hey guys i need your help..........i wanted a macbook for a while now and was going to wait til christmas time to see if a new revision came out. but for school now i actually need one and i need it fast. i just don't want to pick one up now and in october there's a revision. what do you guys think the chances of that happening are? how much will i have to pay extra for leopard? are there any other legitimate reasons to hold out?
Got a tip for us?
Let us know
Become a MacRumors Supporter for $50/year with no ads, ability to filter front page stories, and private forums.
Mac now or Mac in October?
- Thread starter air23cary
- Start date
- Sort by reaction score
There will always be hardware revisions so if you let that become a factor, you'll never get one.
Leopard will cost about $130 (I'm in Canada so your price might be different).
So if you need it now, go get it. And if you can wait, then wait for Leopard, but don't wait for hardware revisions (IMO) cause you'll drive yourself crazy with your finger getting itchier on the trigger all the time.
Make the jump, you'll be glad you did!
Good luck.
Leopard will cost about $130 (I'm in Canada so your price might be different).
So if you need it now, go get it. And if you can wait, then wait for Leopard, but don't wait for hardware revisions (IMO) cause you'll drive yourself crazy with your finger getting itchier on the trigger all the time.
Make the jump, you'll be glad you did!
Good luck.
You don't have to buy Leopard straight away. In fact, I would wait until 10.5.1 when any bugs that pop up are sorted out (by someone else). You also don't want to be playing with your new OS until you have some free time (like Christmas break).
ditto. I think that you should give Apple a chance to iron out the wrinkles with Leopard after its release. It seems that you need the MB now, so you should get it now. When you finally pick up Leopard over the holidays, most of the bugs should have been addressed.
this topic comes up many times a day around here and the response is ultimately: if you really need it, get it now. if you can manage to wait for however long you're comfortable waiting, then wait.
sounds like you already know the answer.
sounds like you already know the answer.
If you want to buy it now, but it.
It is worth the money and if you want Leopard, just buy that when it comes out.
It is worth the money and if you want Leopard, just buy that when it comes out.
Since I am switching from Windows to Mac, I wanted to go with a stable OS to get that solid out-of-the-box experience compared to a brand new OS (Leopard). To me, it was worth it to go ahead and get a Mac now (MacBook Pro) and experience it with Tiger and then upgrade to Leopard after it's been out a month or so, depending upon the initial feedback).
So far, I'm pretty happy (4 hours since power-on).
So far, I'm pretty happy (4 hours since power-on).
Buy now, get the printer and ipod (if you are a student). Sell the iPod and/or printer and use the money you get from that to buy Leopard as soon as it comes out.
Wait.
I suspect that there will be new Macs offered at the same time or a few weeks after the new version of OSX.
You will get more computer for the same price.
Plus, the new OSX for free.
Don't get emotionally involved with this decision. You need something for school but you are hot and horny for instant gratification. Wait.
Why did you do that? To be hip or cool?
I suspect 95% of your classwork can be done on a cheap Dell (< $600) and any programs you need are written for XP.
Since there aren't that many Macs in the world, anything you need for Mac you have to buy, anything you need for XP you can, er, borrow.
I would have gotten the Mac after you graduated.
Save money for beer.
Why did you do that? To be hip or cool?
I suspect 95% of your classwork can be done on a cheap Dell (< $600) and any programs you need are written for XP.
Since there aren't that many Macs in the world, anything you need for Mac you have to buy, anything you need for XP you can, er, borrow.
I would have gotten the Mac after you graduated.
Save money for beer.
Unless he's going to a specialist trade school, anything that can be done on a cheap dell can be done on a mac as well.
And, as most people could tell you, the benefits of not having your computer crash or your hardrive fry out while writing a term paper more than outweight the benefits of paying a few hundred dollars less.
Coupled with the fact that to this day there have been no free roaming mac viruses on the internet and the fact that the mac user base is expanding more and more, why exactly would a cheap dell be so much better?
What are you talking about? Hard drives frying because it's XP or Dell?! 95% of businesses around the world use Windows based systems and most computers are very reliable as long as you don't click the link from Aunt Jenny, download the porn from classmate Steve or install screen savers from Bill.
Look around this board, you can find the same evidence against Macs as you have said about XPs... bad drives, low quality, screens dieing, HDs frying, motherboards cracking, Airport disconnecting, panics, can't boot... etcetera.
Dells aren't nearly as cool as Macs but, reality is, the cost to get started is much lower. The computers usually cost less and all the programs you need, MS Office, WoW
... are freely floating around campus and most offices.Besides, try sending the term paper you wrote in Pages to your professor and see what response you'll get.
Why did you do that? To be hip or cool?
I suspect 95% of your classwork can be done on a cheap Dell (< $600) and any programs you need are written for XP.
Since there aren't that many Macs in the world, anything you need for Mac you have to buy, anything you need for XP you can, er, borrow.
I would have gotten the Mac after you graduated.
Save money for beer.
What does it matter why he switched? I myself switched and bought my first Mac this summer for school. I got a 2.4 ghz, 1920x1200 17" screen, and 7200 rpm 160GB drive and don't regret a single thing! I could have bought a 17" HP for less than half of what I paid, but I figured, WHY? I am sure I could have used the HP for school, but why not use a Mac? All the programs the school uses for graphic design seem to be used across both platforms, but why NOT use a Mac? The experience of a computer that is so much more stable makes it worth the extra $1500 I paid. I LOVE MY MAC!
Why did you do that? To be hip or cool?
Not that it matters, but mostly because we have two young kids and my wife likes to make videos, slideshows, etc. for the grandparents and friends and I get tired of listening to hear scream when Windows Movie Maker, or whatever, blows up an hour into her work and she just lost everything she had done.
That, and things like iWeb and iMovie are easier to use than anything windows.
For myself, doing development in Java/PHP/Rails is easier on a *NIX based OS than it is on Windows.
My wife doesn't use the windows PC anymore for photos and videos for the same reasons.
On a different and equally unhelpful note, I had a webchat (instant messenger thingy that i never use) with a salesperson from apple UK a couple of days ago. I explained about wanting a MBP 17" which I can get for £1655 in the UK (education discount) but being wary of apple's revisions as I bought a PB G4 just before they went all Intel and isight built in on us. I said I didn't want to get caught out again and asked what the grace period was for getting leopard upgraded for free.
He told me to hang on until leopard was released unless I was desperate for the new machine right now. he wouldn't say if it meant new hardware or nor - i did try to press him a bit.
May all be bluster but you never know
That makes sense.
I used to use Pinnacle for videos and that thing crashed every time I used it.
That makes sense.
I used to use Pinnacle for videos and that thing crashed every time I used it.
Oh god i remember that garbage that came with the PC firewire kits.
Even Premiere Elements runs like a dog on the PC.