Macbook Pro or Macbook Pro Penryn!?

T

thebeat

macrumors regular
Hey guys, I am at a stage in my College life where they require me to buy a MAC this semester. I thought they would release one at MACWORLD but they didn't. The school is giving me 3 weeks deadline to buy one or else I get kicked out of the Graphic Design program.

Ok my question is:
Should I buy the Macbook Pro Now? Or should I wait? I will not be playing any games. I am just doing graphic design with Dreamweaver, inDesign, Photoshop, Flash etc.. and also some film editing. Would the performance increase be A LOT faster and better if Penryn came out? If its a small difference, then I probably would just buy one now. Thanks

also another question, is it possible to hookup your Macbook Pro to a 22" inch monitor and have it display there instead of the 15" inch? Thanks
 
Wow they'll kick you out?

Anyway to your question... here's the problem. Even if the new MBP came out lets say next week. Will it be available at retail or have a wait time like the Macbook Air?

As for performance, it will be faster, but that will depend on what you're doing and if the software are patched to use SSE4. Assuming no SSE4 support, you'll probably gain roughly 5-10% performance increase. And also slightly better battery life but I would think you'll be using it plugged to AC outlet.

Honestly I'd probably say wait til middle of next week see if Apple does silent refresh, if not buy current MBP. You don't want to wait til the very last minute and possibly jeopordize your college program.
 
If you're going to be buying a MacBook Pro and aren't anxious to get it and have 3 weeks before school necessitates you having one, you might as well wait until the last possible day and hope that Apple updates it before then.

There's not any hard evidence to support it, but I'm hoping the next MacBook Pro will get a new design. Apple has been using the same 17'' notebook design since January of 2003, and the 15'' has had the same design for almost as long.
 
thebeat said:
Hey guys, I am at a stage in my College life where they require me to buy a MAC this semester. I thought they would release one at MACWORLD but they didn't. The school is giving me 3 weeks deadline to buy one or else I get kicked out of the Graphic Design program.

Ok my question is:
Should I buy the Macbook Pro Now? Or should I wait? I will not be playing any games. I am just doing graphic design with Dreamweaver, inDesign, Photoshop, Flash etc.. and also some film editing. Would the performance increase be A LOT faster and better if Penryn came out? If its a small difference, then I probably would just buy one now. Thanks

also another question, is it possible to hookup your Macbook Pro to a 22" inch monitor and have it display there instead of the 15" inch? Thanks
Click to expand...

Buy the damn thing now. The speed difference for what you will be using it for is going to be 2 to 6% -- you will NEVER notice the speed difference.

Now if you were encoding DIVX movies there would be a significant difference.

There are many reports of Penryn performance being luke warm.

Battery life is a different story: you get 20 to 30 minutes more with Penryn.

I have a new 17" MBP 2.6 -- I get 3 to 4 hours under load, using apps like you are going to use (I make my living that way).

YES -- you can hook the MBP us to an external monitor and have it display there -- I hook mine up to a 30" HP LP3065, ACD 30, and/or ACD 23.

I use a wireless keyboard and mouse.

Buy now. No updates likely to come in the next 3 weeks.
 
thebeat said:
Hey guys, I am at a stage in my College life where they require me to buy a MAC this semester. I thought they would release one at MACWORLD but they didn't. The school is giving me 3 weeks deadline to buy one or else I get kicked out of the Graphic Design program.

Ok my question is:
Should I buy the Macbook Pro Now? Or should I wait? I will not be playing any games. I am just doing graphic design with Dreamweaver, inDesign, Photoshop, Flash etc.. and also some film editing. Would the performance increase be A LOT faster and better if Penryn came out? If its a small difference, then I probably would just buy one now. Thanks

also another question, is it possible to hookup your Macbook Pro to a 22" inch monitor and have it display there instead of the 15" inch? Thanks
Click to expand...

I would wait expect updates within a few days. Also, I would consider renting a macbook pro from this website

http://www.laptoprent.com/ rent it until the macbook pros get updated. It is about 300 bucks for a week. Not bad. So I would wait until next week. If nothing is updated then I would rent it for 300 bucks. Or buy a macbook pro when it gets updated pay the restockin fee, which is actually more because they also add tax to your order.
 
thebeat said:
Hey guys, I am at a stage in my College life where they require me to buy a MAC this semester. I thought they would release one at MACWORLD but they didn't. The school is giving me 3 weeks deadline to buy one or else I get kicked out of the Graphic Design program.

Ok my question is:
Should I buy the Macbook Pro Now? Or should I wait? I will not be playing any games. I am just doing graphic design with Dreamweaver, inDesign, Photoshop, Flash etc.. and also some film editing. Would the performance increase be A LOT faster and better if Penryn came out? If its a small difference, then I probably would just buy one now. Thanks

also another question, is it possible to hookup your Macbook Pro to a 22" inch monitor and have it display there instead of the 15" inch? Thanks
Click to expand...

Buy Now!!!!
 
