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Wait to buy MBP?

H

hikarie

macrumors member
Original poster
Sep 16, 2010
32
0
I'm interested in buying a MBP 15" with most of its optional features maxed mostly for graphic editing and the occasional 3d modeling. I realize the buyer's guide says its mid-cycle and I don't mind waiting up to half an year, but will the new updates be minimal and not worth the wait? If there's any chance of USB 3.0, HDMI port, a new graphics card or anything that will help it improve it's life-cycle, I wouldn't minding waiting.

Any advice is greatly appreciated.
 
There's hundreds of threads similar to yours.

Facts:

1) Nobody at MacRumors knows what specs the next MBPs will have - and people who know will not post it on MacRumors.

2) Nobody at MacRumors knows the release date of the next MBPs - and people who know will not post it on MacRumors.

3) Bottomline is: If you need it: Buy it. If you don't need it: Wait.
 
4) They will have better graphics because they ever had.

5) Predictions wont be met because they cant be met.

6) Waiting is for those who not want to buy a mac.

7) Those who not want to buy a mac should not wait to buy a mac because the do not want to buy a mac in the future too.
 
You need it, you go buy it.

If you don't need it, buy it when you do.

I never read the product cycle guides, though I do usually buy the new models on release.
 
I am in the same state.
I was ready to start a new topic when I saw this one.
Something like 'waiting for arrandale mpb', remember this?

And I cant believe there is absolutely no information about some specs of a new update.
Why we all knew about the new cpus of mbp in last update?

I also understand the topic starter about thinking to wait to buy a new mbp.
If you plan to keep the mbp for years and consider it as an investment, why not wait a few months to buy a brand new model, when the existing one is almost 6 months on the market? I find it absolutely logical.
 
I do understand where the "If you need it, buy it" views are coming from, but as someone who cannot afford to upgrade every 1-2 years, it becomes an investment as cool11 mentioned, and for ~$3000, I would like to get the best value for my money.

The buyer's guide provides a good timeline for us to make our own predictions of when the next update might be but doesn't really tell us what to expect. While I understand that nobody knows anything for sure, I expect that there are many people who, having had a lot of experience with owning and following apple products, have a feeling of what is most likely to come with the next update.
 
kairun said:
I do understand where the "If you need it, buy it" views are coming from, but as someone who cannot afford to upgrade every 1-2 years, it becomes an investment as cool11 mentioned, and for ~$3000, I would like to get the best value for my money.
Click to expand...

Of course. And best value for your money depends on whether or not you need the machine. If you need it, $3000 is not bad, if you don't need it, $3000 is a lot.

Since you plan on using the machine for 3+ years, it makes even less sense optimizing your purchase time. A current machine will ie. be worth $800 in 3 years, but if you wait and buy a new one it might be worth $1000 3 years after you bought it. The difference is $200 or $66 per year + you might have to wait another 6 months before getting a machine.

kairun said:
The buyer's guide provides a good timeline for us to make our own predictions of when the next update might be but doesn't really tell us what to expect. While I understand that nobody knows anything for sure, I expect that there are many people who, having had a lot of experience with owning and following apple products, have a feeling of what is most likely to come with the next update.
Click to expand...

There will probably be no USB3 nor HDMI. There will be no blu-ray drive for certain. There will most likely be slight increases in speed. 4GB RAM will remain the standard. Sandy Bridge is unlikely, I think.

I believe that sums up the current guesses (not wishes) of the MR community. I might be wrong.

Now, with that excellent information, I'm sure you have a much better basis for making your decision.
 
I'm going to go ahead and tell you to wait.

The next gen MBP could see a chassis redesign. It could also see lightpeak.

These two factors alone are worth waiting for if you don't plan to keep up with the upgrades. Then again, they may just do it late 2011.

I know its crazy and its slightly off topic, but I cannot wait to see how Apple tops their current gen MBPs in terms of design. I'm certain they will use the iPhone's steel band some how in the new design to improve functionality (maybe in the airports too!)
 
