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

Mac Book Pro - first Mac - Advice!

A

africano

macrumors regular
Original poster
Jul 7, 2011
114
0
Hi guys,

Im from Spain. I dont own a Mac, only apple device I have is a Iphone 3GS. Since then I fell in love with Apple and their software and devices!

Ive got a desktop pc which I built myself and is about 3 years old, I use ubuntu on it and also have dual boot for windows 7. Computers working fine and Im okay with it, I hope it will last at least another year or so.

Ive always wanted a MAC and a laptop so Ive been looking at the Mac Book Pro! Now Ive read it has had an update recently, in february, and that probably next year its gonna get a real update with major changes. So the main questions are:
1. Should I buy now or wait?¿
2. Which version should I buy - Im leaning towards the smaller 13" MBP, Im gonna use it mostly when I travel and to do some basic task although I would also like to use photoshop on it and so on.

So can I get some advice?¿ I will be buying here in Spain!

Thanks to everyone!
Gracias!
 
Buy now if you want it now. the next update will be around the same time next year (probably).

As for which one you should buy, if your traveling with it a lot, the 13" is the best bet, or 15" if you need more horsepower for photoshop etc.
 
Hi all,
I'm also in a situation to buy a new mac for the first time. I'm a student and I use a computer sometimes 12 hours a day, I carry it around with me (not everyday). I do multiple processing. not heavy programs but I always have outlook, office, firefox (around 10 tabs), skype running at the same time. My last ssd pc went to junk in 10 months because of heating and the noise of the fan! I hate slow computers. My options are buying a 13 inch with i5 and upgrading it with 8gb ram and maybe an sdr drive or buying a 15 inch and not doing any upgrade. I'm tight on budget even tough I have the student discount. I also considered 13 inch i7 but everyone complains about the heating, fan, etc. I went to an apple store and liked 13 because it's compact but I'm still undecided. I need to buy the mac before august 20 as I'll be leaving usa for a couple of months- do you think I shall wait for the rumored new macbook pro? And also I plan to use this machine at least for a couple of years.
any help is appreciated. Thanks!
 
People, there is no "rumored MacBook Pro". The next model won't come until December 2012. Personally, I don't see the point of waiting that much. It is not that the current one will be unusable, you know.
if you need now, buy. I have the 13" 2011 and no fan noise nor overheat. You need to realise that people without these problems don't even bother to come here.
 
Oh yeass, you are right- I just confused mac pro with macbook pro, sorry for that.
So as I said, I will definitely buy a macbook pro within the next month. Did u do any upgrades?
 
stdwest said:
Oh yeass, you are right- I just confused mac pro with macbook pro, sorry for that.
So as I said, I will definitely buy a macbook pro within the next month. Did u do any upgrades?
Click to expand...

You won't need to. I did what you did and more on a daily basis with an old MacBook from 07 with 4 gigs of RAM. A baseline 13 MBP should be a good fit for you. You would also be able to upgrade the RAM to 6/8 gigs, however I don't think you would need to do that.
 
hey, thanks for the reply though I'm more inclined towards a 15 inch now after talking to a friend who knows how I use a computer. You said you were able to do more and fine with it but I'm a very bad computer user. I mean my current core2duo 4gb ram ddr3 is killing me- actually I killed it! I know I should not compare a windows with a mac but man it's really painful! And I probably shouldn't evaluate a mac based on the experience that I had at an apple retail store but the 13 inch ones at the apple store were not what I really wanted in terms of performance.
 
africano said:
Since then I fell in love with Apple and their software and devices!
Click to expand...
Hey, I know the feeling! :D I bought an iPhone, now I got a MBP 13", time machine, magic mouse.... Watch out or you'll ruin yourself like me, hehe.

So the main questions are:
1. Should I buy now or wait?¿
Click to expand...
If you need a new lappy now, or want something nicer than what you got and don't mind spending the money, buy one now. There will ALWAYS be something better available next year, waiting just to wait for something better and you'll never be able to buy anything.

However, if you don't really need a new computer, or you'd rather save your money, then wait. Only you can decide what you really need. Next year, the current Sandy Bridge CPUs will be replaced by Ivy Bridge; a minor improvement on a smaller silicon manufacturing process that gives incremental improvements in performance and major improvements in power useage (longer battery life, less heat output).

Ivy Bridge will then be succeeded by Haswell, probably some time in 2013, which uses same process as Ivy Bridge so only incremental improvements in power, but instead features major improvements in performance. This strategy is termed "tick-tock" by Intel; they take a largely proven design and shrink it to a new process, that makes the shrinking easier. When the new process is mature only then do they make big changes to the chip to improve performance.

So as you can see, you'll never "get the best" if you wait; something new is constantly just over the horizon! :D Right now, Sandy Bridge is the fastest thing around by quite a margin. If you want the newest, fastest and can't wait any longer, there's nothing wrong with buying now. But in 8-10 months or so there will be a new generation that's going to be even better. So... Your choice.

2. Which version should I buy - Im leaning towards the smaller 13" MBP
Click to expand...
I bought the 13" because it's so small and sweet. It's got everything I need, all it's really lacking is USB 3.0 ports, and that doesn't come in Apple computers until Haswell next year, and I'm not even really missing much because there's hardly any peripherals that use USB3, and none that I actually need.

