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MBP: Now or Wait?

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flanfan

macrumors newbie
Original poster
Feb 22, 2006
11
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I've pretty much decided that as soon as it seems reasonable I would like to get an MBP. I'm a film student, and it seems like the perfect combination of power and versatility. The question is, when I should get this.

I had been thinking of waiting to get an MBP after WWDC, when many new products would be released. Is there the possibility of seeing a tablet-based MBP within this or next year? If the chances are slim that neither this nor a significant upgrade to the MBP will come by WWDC, I will probably buy soon. I plan on selling my DP MDD G4 PowerMac and my 400MHz G4 Powerbook on ebay or someplace like that, and using that money towards this MBP. I fear that if I wait too long, say to WWDC, that I will get significantly less money for them than if I were to sell now.

Any suggestions? I know you all have great, strong opinions. :)
 
flanfan said:
I've pretty much decided that as soon as it seems reasonable I would like to get an MBP. I'm a film student, and it seems like the perfect combination of power and versatility. The question is, when I should get this.

I had been thinking of waiting to get an MBP after WWDC, when many new products would be released. Is there the possibility of seeing a tablet-based MBP within this or next year? If the chances are slim that neither this nor a significant upgrade to the MBP will come by WWDC, I will probably buy soon. I plan on selling my DP MDD G4 PowerMac and my 400MHz G4 Powerbook on ebay or someplace like that, and using that money towards this MBP. I fear that if I wait too long, say to WWDC, that I will get significantly less money for them than if I were to sell now.

Any suggestions? I know you all have great, strong opinions. :)
Click to expand...

I actually made a thread awhile back with the exact same title nearly...

Your needs might be different than mine, but hopefully these replies will help you out a bit.

Macbook Pro: Now or Wait?
 
My advice with buying new computers (especially from apple), wait as long as possible. Apple tends to add some small updates every now and then, and we don't know what we will see next week. I don't know what apple has released in the past at WWDC, if anything (im sure they have, the powermac?). Just wait as long as you can (or as long as you can bear your current machine).

But remember, any mac purchase is a good one.
 
Wow, that's freaky. Thank you, I will take a look at that thread.

Meanwhile, anybody who wants to chime in on my specific thread should still feel free to do so!
 
Have you played around with the books yet? For me it was perfect. I checked em out today and the speed was incredible. Just enough to meet my standards, so I will buy as soon as I can. Thats when theyc call me that mine is ready :). Apperantly there is a large list :eek:. lol. My advice, go check them out, play around with iMovie, check out FCP on the old PB and take in a speed increase, significat... and go with that. If it is a lil on the slow side than just wait. Less you need it now, like i do. Have been renting macs for months from friends... :rolleyes:
 
I cut HD projects in FCP and Motion on my G4 Powerbook now. I'm picking up a MBP as soon as I see results of the Universal Binary versions of the Pro Apps in a few weeks. I don't think they'd be any slower, and with 2x2.16Ghz of power can't be any worse.
 
I waited a while to see what would happen with the intel books. Now that they're out, I just picked up a used 12" powerbook to last be about a year. I'll probably end up waiting until the merom books are out (at the very least I'll be waiting until CS3 is out as my needs are based entirely around adobe's cooperation with apple). I think it just comes down to what you need it for.
 
Also

Here's a new question I'm sure one of you can answer or at least help me speculate on: I am used to working with a Dual 1GHz PM G4 MDD (pre-Firewire800), with 512MB RAM, a 80GB Hard Drive, and a Radeon 9000 Pro. How much faster is the present MBP going to be than this? For example, rendering about 8 minutes of video in FCP with the Pixlet Codec for me takes about 2 hours, and exporting with 2-pass VBR MPEG2 takes about another 2 hours. Any help is appreciated. :D
 
I'm not sure about the video question, but as far as the first question, I'd say you should probably wait. It doesn't seem like you're in a huge need of a new computer right now, and waiting won't hurt you. Plus, you said you're a student, so wait until the summer, and if you need a computer then, buy one under the back-to-school sale that Apple runs. You'll get a good deal, and who knows, maybe the MacBook Pros will have gotten an update by then.
 
Bottom line: either you are hurting and you feel the need for a new machine now, or there is still a little gas in the tank of your current machine and you can hold off for a few months.
 
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