at least minor changes to MBP available in October, I wonder about the timing of a purchase?
Please share any exp. on what typically has happened in the past with minor revisions to the model. Certainly based on my experience with other tech stuff the model that is just recently been supplanted drops in price, but for MBP how much might this be?
Am also considering purchasing refurb from Apple store for the price savings of $400-$500. They typically have the processor with the most recent speed of 2.6 but also the slightly older models with 2.5 processor. So assuming that they simply bump the new MBP to 2.7ghz, any guess on how much more the refurb at 2.6 would drop? I know that Apple can be "quite strange" about announcing or simply making price changes (I note the recent unannounced drop of $500 in the Air laptop).
My purchase is for business and I need to keep my overhead down and keep an eye on deprectiation (actually I'd expect that anyone would want to do this even if purchase is only for personal use).
Anyway thanks for any advice that will cut my learning curve in understanding Apple price behavior. As already suggested I will most likely bump the Ram to 4 gig through purchasing it from 3rd party.
To OP, I hope that this is a firendly set of questions that is also helpful to you - do not want to hi-jack your thread.
When they update the Macbook Pro...there is a very high chance that it won't be a minor update but rather a major design over haul. As for what the price drops could be, and what the tech spec update could be, no one really knows.
This is about as accurate a response as anyone can give at the moment.
Well, except Steve...
MacBook Pro price trend?
Thanks for info. and my apologies for not reading other threads. I was going to buy MBP yesterday for an upcoming paid job, but can wait and see developments. I can continue to use current laptop for this job although it is not nearly robust enough. I'm in USA and will also buy current gen refurb, or possibly through my college aged son's student discount.
Certainly seems that if MBP gets major overhaul then prior gen models will have significant price change (whether they are New or refurb). I understand there are many factors that have and will impact near future prices - still hope to cut my learning curve from your exp. And yes I understand the basic advice - If you need it now then buy it now; if not wait and watch.
But if one plans to only buy the current gen model regardless of the specs of the new model then the matrix for decision is easier.
Buy it now if the anticipated price drop in current gen is modest (say $200) and during the 30 to 45 days you are waiting for that price drop to happen your business (or personal life) will get at least that much revenue/value from the current gen laptop purchase. This scenario assumes that the next Gen changes are fairly small.
Scenario two: Postpone purchase if Aranince is right and next Gen is big change and therefore price drop on current Gen is going to be more substantial ($400??).
I would be getting 17" with 7200 rpm HD (I do video editing on the road). Would most likely do Ram upgarde to 4gig from 3rd party - USA purchase.
So really what I am asking is the $200 scenario 1 and $400 scenario 2 price drops a decent guess? Would price drops on refurb of current Gen be more like $150 and $300 for the two scenarios?
Thanks for any additional thoughts, if you care to add them.
(FYI: If you were buying pro-sumer or professional video cam, I or others who know Canon and pricing history could make a decent guess for these kind of scenarios, and biz people have to do it all the time.)
Thanks for info. and my apologies for not reading other threads. I was going to buy MBP yesterday for an upcoming paid job, but can wait and see developments. I can continue to use current laptop for this job although it is not nearly robust enough. I'm in USA and will also buy current gen refurb, or possibly through my college aged son's student discount.
Certainly seems that if MBP gets major overhaul then prior gen models will have significant price change (whether they are New or refurb). I understand there are many factors that have and will impact near future prices - still hope to cut my learning curve from your exp. And yes I understand the basic advice - If you need it now then buy it now; if not wait and watch.
But if one plans to only buy the current gen model regardless of the specs of the new model then the matrix for decision is easier.
Buy it now if the anticipated price drop in current gen is modest (say $200) and during the 30 to 45 days you are waiting for that price drop to happen your business (or personal life) will get at least that much revenue/value from the current gen laptop purchase. This scenario assumes that the next Gen changes are fairly small.
Scenario two: Postpone purchase if Aranince is right and next Gen is big change and therefore price drop on current Gen is going to be more substantial ($400??).
I would be getting 17" with 7200 rpm HD (I do video editing on the road). Would most likely do Ram upgarde to 4gig from 3rd party - USA purchase.
So really what I am asking is the $200 scenario 1 and $400 scenario 2 price drops a decent guess? Would price drops on refurb of current Gen be more like $150 and $300 for the two scenarios?
Thanks for any additional thoughts, if you care to add them.
(FYI: If you were buying pro-sumer or professional video cam, I or others who know Canon and pricing history could make a decent guess for these kind of scenarios, and biz people have to do it all the time.)
The next update will be for the Montevina platform that is out now and it will be minor. Maybe a few cosmetic changes, faster processor, larger trackpad, and (hopefully) a new gpu... but that's about it. They will do a major REVISION when they migrate to mobile Nehalem that is coming next year. They have to do at least one update while they wait to implement Nehalem because the line is very stale. The currently shipping design will work fine for Montevina but Nehalem will probably call for a revision. It's logical that they will wait until next summer to unveil the new design. It also goes along with their current history of updating/revising every 6-8 months. It's been 6 months since the last update... and it will be another 6-8 months until Nehalem.
I will be very surprised (and happy) if they do the revision for Montevina, but it seems unlikely.
Montevina (update): first half of October
Mobile Nehalem (revision): Second half of 2009
ive got a fully loaded macbook pro and i love it! It was at a high price but totally worth every penny! I defiantly think they are more sturdy than the macbook, but that said, it still is a laptop and you have to be careful. I fully suggest getting a 17" hi res with everything you can get on it if you have the money. It will for sure last you. Viva la 
I must say that my MBP isn't much of a fan being lifted up by one hand if theirs a DVD in the drive, it starts shouting at me so I suggest you avoid that. Otherwise I'd agree with the others and say it is incredibly sturdy and capable machine. (Bloody hot too, although my cats love that).
