Good time to buy a macbook pro?

[Klitzy]

Looking to buy a new mac and dont want to buy one right before a big announcement....Bought an ibook g4 like the day before they announced the new line. Sucked. Anyway....Would any date within the next two months be good or shall I wait any extra month or two and get the newest update?

[avcabob]

Seeing as Apple just did a pretty decent upgrade to the MBPs, now is probably a really good time to get one. I which mine had firewire 800 and a dual-layer superdrive. Anyway, Apple is known for almost constantly pushing out little updates to their hardware. So you could probably wait a few months and get a better one, but just a few months after that, there will be an even better one. If you worry about that, you'll never get a new one. I've learned with apple that pretty much just get what you want as soon as you can afford it.

[Casework]

Now would be the best time as any. I mean, even if they announce more new MacBooks, it wouldn't be any sooner than this announcement, which was over half a year. Plus, what more could you honestly need in a notebook that you wouldn't be satisfied with the MacBook Pros? Even for someone doing editing, they're the perfect portable device.

[tokenuser]

We are hitting end of year. MacWorld is in January. I wouldn't buy until the new year.

[Klitzy]

Alright so I am in the process of probably buying one and have a few questions....

1)Shall I go with 3gb or 2gb of ram? Is it complete overkill for the 3?

2)Glossy or regular screen?

3)Will the ATI etc etc 25c ram graphics card be enough to run high quality mmorpg games?

*I am getting the 2.33 gHz by the way

4)Someone told me about an nVidia card that would be great for it? Any info on this?

5)Can you wipe my ass too?

Anyway....I know some of these depend on what I am doing etc. I really just want a powerful computer and I have the money to do it. (16 year old from a wealthy family who has worked since 9th grade has saved up and wants something nice.)

So anyway...No "You dont even need a powerbook" because that is what I am getting. Any suggestions/advice would be great

Also, one of my main concerns is being able to run windows/play windows based games so any suggestions include the ability to do this....

[tokenuser]

Glossy screen. Get 2GB RAM - cheaper to upgrade it yourself later if needed.
They run windows beautifully - actually, bench test faster in WinXP than MacOS for many apps ... go figure.

BUT, wait until mid January, after Macworld. You can bet there will be an announcement made, and the CPU speed will be bumped up for the same $$$.

12 weeks. Have some patience ...

[Casework]

I'm not sure if they'd make any noteworthy upgrades that quickly after such a major update.

But no one knows with Apple. If you need it/want it now, and it currently satisfies all your needs, it will still satisfy all your needs when it is updated.

Also, I'd say, don't get the glossy screen. It increases the contrast levels, but unless that is something you'd really need or want, I'd say the glare that comes along with it, wouldn't be worth it. I do photo and video editing, and I don't have a glossy screen, but it hasn't prohibited any use of my machine. Ultimately it's just preference. You might like the look of the glossy screen, or feel like you need the slightly better contrast, or that might not seem worth it for the issues of glare, dust, and even scratches if you're using and moving your computer a lot.

[Klitzy]

So no need to upgrade the video card? Will run....say guild wars? I think I am going to just by it. Dont think I can wait 12 weeks.

[Casework]

It will run anything a similarly configured PC would, simply put. So if it meets the specs needed, it will be fine.

[tokenuser]

So no need to upgrade the video card? Will run....say guild wars? I think I am going to just by it. Dont think I can wait 12 weeks.Go for it. The current spec machines are great, and even if Apple do bring out an update at MacWorld, you will still have a great machine.

Just don't come in here and complain that your machine is now $500 cheaper, and for the same money you could have had the quad core and BluRay/HD DVD burner ;)

[sloppybunny]

Listen to token user and wait until january except for buying the latest Mac buy the mac you intend to buy now as in 12 weeks they'll be really cheap. You'll never buy a mac if you rely on release dates to see when it's the best time to buy a mac.

I'm still using a G4 and I do all my work on Final Cut4, after effects 6.5 and photoshop CS. They are more then sufficient to put food on the table, and I don't think I'll upgrade untill the mother board fries or something. I'm also not that rich and My version of Final cut don't work on Intel Macs.

What would you need 3 gigs of Ram for? Are you a 3d animator?

[tokenuser]

What would you need 3 gigs of Ram for? Are you a 3d animator?If you are a 3d animator, you'd be beter off with a cluster of Linux boxes acting as a rendering farm ...

[sloppybunny]

If you are a 3d animator, you'd be beter off with a cluster of Linux boxes acting as a rendering farm ...

True, I don't think even PIXAR who used to be owned by Steve Jobs use Macs. Curiously what do they use? That's off topic.

[tokenuser]

True, I don't think even PIXAR who used to be owned by Steve Jobs use Macs. Curiously what do they use? That's off topic.PIXAR (and ILM) made the switch - the other way ... kinda sorta.

Macs are used in their development process, but all the rendering is done on multiprocessor rendering farms using Xeon chips, running a variant of Linux. I don't know which variant, but I am betting it not one of the 1337 h4x0r distro that float around the net.

