Buy Macbook Pro now or wait?

Short question. Wife's cheap AMD-powered Vista-running HP laptop seems to be limping toward a slow death, and next machine I want to be a long-termer (5-6 years). It needs to be capable of being a "main machine," so no small HD Air. Should someone in this situation look at a Macbook Pro current model or wait for a new 2012 model to come out? I like the SSD idea, but not the small capacity. Would like 500GB or larger.

Thanks,

Z

If you're asking us if the next MacBook Pro will have a 500GB SSD, I'd have to say thanks for the good laugh.

If you're asking when the next MBP is coming out, there's a rumour that suggests not much longer now, but rumours have a very VERY mixed track record so the real answer is "nobody knows for sure."

It will be a long time indeed before 500GB SSDs are a standard, or even an affordable add-on, though the price has come down somewhat and they are now only mildly outrageous.

chas_m said:

If you're asking us if the next MacBook Pro will have a 500GB SSD, I'd have to say thanks for the good laugh.

If you're asking when the next MBP is coming out, there's a rumour that suggests not much longer now, but rumours have a very VERY mixed track record so the real answer is "nobody knows for sure."

It will be a long time indeed before 500GB SSDs are a standard, or even an affordable add-on, though the price has come down somewhat and they are now only mildly outrageous.

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I'm not set on an SSD, but I'm not sure if traditional HDD will be a option on the next generation MB Pro.... I'd rather have the larger space. Everyone always says "well, you can use an external," but that defeats the point of having a powerful portable machine if you need a big dongle hanging off of it to do some of the more common tasks, e.g. working with large numbers of photos and/or videos.

But I have read that the next Pros will be more like Airs, so maybe no more HDDs?

Anything's possible. You're quite correct that Apple signalled us quite a while ago that eventually all MacBooks would be like the Air in design. And the company is certainly not afraid to leap forward, ahead of its base sometimes (it's quite likely the next MBP won't have an optical drive either, though I don't consider that a big deal at all).

Unless they've made a breakthrough or secured a source all to themselves, I can't see how they could get anything any bigger than 256GB for an SSD and still keep the price reasonable. Maybe some kind of OS SSD only (ie the hybrid idea) so the OS is superfast and you use a notebook HD (which can get up to 750GB) for storage?

As long as you don't store too many movies the Air makes a great main machine. Previous incarnations not so much, but I love rocking my Air (I do have a macmini with an external hd though). Depends what your wife might be doing with it, but its definitely worth considering

While SSD's might be a tad small, they are lightening fast!

Based on your original post, storage is your primary concern (next to a stable machine that will last 5 or 6 yrs). As mentioned, don't hold your breath on getting large storage and SSD anytime soon. I would suggest waiting to see what the next MBP has to offer, decide if it meets your needs and budget, then go from there. I'm personally waiting to get the next MBP when it comes out to replace my 4 yr old MBP.

ZeroTX said:

Short question. Wife's cheap AMD-powered Vista-running HP laptop seems to be limping toward a slow death, and next machine I want to be a long-termer (5-6 years). It needs to be capable of being a "main machine," so no small HD Air. Should someone in this situation look at a Macbook Pro current model or wait for a new 2012 model to come out? I like the SSD idea, but not the small capacity. Would like 500GB or larger.

Thanks,

Z

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On your need for stability and a 5-6 year life…note that Macs & PCs seem to be pretty different in that regard. Many PC laptops are plastic-fantastics with low build quality and very rapid depreciation. Apples are very well built and tend to hold their value quite well by comparison. Macs can be covered with a high quality /low hassle service plan, and spare parts are available for a long time.

I switched to Apple about 3 years ago and my MBP is as fast as ever and still runs like new. It actually has a significant value if I were to sell it. I was also able to upgrade to more recent Apple operating systems for quite a low cost (~$29). No PC laptop I've ever owned could do that. Plus I saved tons of time avoiding silly headaches and maintenance that become part of accepted PC life - no thanks, I just want to do my work not have an IT side job.

I just got my brand new MB Pro and it'll be as fast 6 years from now as it is today. Unlike Windows, I haven't seen complaints of slower speeds over time. The only reason I can think of that it could happen may be upgrading to newer versions of OS X as technologies may demand more resources. Plus, the resale value of my MB Pro will remain high whether this version or the next and the current version has had plenty of time to work out any kinks.