Buy a cMBP now or wait for October refresh?
Hi folks,
Need to replace my 2008 MBP, and am close to pulling the trigger on a 13' MBP. While I am not a power user (mostly WP, internet, pictures and movies), I don't think the Air will meet my needs due to lack of storage capacity, and portability is not a huge draw for me.That said, I do not feel the need to spend the extra $ on a retina MBP, as I do not feel I need it.
My conundrum is whether to jump on purchasing the cMBP now, with some discounts already available, or to wait until the introduction of the new OS and Haswell (I understand it offers greatly improved battery life). My fear with regards to waiting is that Apple will discontinue the cMBP, and that the 13' cMBP I am currently looking at will no longer be available.
I am looking for your thoughts/opinions on the following:
Is Apple likely to discontinue the cMBP? If so, how long are older models typically available through Apple?
If not, is it likely to be updated with Haswell, and is that worth waiting for?
Comments
Originally Posted by X-Men
My conundrum is whether to jump on purchasing the cMBP now, with some discounts already available, or to wait until the introduction of the new OS and Haswell (I understand it offers greatly improved battery life).
I'd say wait for the update either way. If the line is discontinued, you'll get an even larger discount on the remaining new stock of those laptops (this revision). If it's kept around, you'll get Haswell+Iris Pro.
Is Apple likely to discontinue the cMBP?
Oh, of course. Absolutely. Whether it's this time around is up for debate, though, as they'd have to drop the rMBP prices to uMBP levels. I'd say within the next three.
As soon as they discontinue it, it will only be available in the refurbished store or at resellers. The refurb store has decent discounts:
http://store.apple.com/us/browse/home/specialdeals/mac
The current base 13" MBP is in there for $999 and you can add Applecare to those for 3 year total warranty up to a year after buying. At the last Macbook Air update, they doubled SSD storage. I think they'll maintain the storage in the rMBP and drop the price. They still have to drop $300 to displace the old models but they would get away with $1299 as this is what they did with the iMacs. I think with at least the entry 15" they'll go with Intel's integrated graphics to drop $400.
If you need the storage, I'd say get the refurb just now because I think they'll have a 128GB rMBP at $1299 at the next refresh that can't be upgraded internally. There's no RAM upgrades either but the cMBP takes 16GB. If you need to upgrade in 2-3 years, they should have 256GB-512GB SSDs nearer the entry level and will offer 16GB with DDR4. If you got the $999 cMBP, you could get a 500GB SSD for $320:
http://www.amazon.com/Samsung-Electronics-SATAIII-2-5-Inch-MZ-7TD500BW/dp/B009NHAF3I
16GB RAM is $132: http://www.crucial.com/store/mpartspecs.aspx?mtbpoid=3D32ED07A5CA7304
Originally Posted by Marvin
As soon as they discontinue it, it will only be available in the refurbished store or at resellers.
I want to remember the new overstock of a discontinued Apple product still being offered under Clearance on the online store, at least until it runs out…
'Course I can't remember anything, anyway. But don't they do that, at least? You're right about what you said (frantically had to scramble to get my iPad Keyboard Dock when that happened), but one more venue would be helpful. Really, all he has to do is check the store on update day to be sure to get one if they do do that.
Or Marvins advice, very sound. Can't compare Apples with Apples until they release the new ones.
Wait if you can - I couldn't and pulled the trigger on a MacBook Air 1 week ago. Looked long and hard at the old cMBP - had to make a call.
13" 1.7, 8 Gb Ram cto for my wife who needs it for work while travelling in two weeks.
Should arrive tomorrow.
If I could have waited for the refresh to rMBP I would have. :rolleyes:
Haswell is the only good reason to wait. Further September isn't that far off, considering updates might be less than a month away it would be silly to rush out and buy something you don't have a pressing need for.
So if they kept the entry cMBP for another year then you'd get the Haswell one for $999 and benefit from the battery life and still have the extra storage. That would be a better deal than buying now. Although refurbs and resellers are limited in stocks, the laptops are Apple's best selling machines so if they did have a 128GB Retina MBP at the entry point when it gets updated, you'll probably still be able to pick up a cMBP somewhere. I think they will try and ditch the old ones this time round.
