i7 MacBook Pro for future-proofing?

I plan to buy a MBP, but I want to get the high-end although I wont be doing much processor intensive tasks, but more for future proofing.

P.S. Despite my username, I now hate HP and their envy line, since HP cant even make their "premium" laptops in good build quality. My envy will be returned soon.

edit: is this a bad or good idea?

forgot to ask question

 

In my guess, MacBook Pro will last longer than PC due to the quality build and OS. In term of hardware may get behind which will be the GPU as for now.

Core i7 will last for a long while before some Core i9 etc.

I hope this helps.

As you can see my reason is X-Code development and other potential I can do with OS X. No thanks to Hackintosh. Not my thing even I know my HDX16 supports it. Right now I'm about to say "bye bye" to my HDX16 and my Dell.

 

The only way to "future proof" anything is to buy the top of the line. There's not really much of a discussion required for this. You can max out the ram and upgrade the hard disc on your own. It's too expensive to do upgrades through Apple.

 

If you want a future-proofed system I would recommend waiting for the MBP refresh as these versions are getting very old and are already outdated.

Hopefully by the end of the year or into the start of next year we will see a quad-core Macbook Pro (740qm and up) with at least a half decent graphics card in it.

As it stands right now there's no difference between quad and dual core for 90% of applications but as time goes on many more applications are becoming processor aware and scale to more cores.

SSDs are also still extremely expensive, although half price what they were at launch. I would wait for the price of them to drop for a truly 'future proofed' machine.

It's a matter of preference for what you consider to be future-proofed. A lot of people will say it's a waste of money to future-proof since computers are already fast enough to do basic tasks like surf the web and read emails. Well, as high-powered computers become more mainstream in the past 5 years or so, the internet will finally be able to catch up. Gone are the days where everything needed to be coded like it was for a 1.0 ghz pentium processor. In the next 5 years I see much more complex versions of HTML5, Java and Flash that will require more processing power.

Also, good joke referring to the HP Envy as a 'premium' laptop. The only premium laptops HP makes are the Elitebooks.

 

Nope, I doubt it.

740QM takes 45watts+. Or any Quad cores does.

Apple won't take anything above 35 watts CPU due they want to maintain as 7-10 hours battery life.

Unless Intel release new CPU. The next possible refresh might be IPS display with touchscreen. USB 3. There won't be 3G integration due they want to keep their iPad up on the market as well.


One thing you might have to learn, there is not longer any future-proofing technology out there really. Look at today, how fast are technologies are changing the world we do.

Get it now when you need it otherwise good luck waiting until your time has come to an end. The only time I would suggest to wait is near March. The time you will have to wait is 1-2 months before March. Otherwise just get it now.

 

there is no such thing as future proofing. as soon as you buy something, it will be replaced within the year with newer, faster hardware.

if your requirements never change, the specs that will meet those requirements wont change either.

you even admitted that you wont be doing any processor intensive tasks. why would you need an i7, $2500 laptop to check your email and sit on youtube?

the 13" macbook would do those tasks perfectly fine. hell, a pc from 2001 would do that fine.

there is no need to waste money on "future-proofing" because there is no such thing. a lot of people forget this:

just because a newer model laptop comes out, doesnt mean your laptop doesnt meet your requirements anymore, and it doesnt make that laptop any worse. an i7 will not make a website load faster, or make your mail sync quicker. there is no reason to spend $2500 on a laptop when your requirements can be met with a $1200 laptop.

hope this helps.

 

I agree with pbcustom98,

Macbook 13" will do perfectly fine. Unless you need the power to video edit or some production media.

Even my Dell 6 years old single core, load youtube, email just perfect.

 

I used to "future proof" when I used to buy PCs. Now I know better since I never really used the power to its potential. I think you are better off buying what you need and save your money for the future. What happened to the HP anyway?

 

The only thing I can really say here is that I agree with everyone else's comments regarding future proofing, you just can't do it anymore because things change so rapidly.

Buy what you need, when you need it.

 

Future proofing only applies when building desktop PCs (or high end custom laptops) and trading performance now for a more upgradeable part in the future. For example buying a motherboard with a newer CPU socket rather than a better motherboard with an older socket, because you could upgrade the CPU later on.

On the current Macbooks, the first things thats going to be outdated is the graphics cards, the processors are pretty new (just switched to core i from core 2). The only thing you could really do is wait for a refresh, I wouldn't recommend just maxing the price out, especially upgrading the CPU as you won't notice any difference now or in the future if you don't use CPU intensive programs.