Making the Switch...SOON

Hey all,

I'm going to be starting med school in Aug. I'm looking to make a splurge before I go absolutely broke. I've been on the fence about Macs for a few years now. I've seen several of my friends move from PC to Mac and absolutely loving it. I think I'm finally ready to make the switch. Now that Macs can dual-boot, I'm sold. The "premium" of buying a mac is also something I'm willing to pay for...

Anyway, here's my situation.

I'm currently using an HP, 15", Core 2 Duo, 2GB RAM, 250GB HDD.
Looking to move to something lighter and smaller.

Looking at the Macbook 2.4GHz system. I'm not in a rush, I'm willing to be patient (though it'll take some willpower). From now till July, what are some possible updates/changes that may take place? Hardware/OS updates? Discounts? Back-to-school promo (I think I'm more likely to buy at other retailer, since Apple is more expensive most of the time)?

Thanks for reading!

 

never wait for technology because if you do you will be about to buy something else is in development that would make you want to wait and so on. just don't regret hitting the buy button if your willpower takes over if you decide to wait

 

howdy to a fellow MS0'er!

certainly wait if you can - updates are always just around the corner. i would suggest waiting until june before buying, so you can have a few months to acclimate yourself to the mac platform before you start school in august.

It is possible that apple will be doing another back-to-school promo but you'll have to wait for someone else to come around and let you know when that might occur because i don't have a clue.

 

If you really like the Mac, I don't see a reason to stop you from doing it. I until recently had a Mac. I wasn't one to drink the Kool-Aid, but I liked it as something different and it was fun to get reacquainted with Mac. Just curious what are your needs and why you think a Mac meets those better? I ended up selling mine. Not cause I didn't like it, but I ended up getting the dock for ThinkPad, which made the Mac an extra I didn't need. One nice thing about the whole thing was I was able to sell mine for about what I paid for it. So, I got to use for a year and half without having to pay anything. It's tough to say that about any other computer maker these days. Even ThinkPads, which tended to hold their value well in the past, have been taking a beating of late.

 

Between now and july the best you can hope for is an OS update ... ie snow leopard... for which pricing is unknown but likely to be around the $80-120 mark.
Back to school is often a rebate on an ipod... so unless you want/need one of those there isn't a huge reason to wait.

So as with all computer purchases buy when you need one. If you can wait then you might pickup snow leopard and a discounted ipod with a approximate value of $200... if that is worth 6 months then you have your answer.
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There are several reasons for me making to want the switch.
1) Higher build quality.
2) Some features (e.g. LED display, magsafe, multi-touch trackpad)
3) Dual booting.
4) Cool factor (people keep raving about the cool things this machine can do)

Yes I can certainly survive with a PC, but I've been wanting to make the switch for awhile. I held back once, but I'm more willing to make the switch this time since all the kinks with dual booting has been worked out.

 

ehhh this can be debated. there are still issues with boot camp, particularly with the touchpad. windows xp/vista are certainly usable with an external mouse but a complete pain if you're without one.

parallels/vmware on the other hand run pretty well and thats what i'd recommend for less intensive windows-related tasks.

 

I was also thinking of getting a netbook, but past experience with a 10" notebook has taught me I will get tired of it real quick.

 

I do have a question:

If I'm dual booting...are there going to be two partitions?
Can I access the Windows files while in OSX and vice versa?

 

Yes two partitions, and No to file transfers.

 

If you install macdrive in windows and ntfs 3G or paragon(pay) on OS X, you can read & write on both partitions from either OS.

 

* unless you install parallels and run your boot camp partition through parallels.

 

or you can-

 

Good luck in med school.

There are not going to be many changes before summer. The biggest change is the move to Snow Leopard. I wouldn't look for many configuration changes. Intel is pushing off the release of Nehalem (new CPU/chipset) until even later in the year so they can clear out the inventory of the higher margin CPUs they currently have. The back to school promo is always good. If Apple follows the same timeline as last year July would fall within that promo.

I would suggest purchasing a refurbished MBP (older model or unibody) from Apple. They have some really good prices now, and you would get a little more bang for the buck.

 

I agree with underpantman.

Don't wait to buy a Mac. If an updated Mac, that you just can't live without, comes out after you buy yours then sell your old Mac and buy the new one. Apples typically hold their resale value really well.