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Wait for summer / Lion?

L

ls1dreams

macrumors 6502a
Original poster
Aug 13, 2009
708
316
Hi all,

My laptop just died, and I'm in the market for a MBP 13".

I'm definitely waiting until the hardware refresh, but am also possibly considering holding out even longer until summer.

Buy in March:
$1200 - $100 student discount = $1100

Buy in June:
$1200 - $100 student discount - $200 ipod sale = $900
PLUS Lion 10.7

Given that Lion 10.7 will probably cost around $130, that saves me $330 compared to buying sooner. Worth waiting or not?

Also, a quick question: Does Apple offer any free upgrades/discounts on OS updates if a user has recently purchased a machine? (I know Dell used to give vouchers for Vista/Win7 if it was about to come out so users didn't have to wait)
 
ls1dreams said:
Hi all,

My laptop just died, and I'm in the market for a MBP 13".

I'm definitely waiting until the hardware refresh, but am also possibly considering holding out even longer until summer.

Buy in March:
$1200 - $100 student discount = $1100

Buy in June:
$1200 - $100 student discount - $200 ipod sale = $900
PLUS Lion 10.7

Given that Lion 10.7 will probably cost around $130, that saves me $330 compared to buying sooner. Worth waiting or not?

Also, a quick question: Does Apple offer any free upgrades/discounts on OS updates if a user has recently purchased a machine? (I know Dell used to give vouchers for Vista/Win7 if it was about to come out so users didn't have to wait)
Click to expand...

If you can wait until Lion comes pre-installed on the 13" MacBook Pro as well as included on the restore DVDs, I say do it. That's my plan and I'm currently saving up for a 15" MacBook Pro. Apple only offers a $10 upgrade program if you bought your Mac within a month of the new OS release, which wouldn't apply to you in the next month anyway, most likely. Granted, the OS itself may only be a $30 upgrade disc, but I say why bother with an OS upgrade if you're that close to the release of the new OS; might as well wait a bit, get the new OS for free and not have to deal with an upgrade installation.
 
Tough decision for me.

I haven't seen any killer features in Lion that really are important to me. I could care less about that app store crap.

What does bother me a bit is that 10.6 is rather dated at this point, almost 2 years old. It would be nice to get the latest OS.
 
ls1dreams said:
Tough decision for me.

I haven't seen any killer features in Lion that really are important to me. I could care less about that app store crap.

What does bother me a bit is that 10.6 is rather dated at this point, almost 2 years old. It would be nice to get the latest OS.
Click to expand...

10.6.0 is dated, 10.6.6 is current and only a month old. Either way, you can't say Snow Leopard is dated if it is still the incumbent OS of the platform.

As for the "app store crap" if you're running 10.6, you already have it as part of 10.6.6, so its appearance in Lion is moot because it's a given at this point.

Buying a Mac with the newest OS preloaded isn't about getting those newer features, it's about getting that OS for free and being spared an upgrade installation that you would otherwise have to pay for and do, wasting both time and money.

old-wiz said:
I wouldn't want to be an early adopter of Lion. I would wait until at least 10.7.1 before switching. In the past the x.y.0 versions have the most bugs.
Click to expand...

Y'know, I've installed every new version of Mac OS X since Panther on the day of release; at this point, it's almost tradition, and honestly, I can't say that I've ever experienced any bugs in the 10.x.0 versions. Tiger and Lion were slow for me in their 10.x.0 versions, but I was installing Tiger on a G3 and Leopard on an Early 2006 iMac which had previously enjoyed the Intel version of Tiger which was insanely fast. But Panther and Snow Leopard were both smooth sailing from day one until the 10.x.1 update came out.

I've heard of others having problems, but I can't say that I've ever witnessed any myself, so, naturally, I don't care if I buy a Mac preloaded with 10.7.0 when it comes out; I'll just be stoked to not have to upgrade on said Mac.
 
It's up to you. IRRC, the last college promotion started in April, so you won't have to wait all the way until summer. Depending on what we see on the next MacBook Pro, I would consider waiting or buying now.

I don't see the appeal about 10.7 either ... yet. Looks like so far, it will have a fancy way of displaying desktop icons and a new Dashboard. I'm sure Apple will release more features at WWDC. But so far, it's not worth waiting for (imo). Plus, you can always just upgrade the computer later.
 
Lion's not going to be a $30 upgrade though. Snow Leopard was an unusual case.

Lion will probably be back to the usual price point of $129.
 
Last edited by a moderator:
rprebel said:
You say that like it's a fact. Unless I've missed something, we have no idea what 10.7 will cost.
Click to expand...

Leopard to snow leopard didn't have to much UI changes, so most users would have found it dumb to pay 129 for it.

Lion will have a lot of UI changes so apple will make it a 129 dollar upgrade or more.
 
Darth.Titan said:
Lion's not going to be a $30 upgrade though. Snow Leopard was an unusual case.

Lion will probably be back to the usual price point of $129.
Click to expand...

Man, neither one of those claims mean anything, for all we know, it'll be $70, or back to $30, or back to $129. No one knows for sure.
 
Last edited by a moderator:
Apple has the whole back to school sale to dwindle down the ipod supplies before releasing a new one in september.

snow leopard was $30 because it was a leopard refinement. all snow leopard was is a big software update.


if you dont wait til lion at least wait til the upcoming MBP update.

but the main reason i would consider waiting, is i think the MBP is gonna be going to through a two part redesign. i dont see why apple with ditch the ODD just yet. but i feel it will when lion comes out and the Mac OS X is has a good amount of apps.
 
ls1dreams said:
Hi all,

Buy in March:
$1200 - $100 student discount = $1100

Buy in June:
$1200 - $100 student discount - $200 ipod sale = $900
PLUS Lion 10.7

Given that Lion 10.7 will probably cost around $130, that saves me $330 compared to buying sooner. Worth waiting or not?

Also, a quick question: Does Apple offer any free upgrades/discounts on OS updates if a user has recently purchased a machine? (I know Dell used to give vouchers for Vista/Win7 if it was about to come out so users didn't have to wait)
Click to expand...

It's highly unlikely Lion will be out in June. I expect we'll get a WWDC developer build then, with it shipping in September. Of course, there's always a chance that next week Apple will release a developer beta and release the final at WWDC, but I doubt it.

As a student, you will be able to get Lion for $69 at your campus bookstore, if they do the usual $129 pricing (which I expect they will.)

There are no free upgrades to a new OS. Although last time, Apple offered users free SL upgrades if they bought a machine during the summer. Unlikely that will happen again though, as SL was just $29.

My advice would be to wait until the iPod promo. If a developer build of Lion is out by then, wait. If not, just buy it then, else you're probably looking at September for Lion.
 
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