Good time to buy a MBP now?

Been wanting to get a mac for a long time now and finally made my decision to pull the trigger, but now I'm wondering...is it a good time to buy a MBP now? Anyone know if there is going to be any updates on the MBP soon? Should I wait just a bit longer? Thanks all for any feedbacks.

Appreciated.

 

Nobody knows when the MBP will be updated, but there's a good chance we'll see an update sometime between June and September, due to the release of the Montevina chipset (now known as Centrino 2). As such, you might say it's a "bad" time to buy, since Centrino 2 should give significant improvements across the board to MBP performance. Some even speculate that Apple will use this update to reveal a new chassis design or something similar.

On the other hand, you might say now is a good time to buy, since the latest update (to Penryn) didn't bring much improvement to the performance, so you can get an older Santa Rosa model for pretty cheap.

The rule of thumb, though, is always wait as long as you can to buy. But if you need a computer, just go for it - there will always be that newer, better, sexier device on the horizon.

 

the current MBP suited my needs fine, so i bought it now. I had NO computer, and need one for school and PLAY.

i hate the waiting game, everyone hates the waiting game. If you need it, buy it. If you have something else to toy with, wait for the update. But itll be Sept. before anything comes out, THATS ALMOST 6 months.

thats too long to wait for me. I wait max 2 months.

Id be interested in a case redesign, but again, this case is nice, and has all the kinks worked out, thus its fine for me. Still the sexiest toy on the market.

 

All kinks haven't been worked out... The machine still has bugs.

 

What kinks are you referring to?

 

I waited over a year to pull the trigger. Finally got mine last week. Best decision ever. No sense in torturing yourself by waiting.

 

Some users are reporting that they are still having the 1/3 yellow screen issues.

 

The ONLY thing the new chipset adds is support for a faster FSB. That'll boost CPU performance somewhat, but it's just another minor bump, no big deal.

No's as good a time as any to buy one. Sure Apple COULD revise the chassis, they COULD put in a better GPU, etc., but none of those things has anything to do with the new chipset Intel's launching in June. The big CPU update for the year just happened and is in the current Macbook Pros.

I had the same question of "what bugs"?

I don't follow this closely enough to know if there are still any "yellow screen" issues like there were in the first couple of months a year ago, but I can say for sure that the Macbook Pro I had over SEVEN months ago had a GORGEOUS screen. I think by August/September they had pretty much fixed any issues they'd been having.

There are always going to be some issues with some hardware people get-no amount of waiting is going to change that. This is like the 90th revision of the MBP, and it's pretty much perfected by now. I'd look more at whether the MBP suits you at all-but if you want one, now's definitely a good time to buy.

 

Just FYI, Montevina does a lot more. You can check out all the new features here:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Centrino#Montevina_platform_.282008.29

 

A lot more like what? What that's relevant to the Macbook Pro beyond the faster FSB?

 

Faster RAM would be most important I'd say.

 

There could be possible notebook changes within the next three months, depending on Montevina. But if you can't wait, the current MBP is already great!

 

But that's just another bump, like this past one and the FSB. It's nothing worth losing sleep over. If you need it, buy it.

Now once we get closer to Intel's next-gen CPU, THAT will be worth waiting for, but that's a long ways off. Most likely there aren't any new GPUs Apple will use either-so we're just talking about another slight speed bump like the last one.

 

fixing the wifi glitch would be another good reason to wait

maybe a case redesign could aid in this?

 

Thanks for all the feedbacks, I am learning more as I go. I am not in need of a new notebook now, just wanted to go Mac for a change. One thing that finally spark my decision to go for the MBP is the boot camp feature, which will still allow me to use windows if need to. If the new Montevina platform is only going to be a slight boost to performance for the MBP, then I dont mind getting one now. But...if there is going to be a redesign of the case along with the new platform anytime within 5 months, then I might be bummed out. I guess I will wait a bit and see what infos might leak in the next 2 months.

 

There's really no way of knowing whether there will be a case redesign. People have been claiming "oh, the next revision has a case redesign!" with every single revision since it originally launched back in January of '06 or whenever it was. It's possible, but I don't see why it's any more or less likely this next time. People said the EXACT same thing about this last revision, and obviously it wasn't redesigned.

The new chipset will probably be worth a speed grade or two, but it's no more major than the revision we just had, which had a new CPU, and probably less major than the revision before that.

Only big thing they could theoretically upgrade is the GPU, but I don't know what they'd upgrade it too at this point because the case design seemingly limits their choices.

EDIT: I'm hoping if they do change the case that they at least give it a user replaceable hard drive. I'd REALLY like better cooling too, but I'd at least be happy with a normal replaceable drive.