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Should I buy a new MBP Now

devilstrider said:
All this sandy bridge stuff is speculation and if you need it now just buy it. If you don't then wait. Fuuny thing is then if this so called update is not what you are expecting are you going to wait for the next update?
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ok i really dont want to have a forum beef or anything but please read what i was primarily asking when i started this thread before replying. its not really about sandy bridge at all. will this _current_ i7 be a massive step up from my core2duo in logic studio 9 to warrant an upgrade - in other words i dont know if i need to upgrade yet or not.
i just read in the buyers guide that the MBP will get a new upgrade soon so as a side question i was also asking whether or not people have a clue if itll be substantial or not (like i said, i had a past experience where everyone knew core2duo was going to be amazing, but because i didnt ask that question, i didnt know and bought a pentium D - i dont want to repeat this.)
 
teknikal90 said:
ok i really dont want to have a forum beef or anything but please read what i was primarily asking when i started this thread before replying. its not really about sandy bridge at all. will this _current_ i7 be a massive step up from my core2duo in logic studio 9 to warrant an upgrade - in other words i dont know if i need to upgrade yet or not.
i just read in the buyers guide that the MBP will get a new upgrade soon so as a side question i was also asking whether or not people have a clue if itll be substantial or not (like i said, i had a past experience where everyone knew core2duo was going to be amazing, but because i didnt ask that question, i didnt know and bought a pentium D - i dont want to repeat this.)
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I was just stating that everything about a macbook refresh is speculation. No one knows what apple will do if they do anything. That question has still been answered already. If it happens it won't be some huge jump. Hell the i7 is a huge jump from a core2duo and you have a Pentium D so the i7 would blow that crap away. It sill goes back to if you need it now get it and with a Pentium D i say you need it now. But your welcome to wait for maybe a little speed boost but they may be about it.
 
teknikal90 said:
Hey all,

I'm almost graduating college and so I want to make use of my education discount before it expires end of this month.
Right now im on an early 2008 MBP 15", 2.4 GHz 4GB ram (right before the unibody models).
im just wondering if its worth getting a new one now? I'm eyeing the 15" i7 with the 7200rpm HDD upgrade.
I will use it primarily for Logic Pro. Often times i do get CPU and HDD bottlenecks when using alot of plugins/tracks. Do you think the speed bump up will be noticeable for me? night/day?
I'm just trying to weigh up whether or not it's worth it to upgrade.

Also, according to your buyer's guide the MBP is due for an update...which I doubt since they just bumped the specs on Oct 20?
is anyone familiar with the Intel roadmap to be able to infer what will come next and when? Should I skip this update and just let my academic discount lapse? I don't mind doing that if what's coming is a real big upgrade...

thanks all for the help,


Phil :)
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if you order online, they dont know you arent a student or a teacher. Order from the education store online. then at least you can claim you were a student.
 
I've got a 15" i7, 7200 rpm HDD. I use ProTools not Logic, but it works flawlessly for my audio needs. Since the MBP's got a minor speed bump recently, I'm not expecting any new upgrades until next spring. Buy now!
 
mac composer,
right now im on 5400 and when ive frozen tracks to save CPU load (i work mostly with VST instruments+plugins), the HDD would go into overdrive and often times cant catch up (my sessions are mostly like 20-30 tracks)
would that problem be alleviated with the use of 7200rpm drives? or do you find that using an i7 the performance increase would allow you to skip freezing tracks altogether?
 
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Based on the performance of new MBA's and SJ's comments that "this is the future of laptops" it is possible (even likely) that we're looking for some substantive changes to the MBP line. I would not be surprised at all if all MBP came with flash (at least for the OS and apps). The setup would probably be similar to what's on MBA's but we would still have a drive bay to put an SSD or HD into. The SuperDrive's day are also numbered (the app store is coming), so possibly Apple can use that space for extra battery capacity and maybe another drive bay.
 
There is no guarantee that Apple will stick with Intel and implement Sandy Bridge. They might go over to ARM. There's already been some speculation as regards this elsewhere.
 
Sandy Bridge launch schedule

I wish people would tone it down instead of flinging the furniture around the forum.

Sandy Bridge is supposed to launch on laptops for the first quarter of 2011. When during that time span, Intel have not yet made clear as far as I have read. Desktop Sandy Bridge chipsets featuring processors above 35 watts will be later than that.