Thanks for the help.

Merkava_4 said:
Whatever you do, I'd suggest getting the anti-glare (matte) high resolution screen option.
Click to expand...

I was considering it but I saw this:

About glossy and antiglare
Choose the glossy widescreen display to make your graphics, photos, and videos appear with richer colors and deeper blacks — great for watching DVD movies. If you prefer a display with antiglare coating for a matte rather than glossy viewing experience, choose the antiglare widescreen display.
Click to expand...

If I'm going to be using it for graphic editing, are colors differences significant?
 
kairun said:
If I'm going to be using it for graphic editing, are colors differences significant?
Click to expand...

People have said that you get a more accurate color representation with a matte screen. Maybe not as vibrant as with a glossy screen, but more accurate. I'm just repeating what others have said. Take it for what it's worth.
 
vant said:
I'm going to go ahead and tell you to wait.

The next gen MBP could see a chassis redesign. It could also see lightpeak.
Click to expand...

Heck. The next MBP could also see Jesus and dead people.

The only thing we can be certain about is that, on a spec level, the mbp of tomorrow will be better than the MBP of today.
But why fantasize about what could happen? Even if it does, the next MBP after that will have something better than that. How much better? Who knows.

The iPad showed us that Apple wouldn't saturate a product with features because they wouldn't have anything up for the next revision.

And a chassis redesign redesign? Apple kept the PowerBook design around for what...5-6 years before the unibody came out. It isn't antiquated (yet).
 
So, is apple's computer product cycle about 9months-1year?
All previous versions of mbp I think appeared these time periods.
Mbp: june 2009, next one april 2010.

When do you expect new mbp models to hit the market?
I think this would happen between February-April 2011.
 
There are some things that one can guess with some confidence.

The next MBP with Sandy Bridge will be noticably faster on CPU level, because of the IMC and other small improvements, better Turbo and slightly higher clock speed. About 10-30% faster.
The GPU will be significantly better. That was expected this time too and never really happend. But even if they still stick with Nvidia all the midrange cards of the new family have almost double the shaders. More VRAM is what is really necessary and with Steam for Mac they might do it.*
USB3 is still missing on Intel Series 6 Chipset and I guess we see Light Peak on any new MBP before we see USB 3.0.
HDMI will never be part of any MBP in any other way that it isn't already (Adapter).
New Chassis, new Display is all possible and that is something really nobody knows about. I guess Apple has some prototypes but even they don't know what it is going to be.

*I didn't go for the highend MBP 15 because everybody kept saying 256mb is enough. That is not true. 512mb is the absolut Minimum for many games to fit all the necessary Data in. It was only because they were too lazy to redesign the board but it is ridiculous to limit the GPU this much. Finetuning settings doesn't work very well although their is enough number crunching power.
 
kairun said:
Thanks for the help.



I was considering it but I saw this:



If I'm going to be using it for graphic editing, are colors differences significant?
Click to expand...

Color accuracy with regards to color management is vital to ensuring others will see your images just as you did. This is more applicable to photographers as they need to ensure their prints look just like the digital photos.
 
Regarding glossy vs. matte:

This is a highly personal choice. I suggest going to an Apple store and checking out the differences in person before you buy.

I prefer matte. I find the glossy screens to appear contrasty in an exaggerated way, and the reflections are extremely distracting to me. The colors appear to be projected through a sheet of glass, and a little off. But again, others disagree and the choice needs to be up to you.
 
2011 will be the year of usb3, for the masses.
So, it could be strange for apple not to adopt it in the new models.
 
WardC said:
I am probably going to wait until Sandy Bridge Q1 or Q2 2011. I want my Quad-Core i7 MacBook Pro!
Click to expand...

Macbook pros are typically in the general multimedia category and apple likes a balanced system in terms of power and battery, so chances are they will use the two core versions of sandy bridge, no different than the existing arrandale processors. Gaming laptops and others are usually the ones to use the quad cores.
 
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