Bababasjd said:
Also, I would consider renting a macbook pro from this website
http://www.laptoprent.com/ rent it until the macbook pros get updated. It is about 300 bucks for a week. Not bad. So I would wait until next week. If nothing is updated then I would rent it for 300 bucks.
Click to expand...

Rent for $300/week?? That's a huge waste of money, especially for a student.

Buy from the refurb store. It's the same product, same warranty, only cheaper (and a different box). If there's a refresh soon, then you can sell it for the latest and greatest. If there's a refresh within 10 days of your purchase, then Apple will refund the difference between what you paid and what they sell it for post-refresh.
 
buy now. You can always sell it and upgrade when the time comes. Upgrading is so easy I have started doing it every 6 months or so just for a chance. I always buy refurb or on a clearance or sale. I managed to sell my previous macbook pro for 50 bucks more then i paid for it on ebay! lol.

You can upgrade for such a minimal price, I'd buy next week (wait until later mid week so you can see if they do a silent refresh) otherwise grab a 15inch 2.2 from the refurb store. 1699 (less then the student discount) .. 1800 including the tax. You'll get it in a few days with shipping and will meet your deadline by over a week :) Perfect.

Something new comes out and you want it... ebay your old one and grab the new one. Shouldn't be much of a price difference (if any if you find someone willing to pay new laptop prices on ebay, which happens a lot, especially if you are willing to ship to the UK or something. Apple products have such horrible markups over seas, it's cheaper for them alot.. even with duty and all that stuff)

Goodluck!

300 bucks a week???? that's such a rip off. Not bad? I guess if you are a rich business person who only needs a laptop for a conference.. but.. seriously, why not just BUY a laptop for that price and sell it when you are done. There is very little possibility of you not being able to get back all you paid... or lose more then 50-100 bucks on it.

Yipes.
 
If you want a deal...people on eBay are selling some MBP pretty cheap. I know its eBay, but I just got a 2.2GHz MBP, brand new in the box with Leopard for $1650
 
Bababasjd said:
I would wait expect updates within a few days. Also, I would consider renting a macbook pro from this website

http://www.laptoprent.com/ rent it until the macbook pros get updated. It is about 300 bucks for a week. Not bad. So I would wait until next week. If nothing is updated then I would rent it for 300 bucks. Or buy a macbook pro when it gets updated pay the restockin fee, which is actually more because they also add tax to your order.
Click to expand...

How is $300/week not bad?

In less than 2 months you would have spent the amount to buy one.
 
they kick u out?
ridiculous? what kind of school do u go to?
i go to a design and they dont FORCE you to buy a computer.

if u really need it get it.
if u have 3 weeks wait the 3 weeks.

i need one too and i have money saved up.
i just dont want to buy one now and it get updated.
macworld was going to be my mark to buy, but now im gonna wait 2 weeks then buy. just bc ppl say they wont to overshadow the air. maybe true? i dunno. i hope.
 
I don't need a mbp at all.. but even I'm going to one next week..

the current mbp is a very fast machine, you're not gaming, so a graphics chip update won't affect you, the programs you listed aren't likely to be SSE4 optimized anytime soon, making the move to Penryn would be of minimal benefit for the tasks you'll be putting the machine through.

Just buy the machine and be happy with it.
 
CV4 said:
How is $300/week not bad?

In less than 2 months you would have spent the amount to buy one.
Click to expand...

Actually it is not 300 per week. That was my error. It is 300 dollars for 30 some days. It is actually a very good deal. I mean 300 dollars for 1 month for a notebook that is top of the line. Not bad at all. You are paying about 10 bucks a day. I think it is a good idea because it give you time to reassess your thoughts and to see if he even like the course. Also why do you even need a mac, most colleges require Pc's and many of them dont even have macs in it? Most video editing in hollywood I know is done in Pc's not apples.
 
Andrmgic said:
I don't need a mbp at all.. but even I'm going to one next week..

the current mbp is a very fast machine, you're not gaming, so a graphics chip update won't affect you, the programs you listed aren't likely to be SSE4 optimized anytime soon, making the move to Penryn would be of minimal benefit for the tasks you'll be putting the machine through.

Just buy the machine and be happy with it.
Click to expand...

I second this post. I have a 2.2 MBP (current model) and it is quite the machine. You'd be hard pressed to find a (significant/noticeable) performance difference between this one, and the previous models.

The same will more than likely be true for performance between the new models and this one.
 
Bababasjd said:
Actually it is not 300 per week. That was my error. It is 300 dollars for 30 some days. It is actually a very good deal. I mean 300 dollars for 1 month for a notebook that is top of the line. Not bad at all. You are paying about 10 bucks a day. I think it is a good idea because it give you time to reassess your thoughts and to see if he even like the course. Also why do you even need a mac, most colleges require Pc's and many of them dont even have macs in it? Most video editing in hollywood I know is done in Pc's not apples.
Click to expand...

ya well I guess your Colleges are different then. My college uses pretty much all macs. Its a Graphic Design College and we're all running on MacPro's with all Cinema displays right now. And video editing in my program is minimal, its mostly photoshop, dreamweaver, flash, indesign, etc. etc. etc. the whole suite.

Thanks for the help guys.
 
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