Buying first Mac, need some advice

[dark54555]

First of all, I'll admit it. Years ago, I was on the "make fun of macs" bandwagon with everyone else. But OSX has changed that, and Boot Camp has made it possible (programs like ProDoc require Windows, so I do need it now and again).

Anyway, multi-part question...and I'm kinda new to the whole Mac-verse, so I do appologize if these are completely stupid.

1. I've got one semester left as a student, this fall. I already know I can still get the student discount, but I've heard mumblings about "back to school" sales. Is that a normal yearly thing for Apple? If so, when is it and what are the "typical" deals? I'm in no real hurry, so if there's a potentially big discount or cool free thing, I can wait till August.

2. MacBook vs. MacBook Pro...If I don't need the separate graphics (I game on my desktop, and have don't anticipate using finalcut), is there any other reason not to just get the macbook?

3. I keep hearing about all these heat issues. Would it be smart to wait at least another couple weeks, if not till August, to hope these things get worked out?

4. Is there any reason I should wait and see what happens at the conference in August before buying, i.e. potential for surprise announcements?

My Thinkpad has served me well, but it's starting to show some serious wear after 2 years (I'm a heavy laptop user...like 10 hours a day, 7 days a week). So as long as it keeps working, I don't need to replace it. If, however, it dies...well, the waiting becomes more out of the question.

Thanks in advance!

[robert1014]

If you can afford to wait until August, do so. One never knows what announcements will be made by then, and if nothing dramatically new comes along, you're no worse off and you can go ahead and buy the same Mac you'd have bought now.

If you don't need the higher-end graphics of the Macbook Pro, the Macbook should be perfectly fine. I am still working with my first (and only, to date) Mac, a G4 Tower with 500 mz chip (single), an ancient machine in computer time, and far less powerful than even the Macbooks. Yet I still work with Photoshop and Painter on it. I would have bought the G5 Quad machine in January, but the early announcement of the Intel iMacs prompted my friends to urge me to wait until the Intel Mac towers were announced. Bootcamp cinched that deal, as, although I'm not a Windows user at home, there is ONE graphics program which I want to use which is (now) Windows-only...Microsoft Expression, formerly CreatureHouse Expression, (and also formerly cross platform).

While waiting for the Intel Mac towers, I plan to purchase a Macbook simply to have a powerful portable, notwithstanding that any intensive work I would do would be done on the desktop machine.

[geneman]

1. I believe the deals often involve heavily discounted iPods

2. Larger screen?

3. In general wait till you need it

4. Don't know of anything in particular - see above :)

[dark54555]

Thoughts on this:

If I can get a 1.83 MacBook Pro for $1200, am I better off with that or the 1.83 Macbook?

[rminkler]

Where the hell is everyone getting these 1200$ MBPs?

[robert1014]

Thoughts on this:

If I can get a 1.83 MacBook Pro for $1200, am I better off with that or the 1.83 Macbook?

How could you NOT be better off with the MacBook Pro at that price?

[dark54555]

it's the 1.83, and i was under the impression that revision had more heat problems than the current one.

[Mugge]

Well, it comes with a years warranty, and the firmware update has helped my 2Ghz MBP a lot. So if you could get your hand on a MBP for $ 1200 I'd say yay and go for it. I guess it's hardly worth waiting for that iPod offer.

The MB is smaller, but not much. However, it is more rugged and goes longer on a battery charge. So it would probably still be worth considering if mobility is important to you.

Best of luck and welcome to AN.

:)

[Meltedbutter421]

Im also curious where you people are getting $1200 MacBook Pros!!!!!!!!!

[spikeh]

Please do us all a favour and order by phone (http://forums.applenova.com/showthread.php?t=16872) :)