The processors in the next update will be largely the same as now. The rest of the chipset will be substantially more power efficient. So, perhaps another half hour to an hour of battery life and further reduction in heat output.

Big question is what Apple will do with I/O. This is by far the biggest limitation of the MBP in all sizes except 17 and has been a particular problem with the 15 ever since ExpressCard was dropped 18 months or so ago. SDXC is probably a given, as the Mac Mini, iMac, and MacBook Air all now support it. USB 3, probably not, given the extent to which Steve Jobs has disparaged it. Firewire 3200, LightPeak and ExpressCard? Who the heck knows!! Any of those three would be great to have. This is where Apple's opaque behavior on future products kind of makes things awkward, though in all honesty things are way better on this score than they were in the pre-Intel days.

And with the apparent success of the Macbook Air, one also has to wonder what Apple has in store for the optical drive. If LightPeak is ready by the first quarter, then great. But I haven't heard anything on that.
 
Buy now. You could always sell it on eBay whenever the new one comes out.
 
i would wait to waste, i mean, to USE your money on a new computer. your current computer is functional correct? gets the job done does it? well take the money you would have used on a new computer and make it grow some how. save it and then when you really need a computer, you have that much more of it.

for the record i wasnt offended by this topic, nor do i feel the need to click on any repeating topic just to inform its creator that i wish he used search more. heh
 
dblissmn said:
The processors in the next update will be largely the same as now. The rest of the chipset will be substantially more power efficient. So, perhaps another half hour to an hour of battery life and further reduction in heat output.
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thanks for that insightful reply:)
interested comment though, what makes you think that?
i admit at first i thoguht the same (the specs for the upcoming chips seem very similar (2.7ghz vs. 2.66 ghz)
although i watched the intel keynote and the president hyped it up alot....lol saying its the next generation of chip architecture. it has turbo or something?and really good graphics card? but isnt that redundant in MBP, seeing as it has a discrete chip?
interesting...
 
If you really need or want a MBP buy it now but be advised that 13" is need of a refresh and will soon get one... when no one is sure. If you don't mind spending the cash you could go 15" with an i5, but not that great battery life. Most people I speak with including myself are trying to hold out for a refresh but like most of the members here have said if you need it, buy it. You'll just be stuck with a c2 processor same thing you can get in a Mac mini far less. Will you be happy, most likely yes that is until apple releases a refresh and then this thread will start all over again. Get it? :D
 
I am returning my base 13" Air for the 13" Pro. I wil probably end up getting SSD for my new Pro today also.
 
dblissmn said:
The processors in the next update will be largely the same as now. The rest of the chipset will be substantially more power efficient. So, perhaps another half hour to an hour of battery life and further reduction in heat output.
Click to expand...
Haha have you actually read about Sandy bridge? It definitely does bring updated performance... They have a lot of new features in these cpus. The one article i read was saying 10% improvement at same clock speed.
It also brings a couple more bins to turbo, and way way better integrated graphics.
They also changed how turbo work... and now will allow it to go over the tdp while on turbo for a short amount of time if the cpu isn't to hot. There is a lot of other improvements too.

Arm? are you kidding? Not happening. Arm is a joke... if they do that i will be going to windows.
 
The Sandy Bridge upgarde for the dual core notebooks is a little more substantial than for the average desktop.
Yes it is mostly the same architecture and clock speed increases will only be in the 10% range. The new Turbo overclocks above TDP for a few seconds which helps but won't do wonders.
The biggest changes that you don't see on desktops is that the Memory Controller is now on DIE which accounts for 10% better IPC I' guess. The faster L2 Cache and other small changes give you the same IPC increase that you can read about in Anandtech's Sandy Bridge review for the quad core desktop.

It not a revolution it but it is better than it sounds at least going from Arrendale to Sandy Bridge. With everything accounted for I guess you can expect at least a 20% faster CPU (more than 50% of this is due to IPC increase). As for battery life it is anyones guess but it will hardly be worse.
 
lol....and now im swaying the other way.
at first i was already happy with the performance boost of going from a penryn core 2 duo to a 2.66ghz i7...but now youve thrown me that 20% figure and im enticed.
i think i will wait. if the update is not that substantial a difference in reality, i will just walk into best buy and get the older version for cheaper. yew.
 
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