Oh no, another "what to get" thread

[yoak]

Back for advice after a long time being happy with my equipment (thanks to advice from people here).

My 3 year old ibook (with one broken hinge) is showing it´s age altough Tiger recently blew some fresh life into it.

I´m getting Sonys new EX1 camera (HD) that records to SxS cards (PCI Express type) so I need a laptop that I can off load my footage during a shoot and burn DVD master copies. My ibook can´t cut it for that.

This leaves me with the MBP.
I want to spend as little as possible since the camera is quite expensive.

I will use FCS 2 to some degeree, but I´m first and foremost a cameraman.

I will probably do some editing on the road, but burning DVD´s as fast is a high priority

I´m thinking of the "basic" MBP, but should I get the 7200 HD? Or will the 5400 keep me going until I´m back at my desk connected to a FW 800 HD?

I haven´t followed MR very closely (it took too much time out of my life) lately. I can see the MBP is nearing the end of it´s cycle, but when are upgrades likely, 2008?

More significantly, will they be major or minor?

(I probably can´t wait very long anyway so I´ll by when I have to)

Thanks

Ops posted in wrong forum, sorry

 

[CalBoy]

The mbps got a very minor (nearly non-existant) bump yesterday, so I think it's safe to say that they won't actually be updated until later on in 2008. I think that if something drastic does happen to them, we would see them announced at MacWorld 08 in January, with a possible release in February. However, I think that they will simply get the next generation of Intel processors next year, with other upgrades (RAM, HD, etc), and that it will probably be a silent update without much fanfare. I'd bet for this to happen sometime around April simply because it would match the 6 month update cycle the mbps have seen since their introduction. If you can't hold on until January for an announcement, I suggest you buy soon. If you can, then hold on.

 

[MarlboroLite]

The MBP is probably the fastest laptop of its kind out there....it's a great machine as it is today. It should be more than enough for your purposes. You can end up playing the waiting game forever and never get anything at the end of the day because as soon as something is announced, people will talk about how AWESOME!!!! they will be in the next update if you just wait a few more months! They are awesome enough as they are right now, if you need it get it.

 

[Adokimus]

I think you'll be fine with the lowest end and the 5,200 HDD. If you're using the FW800 external drive for the bulk of your editing, you probably won't notice much of a speed difference during your limited in between time. Again, depends on how much in between time you have.

As for saving cash, if you aren't eligible to get a student discount, you could save even more money by going refurb. Plus, I think apple just lowered the price on that refurb model (probably due to 2.6 and 200 GB 7,200 options), though you could even go with the previous model MBP, but I think the new graphics card is worth the bucks.

Check it: http://store.apple.com/1-800-MY-APPLE/WebObjects/AppleStore.woa/wa/RSLID?nplm=FA895LL/A

$1,699


-Ado

 

[yoak]

Thanks for the replies

I wish I could by refurb, but the I have never seen one on the Norwegian Apple site. It´s always epmty

I´m glad to hear that the 5200 will probably do.

One question, will the 7200 help me in the transfer of my footage from the PCI Express card to finished DVD?

As said before this time I`ll buy when I need. When I bought my ibook, I could wait and was told to wait from people here. That advice saved me quite a bit of money AND I got a very good upgrade (airport card and bluetooth suddenly standard)