I most recently discovered (well, was told by more experienced Mac users!) that the headphone jack is also a digital toslink output. So I hooked up the MBP with my old Minidisc player optic fiber cable to my surround system and now I can watch DVDs with dolby digital sound. Apple is good with nifty little features like that!
 
Im still thinking of buying a Mac notebook......As Ive said I basically would need it to travel, do basic tasks as well as some photoshop.....Im thinking about the mac book pro low end 13 inch and the new mac book air low end 11 or 13 inch.....I need more advice, can people please recommend?

thanks and Im thinking of buying soon so please help!

Gracias!
 
africano said:
Im still thinking of buying a Mac notebook......As Ive said I basically would need it to travel, do basic tasks as well as some photoshop.....Im thinking about the mac book pro low end 13 inch and the new mac book air low end 11 or 13 inch.....I need more advice, can people please recommend?

thanks and Im thinking of buying soon so please help!

Gracias!
Click to expand...

What will you truly do, everyday, on the computer, that will help us help you.
 
Hi, well I want it for some light use, word processing, internet brwosing and maybe some photoshop work......

Another thing Im thinking about is whether I could take my mac book pro 13 on my travels?¿ Im gonna do some travelling, backpackers style, staying at hostels, public transport, etc in china and thailand for 2 months and Im thinking of taking my macbook pro 13, if I end up getting it......would it be small enough to take with me and would it be safe or should I not take it?¿

Any advice?¿
 
Just a comment on waiting for a hotter machine. I have the early 2010 17" i7, 8G MBP and it still runs like a scalded monkey. Even when running multiple OS's via VMWare, it still runs really well. The only thing that would keep me from buying right now is all the negative things I have heard about Lion and the inability of the new machines to run SL. But then again I have 2 stable macs now - if I didn't have any, I might just go ahead and buy now and deal with the Lion instabilities until it gets better.

Regarding portability and ruggedness, I have traveled with it to Asia - never had an issue - however even though I use a backpack to carry my mbp, I wasn't really traveling backpack style. It was business travel staying in nice hotels. I bought the level 8 backpack from the apple store - it has a nice padded area to hold the mbp.
 
africano said:
Hi, well I want it for some light use, word processing, internet brwosing and maybe some photoshop work......

Another thing Im thinking about is whether I could take my mac book pro 13 on my travels?¿ Im gonna do some travelling, backpackers style, staying at hostels, public transport, etc in china and thailand for 2 months and Im thinking of taking my macbook pro 13, if I end up getting it......would it be small enough to take with me and would it be safe or should I not take it?¿

Any advice?¿
Click to expand...

Yea it's small enough; do you think you can carry an extra 5 pounds?

Being a college student, the only problem I have is the limitation of the size of my backpack; with an organic chem book, folders/papers, and the macbook, it weighs a bit over 10 pounds; not too bad but it could be lighter at the end of the day.

The problem I have is that the backpack isn't made to hold that much stuff, in terms of volume, not weight. So depending on how much walking you are doing, if you can carry it, I'd say to bring it. Of course, with everything, be careful and dont' leave it around.

If I'm leaving the room before class for something as quick as a sip of water or to the bathroom, I either put my mbp in the backpack and take that or take the mbp out and take it with me on it's own.

One slip up is all you need and the thing will be gone by the time you turn around.
 
13" MacBook Pro is perfect for traveling...I realized when I carry old heavy Powerbook G4 I had trouble running that fast..but I will see how heavy is MacBook Pro in few days. Both are 15 inches.
 
13" is fine for travelling, but if you like extra screen space, 15" is fine imo. shouldn't be much difference between 13" and 15" :)

i would buy now if needed, otherwise waiting is no problem because there may be an extra bump in design/processor :)
 
Sorry to bring this up again guys....but I still havent decided.....I mean Im nearly there but.....basically Im thinking of getting the macbook pro 13" laptop but not the more expensive one, the cheaper of the two.......its around 1200 € the more expensive one is around 1500 €......

Will the cheaper one be enough to do basic work as well as some photoshop¿? will it handle photoshop well as some of the images I work with are pretty heavy?

I know technology changes fast and its hard (impossible) to keep up with, but Ive heard recently after the iphone 4s has come out that mac book pros are gonna get a revamp....although some say its gonna be in specs, etc....so no major design change yet.....anyways Im not to hassled.....just some opinions needed!

Wanting to buy at the end of this month!

thanks and share you mac knowledge with a aspiring mac newbie! Ive got an iphone 3Gs, probably my best technology buy ever!

Oh and what does tha macbook pro ship with, lion? any problems? any advice on when Im buying if I should get some other software, etc?

thanks!
 
I would hold out for this...

attachment.php
 
Haha that's a nice mockup; I'd get that.

anyway, to the OP, I think at this point you need to do more searching online through forms. You can ask us questions on all day, but if you have specific needs, it would be better to actually search the forums and read what other people are already said that were in your similar position.

It's a lot easier and faster than asking us and then waiting for a good response; there are tens of posts with the same questions and answers posted every week.

Hope we helped. :)
 
Young Spade said:
You're holding a cuter purchase for a mockup that's coming out next year? What are you using as your main computer now?
Click to expand...
I'm using an iPad, iPhone and 2 Windows laptops now. Soon to be replacing the Windows laptops with a MBP.
 
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