Buy a Macbook Pro or wait for Leopard?

I assume when they launch leopard they will launch a new set of laptops. I kind of want one for school in april but I could wait. What do you think?

 

There are a few things going on between April-June that I think are worth waiting for.

- Apple will release Leopard (April-May)
- 15" Macbook Pro will have LED backlight (May-June)
- Intel will release Santa Rosa (May)
- nVidia will release new graphics chipsets (May-June)

I don't know how much the last one will affect Apple, but I think it's still worth waiting for the first 3, if you can.

 

You can't go wrong with waiting if you can, you would be fine with buying one now as you will be able to run Leopard on it anyways.

 

But he'll have to pay $100 just to get Leopard, unless he waits it out and gets it pre-installed.

 

True he will have to pay for it, but if he wants to get a Mac now then thats just how it goes.

 

Ahhh I hate technology, it changes too fast.

 

were the new displays confirmed..or still just rumor? Leopard is almost certain to be like you say..Santa rosa probable baring chipset issues or delays in production volume, gma x3000 probable for macbooks..but MBP? you've heard a rumor nvidia will appear..why not ati?

It's true the time is nigh for the current MBP (maybe 2 more months, maybe more), but unless you can definitely wait and make it worth your while until say june..maybe even next fall.. then you should just buy. I say next fall because who knows what will be announced for the fall that will make you want to wait further, plus.. I haven't read anything credible about the MBP graphics upgrade, what where and when.

Waiting for leopard is IMO not worth waiting for. There will always be more reasons to wait. If you can afford a MBP..you can afford to shell out for the new OS when it's matured a little.

 

I am also looking at purchasing a Mac soon. The new technology coming out would be nice but not necessary. Does Apple have a free upgrade policy if you buy a month before, like M$ did for Vista?

BTW, the selling points for me on the Mac were security and it being a Unix OS. My dad got a Mac Mini and I fell in love with it. My only draw back with Apple is they do not produce a $1,000 unit where you could add/remove parts like a PC. Like upgrading dvd drives and ect.

 

It is unlikely you would get a free upgrade to Leopard. Buy when you need/want. The time you have to use it is worth more than any advance in technology that you would have had to wait for.

 

A friend of mine works for a retailer and spoke to an Apple rep regarding Leopard. The rep told him Apple is planning to offer a free upgrade to Leopard for anyone who purchases a computer after March 1st (I believe that was the date). This promotion will last about 30-60 days.

This is to compete with Dell et al's offering of free Vista upgrades with new systems.

 

My macbook should be here today or tomorrow. maybe I can return it and order a new one to get free leopard? Do you think if I talked to apple about it if this actually happens they might let me since I purchased it just a week before?

 

What is Apple claiming you can't do with the current version of OSX that you can do with Leopard?

 

Leopard will be the first true 64bit OS for mac, which means you can theoretically address up to 16gb of ram although I thought the real number was in terabytes...whatever. Realistically it will make 4gb+ ram possible in current tech as long as your computer can actually handle it. Macbook Pros are limited to 3gb because of the memory overlap that occurs at 4gb. It's possible Leopard will fix this from what I've read..if i understand it correctly that is. It will have a final version of boot camp standard. It will have new OS features like, Time Machine, Spaces and Core animation
http://www.apple.com/macosx/leopard/
Plus it's very likely that you will see new applications that require Leopard as they switch over to 64bit language.

 

errr who needs 4gb? Aren't the memory chips like $1200 for 2 2gb ones anyway? I'm thinking about putting in an extra 512mb....maybe I should hold off.

But then if you're editing the Toy Story on your mbp I guess you'd need like 4gb.

 

I think toy story was made on pentium 1 machines most likely

 

i'd be happy to see 4gb support. I'm planning on replacing my 12" PB and when I do, I'll replace it with something that I know supports at least 4gb. I say that because after 2.5 years with my PB I would certainly like more than 1.25gb of ram.

 

Heh, Pixar uses networked quad-core workstations to render its 3D video. It'll take a bit more than a Macbook Pro and 4GB RAM.

Honestly, I don't see the average consumer/prosumer needing more than 2GB for some time to come, especially considering how efficiently OSX handles that RAM.

 

"No one will ever need more than 640k of ram" -Bill Gates, 1981

ya me neither, 4gb is over kill right now. However 2-3 years from now it will probably be affordable and desirable. And since it will finally be possible..you can bet software writers will use it to their advantage. Even though my G3 is fast enough with 192mb ram and it's older programs.. it'll never run OSX or anything current.

 

The thing is, hardware is always miles ahead of software in terms of usefulness. Dual-cores have been out for years now, yet the only programs with true compatibility for them are the ones that have had SMP/SMT for years prior to the dual-core.