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Should i buy a mac book pro now or wait for next update?

earthandtone

earthandtone

macrumors newbie
Original poster
Jan 28, 2009
27
0
Does anyone think it is a good time to buy, I wanted to wait for the quad core mac book pros, but i might just get one in a week or two. does any one care to comment. I need it for design, I use allot of applications and i need lots of power. i have a 1.8 ghz mac book pro now it is way to slow. Any one know what would be good?
 
Now is a great time to buy. There was a new REVISION three months ago. The next update is three months away, and will probably only include minor CPU speed updates and very minor internal upgrades. That will be an upgrade. We will probably see four or five upgrades before any revision changes. The revision change is when they change the exterior of it. They just changed from the old style to the new aluminum unibody model.

It's really a great MBP. The best MacBook Pro ever. The fastest, best built, most durable, most beautiful, best display, and great value as it costs the same as last style but all of the new great features. Assuming you buy it, I congratulate you on your soon to be new MAC!
 
Scottsdale said:
Now is a great time to buy. There was a new REVISION three months ago. The next update is three months away, and will probably only include minor CPU speed updates and very minor internal upgrades. That will be an upgrade. We will probably see four or five upgrades before any revision changes. The revision change is when they change the exterior of it. They just changed from the old style to the new aluminum unibody model.

It's really a great MBP. The best MacBook Pro ever. The fastest, best built, most durable, most beautiful, best display, and great value as it costs the same as last style but all of the new great features. Assuming you buy it, I congratulate you on your soon to be new MAC!
Click to expand...

I believe that the next update will have the matte option back on the 15 inch. so if you dont like the glare i would wait.
 
jbrenn said:
I believe that the next update will have the matte option back on the 15 inch. so if you dont like the glare i would wait.
Click to expand...

Yes let's hope so. Best display, not so much. Keyboard, not exactly sold on either but thats not changing anytime soon. But most importantly that mirror has to go. Forget the accurate color debate, all you have to do is sit down in front of the thing and notice the absurd amounts of reflections. You can't even view the thing from the side it just acts like a mirror.

Despite those things, I love the MBP I'm using right now, a new one would be even nicer.
 
This is the question I asked 1 month ago and up to this point I decided to wait till next year (2010) to get the MBP, and hoping that there will be nehalem/quadcore on the MBP.. or if still doesn't happen by next year then I am just going to get whatever is available for $3,000 at that time.. at least I am going to start to build up that $3,000 starting from today. That's just me though, as I am not really in need of a great laptop now, my quadcore 3.4GHz desktop does me good enough as of now. If you really need a laptop, then buy it now!
 
now is a great time, this design will stay for more then 2 years for sure, specs will stay for about more then a year..
 
So the next update will be in April or May I think

jbrenn said:
I believe that the next update will have the matte option back on the 15 inch. so if you dont like the glare i would wait.
Click to expand...

So the next update will be in April or May I think.2-3 months to wait.

Will it fix the current issues like trackpad, screen, loose hinge, etc.?
 
xhambonex said:
Forget the accurate color debate, all you have to do is sit down in front of the thing and notice the absurd amounts of reflections. You can't even view the thing from the side it just acts like a mirror.
Click to expand...

Fair enough. It's the same reason I want a matte. It has more to do with eye-strain than anything else. Reflections are a distraction I don't really want to get used to. I guess your mind will get used to ignoring them, but I don't really think it's a great solution.
 
The SpinDoctor said:
There was an update today for the CPU's on high end 15 and 17.


Im still going to wait till i7's.
Click to expand...

You Know Spin Doctor, at the rate Apple is going, and the problems between Intel and Nvidia, the Core i7 may not make it to the MBP for a LONNGGGG LONNNGGGG LONNNNNGGGGGG time.

I think in theory, the idea is great considering a 3rd or 4th Qtr possibility and then the MBP will be loaded with Snow Leopard and the 15" MBP will probably support 8 GB RAM then. Actually, I think the current unibody MBPs will receive firmware updates to accept 8 GB RAM. Apple offering 8 GB RAM in its iMacs today really gave the "Pro" user of the 15" MBPs a reason to complain if Apple doesn't enable the 8 GB RAM. Apparently it has nothing to do with hardware and everything to do with Apple's set limitations of what it wants to support.

But, all in all, at the end of the year, the MBP should be one bad ass machine with a Core i7 CPU and 8 GB RAM running a super efficient Snow Leopard!
 
