I was forced to make a tough decision. I absolutely had to buy a new notebook to do freelance work and have it arrive by today. I was bummed knowing what was coming down the pipe. I needed the 17" high res model.
Fortunately, vendors are getting rid of the last model, almost identical to the current... for almost a grand less. Not much different from the current model other than the graphics card memory, 256 vs 512 (mostly irrelevant since I'm doing print work).
(I have to give a thumbs up to Small Dog. When they learned my laptop wasn't getting here quickly enough (specified 3-day, and it was coming in 4), they cancelled the other delivery and overnighted me another one off the shelf at no charge. Very cool.)
And I picked up a 4 gig low latency ram set at macsales.com for under $100.
Since I've been using a G4 iBook/512 mb to do my CS3 work for the last two weeks, this will seem like a dream machine. I'm also comforted by the fact that I will have a reliable end-of-line model with all the kinks worked out.
Perhaps the new laptops will far surpass what I just bought, but to be honest there is nothing design-wise about the current MacBook Pros that I don't like.
It's all about perspective I guess.
Now if you'll excuse me, I have to make sure I don't miss my UPS delivery today.
Fortunately, vendors are getting rid of the last model, almost identical to the current... for almost a grand less. Not much different from the current model other than the graphics card memory, 256 vs 512 (mostly irrelevant since I'm doing print work).
I got a phone call from an Apple Dealer yesterday who was trying to drum up business.
We spoke at length about the current MacBook Pro, and I explained that I was keen to get one ? except that there were rumours of a refresh just around the corner.
He explained that Apple Dealers tend to get about two weeks notice of refreshes, and that he hadn't heard anything about the MacBook Pro. He explained that he had a number of customers in the same boat and that he would be phoning them just as soon as he had any more information
Which means:
A. he's bullshitting me, and he's trying to get me to purchase the current MacBook Pro, earlier
B. he's telling the truth and the MacBook Pro isn't going to be refreshed before October 14th
C. Apple will pre-announce the MacBook Pro and ship at least two weeks thereafter
Okay not until October the 7th, but I reckon that if Apple hold out until after the 7th, they'll probably hold out until at least the 14th (the date that seems to be doing the rounds). Hence why I said the 14th.
When I used to work for an Apple Dealer, I was never privy to up coming SKUs (I was too far down the foodchain), but I was privy to existing SKUs becoming EOL (end of line). I wonder if the existing MacBook Pro configurations have been marked EOL? Or the MacBooks for that matter?
EOL was never a particularly good indication of when you could expect a new SKU, it was merely a note that you couldn't order in any additional stock. But at least you knew that something was up. Back in the day we used to share that EOL information with customers because we didn't feel it was fair to withhold that information. I wish the same could be said for Apple Dealers today.
I always take what Apple Dealers say with a pinch of salt ? after all I was told almost a year ago 'DON'T buy a Cinema Display right now' ? and that never came to anything!
But I thought it was worth sharing the recent 'two weeks' comment.
What if Apple put an AMD chipset and processor (Puma) into their Macbook lineup (keeping Intel chips in the Macbook Pros?
Would you want one?
Pros?
Cons?
-Switchy McSwitcher (donning flame-proof armor)
This is just my opinion, but AMD makes better chipsets than Nvidia. They run cooler and the integrated graphics are better. However, AMD's mobile processors just can't compete with Intel. I don't see it happening, and frankly I don't think the Nvidia chipset rumor is true either, although it is a bit more believable.
As for whether I would want one, I think a slightly slower CPU on a consumer laptop is a fair trade for decent graphics. But you could argue that either way.
I think that either Nvidia or AMD chipsets would be a very bad idea and I hope it doesn't happen.
I guess the only caveat is if Nvidia have made some kind of astonishing breakthrough that we don't know about. As it stands, Nvidia has a very poor reliability/stability and power consumption track-record, and AMD are an entire process node behind Intel. Intel have been the leaders in laptop CPUs and chipsets for several years now and that's unlikely to change anytime soon.
