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Is it really worth the wait? (for Santa Rosa)

Tadros

Tadros

macrumors 6502
Original poster
Jan 29, 2007
378
23
New Jersey
I've been waiting for Santa Rosa before buying my first Mac and I am starting to wonder. Is it worth the wait? Will it be any better then the Macbook Pros that are out now or will it basicly be the same? I will be using it to record bands, right now I use my PC and its running, but a little sluggish. I will also be using it for movie editing, picture editing, music listening, taking notes in school, web browsing, gaming ( I play Warcraft 3, StarCraft, and Half-Life a lot). Recording is all in "real-time" so it takes a lot of CPU usage, and film editing is pretty demanding too. Will the Santa Rosa chipset be a big improvement or should I just order now, I mean I've been waiting since the last update for a new update only cause I didn't have the cash to dish out, now that I have the cash I figure I've waited this long. . .I just want to know if the wait is worth it. Thanks for the help . :)
 
If we knew when they were out we'd all wait i guess..

I've found that with buying a machine, you get what you need for when you need it. Worrying about what's coming will leave you waiting forever - you speak of Santa Rosa but Montevina has already been announced as on its way, and that will be better than Santa Rosa - how long do you wait for? If you can afford to wait, you wait. If you can't, you get what you can on the current market.

Consider this - a high-spec machine at the end of a 12-18month product cycle may turn out to be more stable/reliable than a machine at the beginning of the next cycle. Sometimes newest isnt always the best ;)
 
capoditutti said:
If we knew when they were out we'd all wait i guess..

I've found that with buying a machine, you get what you need for when you need it. Worrying about what's coming will leave you waiting forever - you speak of Santa Rosa but Montevina has already been announced as on its way, and that will be better than Santa Rosa - how long do you wait for? If you can afford to wait, you wait. If you can't, you get what you can on the current market.

Consider this - a high-spec machine at the end of a 12-18month product cycle may turn out to be more stable/reliable than a machine at the beginning of the next cycle. Sometimes newest isnt always the best ;)
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Well I don't NEED it right now, the PC is holding out, so the real question is, being that I am waiting, should I even be waiting, is the upgrade going to be really good? And do first models of a new update usually have problems? I didn't even think of that. Thanks for the help.
 
Tadros86 said:
Well I don't NEED it right now, the PC is holding out, so the real question is, being that I am waiting, should I even be waiting, is the upgrade going to be really good? And do first models of a new update usually have problems? I didn't even think of that. Thanks for the help.
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The belief is that certain problems dont usually surface until the first production runs, after which certain changes are usually made to ensure that everything else coming out the factories works better. I've seen no faults on 2 C2D MBPros bought 2 weeks apart, the first being bought literally a week after UK launch. There is no such thing as a flawless product (but Macs come pretty darn close :D :D :D ), so its a case of odds. You may buy one of the last machines to come off that production run and strike out, or you could buy the first and strike out. I've seen people getting fed up after getting three or four consecutively flawed machines - it happens. It's more likely to happen at the beginning of the production cycle - thats all i'm saying.
 
Okay. . .

capoditutti said:
The belief is that certain problems dont usually surface until the first production runs, after which certain changes are usually made to ensure that everything else coming out the factories works better. I've seen no faults on 2 C2D MBPros bought 2 weeks apart, the first being bought literally a week after UK launch. There is no such thing as a flawless product (but Macs come pretty darn close :D :D :D ), so its a case of odds. You may buy one of the last machines to come off that production run and strike out, or you could buy the first and strike out. I've seen people getting fed up after getting three or four consecutively flawed machines - it happens. It's more likely to happen at the beginning of the production cycle - thats all i'm saying.
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So that IS something to think about, but aside from production flaws, I am one of the people that has had 6 iPods, and Apple has replaced all of them, this last iPod I've had since August and works perfectly (finally), so sending things back is a hassle but Apple always helps out. The real real real question is, should I even be waiting, are the updates that crucial that I should wait for them, cause aside from a small speed bump and flash cache I don't even know what else is going to be included with the update.
 
Personally, I would wait if you can. The MBP was last updated in October 06, and it's not April 07. Buyers Guide says it's at the end of the cycle. When I got mine, I had no choice, but I had buyers remorse for a while too, believing that Leopard was right around the corner. Now that I know it's not arriving until October I'm much happier, but you'll be upset if there's updated macs in less then 2 months from now.

Just my 2¢
 
thejadedmonkey said:
Personally, I would wait if you can. The MBP was last updated in October 06, and it's not April 07. Buyers Guide says it's at the end of the cycle. When I got mine, I had no choice, but I had buyers remorse for a while too, believing that Leopard was right around the corner. Now that I know it's not arriving until October I'm much happier, but you'll be upset if there's updated macs in less then 2 months from now.

Just my 2¢
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True, I think I am going to wait since June is only a month away. But I would still like to know what I am waiting for haha.
 
Ha ha ha very funny.

