new laptop?

Hey,

Just sold my old laptop and I am 99.99% certain i want my next laptop to be an 13" Macbook pro and had a few questions about the whole affair.

I do not need the laptop now, it could wait till mid November or so.
Is there any sense in waiting?
I am not familiar with Apple new product release strategy:
Is there a chance they might release a new model till then?

I am considering getting a refurbished laptop since it would shave about 200$ from the price.
Is there any reason why this would be a bad idea?

Last but not least, some guy mentioned that the latest Macbooks have problems and that I should look for the previous generation, but he was not specific enough.
Does he have a point, or it was just some mindless blabber?

Reason why I ask is that I would like to have a laptop to last me at least 3 years so build quality is important. I sold my 2.5 years old Sony even though performance was fine, the piece of sh1t fell apart (touchpad/keys/cpu fan/etc...). Think I might stand a chance to have that in a Macbook pro?

 

1) Buy a laptop when you need it, not when it might receive an update
2) Refurbished is just fine if you're watching your pennies. No difference between that and brand new except a lower price.
3) "Some guy" mentioned that the world was flat at one point too.....make your own decisions.

 

1) Not always true. For the people who bought Macbook/MBP before the June update, they obviously didn't do their research. I can see if they really needed it (ie their laptop broke) that they should just have gotten the older/first generation MBP but I'd say most people can wait especially if their older laptop is just slow/old/etc and not necessarily broken. But in this case, I'd agree since an update wouldn't come for a few months. Keep in mind that whatever you have is always outdated.

2) Like Khris said, go refurbished if you're looking to save. I'm not sure if you can get extended Applecare (I think you can?), but you can basically get a refurbished + Applecare for the same amount as the new MBP. Sometimes, the refurbished section has the same generation MBP for a lower price.

3) I think he was talking about the graphics card and/or the HD making noise?

 

You just enforced my point. Buy it when you need it. If your laptop broke and you need something right away, buy it. If your laptop is slow and you're simply looking to replace it, don't jump the gun....wait and BUY IT WHEN YOU NEED IT.

 

Get it from a store that does not charge tax in your area and use bing cashback- it will come cheaper then refurbished from apple.

 

well I need the laptop always but can live without it till end of the year.
The question more or less was aimed at:

Anybody expecting new updates to the 13" MBP till jan 2010?
Can I hope for some Mac deal ? (not the student rebates)

Is there a bing cashback program for Canada?

 

Historically Apple has often refreshed all or parts of the laptop line in Oct/Nov, and so they may again this year. Or not. If the rumors about an upcoming "iTablet" of some sort are true I'd imagine the engineers in Cupertino are concentrating on that, not incremental changes to the recently redesigned laptops. On the other other hand an interesting rumor about the polycarbonate (white plastic) MacBooks getting a complete redo made the rounds not long ago, and an Oct/Nov release would coincide nicely with the Christmas shopping season.

As always with Apple those who know aren't saying, and those (like me) who say anything do not know.

 

I would wait for Nehalem notebook chips. They will be on a new 32 nm process and come with the integrated memory controller. You'll also have the option of a quad-core processor with turbo boost. Turbo boost is a feature where the CPU can crank up the speed from the stated speed to higher levels on single-threaded applications - that is it turns off one or more other cores and cranks up one or two to higher frequencies.

There may be integrated graphics and PCI bus too. That's unclear to me at the moment.

 

I'm in exactly the same situation as OP.
Is there any chance the Apple release new MBP 13" later this year?

 

let me find my magic crystal...

 

It is one thing to wait because you know there is a pending announcement coming, which will likely introduce a refreshed line up. However, in this case if you need it buy it. If you don't need it then wait to see what comes along.

What I did was once I decided to buy, I discovered that Apple had scheduled an announcement. So, I at least waiting till then and I was glad I did because they did a refresh on the 13" making it a MBP with the backlit keyboard. However if there had been no pending announcement and I needed one I would have gone ahead and purchased one.

If you are always waiting for the next best thing, you'll never buy one because this cycle of them coming out with updated versions will never end. I you just have to jump in at some point knowing the one you have won't be the latest and greatest for every long.

 

it's is more than obvious what you are saying.
However i would like prolong the "good" feeling for as long as possible. So I usually end up buyign something right after it is released...

 

Been looking over this for a while cause i will be buying the next gen MBP and yes the next MBP update will definitely be a significant one, all internal, no physical. Mobile Nehalem is dropping which is a massive upgrade itself but also the new nvidia and ati gpus are coming out too.

As far as expectations i (sadly) doubt there will be a quad-core cpu put in the MBP just yet because the TDP of the new mobile quads is 45 watts, 10 watts higher than the current cpus apple uses. i would take the battery life hit for a quad-core and any "pro" laptop should have a quad although the general consumer for MBPs wouldn't. Even though the new dual core nehalem cpus are a massive upgrade as well.

the series HD 5000 and GT 300 chips will be out which will be very noticeable upgrades, especially to the 9600m gt which is two generations old now. if they stay with nvidia (which i dont think they will, plus they might get their chips out in time) i would expect the GT 340m or 350m, more likely the 340m going off their current gen TDPs. If they switch to ATI it'll be a HD 5650 or HD5670, again more likely being the HD5650.

These updates won't happen until Q1 2010, in Jan/Feb this is when they usually release their updates for the MBP, there will not be another update before then, although all this technology is being released on paper very soon and it should make it a lot easier to make assumptions then too.

 

I am more or less in need of a comfy laptop rather than a power one. I would prefer longer battery file, lighter machine to quad core or better GPU.

Any chance that will change majorly till the end of the year?
I have a desktop which I use for heavy work.

 

most likely apple laptops will not change in that regard for quite some time. they just went through a pretty massive redesign.

 

Sheldon, the next time Steve calls to update you in detail about Apple's future product plans please wish him well from all of us here and tell him how glad we were to see him back onstage at the recent iPod event!