Hi!
I'm a college student, considering the purchase of a macbook sometime before school begins again (for me, in early September).
Some preliminaries:
- I've done lots of scouting around this and other "rumor" sites and, though I've seen lots of questions similar to mine, I haven't seen any questions which have been indentical, or responses which might adequately resolve it. I'll apologize in advance, though, if this has been asked before. (All the new and future releases seems to have caused the discussion on the various threads to become very scattered -- reading through some of them can be like trying to find a needle in a haystack.)
- On another preliminary note, I will only ever be using this notebook for typing, e-mail, web-surfing, iTunes, iPhotot, and watching the occasional DVD.
- I don't imagine I'll be in a position to upgrade whatever new notebook I get for a while now and, beyond that, I really like the idea of being able to hold onto a machine for at least three or four years -- I don't need the hassle of constant upgrades! In other words, it is my hope that this notebook will be one that lasts -- which leads me to my question...
I've run into a lot of talk and wildly divergent speculation about the character and worth of Yonahs, the coming of Meroms, and what Leopard and OSs beyond might desire from one's processor.
Now, like I say, I don't imagine I'll be using this laptop for anything too intensive. However, it is nice to change things up every now and then -- I imagine I would like to be able to upgrade the OS up through, say, 10.7. As such, I would really like any notebook I purchased to be as "future-proofed" as possible in this regard. (I really look forward to being able to run Leopard with the rumors of a new finder running around...)
So, if Leopard and future OSs are going to be 64bit, should I worry about getting a Macbook with its current specs? I've run into lots of talk that the Yonah is just a 32bit "stopgap," as it were, filling time before the wide release and implementation of 64bit chips and OSs. Does this mean Yonah will barely run Leopard and later OSs (I'd hate to run it crippled...)? When major apps add 64bit support, will I be cut-off from upgrading iLife because I have a Yonah chip? I worry especially that there may be a chance that the Macbook will be upgraded on or around September in a way that would significantly improve their ability to run 64bit OSs. If all a Merom adds is a 10% speed boost, I could care less -- but if not having a Merom (or later) chip in my notebook means my notebook will hit a 64bit OS/app wall with Leopard--much sooner than a notebook with a Merom would hit such a wall--then I'd prefer to wait to purchase a notebook, even into the school year.
I understand that my question may simply be unintelligible, on account of my lack of knowledge regarding computers -- i.e., Consumer laptops, maxing out at 2GB ram, might be able to take advantage of 64Bit OSs at all, or the software I'm concerned to use will work fine, etc.
However, any learned advice I can get would be greatly appreciated.
Thanks!!!
I'm a college student, considering the purchase of a macbook sometime before school begins again (for me, in early September).
Some preliminaries:
- I've done lots of scouting around this and other "rumor" sites and, though I've seen lots of questions similar to mine, I haven't seen any questions which have been indentical, or responses which might adequately resolve it. I'll apologize in advance, though, if this has been asked before. (All the new and future releases seems to have caused the discussion on the various threads to become very scattered -- reading through some of them can be like trying to find a needle in a haystack.)
- On another preliminary note, I will only ever be using this notebook for typing, e-mail, web-surfing, iTunes, iPhotot, and watching the occasional DVD.
- I don't imagine I'll be in a position to upgrade whatever new notebook I get for a while now and, beyond that, I really like the idea of being able to hold onto a machine for at least three or four years -- I don't need the hassle of constant upgrades! In other words, it is my hope that this notebook will be one that lasts -- which leads me to my question...
I've run into a lot of talk and wildly divergent speculation about the character and worth of Yonahs, the coming of Meroms, and what Leopard and OSs beyond might desire from one's processor.
Now, like I say, I don't imagine I'll be using this laptop for anything too intensive. However, it is nice to change things up every now and then -- I imagine I would like to be able to upgrade the OS up through, say, 10.7. As such, I would really like any notebook I purchased to be as "future-proofed" as possible in this regard. (I really look forward to being able to run Leopard with the rumors of a new finder running around...)
So, if Leopard and future OSs are going to be 64bit, should I worry about getting a Macbook with its current specs? I've run into lots of talk that the Yonah is just a 32bit "stopgap," as it were, filling time before the wide release and implementation of 64bit chips and OSs. Does this mean Yonah will barely run Leopard and later OSs (I'd hate to run it crippled...)? When major apps add 64bit support, will I be cut-off from upgrading iLife because I have a Yonah chip? I worry especially that there may be a chance that the Macbook will be upgraded on or around September in a way that would significantly improve their ability to run 64bit OSs. If all a Merom adds is a 10% speed boost, I could care less -- but if not having a Merom (or later) chip in my notebook means my notebook will hit a 64bit OS/app wall with Leopard--much sooner than a notebook with a Merom would hit such a wall--then I'd prefer to wait to purchase a notebook, even into the school year.
I understand that my question may simply be unintelligible, on account of my lack of knowledge regarding computers -- i.e., Consumer laptops, maxing out at 2GB ram, might be able to take advantage of 64Bit OSs at all, or the software I'm concerned to use will work fine, etc.
However, any learned advice I can get would be greatly appreciated.
Thanks!!!
