Sidebar Sidebar
Become a MacRumors Supporter for $50/year with no ads, ability to filter front page stories, and private forums.

Is It Time For Me To Get A New Mac?

C

Cems84

macrumors newbie
Original poster
Apr 3, 2009
5
0
Hello everyone.. First time poster here.. I have a chance to get a new computer but feel my current machine is still pretty good. My only fear is that in a year or two it will be time for a new computer and I would have missed my chance.

I have the first gen MacBook Pro with a 2ghz Intel Core Duo processor, and 2 gigs of RAM. The machine works well but I need a new battery, would like a larger HD and want to make the jump from Tiger to Leopard.

I want to get the base line MBP unibody which would give me a better and faster processor, more RAM, a fresh HD, Leopard and a brighter screen.

I use Final Cut Studio.

I was also thinking about an iMac (7200rpm HD doesnt sound that bad)

So everyone.. Is it time or should i stick with what I got for another 1-2 years?

Thanks!
 
Assuming that your current pro meets your needs processor and graphics wise, figure out how much you could sell it for and deduct it from the cost of a refurb unibody mbp.

Then figure out the cost of a new battery and 7200 hard drive and see which option is more attractive. I've heard the cd's run a lot hotter than the c2d's, but if you can use it for another year or two and save your money in the meanwhile, you maybe could buy the mbp octo or whatever new chip intel will be coming out with then.

As for the battery, try sticking it in the freezer for a couple of days in a zip lock baggie, letting it thaw, and charging it. You may have to try that a time or two. Run coconut battery before and after you do that. I've had good luck with a couple of used powerbook batteries I bought from a local apple repair center. I didn't use coconut to measure them before this trick, but they wouldn't take a charge before, and now they're at 95% capacity or more. I AM LITERALLY DRUNK WITH POWER! :D
 
If you can, you might as well. However, if possible given your circumstances, you should consider waiting until Snow Leopard is released. It will almost certainly be discussed at WWDC (early June) and is rumored to be released by the end of August. If you can wait that long, you might as well.
 
As for the battery, try sticking it in the freezer for a couple of days in a zip lock baggie, letting it thaw, and charging it. You may have to try that a time or two. Run coconut battery before and after you do that. I've had good luck with a couple of used powerbook batteries I bought from a local apple repair center. I didn't use coconut to measure them before this trick, but they wouldn't take a charge before, and now they're at 95% capacity or more. I AM LITERALLY DRUNK WITH POWER! :D
Click to expand...

Is this for real? I don't mean to hijack, but my iBook is down to about 20 minutes of battery and I've been looking into getting a new one. I was about to get an off-brand replacementb but this seems sketchy. If I can just fix my old battery (which is only like 2 years old), that'd be amazing.
 
New Computer?

Cems84 said:
I have a chance to get a new computer but feel my current machine is still pretty good. My only fear is that in a year or two it will be time for a new computer and I would have missed my chance.

I have the first gen MacBook Pro with a 2ghz Intel Core Duo processor, and 2 gigs of RAM. The machine works well but I need a new battery, would like a larger HD and want to make the jump from Tiger to Leopard.

I want to get the base line MBP unibody which would give me a better and faster processor, more RAM, a fresh HD, Leopard and a brighter screen.

I was also thinking about an iMac (7200rpm HD doesnt sound that bad)

So everyone.. Is it time or should i stick with what I got for another 1-2 years?
Click to expand...
If your current MB does what you need done, AND your aren't out of disk space, a new one won't really make you life vastly better, except that a few tasks will finish a little sooner, you'll get more street creds with the rest of us, and the new one will be better to look at. That said, if you start waiting for the better widget that you know is just over the horizon from Apple, then you'll never buy one because there will always be something better coming, assuming as I do that Apple will never go out of business or change their ways significantly.

However, if you're used to the portability that any laptop gives you and the ability to use it 'anywhere' I suspect that an iMac won't be quite right for you.
 
jtgotsjets said:
Is this for real? I don't mean to hijack, but my iBook is down to about 20 minutes of battery and I've been looking into getting a new one. I was about to get an off-brand replacementb but this seems sketchy. If I can just fix my old battery (which is only like 2 years old), that'd be amazing.
Click to expand...

I have FOUR batteries for my 12" powerbook with 95% capacity or more. And when I press the button on the bottom of each of them:

"I SEE FIVE LIGHTS!"

