Help me decide on what's a better purchase.

[gorenut]

So my school has a load of first gen 15" Macbook Pros that they are selling at $900 off retail price, it also comes with a Canon PIXMA MP160 All In One Photo Printer. Is the most current model of Macbook Pros worth the extra $900? I'm not in any extreme hurry, but I would like something by the end of this semester. Should I wait for the next release? What do you guys think?

Oh yea.. this Macbook will be used for Graphic Design and Computer Illustration. Which makes me wonder if it's worth going "Pro" instead of just getting a regular Macbook (don't really need the graphics card, though upgrading to 3 gigs of ram is nice)

On a side note: They're also selling MacBook 2.0 Whites for $1,149.00. 2.0ghz, 1 gb ram, 80gb HD, etc.

 

[Sun Baked]

Of course waiting until the new chipset arrives and being able to upgrade to 4 or 8 GB of memory will be even nicer -- and likely worth a little bit of extra money.

 

[phungy]

So my school has a load of first gen 15" Macbook Pros that they are selling at $900 off retail price, it also comes with a Canon PIXMA MP160 All In One Photo Printer. Is the most current model of Macbook Pros worth the extra $900? I'm not in any extreme hurry, but I would like something by the end of this semester. Should I wait for the next release? What do you guys think?

Oh yea.. this Macbook will be used for Graphic Design and Computer Illustration. Which makes me wonder if it's worth going "Pro" instead of just getting a regular Macbook (don't really need the graphics card, though upgrading to 3 gigs of ram is nice)

On a side note: They're also selling MacBook 2.0 Whites for $1,149.00. 2.0ghz, 1 gb ram, 80gb HD, etc.

Are the Macbooks first gen also? Is so, bad deal. If it is a Rev. B (2nd gen) then its a good deal. With student discount, the 2.0 White was $1,199 for me.

If you can wait, wait until end of the semester cause most likely Leopard will be out with the MBP.

 

[gorenut]

It's Core 2 Duo for the Macbook. So I'm guessing it's the most recent one.

The Macbooks are starting to become more attractive than the Pros right now, they seem to be more price efficient and obviously portable. However, the lack of larger ram upgrades turn me off.. Ram seems to be the most important thing to me and I can't seem to get enough of it since I'm always running multiple applications (Painter, Photoshop, Illustrator, In Design, etc.)

Thanks for all the input guys. You think I should wait it out?

 

[phungy]

Wait it out. I couldn't because I needed a notebook for all my core classes else I would have wait.

 

[em5photog]

What college store is this deal at

 

[gorenut]

What college store is this deal at

Cal-State University Fullerton.

I think I'm gonna skip out on the first gen MacBooks. I've heard a lot of defects. Maybe I'll look into the refurbished market, atleast those are totally checked out.

 

[bbydon]

i need to go back to school.

 

[tundotcom]

Why can't my school store have a sale on MacBooks...

 

[iW00t]

Cal-State University Fullerton.

I think I'm gonna skip out on the first gen MacBooks. I've heard a lot of defects. Maybe I'll look into the refurbished market, atleast those are totally checked out.

Are they new in box?

*Cream pants*

Wow they'd fetch such a pretty penny on eBay.

 

[Cybix]

I'd get the MBP... first gen core duo I suspect? mine has been flawless, I love it.. $900 is a steal!

With applecare on top, and another gig of ram, I must have spent about $4500 AUS on my macbook pro (rev 1, 2.0ghz)

Had it since Mar 06, and it still feels new to me hehe

 

[gorenut]

Are they new in box?

*Cream pants*

Wow they'd fetch such a pretty penny on eBay.

Yea, they are all new in box. So you think I should maybe buy some and sell it on ebay.. then perhaps use the money I made to get a better one? hehe. Which do you think will sell the best and be the most profitable?

 

[gorenut]

I'd get the MBP... first gen core duo I suspect? mine has been flawless, I love it.. $900 is a steal!

With applecare on top, and another gig of ram, I must have spent about $4500 AUS on my macbook pro (rev 1, 2.0ghz)

Had it since Mar 06, and it still feels new to me hehe

Sorry, should have clarified. I meant that the MBPs are $900 off retail price. So the top model is still like $1,600

 

[Sun Baked]

Look at some of the stuff for the Centrino Pro (aka Santa Rosa platform) that is coming out soon.

The current MacBooks are darn close to EOL, and will be replaced with machines that'll last a bit longer.

Machines are great, but the 3GB limit will be a painful experience soon.

RAM is where you can get the biggest performace boost out of the machine ... and the current machines have no room to grow.

Basically wait, the new features will likely be worth the money even if you decide to save some money and get Santa Rosa based MacBook versus the current MacBook Pro (which is the Napa platform, I think)

 

[phungy]

I would def. buy as many as you can and quickly sell them on eBay. Use the money earned to get the latest MBP