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New to Macs, is there any pattern of hardware upgrades?

M

mrgrieves

macrumors newbie
Original poster
Sep 19, 2007
28
0
Hi, I've been a desktop PC user all my life, but just recently I've found myself in situations where, more and more often, I need a laptop. Looking around it was easy to find laptops equally, or even more powerful than Apple variants for over $500 cheaper. However the thing that gets me is battery life, and for some reason (I'm not savvy enough to know why), it seems that laptops with equal stats, with the best battery available to them, have an average of 1/3rd or less battery life.

That, and they are in general really ugly, and the Macbooks are gorgeous.

So, I guess I've come to the conclusion that I will be buying a Macbook Pro within the next month, however I'm very underwhelmed at the performance of the 8600m, and so I was curious as to what Apple's hardware upgrade patterns look like.

Do they usually upgrade their laptops, or at least the line I'm looking at, every 6 months? 3 months? Every time there is an OS upgrade?

I know that Leopard is coming soon, and I've scoured the web to try to glean exactly the information I'm asking about, but I've failed.

The truth is I could wait until about the beginning/middle of December to buy the laptop, and if I end up blowing $2500 on a laptop whose graphical performance I already know I'm going to be disappointed by, just to see an 8800 or better variant come out within a few weeks for the same price, I'm going to cry.

I know you guys don't care about me crying, but I do.

So without falling back onto the "you can't wait for new tech because it always becomes obsolete within a few months" argument, can you please tell me whether I can expect (at least from a historical pattern angle) Apple to upgrade their Macbook Pros by December?

Thank you very much oh omniscient and philanthropic Macheads for dedicating some of your precious time dealing with my humble thread.
 
flopticalcube said:
Welcome to the forums. The MacRumors guides are invaluable for newcomers. Particularly the Buyer's Guide. Check for cycles and patterns there and keep an ear on the forums. Regarding the MBPs, there is little for Apple to upgrade with (from Intel) until early next year.
Click to expand...

Thanks a bunch, that is exactly what I was looking for.

I guess I'll buy one now even though the average upgrade is only 80 days away (I know, I know, "averages").

The only disconcerting thing is the line about an ultrathin version that may be out before the end of the year.

Oh well, nothing is classier than a fat laptop.
 
AlexisV said:
What kind of programs will you be using where the GeForce might not cut it? Games?
Click to expand...

Yeah, my buddy got a MBP immediately after these last ones came out, and he's been telling me about <20-30FPS framerates in even some older games. Not to mention I've checked out the benchmarks on the 8600m and they are pretty dismal.

I don't suppose it's possible to manually upgrade the laptop to a better video card?
 
mrgrieves said:
Yeah, my buddy got a MBP immediately after these last ones came out, and he's been telling me about <20-30FPS framerates in even some older games. Not to mention I've checked out the benchmarks on the 8600m and they are pretty dismal.

I don't suppose it's possible to manually upgrade the laptop to a better video card?
Click to expand...

Nope. But it is one of the fastest mobile DX10 capable cards around, FWIW.
 
flopticalcube said:
Nope. But it is one of the fastest mobile DX10 capable cards around, FWIW.
Click to expand...

Yeah, the DX10 mobile field is small right now, but even the closest step up (ATI 2600XT) is about 20% more powerful.

However, no big deal I guess. Maybe dealing with choppy games will finally get me to stop wasting so much time on them, and focus more on my crip walk.
 
mrgrieves said:
Yeah, the DX10 mobile field is small right now, but even the closest step up (ATI 2600XT) is about 20% more powerful.

However, no big deal I guess. Maybe dealing with choppy games will finally get me to stop wasting so much time on them, and focus more on my crip walk.
Click to expand...

LOL! There were loads of people on this board complaining when the iMacs came out with a 2600XT that they would rather have the 8600m GT because it was faster! Can't please everyone. :)
 
Mobility HD 2600XT > Geforce 8600M GT

That is at proper clock speeds. In a laptop that size you're not going to find a better video card.

Patterns are easy to keep up with predictable expos and conferences that Apple attends. Not that being a MacRumors user doesn't help either.
 
Eidorian said:
Mobility HD 2600XT > Geforce 8600M GT

That is at proper clock speeds. In a laptop that size you're not going to find a better video card.

Patterns are easy to keep up with predictable expos and conferences that Apple attends. Not that being a MacRumors user doesn't help either.
Click to expand...

I think the problem with the iMacs is that since Apple called them 2600Pro's everyone jumped on google and saw the poor reviews for the Pro desktop cards not realizing that they where Mobility XTs. Just goes to show you you can't judge a machine by spec alone.
 
flopticalcube said:
I think the problem with the iMacs is that since Apple called them 2600Pro's everyone jumped on google and saw the poor reviews for the Pro desktop cards not realizing that they where Mobility XTs. Just goes to show you you can't judge a machine by spec alone.
Click to expand...
That or trust Apple to properly report their hardware.
 
Things generally update two weeks after you buy it.

or if you wait, 6 months after you had hoped for the update.
 
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