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MBP for college, buy now or wait?

J

jetblk328i

macrumors 6502
Original poster
Apr 20, 2010
403
0
Hello, I am shopping for a new laptop for college. Originally, i had been looking at the whitebook, but given the update, the difference in price is only $60(4gb ram upgrade on white).

Therefore, I am deciding between a MBP 13" 2.4ghz or a Sony Vaio CW with an i5 540.

I do not mean for this to be a mac vs pc thread so I will get to my question:

Should I purchase the Pro when the back to school sale starts, or should I wait for a MBP update? I was not expecting the pro to be updated as they were just updated in april, but after reading different threads in this forum, I hear they may be getting an update later this year? Is there any truth to this? Given the new whitebook upgrade, I guess it seems possible that apple will upgrade the base mbp 13 a bit.

Thanks!
 
If I were to pick between the 13" mbp and the vaio z, I'd get the Sony if I'm willing to pay the price.

And you save much more money if you buy the mbp during back-to-school sales. Plus you can get a free iPod (or hopefully low-end iPad... Haha) anyways there won't probably be another refresh over the summer, sadly, as I was hoping for a bump-up in the current gpus. But I'm hoping they do have another (minor?) refresh before the school year starts.

Surely said:
If they are updated later this year, it won't be until after the back to school promotion ends.
Click to expand...

^ and that scares me :(
 
i don't know about the sony, but if your considering the mac I would wait for the back to school promo and get the free touch (after rebate), if you don't want it/need it you can sell it to a friend or ebay it. you may not get top dollar as i'm sure others will be doing the same, but you'll get some money back.
 
It seems like we get around a thread a day asking roughly the same question. My advice is to wait for the Back-to-School promotion. Judging from years past, it should start in under two weeks. You should then be able to get an 8GB iPod touch free after rebate.
 
Back to school deal, you'll even get a "free" something or other out of it. Even bill gates suggests waiting. :p
 
WAIT! The back to school promotions are just around the corner. Definitely will be able to get a couple hundred dollars worth of free gear if you wait.
 
Even tho the back to school is a great promo...I would still get the sony just because the C2D is such old tech.
 
My price range is around 1000-1200.

I've never purchased anything under the back to school sale. Can I get a discount instead if I already have an iPod touch? Also, does the free printer deal usually go on with the back to school?

If only the mbp13 had an i3. :(
 
My main concern is the viability of the c2d processor for the next 4 years. I eont be doing processing intensive activites but I want to keep it for at least 4 years. I know the c2d is already outdated. Can it stay usable much longer?
 
jetblk328i said:
My main concern is the viability of the c2d processor for the next 4 years. I eont be doing processing intensive activites but I want to keep it for at least 4 years. I know the c2d is already outdated. Can it stay usable much longer?
Click to expand...

Newer stuff being released doesn't make the older stuff unusable. People would still be using powerbooks and iBooks had it not been for the architecture shift to intel. The C2Ds are very capable especially if you won't use the additional horsepower for anything exciting.
 
jetblk328i said:
My main concern is the viability of the c2d processor for the next 4 years. I eont be doing processing intensive activites but I want to keep it for at least 4 years. I know the c2d is already outdated. Can it stay usable much longer?
Click to expand...

The current Arrandale Core i3 shows no performance gains over the Core 2 Duo chips currently being used. It's just a bunch of people spreading FUD.

https://forums.macrumors.com/threads/899572/
 
Eddyisgreat said:
People would still be using powerbooks and iBooks had it not been for the architecture shift to intel.
Click to expand...

Some of us still use powerbooks and iBooks. My iBook from 2004 runs fine and does what I need it to, basic productivity (Office, limited picture and video editing) and use of the internet. The top specs are for the most recent resource intensive applications. I use my Xbox 360 for that. :D
 
col sandurz said:
Some of us still use powerbooks and iBooks. My iBook from 2004 runs fine and does what I need it to, basic productivity (Office, limited picture and video editing) and use of the internet. The top specs are for the most recent resource intensive applications. I use my Xbox 360 for that. :D
Click to expand...

I'm talking about for apps without universal binaries.
 
jetblk328i said:
My main concern is the viability of the c2d processor for the next 4 years. I eont be doing processing intensive activites but I want to keep it for at least 4 years. I know the c2d is already outdated. Can it stay usable much longer?
Click to expand...

Well you do not want the i3, its basically the new celeron.
The generation old 2.4 GHz C2D should be just as fast as the new i3 (or faster), and you get the nvidia 320m which would not be available with the i3.

And as far as the back to school promotion, you would get a student discount + rebate for a free printer + rebate for $199 (more than likely since its the price of the 8GB iPod touch) on any iPod or maybe iPad.
And they will not give you the $199 off the MacBook Pro, you have to buy an iPod (or maybe iPad).
 
That '4 year old tech' will probably perform the even better than the i3.

Don't listen to some people on macrumors. Some just want the i3 because it's the latest and sounds cooler, while really, the C2D's have some advantage right now.

Now, if they were to put an i5 in the macbook pro, that would be something else. But i think there was a limit on space in the 13inch or they wanted better graphics, im not sure.

Basically, c2d is great for you and will be for the next 4 years. Just dont expect to run the latest games in 3 years time (if you game).
 
buy now, refresh was just made. otherwise you'll find yourself in the vicious cycle of waiting and never buying!
 
i'm pretty sure i already know the answer for this but can you buy a refurbished mbp and still use the back to school program
 
I would wait for the Back to School promo and then Buy a MBP. There is not going to be another major refresh this year. Best anyone could hope for is minor speed increases, which won't amount to much in terms of raw performance. I'm pretty sure C2D macbooks and 13" MBPs will continue to be made and sold through next year.
 
Wait then get the MBP with a free iPod you can give to a family member or something. Core2Duo is better than all the i3 and the low-end i5 because it isn't a power-hungry-battery-hogging-over-powered P.O.S.
 
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