Try it out if you doubt me. I either somehow got three replacement batteries that we beaten up, wouldn't take a charge and somehow had nearly new capacity, or the trick worked. I have no reason to lie; I'm not selling refridgerators.:D If I had bothered to run coconut battery before the deep freeze, I'd be screaming it from the rooftop.

It worked for me. Do the measurements, and let me know if it works for you. (Somehow, that just sounds WRONG...)
 
If it ain't broke...


I would just wait until either I really need it or there was something released that I just couldn't live without. Luckily, my UMB fit both criteria. :D
 
Go with the iMac

I actually just bought my first (at home) Mac ever today, getting the 24" iMac, loaded. I have always had access to Macs and whatever else I need at work, so I get to sample and choose from a lot of PCs and Macs.

My advice would be to think long and hard before getting the new "unibody" Apple laptops. I have had one at my disposal at work for a couple of months and am quite tired of it. I swapped it back in and returned to the previous generation MacBook Pro. The new Apple laptops look very nice and have great performance for their size, but all of the cords; power, ethernet, 2 USB, and display port are crammed together on the left side of the laptop and I found it really annoying.

Take a look:
features-portdiagram20081014.jpg


Seems like I remember Computer OEMs experimenting with this layout about 10 years ago and buyers rebelled. The reasons are the same now:

1) Having all of those connections jammed together on one side does not work well, there isn't enough space when you are adding connections next to each other. You have to take care not to knock the power cable out when adding the network and vice versa. There are only 2 USB connections (which is fine) and they are right next to each other. Hence, there isn't enough room for my flash drive and anything else --I have several different UFD brands, all are too wide for the Mac setup with anything else attached via USB. Attaching my firewire hard drive works, but it is crammed too. I feel sorry for anyone that needs to connect the display port as well.

2) When you do connect a bunch of things all in that one space, the cabling mess is quite ugly and cable length and management becomes an issue. Forget it if you want to use a real mouse with it, Apple's own might mouse is too short if you are right handed. For a lefty, you can't do that because all the cables are in your way. Cables do look and work better when they are spread out with connections around the laptop, or better yet behind your screen.

I guess if one only needed power and only occasionally used peripherals, none of this would be an issue, but my guess is that most people who spring for a notebook in this range are power users and do lots of different things and need the connections.

I know that they put everything there on the one side so they could "unify" the body and not having the connectors in the back makes the notebook thinner, but geez, does it have to be this extreme? Honestly, I don't think I would have a problem with it at all if they just put one USB port on the right side of the thing. That would solve most of it and would make it a much better buy. It is a beautiful machine, it's just a shame the function isn't as good. It may be perfect for others, but doesn't work for me.

_______________________________
HOME: :apple: 24" iMac, 3.06, 4 GB RAM, ATI 512 GPU; iPod Video
WORK: MacPro, 2 CPU, 8 GB, 4 HDD; HP Tablet 2730p, Vista; HP xw8600, Win 7 beta)
 
Refurb Unibody mac, doesn't matter if it's pro or not, but my recommendation. :rolleyes::rolleyes:
 
I HAVE to get a MBP if I'm going for a laptop because I use FCP and need firewire. I just feel that Apple is getting worse towards their pro users. Taking the firewire away from the macbook and as AshMan stated, all the cables on one side.
 
I was in the same boat as you 2 month ago.
Original 2.0GHZ MBP--->2.4GHZ Uni MBP. I am super happy. This new machine is fast. I would reccomend installing a 320GB 7200rpm HD, you can get one for $80 and maxing the ram to 4GB, also $60. (macsales)
Is a much more solid computer.
If you work with FCP, you will only have one FW800 port, so If you plan to capture to an external HD, you will need to use it as bridge to connect your camera.

The upgrade is not minor, is a big difference, do it.
 
Although the upgrade isn't minor, you've waited almost long enough to skip a cpu generation. That is a good thing. If you can pull it off, then do it. If you've got to replace a battery and do other small investments to get yourself there, it would be well worth it. Things to wait for include SL and the next gen cpu. no one knows when SL will come out, other than "this year". Likewise for the cpu.
 
I would upgrade the HDD if possible on your current machine to a 7200RPM drive, and upgrade the RAM.

Those 2 changes should see you a significant increase in performance. At least a noticeable one. Then save your money for the new release late this year or early next year. That's just me. I've never been one for the latest and greatest as long as the current did exactly what I needed it to do and it did it at a speed where I didn't feel I was waiting unnecessarily long for the machine to do something.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Register on MacRumors! This sidebar will go away, and you'll see fewer ads.
Top Bottom
Back