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To Buy or not to buy

T

Tom Foolery

macrumors regular
Original poster
Oct 16, 2007
244
0
Toronto, Canada
i have been waiting a long time for the macbook pro and until moments ago i was waiting until leopard was released. but now i have learned that there is a good chance that there will be a new macbook pro in january, i really want to get it but this is a serious investment i am making and i don't know if it is worth it or not to wait. i bought a 20 gig ipod photo and for a while i was kicking myself because the video came out only a month or two later.
please i really need advice
is there anyway i can buy my mbp now and trade it in for the newer one when it comes out
 
i'm in a similar position. it's way past time i get a new laptop. i got myself really excited for the mbp 2 months ago, despite being a windows user. but decided to wait for leopard to save some money. but now that it's announced i'm having second thoughts on if i should wait longer.

but i think i've decided to just go ahead and buy now. mostly because everyone is predicting the rumored january update to be just a new processor, maybe faster video card. no one is expecting a major update for another year or so. and i already plan to upgrade the ram and hard drive myself.

but if you look at current specs, what cant this laptop do except some very high end gaming? i find it hard to believe that the new chip will really change that fact. so the question becomes, what will you be able to do with a refreshed mbp that you cant with the current? and i find myself unable to come up with anything.

so unless you plan on waiting a year, for a machine what will probably run very hot until it's second refresh, why not buy now?

as for trading it in, i dont know of anything. but you could always resell it in a few months. from what i can tell the mbp's seem to retain their value fairly well. so you'd take a few hundred dollars hit.

so i say buy now, upgrade to 4gb ram, 7200rpm drive, and you wont miss the processor speed bump next refresh. in the mean time you can enjoy a new laptop.
 
you know what dude i think your right, and i am literally in the exact same situation, as you, currently a windows user, i got exited to the new mac system 3 months ago, and i waited on the basis of leopard.
but your reasoning makes a lot of sense, the only thing is would you upgrade to 4 gigs of ram from apple, i've been considering doing that myself you can get 4 gigs of ram for a couple hundred and installing it myself much cheaper than the $700 mac preinstalled ram and is it really worth it to upgrade you the 7200rpm, really what programs are that resource heavy that would require 7200rpm's
 
I've also been waiting for Leopard and at least news of an updated MacBook Pro. But with the idea if something did get announced in January it realistically would still be a 5 month wait to get it into my hands, too long. And it seemed that up-grade would be just a slight speed bump and maybe a video card which would be nice but not a deal maker ( and the heat issues may be something to think about from what I have read ).

So, for me sooner was better. With leopard now announced, that free up-grade would be just another reason to buy now to me. I didn't even wait and got my 17" last month.
 
i got this ram. but seeing as i dont have my mbp yet, i cant speak for it's quality. but other posts here seemed happy with it. and installation seems easy enough.

as for the hard drive. in my opinion, it's a decision everyone has to make on their own. going from 5400 rpm to 7200rpm is a very slight improvement. and it's up to you personally if it's worth it. for me, getting the 200gb 7200 rpm is worth it. to others the 250gb 5400rpm is more worth it. but i have gobs of extra space on my desktops. you may find space more usefull. or that may not even be important to you. it's a decision only you can make. but to answer your question, nothing requires the faster hard drive.
 
they just got updated in june, they are going to update in january, this is october, ITS MID PRODUCT CYCLE there will ALWAYS be a new model coming soon, if you keep waiting until there woulnt be a new model for however long you deem necessary you will never have a new machine
 
good call you've convinced me to get the laptop, i just have one final question should i pay the couple hundred extra for the 2.4 GHz or should i stick with the 2.2 GHz keep in mind i'm already spending a lot on this
 
Tom Foolery said:
good call you've convinced me to get the laptop, i just have one final question should i pay the couple hundred extra for the 2.4 GHz or should i stick with the 2.2 GHz keep in mind i'm already spending a lot on this
Click to expand...

