[None Such]

I'm just looking for any advice from Mac veterans. I'm more looking for advice about timing of buying. I only used my PC for the internet, playing games like Age of Empires, hooking my tivo up through broadband and the occasional word document and arrorted small tasks. I really like the Macbook(white and black) and I would like to get AOE on there. I'm not a big gamer, just a few strategy games like AOE, Cossacks etc. Will they run well on there?

It's not a necessity to get it right away, but I'm really itching too. I'll definately hold out for Merom/CD2. I'm just wondering about waiting for Leopard and any other possible hardware/software upgrades. I guess that's the eternal question right? I know things will always change, I just want something that will last a good while without major upgrades. Any advice will be appreciated. Thanks.

[Mac+]

Hi None Such - this is a common question and the most popular advice is: "If you need it, buy it now. If not, wait." However, I understand that this is not much help when you are just starting out and want to get your first Mac.

There is a web page from the MacRumors site which may help you form an opinion - or at least give you a guideline on recent update schedules. * click me *

Deciding to wait for Merom/CD2 and Leopard is a fine idea ... but don't get caught in the eternal "I'll just wait for the next bump" syndrome as there will always be something new coming out.

I'm not a gamer, so I can't offer you advice on the suitability of the MacBooks for game playing.

[dmegatool]

Originally Posted by Mac+ Deciding to wait for Merom/CD2 and Leopard is a fine idea ... but don't get caught in the eternal "I'll just wait for the next bump" syndrome as there will always be something new coming out.

If he wait for Leopard, then he could wait for Santa Rosa in april 2007.

Seriously, don't wait for ever. I almost waited for clovertown but I made up my mind and it feels great(bough the mac pro). You could buy straith out the lauchn of Merom and upgrade to Leopard when released... no ?

[Brad]

Generally speaking, the MacBook is not a great gaming machine. It uses shared memory with an integrated Intel graphics chipset. It plays Quake 3-era and older games just fine, but new high-demand games will perform poorly or perhaps not run at all due to the lack of a dedicated GPU.

So, if you intend to include gaming as one of its main tasks, you might want to wait (or rather hope) for a bump to the graphics or step up to the MacBook Pro.

[torifile]

Just to chime in here - I think the likelihood of the MacBook getting a dedicated graphics card is next to none. I really don't see it happening. It's too much of an added expense for the target audience. Either that expense would be passed to the consumer (who likely doesn't want it - I didn't when I bought mine) or taken out of margins. So don't wait for an upgrade to the MB's graphics card because it just won't happen.

[None Such]

Thanks for all the advice guys. I'm not a big gamer, it's actually last on my list. So no big deal there. I think I will most likely go with dmegatool's suggestion. This is what I was kinda leaning towards. Because I doubt I will be able to wait that long on Leopard.

I've briefly heard of Santa Rosa on here. Pardon my ignorance but, what is it exactly?

[julesstoop]

It's a future mobile platform from Intel which is supposed to arrive somewhere in the first half of 2007. As far as I know it's based on core 2 duo (merom) but with a faster front side bus than present offerings and support for 802.11n (faster wireless networking)

Some more info:
The integrated graphics chip belonging to this platform will be faster than present offerings as well (obviously) and the CPU, though essentially being identical to present Meroms will sport a new socket (so no drop-in replacement for present day iMacs en Mac-minis)