Getting a macbook now & switching to mbp in a year?

[yellowmuffins]

Hello everyone, it's my first time posting here at the forums, but i've been lurking around for several weeks reading up on all the threads. Anyways, this fall i'm going to be going away to college and I am set upon ditching windows and switching to os x with an apple laptop.
I was set upon getting a macbook pro but after reading about all the problems on here with the new santa rosa ones, i'm really hesitant to get one now. I will mainly be doing basic college work on my laptop, but i wanted to go with the mbp because i like to run multiple applications at the same time, i am an occasional gamer (just really wanna run starcraft 2 ) and I'm really into music and movies so i would want something that could handle my all files (50gb worth).
Recently I had the idea to get just a higher end macbook and use it for a year and then my younger sister would take it. At this point I could get a macbook pro and I would think in a year's time I could get alot more for my money and many of these problems would be sorted out, i'm hoping for a case redesign too.

I'm curious to see what others think of this idea. Anyone else thinking about oding this? I'm still really torn on what to do. thanks for the help and for reading all that i wrote

 

[siurpeeman]

if starcraft is all you want from gaming, i'm sure the macbook will offer everything you're looking for. also, wouldn't it be nice to let your sis have her own brand new computer?

*edit*
oops. i was thinking starcraft and not starcraft 2. anyway, why can't you just get a macbook pro to start? if there are any problems with a macbook pro, return it until you get one you like.

 

[SirCrumpet]

Sounds like a reasonable enough idea to me, though I'm not sure your sister will be *overly* thrilled to get a year old hand-me-down notebook - notebooks change a lot in a year, though i guess it depends on how old she will be when she finally gets it. If nothing else you could always ebay it

 

[Igantius]

Unless you really really want a MBP, a MB would suit you fine.

 

[fewture]

Starcraft 2 is unlikely to come out within a year from now (maybe it might but a lot of people predict up to end of next year) given how long Blizzard takes from alpha build and actual release. Warcraft 3 took like 4 years from alpha to release (someone knows?) but Blizzard said Starcraft won't take anywhere near as long

Also rumoured by Blizzard themselves that Starcraft 2 will need pixel shader 2.0 - which GMA950 has
They are not sure if DirectX 10 will be needed (gma950 only had 9.0c)
GMAX3100 has directX 10 (ie. SR Macbook)

 

[ryanwarsaw]

I bought my MB as i didn't have the need to shell out the extra $$$ for the MBP which is seemingly buggy under the new version. The current technology has been around in the MB for a good period now and is tried and true.

I will do as you are and keep this maybe for a year or so and then buy a MBP later down the road. If you are still around at that time maybe we can later laugh at the people with their "antiquated" SR MBP Rev A machines when we are running the latest stuff. LOL

It seems like the MB would completely handle all of your needs. It will be nicer for taking notes on your limited desk space at school. You will also like the better WiFi performance it offers over the MBP. The old MBP at least had terrible WiFi reception. My CD MBP drops connection where my MB doesn't in my apartment.

I think your plan is pretty good and it is the exact buying strategy I have employed. If you have the money for the MB and will later be able to afford the upgrade to the latest MBP it seems reasonable to me. Whoever gets your MB when you are through with it is very lucky and will be getting a more than capable machine as well.