Up until about 2003, both PIXAR and ILM used Sun Ultrasparcs with RISC based CPUs, but as the rest of the world knew - you get more bang for the buck using Intel CPUs these days.

Anyway, if PIXAR can render The Incredibles on a Linux server farm, why not homebrew animator guy?

[sloppybunny]

Anyway, if PIXAR can render The Incredibles on a Linux server farm, why not homebrew animator guy?

I don't know, I still wonder why some people find the need to upgrade photoshop every 2 months when I still don't use anything I couldn't do in Photoshop 5.5 Well coloring in comics and prepping up stuff fro aftereffects.

Thanks for that info though. I'm no where near as geeky. I remember when I was a digital ink&painter at Disney we were running on Silicon Graphics machines, but later switched to Linux's running on P4's

[tokenuser]

I don't know, I still wonder why some people find the need to upgrade photoshop every 2 months when I still don't use anything I couldn't do in Photoshop 5.5 Well coloring in comics and prepping up stuff fro aftereffects.

Thanks for that info though. I'm no where near as geeky. I remember when I was a digital ink&painter at Disney we were running on Silicon Graphics machines, but later switched to Linux's running on P4'sHmmm. Animator with Disney in Sydney ... back 9 ... 10 years ago, a friend of a friend worked there (working on Aladin?). Wish I could remember his name. He did a lot of work on the Elfquest spinoff series. Damn ... his name is on the tip of my tongue ... I'll need to pull those issues from "the vault".

[sloppybunny]

Hmmm. Animator with Disney in Sydney ... back 9 ... 10 years ago, a friend of a friend worked there (working on Aladin?). Wish I could remember his name. He did a lot of work on the Elfquest spinoff series. Damn ... his name is on the tip of my tongue ... I'll need to pull those issues from "the vault".

Holy **** you know Jozef Szekeres. He's a good friend of mine! He draws a shit load of mermaids. It's him, he did wavedancers, he also did a comic for Eric Larson.

Actually a lot of people know him. He quit disney just before I started!

[tokenuser]

Holy **** you know Jozef Szekeres. He's a good friend of mine! He draws a shit load of mermaids. It's him, he did wavedancers, he also did a comic for Eric Larson.

Actually a lot of people know him. He quit disney just before I started!Jozef! YES! He was a friend of a friend ... but we hung out a couple of times when we were all up in Sydney together.

[ArmpitOfDeath]

We are hitting end of year. MacWorld is in January. I wouldn't buy until the new year.

Then it'll be April, time for some more updates, then it'll be getting towards September... it'll never end. The best time to buy the Mac of your choice is a) when you need it and b) when you have plenty of time on your hands to return it several times to Applecare :p

[magunwarrior]

It's useless to wait for Apple as there will always be rumor of a new upgrade or what have you. I'm not dissing Apple here by the way as I am an Apple lover myself. If you can wait however, wait. But if you really need a new computer then pick it up when you see fit. But if you wait for an upgrade then you'll always be waiting.

[Klitzy]

I just bought it so its a macbook pro with 2gb ram, 120 gb of hardrive space....15 inch...etc, etc.....Core 2 duo....What do you guys think? Will I be crying come MacWorld?

[Casework]

Sounds like a good purchase to me. I'm really not counting on any major updates come MacWorld, but you never know. But if you wait til January, as someone else said, then you'll be waiting until April, then September... it's just a cycle. If it works for you, then it's a great machine. I'm sure you won't be disappointed with your purchase. :)

[root]

My class at a local tech school just bought us a MacBook Pro. 15" I think, Core 2 Duo, not sure how much ram... Anyway its for a video prod class, and we picked up Final Cut Studio 5.0. I'm slowly turning my instructor into a hardcore mac fan... ;)

[ArmpitOfDeath]

I guess I replied too late, but now is not a good time to buy a Mac. June is a good time to buy a Mac, especially a laptop as you can test that it doesn't turn into a bbq grill in warm weather and then return it within a month.

I say that because my nuclear-hot in summer MBP is actually bearable at the time of writing. Thing is, comparable Sony and Dells I have are cool, not agreeably warm like the MBP is right now. So if the MBP isn't causing you any problems right now, it's no guarantee that it won't singe your lap come the warmer months.

I bought my Mac Pro a few weeks after release and I feel this was a bad decision because in order to be quiet (but not hugely quieter than my Dell) the airflow is quite low and I have a feeling that I might have problems in summer as well.

I rue getting my MBP - it's the most troublesome laptop I've ever owned. I really don't know what possessed me to add the smaller MBP to my Mac collection recently, but I suppose I'm a sucker for the way things look. I hope they have actually cured the heat problem, but I think it's just because of the timing of the release of the second gen (already into winter) and the weather.

[alexsk8ca]

I am pretty sure the heat problems have been solved though, so you shouldn't have a problem. Plus you could always try it in a really warm room couldn't you?