Macbook Pro w/ Dev Discount, or wait for Mobile Nehalem?

[Bluefusion]

Hey everyone-- I've got a painfully-obsolete 12" Powerbook (1.5 GHz G4, 1.5 GB) that I sense I'm outgrowing-- and desperately want a new machine. Here's the dilemma...

I could replace the battery (second time) for $130 and be able to at least use it as a laptop, or just make the switch and try to sell it in its current state.

I stress the HELL out of my machines-- photoshop, video, many programs open, watching streaming movies, etc. A lot of these things don't work so well on my machine, but I've used faster (non-uni mbp's) and loved it. Clearly it would be a lot nicer to have one!! My way of working definitely demands high performance, and I've made much of a machine that doesn't have a whole lot. Anyway...

I am in my last term at college, in a programming class, so I'd qualify for the student ADC discount ($570 on the machine I'm looking at!). In 3 months I won't qualify anymore. BUT, in three months I will be going away and won't need my Mac at all for several weeks. (Obviously after that I will.)

I really wanted to wait for Nehalem because it will be so much more future-proof (and I'm hoping it has the high-capacity battery, as well), but if I do that I will lose out on the discount and have to pay $130 now just to keep this machine running in a normal state (with all my photos, music, movies stuck on external drives... gahhh). What makes sense in this situation? Should I bite the bullet and just buy it now?

Also: is the 2.93 vs 2.66 going to be significantly worth it if I can upgrade at the reduced price of $240?

 

[Tallest Skil]

Clarksfield isn't slated until Q1 2010. Why wait that long?

 

[kastenbrust]

Apple wont be using Clarksfields until Q4 2010 so enjoy your wait.

 

[iMacmatician]

Clarksfield isn't slated until Q1 2010. Why wait that long?

Clarksfield's been delayed? Or do you mean the time when Apple is likely to release Clarksfield MBPs?

I think the possibility that Apple will use Arrandale instead of Clarksfield (for heat / low GHz / other? reasons) is worth considering too.

 

[kastenbrust]

Clarksfield's been delayed? Or do you mean the time when Apple is likely to release Clarksfield MBPs?

I think the possibility that Apple will use Arrandale instead of Clarksfield (for heat / low GHz / other? reasons) is worth considering too.

Apple usually adopt processors just before Intel releases them, or 1 year later.

 

[Abstract]

Apple wont be using Clarksfields until Q4 2010 so enjoy your wait.

Q4?

Like iMacmatician, I started to believe that 45 nm Clarksfield won't come out at all. Too much power consumption (around 45 W), and too much heat. That's probably why quad-core MBPs haven't been released (also 45 W). It's probably too hard to build a 1" thick laptop with those chips inside, as they'd require additional cooling somehow. If Apple came out with a 1.4" thick laptop, Apple users would complain about aesthetics. Instead, they chose to keep the fab looks and went for "decently fast" machines instead. It doesn't result in less complaining, but at least this way they can say they built a laptop that a design team like theirs could appreciate.


Instead, 32 nm Arrandale MacBook Pros will be put into MacBook Pros in Jan 2010.

 

[kastenbrust]

Instead, 32 nm Arrandale MacBook Pros will be put into MacBook Pros in Jan 2010.

I agree with this, however i dont think it will be Jan 2010, i think more summer time, the problem is the current Unibody design isnt capable of cooling both the Core 2 Duo and the 9600GPU at the same time, as is seen by all the 9600 problems, which are clearly overheating issues, so Apples not going to put the Arrandales in until the next redesign when they can think up better cooling mechanisms, which is scheduled for 2010's summer.

Yes i know the 32nm design emits less heat, before you do a facepalm, but its more concentrated heat, so still needs a better cooling mechanism, wahey maybe we'll even go back to notebook liquid cooling, Apples been patenting new ideas based around that like crazy for months recently.

 

[Scottsdale]

Apple wont be using Clarksfields until Q4 2010 so enjoy your wait.

I wouldn't necessarily 100% agree with your recent assessments about when Apple will do things and when other things will happen.

Recently, you said Apple wouldn't update anything until Jobs got back, five days later Apple updated half its computers along with other networking and backup products. Even the 15.4" MBP, which you said wouldn't be updated at all speed bump or not for 7 more months, received a CPU bump on the high-end to the same as 17" MBP and same BTO option of 256 GB SSD. So, Apple did a mini bump after 4.5 months, and not the 11.5 you projected.

Therefore, I think I will tend to direct people that updates are probably coming far sooner than you might have them believe.

I think Apple will want to update the Mac notebooks by the back to school season. Maybe the CPUs are scheduled for second half 2009, maybe pushed back, or maybe the Arrandale by late 2009. WE NEVER KNOW with Apple. Sometimes they amaze us, usually they disappoint us. We could have the same exact MBPs next January waiting on a CPU, or Apple could update with a Core 2 Quad, or they could speed bump update, or they could do ABSOLUTELY NOTHING.

The point is none of us know. That is the only truth you will learn about all of these forums. No matter how credible some seem, they just cannot judge Apple, because its reasoning and updates in recent years have been absolutely perplexing for most.

If you want it now, get it... However, you may want to wait until September or maybe sooner for a Snow Leopard update along with some sort of speed bump update to the MBP. But, really Snow Leopard will absolutely scream on any of the current MBPs. They are all really nice bad ass machines. That 17" MBP Kastenbrust has is shear beauty and magically fast. I played on one at a client's office this morning. I was amazed. The guy had an SSD, which I don't think was the Apple upgrade, but he was busy and forgot to ask if he installed it.

Anyways, it will be MOST LIKELY 4th quarter before we see any kind of huge bump and probably later, but we really don't know what Apple will work out next with Intel. Or, if this Intel and Nvidia thing will blow up the technology of Core i7 used with Nvidia GPU that we would all think Apple would go with, again.

Buy one now and be really happy. Or live without the update for awhile and be really happy when you get the new MBP. Sometimes waiting is better. Makes it all seem worth it. Just waiting for Snow Leopard may make the whole process seem more fun too. Good luck whichever route you go.

 

[iMacmatician]

Apples not going to put the Arrandales in until the next redesign when they can think up better cooling mechanisms, which is scheduled for 2010's summer.

Source?

Yes i know the 32nm design emits less heat, before you do a facepalm, but its more concentrated heat, so still needs a better cooling mechanism,

Then again heat in one location may be easier to cool than heat in multiple locations.

 

[Bluefusion]

One more question --

If I buy the ADC Student membership now, and prove my student status immediately, am I free to use the discount later this year (even though at that point I will no longer be enrolled in college)? Do they have a way of verifying that?

 

[nep61]

Don't wait...

To the OP... re-read your first post again.... pretend to be someone else... read the first post in this thread... That person wants a new machine so badly they can taste it....

Buy the MBP now !!!! Enjoy it while you can... nothing is future proof...(Nehalem because it will be so much more future-proof). Blah, blah blah... yeah, so what?

By the time that machine (Nehalem) comes out, we'll all be waiting for the next MBP that's 2 generations away.... Wait, Wait, Wait...that's all we seem to do.... The time is NOW !!!! Buy the damn thing already and have fun with it.

I just bought the 17" MBP with the 2.93 in it.... Corporate discount... about $240 for the bump from 2.66.... worth it??? I don't know. I just know that I love this machine. It's a Beast, and it rocks.

Ok, I've said my peace... now just order it already...