[Scott F]

Hello,

I am a student who will be graduating high school this year and will need a MBP for next year (I am an artist who will be heavily working in Photoshop, Flash, and Dreamweaver).

I have heard of some problems with the latest batch of MBP's and was wondering when would be the best time to buy one; taking into consideration of the release of Leopard/LED Screens, Grainy screen problems, heat issues, etc.

Is it worth it to wait? Should I wait?

Scott

[Rev2Liv]

The MBP C2D appears to have ironed out all the issues except the grainy screen. On my Rev.B 2.16 C2D, I experience no unexpected shutdowns/freezes, and the fan(s) rarely spin up. All in all, I am extremely happy with my MBP C2D. It is as polished as the last generation PB G4 15" 1.5ghz I previously used.

I also feel tha that the Intel roadmap only shows incremental upgrades for at least the next year and a half. Besides a bump to an 800mhz FSB and most likely an EFI BIOS and chipset that can address a full 4GB RAM, the next revisons won't be earth shattering.

On the issue of the screen. It is brighter than those found on PowerBook G4's., but there is slight grainyness and viewing angle issues. However, many in the Mac & PC community attribute in part to the Radeon X1600 GPU. It is hoped that a firmware/driver update will solve that problem.

[Zeeb]

I think the future release of the new operating system--Leopard--alone makes it worth it to wait. It's probably true that the hardware itself will have an incremental update, but its sure good to get those updates thrown in for the same price you would have paid for the "old" model.

Its been awhile since a new MBP, just wait until the next revision if you can and you'll be happy. The "buy it when you need it" advice in my opinion only applies to businesses who would lose money without updated hardware, students who need a laptop for school immediately (you're starting college next year), and you should always buy if the product has recently been revised--the MBP hasn't.

Mac Buyer's Guide: Know When to Buy Your Mac

[onlyone-jc]

Do you think that there's any chance of a new MacBook Pro revision before June? I know Santa Rosa is rumoured for the 8th of May, but do you think Apple will wait until WWDC '07 to release it?

onlyone-jc.

[SierraDragon]

The current C2D MBPs are excellent in every regard. No particular problems to speak of, as good as laptops get (those few folks who think there are grain issues with 15" can buy glossy displays, 17" displays, or simply buy at a store and verify the display prepurchase).

That said, there will be improvements this summer before the next academic year. The improvements will probably mainly affect high end users (like you and me); things like 4 GB RAM accessibility, stronger graphics cards, maybe dual hard drives available, etc. Prices on the existing excellent MBPs will lower a bit too. And like Zeeb said, come June/July Leopard will come included and that has $100+ value.

Note that the addition of a second physical hard drive for scratch with Adobe apps has a very significant positive performance impact. When in the office I use a FW 800 RAID 0 drive for scratch with my 17" C2D MBP. Also, strongly consider the 17" size because even though it is less transport-convenient, the extra screen real estate and many additional pixels make the 17" a much superior graphics box. Even better is a larger external display at your primary work location; most pro graphics folks find two displays indispensable (palettes on the smaller display).

IMO the Mac Buyer's Guide is way overly simplistic and should not be used for purchase decision making. The congruence of individual needs, OS trends, app trends, hardware trends all need to be evaluated.

Register now with Apple as a student developer Apple Developer Connection - Products and maintain that registration through your academic career. Only $99 and worth the cost for info mailings, special discounts, early OS copies, etc.

-Allen Wicks

[NeutrinoMan]

Originally Posted by SierraDragon 

The current C2D MBPs are excellent in every regard. No particular problems to speak of, as good as laptops get (those few folks who think there are grain issues with 15" can buy glossy displays, 17" displays, or simply buy at a store and verify the display prepurchase).
-Allen Wicks

The advice of verifying your display before purchasing is very good. However, you're minimizing the problems with the current crop of displays. First, buying glossy doesn't help with the 15" model - the grain issue is present in both matte and glossy. It is true that 17" model is generally unaffected by the grain issue, but there have been MANY reports of uneven backlighting in the 17". I've been viewing as many display models as I can, and I continue to be shocked at the high percentage of bad displays in the current MBP 15" and 17" models.

I kick myself every day for selling my PB G4 before shopping for a MBP C2D (I bought one but returned it due to the terrible display). It's a pain to wait for the next revision, but I would advise anyone who can wait to do so. There's a good chance new LED displays will at least solve the uneven backlighting issue, and if we're lucky, the grain issue too.

[onlinemike]

I bought a refurbed PBP 15" a couple od days ago from Apple. I got it yesterday and it runs great. I have been hammering it for 48hrs straight . It seems to run great and the screen is fine!

[mfbernstein]

While waiting has advantages, there are a few caveats too:

1) Apple 10.X.0 releases don't have a great track record. Leopard will break apps and will introduce new bugs. If past experience is anything to go by, it'll take at least a few months for all the dust to settle down.
2) LED displays/Solid State Disks/etc. are cool, but don't bet on them appearing in Macs any time very soon. The economics and availability are a problem.

On the other side, current MBPs, while good machines, aren't _great_ machines. The LCDs, in addition to the issues outlined above, have limited viewing angle, and uneven an backlight (in addition to the graininess mentioned above). There are still isolated cases of battery swelling. The MagSafe power connectors can prove disturbingly fragile. Finally, there are still a number of applications that aren't Universal yet.

In short, I'd say the picture isn't black and white. If you're not in a particular hurry, I'd wait, simply because it's nice to see what the future holds, and the current machines aren't going to disappear, only get cheaper. SierraDragon's suggestion about ADC Student membership is a good one too: the hardware discounts alone are worth it.

[onlyone-jc]

Originally Posted by mfbernstein 

ADC Student membership is a good one too: the hardware discounts alone are worth it.

I was thinking about signing up to this. But, my course ends on the 22nd of June this year and I'll no longer be a student. If I was to purchase this now, would it, and the hardware/software discounts that come with it, still be valid for the year, even though after June I'll no longer officially be a student?

Thanks,
onlyone-jc.