I'm in the same situation myself. What I plan on doing is buying the 2.2ghz model with a 160gb 7200rpm drive and upgrading it to 4gb of RAM. I spoke with an apple rep about this and it was told to me that with those specifications on a 2.2ghz model there wouldn't be much difference between it and the 2.4 unless you are an extreme gamer. Even then, the difference in performance would be negligible. :apple::apple::apple:
 
I am officially joining the club on buying a new Macbook Pro. But here are the reasons I advise you to WAIT.

1. If your buying the 17" MBP (like I am) You'll want the LED backlit screen. Less power consumption. Brighter display that never dulls and its better for the environment. It's due any time.

2. Possible inclusion of eSATA port? Hey, as a video editor I can't wait for this. I had putting cards in the card slot to do things that an internal port would do.

3. More hard drive options custom strait from mac.com. 200GB 7200 RPM drives commonly out there. They need to offer this BTO.

4. The new Penryn chips will run cooler because they're 45nm rather than 65nm. Some say 10 degree's cooler. This is a good thing because MBP runs like a furnace from what I hear.

5. Possible Blu-Ray/HD DVD option? Hey, its popping up in notebooks all over the PC world. Why can't mac have its option to put it in the top of the line pro models?

Overall, it's all small stuff. But again, remember the iPod photo. I too ALMOST bought an iPOD photo because when it reigned King everyone was saying that video on the iPOD was impossible and years away.

Food for thought.
 
waywardsage said:
I am officially joining the club on buying a new Macbook Pro. But here are the reasons I advise you to WAIT.

1. If your buying the 17" MBP (like I am) You'll want the LED backlit screen. Less power consumption. Brighter display that never dulls and its better for the environment. It's due any time.

2. Possible inclusion of eSATA port? Hey, as a video editor I can't wait for this. I had putting cards in the card slot to do things that an internal port would do.

3. More hard drive options custom strait from mac.com. 200GB 7200 RPM drives commonly out there. They need to offer this BTO.

4. The new Penryn chips will run cooler because they're 45nm rather than 65nm. Some say 10 degree's cooler. This is a good thing because MBP runs like a furnace from what I hear.

5. Possible Blu-Ray/HD DVD option? Hey, its popping up in notebooks all over the PC world. Why can't mac have its option to put it in the top of the line pro models?

Overall, it's all small stuff. But again, remember the iPod photo. I too ALMOST bought an iPOD photo because when it reigned King everyone was saying that video on the iPOD was impossible and years away.

Food for thought.
Click to expand...

1. Probably soon.
2. Maybe soon-ish, probably not.
3. Probably soon.
4. Earliest January 2008
5. Unlikely, very unlikely, Mac Pro doesn't even have an HD drive yet.
 
waywardsage said:
I am officially joining the club on buying a new Macbook Pro. But here are the reasons I advise you to WAIT.

1. If your buying the 17" MBP (like I am) You'll want the LED backlit screen. Less power consumption. Brighter display that never dulls and its better for the environment. It's due any time.

2. Possible inclusion of eSATA port? Hey, as a video editor I can't wait for this. I had putting cards in the card slot to do things that an internal port would do.

3. More hard drive options custom strait from mac.com. 200GB 7200 RPM drives commonly out there. They need to offer this BTO.

4. The new Penryn chips will run cooler because they're 45nm rather than 65nm. Some say 10 degree's cooler. This is a good thing because MBP runs like a furnace from what I hear.

5. Possible Blu-Ray/HD DVD option? Hey, its popping up in notebooks all over the PC world. Why can't mac have its option to put it in the top of the line pro models?

Overall, it's all small stuff. But again, remember the iPod photo. I too ALMOST bought an iPOD photo because when it reigned King everyone was saying that video on the iPOD was impossible and years away.

Food for thought.
Click to expand...

I absolutely REFUSE to buy a new machine until they get this: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Holographic_Versatile_Disc

Apple, I'm sick of waiting around for your machines to have all the newest technology. Get on it. This is ridiculous.
 
Solesk said:
i got this ram. but seeing as i dont have my mbp yet, i cant speak for it's quality. but other posts here seemed happy with it. and installation seems easy enough.
Click to expand...

What made you get the ram that you bought. I thought the MBP uses DDR2 5300?? Whereas you bought the 5400. I saw other posts where others have bought the 5400 too. What's the intention of getting 5400 speed ram??
 
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