Macbook Pro buy now or wait?

[newborn]

I want to buy a new Macbook Pro but I'm not sure if I should buy it now or next year?

If I buy it now i would get also a nano ("Back to school offer" in Europe) but the last update was in June. So I really want to have it now , but I don't need it until August 2008 because then I will go to my new university. So is there any great update expected or a completely new MBP which make it worth waiting such a long time? I don't want to buy a MBP now if there is redesigned MBP in January.

btw.: I know there will be always new products and all of them get old soon after buying them.

 

[irishgrizzly]

If I was in the market for a MBP I'd buy now. It's a great machine and June was only 4 months ago. The last update they had was great. You can spend a life waiting.

 

[Maclover129]

If you need it now, buy it now

Everyone on the forums now say that, 'If you need the machine now, buy it now. But if you don't then wait!' Now, in some ways I agree with them, but, the Macbook Pro was just updated 4 months ago, and the specifications are great!! If you wait, it will be unbearable! I've got a week or so left until I get my first Macbook with Leopard and I've been waiting patiently for about 6 months. Waiting till a supposed January release of the new Macbook Pro will be long and hard.

 

[The Stig]

YOU PEOPLE ARE ALWAYS WAITING!!! 10.5 IS OUT NOW!! BUY A MAC!!! I'M SICKING OF HEARING ABOUT PEOPLE WAITING!!!

TS



Sorry, it is not you, it's me.

 

[Kelmon]

If you are happy to continue to wait then there's the upcoming upgrade to the Penryn processors that will happen next year (probably during the 1st Quarter). No idea what benefit that will have over the current models but it does seem likely that the range will receive a makeover since the current enclosure is largely unchanged from the later G4 range released around 4-years ago. No promises on this but at least the processor change is a certainty.

At the present time I don't expect to see the current model changed until next year (nothing new to add) so you should be safe for at least 2-months+. Since Penryn isn't expected to launch until early next year it seems unlikely that there will be a new model available to buy (it might be announced, however) at MacWorld.

However, to echo the other sentiments on the subject, if the current model does what you need and you need a computer now then I'd buy now without fear.

 

[crazycat]

I think you should wait, you dont need to buy one for atleast another 11 months so why buy now when things will change a lot.

If you are new to macs then i say go ahead and buy it, you will still be able to use the MBP for many years to come. It all depends if you want OS X now or later.

 

[Rizvi1]

I definitely want to buy now... I was just waiting on leapord... any advice on which build to buy? if I buy now, will it arrive at my house with Leapord installed? I'm debating between going with Education discount or the refurbished route.

 

[newborn]

thx for all comments ;-)

Still really hard to decide, I'm not new to Macs, worked with a G4 Powerbook Titanium (Tiger) and a G3 iMac (Mac OS 7-9).
I think the MBP is really beautiful but a new design with e.g. black aluminum would be sexy and therefor I could wait some months.

Yeah and then there is the Back to school offer which lasts only til 30 Oct. a nearly free nano is also a good reason for buying it now.

btw.: Is the Penryn so much fast/better? Or is the difference not exciting? worth waiting?

 

[Kelmon]

btw.: Is the Penryn so much fast/better? Or is the difference not exciting? worth waiting?

As usual it is hard to say until the actual production machines come out and are benchmarked using applications that you or I would really used as compared to the fairly meaningless benchmarks that get trotted out in the marketing blurb. However, your key points are reduction in the size of the processor that should either improve battery life or increase performance or a mixture of both, and an increase in cache memory on the processor. Yes, these processors will definitely be faster than the current Core 2 Duo range but it is definitely debatable as to whether you'd really notice the difference in "the real world". If you can wait for their release then it certainly won't hurt and you may indeed stand a chance of getting the black MacBook Pro that you refer to.

I will note that I ended up waiting around a year for the MacBook Pro that I wanted and it was a tortuous experience that I wouldn't wish on anyone. That said I do still lick mine...

 

[zioxide]

btw.: Is the Penryn so much fast/better? Or is the difference not exciting? worth waiting?

It's just a die shrink of Merom, so you'll only see a little performance boost. And no other features, because the platform is remaining the same.

 

[Multimedia]

January 45nm Penryn Is Worth Waiting For

I want to buy a new Macbook Pro but I'm not sure if I should buy it now or next year?

If I buy it now i would get also a nano ("Back to school offer" in Europe) but the last update was in June. So I really want to have it now , but I don't need it until August 2008 because then I will go to my new university. So is there any great update expected or a completely new MBP which make it worth waiting such a long time? I don't want to buy a MBP now if there is redesigned MBP in January.

btw.: I know there will be always new products and all of them get old soon after buying them.

I vote wait until Penry is inside. But if you are serious about not needing it until next summer and you don't want to resell what you buy in January, then you would want to wait until next summer when the platform moves to Montevina. I'm not convinced you want to wait that long. But remember it is easy to sell what you buy in January-February - first 45nm Santa Rosa Penryn @ 2.6GHz - in August-September when the Quad Core Penryn goes Mobile. 2.8GHz will be the top speed C2D by January 2009. So the 2.6GHz 45nm Penryn C2D we can get this winter will be no slouch for quite sometime.