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Tiresias · Feb 12, 2007, 09:35 AM

I have a 11" PowerBook SuperDrive, but am thinking about upgrading to an 18" MacBook Pro in the next few months.

Are there likely to be any improvements in the next 12 months (like Leopard) that will make me one to do this

for buying a MacBook Pro in April? Or, any there presently any bugs/flaws (like white spots) with the new MacBooks that will make me want to do this

for not waiting until they are fixed before forking out.

Thanks.

SierraDragon · Feb 12, 2007, 11:44 AM

Originally Posted by Tiresias

...am thinking about upgrading to an 18" MacBook Pro in the next few months...
...Are there likely to be any improvements in the next 12 months (like Leopard)...?

Of course there will be improvements. There always have been and there always will be. Any computer manufacturer that stopped regularly improving would quickly cease to exist.

Current 17" MBPs are excellent laptops in every regard. There is no reason not to buy one now, except if your current box is adequate for your needs and money is really tight you could save the cost of OS 10.5 by waiting for a few months. Personally I would never wait a purchase just to save on the cost of the next OS.

A small pro laptop is way overdue, so it probably does make sense to wait for folks who want a 13' 'book stronger and lighter than the Macbooks. Due to smaller screen real estate and pixel count as well as lower performance such small 'books are generally most appropriate for folks who don't run graphics or other heavy apps.

-Allen Wicks

P.S. I own a 17" C2D MacBook Pro.

Tiresias · Feb 12, 2007, 01:11 PM

Will some one please tell me what "C2D" means?!

DoubleV20 · Feb 12, 2007, 01:32 PM

C2D stands for core 2 duo.

toddtmw · Feb 12, 2007, 02:15 PM

Like the other poster said, there is ALWAYS going to be a new model down the road. I had a G4/400 tower and a G4/500 Powerbook (Both acquired second-hand.) I kept waiting and waiting for the right time to make a leap on a new model. I came really close when the original iMac G5's came out, but didn't have the money at the time. When the iNtel iMacs came out, I jumped and bought one right away. Later that year, when the C2D's came out, I didn't mind as much because I'd gotten 7 or 8 months of use out of mine.

My friends and family surprised me with a MacBook Pro for my birthday last month so I now have an Intel laptop. I'm guessing that at least a speed bump will come at some point relatively soon, but the current machines are so powerful, I expect them both to last me quite a while.

I mean, I can't kill these machines. I can play WOW, while using Parallels and they just keep asking for more. The only thing that maxxes the CPU for any length of time is encoding video and even then I'm getting 60-70 frames per second. Even when maxxing both cores, the machine is still remarkabley responsive to foreground tasks. The OS and dual-cores really allow multiple things to run well together.

Predicting the future is tough and predicting Apple's future is getting harder and harder. I had a friend that kept saying he was going to get a new computer and he kept waiting. He'd always talk about getting a low-end version since that's all he could afford. I told, him that since he wasn't going to buy it anyway, he might as well not get the top-of-the-line, maxxed-out version!

-Todd

Zeeb · Feb 12, 2007, 03:57 PM

Originally Posted by Tiresias

I have a 11" PowerBook SuperDrive, but am thinking about upgrading to an 18" MacBook Pro in the next few months.

Are there likely to be any improvements in the next 12 months (like Leopard) that will make me one to do this

for buying a MacBook Pro in April? Or, any there presently any bugs/flaws (like white spots) with the new MacBooks that will make me want to do this

for not waiting until they are fixed before forking out.

Thanks.

It's my opinion that you should wait for now. We definately know that Leopard is coming out no later than the spring and Apple may decide to update the hardware to coincide with that release. You might have to wait longer than April before Leopard gets here but I think it will be worth it.

In general I think its a good idea to wait for a new release if its been more than 100 days since the last update. As you know, these computers are very expensive so you should wait for what you want.

MrN79 · Feb 12, 2007, 10:32 PM

Hey I'm still waiting for a Newton replacement

b1NARY73 · Feb 13, 2007, 02:03 AM

Originally Posted by MrN79

Hey I'm still waiting for a Newton replacement

LOL!!!!

phantomo · Feb 13, 2007, 04:49 AM

Tiresias, sorry, I couldn't resist, what is a "11" PowerBook and 18" MacBook Pro"???

Anyway, if you need it then buy it. From the CPU point of view, Intel will always update their CPU every few months. But since the Core 2 Duo CPU, the performance has jumped so much that incremental update will not be that attractive.

ChasingApple · Feb 13, 2007, 07:13 AM

Just decide if the current Macbook Pro has the power you need for a good long time, if it does buy it.

bloodline · Feb 13, 2007, 07:22 AM

Originally Posted by Tiresias

Will some one please tell me what "C2D" means?!

C2D = Core 2 Duo

Core = Intel's name for it's new cpu architecture (the sucessor to the Pentium)

2 = The CPU is 64bit

Duo = Two CPU cores on one chip (2 CPU's for the price of one).

Tiresias · Feb 13, 2007, 11:11 AM

Originally Posted by phantomo

Tiresias, sorry, I couldn't resist, what is a "11" PowerBook and 18" MacBook Pro"???

Thank you.

You are right to use the stick.

It's the only way I'll learn my screen dimensions.

Anyway, thanks for the imput everyone. It seems there are no major reasons to buy or not to buy right now. I was mostly afraid of a pending hardware overhaul.

SierraDragon · 09:28 PM

Originally Posted by Tiresias

... buying a MacBook Pro in April?

If you are waiting until April anyway, see what the Mac world looks like toward the end of April. There will be changes in Mac hardware by then and maybe even changes to the MBPs. I doubt if we will see much MBP processor change, but Apple for years has been intending to address gaming. I believe the new Mac Pros will have SLI graphics (or something similar) and Apple may also add some top end graphics hardware to part of the MBP line to address gamers.

Note that boxes optimized for games are not necessarily optimum boxes for non-gamers. If you are not either a gamer or an Aperture user I would not wait five minutes...

Another observation about CD versus C2D is that the CD MBPs were the first generation pro MacIntel laptops and the C2D MBPs are the second generation, with slightly higher CPU clock speeds.

-Allen Wicks

chabig · Feb 13, 2007, 09:46 PM

Originally Posted by phantomo

Tiresias, sorry, I couldn't resist, what is a "11" PowerBook and 18" MacBook Pro"???

Sizes are different when measured in Canadian inches. Didn't they teach you anything in school?

shabbasuraj · Feb 13, 2007, 10:40 PM

I say wait for the 19"

romeosc · Feb 16, 2007, 06:52 PM

He was probably talking about horizontal measurments not diagonal....
or he is a typical male who feels "everything appears larger than it is!"