Really need a new laptop

[mattgk01]

I am going away in three weeks and really need to upgrade my old, slow laptop by then. My friends have swayed me towards a macbook pro, I absolutely love everything about them. Will there be an updated macbook pro within three weeks or should I go and buy one tomorrow?

My other question is about broken macbook pros. I thought they were brilliantly built machines but it seems that everyone on this site has had theres break. Even the old laptop sitting under my sofa has lasted 4 years with no hardware problems at all. Should I be worried?

 

[miles01110]

If you can wait 3 weeks you should.

My other question is about broken macbook pros. I thought they were brilliantly built machines but it seems that everyone on this site has had theres break. Even the old laptop sitting under my sofa has lasted 4 years with no hardware problems at all. Should I be worried?

People tend to come here with problems, not to report that everything is working fine. I've had no major problems with my MBPs and powerbooks for the past 8 years or so.

 

[TsuaSai]

I personally would wait. I know the feeling of needing it but man you might be kicking yourself really hard in three weeks if you don't.

Also you only hear about the planes that crash is kind of how this site works a lot of the time.

 

[CaptainChunk]

I've never had many problems with Apple notebooks, but it seems like every one of them I've owned (like 4 or 5) eventually received optical drive replacements under warranty. My Early 2008 MBP (owned since April 2008) had a logic board and hard disk failure a month after I bought it, but that was fixed and there hasn't been a problem since.

Given the metal casework of the MBPs, they're also more prone to physical damage (dents, dings, scratches, etc.) than a typical plastic-clad notebook.

I wouldn't say that Apple notebooks are any more reliable than a typical PC notebook. They all suffer from similar problems being portable devices jammed with shrunk-down components.

 

[Spandexman]

Other that pebcak issues (and a slightly sticky L key), I've only had a problem with my mac when wine was spilt into the keyboard, which you really can't blame on Apple! Even then it took a few weeks for it to stop working. I wouldn't have even know it'd happened unless someone had told me (It happened at a party in my room, last time I leave the computer out at one!). With regards to the number of complaints on here, imagine if everyone who was happy with their machine posted that it was fine, we'd be inundated with them, and you wouldn't be able to notice the complaints! Macs top reliability tables year in year out. All products are going to have the odd duff ones, and that includes macbook pros, but the vast majority are good machines, and apple's very good with fixing the duff ones.

 

[shambo]

I personally would wait. I know the feeling of needing it but man you might be kicking yourself really hard in three weeks if you don't.

Also you only hear about the planes that crash is kind of how this site works a lot of the time.

You could be waiting forever for the next little upgrade. The advice is if you need a new laptop now then there is never a bad time to buy.

 

[snaky69]

There will always be a macbook pro update around the corner, if you need it now, buy it now, the end-user would probably never notice the improvement.

 

[coast1ja]

I doubt you will be able to receive a new MBP by the time you leave, unless you have a preorder at an apple store (before they're even released) or they have them in stock on the release date.

I would buy it now because you need it.

 

[mattgk01]

Thanks for all your responses. Before deciding to wait or not i'm hoping you could help me out with a few more questions.

1. Will the price increase/decrease once the new macbook pros have been released (i'm certain the price has increased £29 in the UK store already)

2. Can all windows programming be done on a mac with boot camp. Java, C++ ETC.

3. I play a few games on my PC at home like GTA, will the current macbook pros be able to play games similiar to GTA and is there any chance of an upgraded graphics card in the next update.

4. In the UK what is the % off for college student discount and do what proof do I need to bring to the apple store to get the discount.

 

[Terminal.app]

Thanks for all your responses. Before deciding to wait or not i'm hoping you could help me out with a few more questions.

1. Will the price increase/decrease once the new macbook pros have been released (i'm certain the price has increased £29 in the UK store already)

2. Can all windows programming be done on a mac with boot camp. Java, C++ ETC.

3. I play a few games on my PC at home like GTA, will the current macbook pros be able to play games similiar to GTA and is there any chance of an upgraded graphics card in the next update.

4. In the UK what is the % off for college student discount and do what proof do I need to bring to the apple store to get the discount.

1. Really don't know, but with new revisions I've noticed a pattern of slightly cheaper for more power. I paid about US$2,800 for my maxed out 2.93 GHz 15" MBP, and then several months later they revised the lineup again, making the 3.06 GHz 17" model about $300 - $400 cheaper.

2. You won't need Boot Camp for most programming languages. Java (OS X has a built-in Java runtime environment) can certainly be done. XCode and Eclipse (among other available tools) can be used for C++.

3. Again, don't know, I'm really hoping for an upgraded GPU as well. This time around, they must.

4. I believe it's anywhere from 5 to 15%, I'm not sure how they do it.

Hope this helps some.