macbook purchace advice - when/where?

[jbusc]

I've been thinking for a while about buying the stock low-end macbook (current PC winblows user) and I've been wondering a couple of different things...

First - where to buy? I think I'll buy at my local university apple store, and ask if I can power it up before buying. Can I really determine if the laptop is OK or not after about 5-10 minutes? Is there anything important to look for? Alternatively, turnover is low at this store - possibly this macbook has been sitting there since the first shipment, so is an "early" macbook (and more likely to have trouble) and I'm more likely to get a "good" macbook online?

second - when to buy? I don't really need it until august (semester starts), but I might as well go for it now. I'll be doing some mild "number-crunching" but really an extra 200mhz on the CPU is unimportant if that's all they upgrade. If Merom is coming by then, or if the intel gma965 graphics (which is supposed to be significantly better than gma950??) then I would consider waiting...anything else?

thanks for the help...

 

[fatties]

re when- i just switched from pc to a macbook and although it hs really easy, it has taken me the better part of the week to set it up- i got it on monday and its thursday already and i haven't finished transfering, downloading etc yet. its easy to get used to and much easier than xp but i think you really want to play round with it first. before all the fun and bumpth of college start again...

i was going to wait for memron and lepard but then i thought my computer won't last another 6-8 months... so i have it here and now. but then i am no computer genius so i guess its ok for me... anyway very happy with what i got.

 

[emptyCup]

What: if you buy at a store where you can inspect the actual machine you are buying, the only thing you can look for in a few minutes are dead pixels (which are rare)

Where: if you are worried about getting an early machine at your school store you can buy from the Apple online store. Often you can get as good a deal (or better) from Amazon, without the student discount, as you would from Apple.

When: when you need the computer. There is always a new model coming out in 3-6 months (and the rumors of a new model start 10 minutes after a new model is announced). There may be new chips in August, or speed bumps, or just a more mature version of the existing machine with the production bugs worked out. If you buy when you need the computer you get the satisfaction of having the best computer, available at the time, for your job. That will not change.

Best wishes