The lamest, newbiest question ever:Buy now or wait?

I am now officially all Mac. I don't think I will ever go back to windows. As they say "when you go mac, you can't go back".

I've decided on getting my self a high end macbook pro. The thing is, a few of my friends are advising me to wait. With Leopord and the newer boot camp pre-installed on the new models and some sort of new base. I really don't mind buying now and upgrading the os later.

The one thing that caught my attention and slowed me down was, the MBP is using the same case as the older powerbook. There not at all bad, but I wouldn't mind something new. Any news/rumours on that happening soon?

Who thinks I should wait, who thinks I should buy asap.

Thanks
BigM

Do you need a computer now? Will it kill you to wait? Those are the questions you need to answer. No matter what you do, a newer model will always come.

Wait as long as you can, then buy the computer that most suites your needs.

Yes, you need to ask yourself whether you need the computer right away. Obviously you want it right away, but if you have a working station right now, then you might want to just wait for leopard.

But my personal vote for you: Buy that Macbook now and upgrade to leopard at a later date. Tiger is pretty awesome by itself, too

If you are completely new to the Mac world believe me you won't see any difference from Tiger and leopard. Me I'm new for 3 days now and I'm still discovering Tiger!

I have been new to Mac for about 9 months. I discover something new in Tiger everyday. The only recommendation I have for you is to wait for Leopard. You will get BootCamp as well as CoreAnimation. I will be needing the BootCamp so that my wife can do her loan processing work and since I have a Graphic degree I find the CoreAnimation to be inviting. If these are things that you would like to have at your finger tips I would wait. I am going to get a new iMac when Leopard drops myself. I am currently using a MacBook and love it. Once I get the iMac I can drop my last PC that runs windows only.

Wait you won't regret it.

Upgrading won't be a problem, but I'm affraid that the pro would get a face lift that I would miss out on. I mean like how the macbook is compared to the ibook.

My opinion; if you can wait - then do so.

I've been having to force myself to wait for Leopard; I don't NEED a Mac at the minute so I can wait - it's just unfortunate every time I see one I want to get my credit card out - luckily I've taken to going out without the credit card now.

BigMac said:

... I'm affraid that the pro would get a face lift that I would miss out on.

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That is going to happen no matter when you buy one. Technology advances and improves, that is the way it goes.

I would say just get it now, then wait to upgrade to Leopard whenever some updates come out for it.

If I were you, I wouldn't hold my breath for a serious design overhaul of the Macbook Pros.

You give the example of the Macbooks having gotten a facelift. However, the smaller Macbooks actually look a lot like their iBook G4 predecessors. Just do a Google Image search on the two and you'll see what I mean. Granted, the Macbooks come in black, but it's just a different color, the design is still pretty similar. There are a few aesthetic differences like the keyboard and a different sized screen, but overall, they're both pretty similar.

The same goes for the Macbook Pros. The overall design is the same as the Powerbook G4s, but with a few aesthetic differences. So don't expect much to change in the next couple of months.

If you really want to switch now, I say go for it. Otherwise, you'll always be left waiting for the next big change. First it's Leopard, then it'll be the rumored bus increase by Intel, then who knows, maybe quad core processors in the laptops. Doesn't matter, the point is that the machine you buy NOW will still be very capable for years to come.

I'm in the same boat as you. I've got money burning a hole in my pocket. I've been saving up for an upgrade to the MBP. I just get this feeling that Apple are going to upgrade soon.

If there were rumors that a new MBP was coming and that it would have some kind of functional improvement (faster bus, improved video, touchscreen, built-in lottery number predictor) then sure, wait.

Failing that, waiting for the new one is something you can do forever. There were "new" MBPs in 2006. If there are new MBPs in 2007, I can promise you there will be new MBPs in 2008 and 2009, as well.

The question isn't whether something newer and better is coming: of course it is. The questions are whether you want a computer today, and whether the computer available today (the MBP) meets your needs.

BTW, I could be wrong but I'm pretty sure the 200GB drive in the MBPs is slower than the others (4800rpm vs. 5400rpm).

ToddG said:

BTW, I could be wrong but I'm pretty sure the 200GB drive in the MBPs is slower than the others (4800rpm vs. 5400rpm).

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When I was shopping for my laptop a week ago this was the case. Sadly, I bought a 120 gb drive and it's almost full.