When should I buy a MBP (For University)

[RetepNamenots]

Hi, I've got a decision to make as to when I should buy my first Mac.

I'm starting a largely computer-based design course at University in October, and have decided that I would like to get a MBP.

Of course, Apple run their 'back to school' promotion up until 5th September; I could sell the iPod Touch and potentially save an extra £140 on the price of the MBP after student discount.

However of course, Apple are likely to bump up the specs (most probably CPU speed) on the MBP in October. Do you think the extra cost (£140) would be worth any bump in spec? Doing this would also mean that I have to go a few weeks at the start of Uni without a laptop, but I'll probably be taking my OS X PC with me anyway, so it shouldn't cause many problems, especially at the start of the course.


Thanks for any advice!

 

[Eric S.]

I would expect that any spec bump in the next few months would result in a relatively minor performance increase. Other than wanting to see if any announcements come out of WWDC, if it were me I would buy now. You can always find reasons to wait; by October people will talking about the Arrandale MBs coming in early '10, and so on. But at some point you just have to go for the current technology and be happy with that.

 

[BlizzardBomb]

I think that the MBPs and MBs could be updated fairly soon given that the WhiteBook just got an update and Intel are refreshing their processor lineup for June. Wait for a little bit and see if anything happens June - August. It is worth noting though, that Apple could bump the prices of the MBPs slightly up with this update thanks to the exchange rate, unless there is a US price drop which negates this effect.

 

[RetepNamenots]

Okay yeah, I doubt anything will come out of WWDC (MBP hardware-wise), but I'd rather get the extra cash than 0.2GHz of extra performance, for example

 

[Hellhammer]

Okay yeah, I doubt anything will come out of WWDC (MBP hardware-wise), but I'd rather get the extra cash than 0.2GHz of extra performance, for example

If current models will do your job well, there's no reason to wait. There will not be any major upgrades so in my opinion do not wait. Of course if you think little bump in CPU and GPU is worth of waiting, then wait.

Snow Leopard won't be out before autumn so there's no reason to wait that either and when it comes, you can buy it for $130.

Wait until WWDC is over and we can see is there anything coming soon

 

[Eric S.]

Snow Leopard won't be out before autumn so there's no reason to wait that either and when it comes, you can buy it for $130.

As far as that goes, I would want to buy before Snow Leopard is released. Like any OS, it is likely to have a period of instability before the first update or two. If you buy after SL is released your system may not support Leopard, and it would be nice to have Leopard to fall back on.

 

[Hellhammer]

As far as that goes, I would want to buy before Snow Leopard is released. Like any OS, it is likely to have a period of instability before the first update or two. If you buy after SL is released your system may not support Leopard, and it would be nice to have Leopard to fall back on.

That's true. SL can be very buggy in the beginning so I would stick with Leopard for first few months and see how it goes

 

[opera57]

Get one when you need it. If you need it or want it now and are happy with the current specs, get it now. But if you don't actually need it until you go to uni or aren't happy with the specs, wait until august or early september.

 

[Unprocessed1]

If current models will do your job well, there's no reason to wait. There will not be any major upgrades so in my opinion do not wait. Of course if you think little bump in CPU and GPU is worth of waiting, then wait.

Snow Leopard won't be out before autumn so there's no reason to wait that either and when it comes, you can buy it for $130.

Wait until WWDC is over and we can see is there anything coming soon

Snow Leopard should be cheaper than that if you're upgrading

 

[clyde2801]

If you truly need it now, then get it now. If you don't, then wait.

Consider getting a refurbished machine for a bigger discount, or even possibly a used one off of ebay or craigslist.