Quote:
Originally Posted by Marvin
So if they kept the entry cMBP for another year then you'd get the Haswell one for $999 and benefit from the battery life and still have the extra storage. That would be a better deal than buying now. Although refurbs and resellers are limited in stocks, the laptops are Apple's best selling machines so if they did have a 128GB Retina MBP at the entry point when it gets updated, you'll probably still be able to pick up a cMBP somewhere. I think they will try and ditch the old ones this time round.
My hope is expressed exactly by your first sentence:
"So if they kept the entry cMBP for another year then you'd get the Haswell one for $999 and benefit from the battery life and still have the extra storage".
My fear is of your last:
"I think they will try and ditch the old ones this time round."
If the cMBP does get ditched, I wonder if I can still pick one up refurbished for the same prices. If so, I am better off to wait to make sure I am not missing out on the possibility of a cMBP with Haswell and Maverick.
I certainly appreciate all of the input, especially since I don't have the experience that many of you folks seem to have with Apple release cycles and patterns over the years.
Plots release cycles etc for different Apple products - if you couple those with the rumours and news here then you're pretty well in the ballpark for most things.
http://buyersguide.macrumors.com/
edit: woohoo !
MacBook Air just arrived. Typing on it now. Cool !
AC wifi - just friggn great !
That IS worth waiting for and one reason alone why you'd pass on the existing models. Way better - no shit.
I am also not sure as to the importance/value of Flash technology (in retina) vs the traditional storage in the cMBP. My guess is that in going to the retina you sacrifice volume for speed. Is this correct?
I do not travel la great deal with my laptop, making portability a nice feature but a non essential factor. While I am sure the retina is beautiful, I am not sure it is worth the premium price to me, especially considering its limitations with upgradeability and relative lack of storage, not to mention the issues with reliability I have recently read about. With all of that, i will still use an optical drive on occasion, so the cMBP seems like the best fit for me.
I really hope that the new release sees a cMBP with Haswell and most of its "legacy" features.
If it is phased out, I guess I will have to hit the refurb store.
Thoughts?
As for the optical drive don't be surprised if that goes away. Note that the cMBP will only be around until the prices of the retinas are lowered. So it isn't a given that the cMBP will even be updated. You got it!
If this is a realistic option for down the road upgrading, it makes the cMBP even more attractive vs the Retina, which seems not to have any upgrading flexibility.
That is an issue with the retina machine. I'm not sure if poor sales for that model has taught Apple anything. By the way I wouldn't expect support for legacy secondary storage expansion. Rather I would expect to see another of Apples PCI Express based expansion slots in the machine to allow for two or more blade devices.
In any event you need to evaluate realistically what your storage needs are. If you think 200 GB is enough, double it and see what Apple offers. By the way, experience with my old 2008 MBP tells me that 200 GB isn't enough for most users. It certainly isn't enough if you intend to run virtual machines.
Personally I think focusing on upgradability these days is the wrong way to look at computer purchasing. The problem is the rapid improvement to the hardware means that you are throwing away good money on anoint hardware. It is far better to make a purchase with the intent of keeping it as is for several years. Where several years revolves around 5. That means buying a machine with enough RAM and secondary storage up front and working with that until new hardware becomes compelling. A wise move here is to make sure those sizes are fat to keep you in good order for all of those years. As mentioned above that means buying more RAM or secondary store than you think you need right now.
In any event I'd think long and hard about the value of "upgrading" in today's technology markets. It isn't like you will be doubling performance every six months anymore. In fact I honestly believe part of the problem with the massive slow down in the PC market is that people don't see the value anymore in quick upgrades. A computer that is 20% faster does nothing for reading E-Mail, surfing the net or the other things commonly done with PCs. When the time does come to upgrade it might be six years down the road. At that time technology will have changed so much that it is far wiser to buy a new machine. By the way six years isn't all that long anymore, just look at all of the machines still running XP. It really is a different world these days.