Comments
Fortunately, vendors are getting rid of the last model, almost identical to the current... for almost a grand less. Not much different from the current model other than the graphics card memory, 256 vs 512 (mostly irrelevant since I'm doing print work).
http://www.smalldog.com/product/72012 (2.6, 17" high res matte/7200rpm drive)
(I have to give a thumbs up to Small Dog. When they learned my laptop wasn't getting here quickly enough (specified 3-day, and it was coming in 4), they cancelled the other delivery and overnighted me another one off the shelf at no charge. Very cool.)
And I picked up a 4 gig low latency ram set at macsales.com for under $100.
Since I've been using a G4 iBook/512 mb to do my CS3 work for the last two weeks, this will seem like a dream machine. I'm also comforted by the fact that I will have a reliable end-of-line model with all the kinks worked out.
Perhaps the new laptops will far surpass what I just bought, but to be honest there is nothing design-wise about the current MacBook Pros that I don't like.
It's all about perspective I guess.
Now if you'll excuse me, I have to make sure I don't miss my UPS delivery today.
Fortunately, vendors are getting rid of the last model, almost identical to the current... for almost a grand less. Not much different from the current model other than the graphics card memory, 256 vs 512 (mostly irrelevant since I'm doing print work).
http://www.smalldog.com/product/72012 (2.6, 17" high res matte/7200rpm drive)
Wow. That's got to be the deal of the century.
Hope you enjoy!
We spoke at length about the current MacBook Pro, and I explained that I was keen to get one ? except that there were rumours of a refresh just around the corner.
He explained that Apple Dealers tend to get about two weeks notice of refreshes, and that he hadn't heard anything about the MacBook Pro. He explained that he had a number of customers in the same boat and that he would be phoning them just as soon as he had any more information
Which means:
A. he's bullshitting me, and he's trying to get me to purchase the current MacBook Pro, earlier
B. he's telling the truth and the MacBook Pro isn't going to be refreshed before October 14th
C. Apple will pre-announce the MacBook Pro and ship at least two weeks thereafter
I forgot to ask him about the MacBook.
D'oh!
Is it not more than 3 weeks until Oct 14th?
You said two weeks..
Is it not more than 3 weeks until Oct 14th?
Okay not until October the 7th, but I reckon that if Apple hold out until after the 7th, they'll probably hold out until at least the 14th (the date that seems to be doing the rounds). Hence why I said the 14th.
When I used to work for an Apple Dealer, I was never privy to up coming SKUs (I was too far down the foodchain), but I was privy to existing SKUs becoming EOL (end of line). I wonder if the existing MacBook Pro configurations have been marked EOL? Or the MacBooks for that matter?
EOL was never a particularly good indication of when you could expect a new SKU, it was merely a note that you couldn't order in any additional stock. But at least you knew that something was up. Back in the day we used to share that EOL information with customers because we didn't feel it was fair to withhold that information. I wish the same could be said for Apple Dealers today.
I always take what Apple Dealers say with a pinch of salt ? after all I was told almost a year ago 'DON'T buy a Cinema Display right now' ? and that never came to anything!
But I thought it was worth sharing the recent 'two weeks' comment.
Would you want one?
Pros?
Cons?
-Switchy McSwitcher (donning flame-proof armor)
What if Apple put an AMD chipset and processor (Puma) into their Macbook lineup (keeping Intel chips in the Macbook Pros?
Would you want one?
Pros?
Cons?
-Switchy McSwitcher (donning flame-proof armor)
This is just my opinion, but AMD makes better chipsets than Nvidia. They run cooler and the integrated graphics are better. However, AMD's mobile processors just can't compete with Intel. I don't see it happening, and frankly I don't think the Nvidia chipset rumor is true either, although it is a bit more believable.
As for whether I would want one, I think a slightly slower CPU on a consumer laptop is a fair trade for decent graphics. But you could argue that either way.
I guess the only caveat is if Nvidia have made some kind of astonishing breakthrough that we don't know about. As it stands, Nvidia has a very poor reliability/stability and power consumption track-record, and AMD are an entire process node behind Intel. Intel have been the leaders in laptop CPUs and chipsets for several years now and that's unlikely to change anytime soon.