Simon R. said:
What country are you in, since it's already May at your place? :rolleyes:
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Smarty pants, I don't really count April cause it's basically over and flying by pretty quickly. May would be one month, and since June is what I'm waiting for I don't count that either. SO May = 1 month, June is one month away. . . unless you wanna count the two weeks in April, then June is a month and two weeks away. :p
 
I was hoping that the new upgrades would be released at the NAB but that didn't happen so now I am waiting for WWDC. I am afraid that even then they might not be released! I have been saving for a MBP 17" for a while so if they are released at WWDC I will buy one if not, I WILL STILL BUY ONE!!! ;)
 
warfa said:
I was hoping that the new upgrades would be released at the NAB but that didn't happen so now I am waiting for WWDC. I am afraid that even then they might not be released! I have been saving for a MBP 17" for a while so if they are released at WWDC I will buy one if not, I WILL STILL BUY ONE!!! ;)
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Yea that's probably what I'm going to end up doing. Ah, I just feel like when they do get updated, I will already have the current version and feel stupid :rolleyes:
 
I'm basically sitting in the same boat. Sitting here on a PC waiting for the next MBP. I don't think I've seen this asked anywhere else, but when new hardware comes out generally how long does it take Apple to get it out? Since we know SR is expected to be out the first week of May.
 
It seems like this question is asked every day, and will probably be asked more as we get closer to Santa Rosa's release.

Really, the only one that can tell you if it will be "worth it" or not is you. If you research what is involved in the Santa Rosa update and find that it contains something that you would REGRET not having (not just wish you had because it's new), then the wait will be worth it.

For me, the wait is worth it. The two major updates I am waiting for are the faster FSB and the ability to address 4 or more gig of RAM. I just cannot bring myself to buy a MBP today (although it is admittedly plenty of machine for my needs) because of the possibility of those features. However, if Santa Rosa comes and doesn't have both (and I stress both) then I will buy today's MBP from the refurb store.

Why not get it now, you ask? Because of the possibility of the upgrades I want. If they don't come, I can be satisfied that I'm not missing out, and for me, that IS worth the wait.

P.S. To Nayrb:

There is really no way to tell how soon Apple will upgrade to Santa Rosa. When the Core Duo (Yonah) chips were announced, Apple announced the Intel Macs the next day at MWSF-06. However, when Core 2 Duo (Merom) was released, Apple waited several months before putting them into the MBP. It could really go either way.
 
TheBobcat said:
I'm still holding out for Merom. It will render all other Mac's before it obsolete.
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Not sure what you're still waiting for then. Merom has been out for quite a while, since last July actually.

*hopes you were joking*
 
Santa Rosa = 64-bit

You'll be able to add much more ram and stuff than if you bought the current one, which will allow for more expandability. Also, Santa Rosa uses 2nd generation Merom's with the new Socket P, sand I believe Penryn is also Socket P, so you would be able to drop a Penryn in if you wanted to to increase performance.
 
My purchase decision is current hinging outside of hardware...BUT

I if I were buying an MBP now - I'd be happy. It has good accelerated graphics, and the new processors are not going to give that much of a performance increase. I would have no problems buying now - fantastic machines.

If I were after an MB - I would be hoping that the SIGNIFICANTLY improved graphics of the santa rosa chipset would make it into the MB and thus make it a much more able machine - and I would be wanting to wait until WWDC to see if this happens.

Doug
 
zioxide said:
Santa Rosa = 64-bit

You'll be able to add much more ram and stuff than if you bought the current one, which will allow for more expandability. Also, Santa Rosa uses 2nd generation Merom's with the new Socket P, sand I believe Penryn is also Socket P, so you would be able to drop a Penryn in if you wanted to to increase performance.
Click to expand...

The current MBP is already 64-bit compatible for Mac OSX...

Don't play the waiting game - it's a fools errand
 
I thought at first it would be worth waiting for, then I factored in other possibilities. Santa Rosa is probably going to hit Mac products ATLEAST by the end of the year. Montevina is scheduled to release sometime in 2008 (I might be wrong). The wait for Santa Rosa isn't that significant if it does release on Apple products at the end of 2007.

Also, it would have been great if Leopard and Santa Rosa were both added to Macs at the same time.. but it doesn't look like it right now. All Apple products are performing at it's best right now, regardless of Leopard and Santa Rosa. Those additions can be added on to your Apple experience later or even get upgraded before you know it.
 
zioxide said:
Santa Rosa = 64-bit

You'll be able to add much more ram and stuff than if you bought the current one, which will allow for more expandability. Also, Santa Rosa uses 2nd generation Merom's with the new Socket P, sand I believe Penryn is also Socket P, so you would be able to drop a Penryn in if you wanted to to increase performance.
Click to expand...

As was said before, the C2D is already 64-bit, so that point isn't relevant. Moreover, you wouldn't be able to "drop in" a newer CPU if one is released because the CPUs are soldered to the motherboard, and hence cannot be upgraded (unless you have the soldering skills of a high-tech machine).
 
Well now. . .

The fact alone that it will allow for more RAM may be a really big reason in why waiting is a good idea. I want to have this laptop for at least 3-5 years so if it ever got a little sluggish I can just pop more RAM in there and be fine. and if they do go to 2.6 GHz that'd be pretty much prefect for the span that I want to use it for. The PC I am using I built it myself in 2003 and it's still going strong, but I've wanted a Mac since I was in Audio school, and after graduation it's what I've been saving for. So, if I must wait until June, then fine. but if I have to wait till Oct, ummm I think I am just gonna buy it :p
 
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