Is there any particular reason I shouldn't be buying a 17" MBP?

[svalbard]

Hi everyone.


Just wonder if people can give me some quick advice. I'm gradually transitioning to a nearly all-Mac set-up. I've got a Core Duo iMac in the bedroom which booted out a VAIO 'all-in-one', a Core Duo Mac Mini in the living room which booted out a silenced (at some cost) PC, an iMac in my home office (Which is supplanting my main PC) with a 23" Cinema display.


I've not had any hardware issues with the MM/iMacs so far. And to date I've held off buyng a MBP because of the hardware niggles that people have pointed out... and also because for me, 15" isnt a great size.


At the moment I have a Dell Inspiron 9400 at my office, and what i'd like to do is to send the iMac + Cinema Display over there to replace that, and put a 17" MBP + Cinema display in the home office to give me some flexibility in carting my stuff around, yet use it as more or less my main machine.


It would probably mean that this would be the most-used Mac out of all that I have so it needs to be faultless in terms of hardware. Is there good reason to expect the same 'rev.1 stories of woe' for the 17 inchers?


Many thanks

 

[j26]

The only reason I can think of not to get one is that you have a lot of macs already

Go for it.

 

[zap2]

Ya because it spent so much $$ on macs in such a short peroid of time, now your update cycle will make you need to update them all at one time!


Maybe wait for a Merom MBP just becuase you don't need it NOW

 

[truz]

I would wait myself for the next set of intel chips to release before buying a macbook pro. Stick with the dell for now until Q3 and then pickup a new Intel macbook pro 17"

 

[mkrishnan]

The only big thing, I would think, aside from the "do you really need so many new Macs" question, is to wait and see a little while, since you have adequate hardware right now, whether or not Apple has truly resolved this heat hardware issue, or whether it even applies to the 17" model.

 

[gekko513]

Or at least wait a week or two to see if there are many MBP 17" complaints when more people get to try them out.

 

[pimentoLoaf]

A 17" is hardly a notebook -- more like a book-laptop. It gets horribly hot without a rubber-coated dishrack underneath to allow more airflow.

Otherwise, you'll love it to bits (and bytes)!

 

[svalbard]

My Mac count is nothing compared to my Dell server count And the Macs have just replaced PC's that already happend to be here. The reason I'm hastening my move to Macs is that apart from the occasional gaming sesh, the software structure on the servers is such that I've actually totally removed my need to have a PC / Windows on my home PC's for my work. Now I've got that sorted out, I'm keen to get everything finalised.


Heat issue: I'll have to go to the Apple store next time I'm in town and pass my hand over some all-day-on examples. The Dell just stays reasonably warm to the touch on the top while I'm working on it and as long as it's the same or less, I'm not bothered. I'm not going to be actually 'lapping' it, so no risk of "cojones tostadas". It'll be used for the same reason as I got the Dell... as a transportable desktop replacement. However it certainly shouldn't need assisted cooling while just sitting on a desk. If it does then it's a non-starter.


Problem is you see, I'm sure you can appreciate that I don't know how many of the complaints I've seen about the 15" MBP are from people who actually own the stuff, how many are just being hyper-nitpicking, etc. My Macs have been fine... And taking another Apple product, as I've seen on other forums like iLounge, problems that seem to affect huge numbers of people on the iPod I don't have a problem with.


Perhaps you can see what's feeding my relative confusion and indecisiveness. A lot of the posts on forums I look at are non-specific and it leads me to believe a significant percentage of them might be coming from the 'tyre-kickers' of this world. On the other hand this is kind of a key acquisition as it'll be a heavily used work machine. If it turns out to be a flawed overheating brick then I will be pissed off in the extreme.


As for the processor change, I'm not intimately familiar with Apple product refresh cycles yet, but I can't see them coming out with a Merom 17" for another 9 months to a year. And exactly what dramatic benefits will Merom bring?


So the second question would be, given your experience what would be the best time to buy the 17" MBP? Sorry about the long lead-up, just wanted to make my situation clear.