Scottsdale said:
You Know Spin Doctor, at the rate Apple is going, and the problems between Intel and Nvidia, the Core i7 may not make it to the MBP for a LONNGGGG LONNNGGGG LONNNNNGGGGGG time.
Click to expand...

I agree, but you have to think about it from a logical point of view.

How many programs actually use 4 Cores now.......then think of how many use 8. Maybe a few high end editing softwares, but I think by the time Apple gets more than 2 Cores to the MBP people will be able to take fuller advantage of having the extra cores.
 
So is the general consensus that we will see another speed bump/refresh before the end of the summer, probably somewhere around April/May?
Does anyone have an ideas on what type of speed bumps we may see, 3ghz or quad core possibly?
 
rick3000 said:
So is the general consensus that we will see another speed bump/refresh before the end of the summer, probably somewhere around April/May?
Does anyone have an ideas on what type of speed bumps we may see, 3ghz or quad core possibly?
Click to expand...

Well my guess is that the iMac will get a quad core 6 months or more before the laptops get it. Even still when a quad comes out it probably will only be an option on the high end 15" and 17".(notice how it seems apple is striving to have the thinest and lightest notebooks. They aren't trying to win any speed records)

And yes I would imagine a 3.0 ghz processor as an upgrade option.

BUT I also would like to know when the next "real" revision b mbp will come out. These upgraded cpu's in the 15" really threw me off today.(I plan on buying a mbp before fall)
 
Defiantly get it now. There shouldn't be any updates on the Notebooks until Fall comes around. Next updates will be iPhone wise.

Happy Shopping!
 
Now. There's absolutely no reason not to. The unibodies are great machines that work very well. Having a second gen., unibody MacBook Pro is perfect timing.
 
Well looking at the Intel roadmaps the only other upgrade we could see in the next few months would be a 3.06Ghz processor, which would probably come with general speed bumps to all the MBP line, and the 3.06ghz would most likely be a BTO option. Does this sound about right?
3.06ghz vs 2.93ghz isn't going to make a huge difference, it's only .13ghz.
 
Scottsdale said:
You Know Spin Doctor, at the rate Apple is going, and the problems between Intel and Nvidia, the Core i7 may not make it to the MBP for a LONNGGGG LONNNGGGG LONNNNNGGGGGG time.

I think in theory, the idea is great considering a 3rd or 4th Qtr possibility and then the MBP will be loaded with Snow Leopard and the 15" MBP will probably support 8 GB RAM then. Actually, I think the current unibody MBPs will receive firmware updates to accept 8 GB RAM. Apple offering 8 GB RAM in its iMacs today really gave the "Pro" user of the 15" MBPs a reason to complain if Apple doesn't enable the 8 GB RAM. Apparently it has nothing to do with hardware and everything to do with Apple's set limitations of what it wants to support.

But, all in all, at the end of the year, the MBP should be one bad ass machine with a Core i7 CPU and 8 GB RAM running a super efficient Snow Leopard!
Click to expand...

Thats exactly what i'm waiting for.

Being a student I have limited money so I really need to get every last bit of performance for the money I spend on my 1st Mac. :p

Hopefully it will last 4 years through till the end of Uni.
 
^ I have no doubt a MBP would last 4+ years without any problem if you treat it properly. My sisters PB went though 4 years of college, and she was not very nice to it. Mac's may be expensive, but they are built very well, IMHO.
 
rick3000 said:
^ I have no doubt a MBP would last 4+ years without any problem if you treat it properly. My sisters PB went though 4 years of college, and she was not very nice to it. Mac's may be expensive, but they are built very well, IMHO.
Click to expand...

Thats good to hear, by my calculations, over 4 years, it would cost me £1 a day.
 
earthandtone said:
Does anyone think it is a good time to buy, I wanted to wait for the quad core mac book pros, but i might just get one in a week or two. does any one care to comment. I need it for design, I use allot of applications and i need lots of power. i have a 1.8 ghz mac book pro now it is way to slow. Any one know what would be good?
Click to expand...

I suggest you get one now, max it out with 8GB RAM and 2.93, buy a 256 SSD, etc..., then if you need more than that when the new ones come out, sell it and upgrade.

Pretty simple.
 
if you can wait then wait. the new MBP was released just 3 month and it was completely redesigned. the next release in three to four month will usually fix all the minor kinks and bugs that come with a redesign.

also prices for SSD's are falling and the downturn in the economy might increase that trend. so in four month there may be a quite affordable 256GB SSD option as well. maybe there will be a matte screen option.

if you really need it now then buy. the current models are mostly ok.
 
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