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View Full Version : macbook. Good time to buy?


computerboy
2006-12-05, 20:38
Hey all, thinking of buying a slick new black macbook.

Is this a good time to buy or is it better to wait till after Christmas? Or even longer than this, with blue ray and all...

Also, what (if anything) should i add to the computer (more ram etc)? I'm not a designer but am in Advertising so would like to dabble in photoshop and some video editing programs.

anyway, thanks heaps.

also - I'm in Australia. Any tips of getting a better price?

doublem9876
2006-12-05, 20:49
Now that they have the Core 2 Duo, they seem like a pretty good option. Blu-Ray drives probably won't make it into apple notebooks for a while, seeing as how expensive they are. Since the MacBook comes standard with 1 gb of RAM, you might as well upgrade it to two. I would also go with the 160 gb hard drive. Definitely a good time to purchase.

turtle
2006-12-05, 20:52
MWSF is just around the corner though....

If you need it now, buy now though.

torifile
2006-12-05, 20:58
Funny, I just wrote a long post on my blog about when to buy. I don't want to spam the boards but it seems appropriate (www.stevesremoteclicker.com/2006/12/05/when-do-i-buy-a-mac/).

computerboy
2006-12-05, 21:05
thanks, keep em comming.

Also, anyone know why us Aussies pay such a premium on mac products?

US$1,499 for the black macbook should work out to be around AU$1,902.

However, we pay AU$2,399.

hmmm.

agent302
2006-12-05, 22:25
thanks, keep em comming.

Also, anyone know why us Aussies pay such a premium on mac products?

US$1,499 for the black macbook should work out to be around AU$1,902.

However, we pay AU$2,399.

hmmm.

Prices on the U.S. Apple Store don't include sales tax in the initial price, mainly because it varies state-to-state and even county-to-county. So, once you actually get to the payment screen in the U.S. Apple Store, tax is then added. The Australian price already includes VAT or whatever its referred to in Australia in the listed price. Also, there may be additional costs relating to customs duties and the like.

Robo
2006-12-05, 23:56
I don't normally expect Mac upgrades at Macworld (only all-new models and the like) but I think this year might be different. I think it's possible that Jobs will be all like "Not only did we transition to the Intel Core, we transitioned to Core 2!" and thus, the Mac mini will be upgraded. Likewise, I think it's possible he'll make an announcement like "All Macs now have at least 1GB of RAM!" and so it will be done. I think it might be worth waiting, but it's up to you.

Buy it when you need it.

washington mac user
2006-12-06, 00:19
if you don't need one now, wait for Santa Rosa. Lots of new features and better performance. Or you can wait for Penryn. Its supposed to come out 2nd half of 2007 and its 45nm. Or you could wait till mid 2008 because intel is changing to a different architecture called Nehalem. How long are you willing to wait? thats intels road map for the next couple years so you can go by that.

torifile
2006-12-06, 00:39
It's idiotic to try to predict what's going to be available in a year or two.

AWR
2006-12-06, 05:27
Performance-wise I don't see any reason to wait. The new MacBook upgraded to 2GB of RAM will remain a strong, capable computer for AT LEAST several years.

One question might be how much do you want your MacBook to ship with Leopard, which is due by most estimations (I think) early in the new year.

lightning_bug
2006-12-06, 12:28
Perhaps slightly off-topic, but has anyone purchased the newest MacBooks from the refurbished store on Apple's website? I see that they have 2.0 Ghz white MacBooks available for $899 US, and I was looking into getting one (especially since they have the same one-year warranty as the new products) as my 12" Powerbook is going through yet another backlight issue (as much as I love that computer, not sure I want to sink $300 into a repair if I can get a new lappy for $900-1000).

So, what can I expect from the refurbished products? Same packaging, same everything as new?

Wyatt
2006-12-06, 13:31
Perhaps slightly off-topic, but has anyone purchased the newest MacBooks from the refurbished store on Apple's website? I see that they have 2.0 Ghz white MacBooks available for $899 US, and I was looking into getting one (especially since they have the same one-year warranty as the new products) as my 12" Powerbook is going through yet another backlight issue (as much as I love that computer, not sure I want to sink $300 into a repair if I can get a new lappy for $900-1000).

So, what can I expect from the refurbished products? Same packaging, same everything as new?
Refurbs will not have the same packaging. They come in a plain brown box. Internally, it's a brand new Mac. Whatever defective hardware may have been there has been replaced and you'll have a clean install of Tiger on the drive. Cosmetically, the story may be different. The only refurbed Mac I ever bought (a G4 mini) was flawless, but I've heard of minor cosmetic issues on some refurbs.

BarracksSi
2006-12-06, 15:02
FWIW, the way I see it, CPU upgrades are low on any list of "hardware feature upgrades that you'll really notice". If you can get a big enough hard drive, a useful optical drive, and whatever other communication/networking features you'd need, go ahead and buy it.

The practical differences between my current iBook G4 and any new MacBook would really only be three things (besides the Intel chip, of course) -- bigger HD, DVD burner, and Bluetooth. That's it. I could send it out to get a larger HD installed and a DVD burner in place of the combo drive for much less than a new MacBook, and I'd have upgraded hardware that'll fulfill almost all of my needs.

Waiting for an incremental CPU upgrade, IMO, is only good for doing integer races with your computer geek friends. Other than that, it's fast enough, and will serve you as well three years from now as it would today.