Centrino 2 (Montevina) is coming, is it worth it to buy now?

With all the fuss about Montevina coming in June-ish, it makes me wonder: is it worth it to buy now? What I mean is, will Montevina be a big enough update to make today's machines a waste of money compared to what will inevitably be coming in June-ish? Just curious, as I'll be buying an m15x for college, and I want to know if it's really worth the wait.

 

i would say wait, colleges don't start till September right? the fbs seems like a huge jump, plus AW haven't fixed all the issues yet.

 

Regardless of when you buy, it's going to get outdated.

Buy when you need. Since you're buying for college, you don't need it yet. Wait until summer.

 

It's only a few months away, so just wait. You'll have a feel of regret when everyone's saying " Montevina!" and "Centrino...2!" when you still have Santa Rosa.

 

True, but the m15x is such a fast notebook as it is. I don't really expect montevina to show a huge performance increase on it. What I'm more excited about is the nahelem procs that'll be coming out at the end of this year and beginning of next year. I could always buy now and then sell it in a year and a half or so to get a better model. I'm not really sure, because I don't exactly need it now, but it would be very helpful for me to have my own computer right now (the computer I'm using now is sort of the "family" computer).

 

psssh y wait?i lvoe my m15x 10k on the 3d mark

 

I know, really it just seems pointless to wait when the current model can already do pretty much everything except play crysis on very high settings. I don't know, maybe I'm just trying to justify that ever-so-tempting early purchase

 

I'd suggest just buying now as well. DDR3 prices aren't going to be very pretty, and DDR2 prices are as good as they're probably going to get. Also Montevina will most likely start out at DDR3 at 800mhz, not a significant upgrade from DDR2-667. You can get a Penryn Santa Rosa now for decent prices, when Montevina comes out I don't expect it to be any faster at the same price point.

 

The only problem with buying now is the lack of upgradeability. The newer procs and GPU's are likely only going to be compatible with montevina. Ugh, I hate having to juggle this through my mind

 

Hmm, after reading all of the negative comments in this forum, perhaps I should wait til montevina anyway since the current model seems so flawed. Or it could just be the fact more people post problems than praises in this forum.

 

My view is that you should buy consumer electronics within a week or two of actually needing them. If you are going off to college, buy the laptop so it gets to you a week before you have to leave. That way you get the best possible deal and technology at the time. My Sager was pretty good when I bought it.

 

I'm in the same boat as you (dunno how many times I've said that to so many ppol ) Thing is I gotta wait till I get to US and college.. You got the option of an early purchase and I can only imagine how tempting it must be.. But I agree with (and thank) Chaz for his advice
Solution: Cut up your credit/debit card or make your parents promise not to get it for you until college starts

 

Well, the latest I'm going to wait is until shortly after graduation (June 5th). This laptop is my graduation present after all (well, I am paying for a fair portion of it too). Let's hope the centrino 2 version is out by then.

 

If you wait until mid june, I believe there should be a fair amount of Centrino 2 notebooks around. That is, if Intel's timeline goes as planned, but I think it should - it is slated for a June release date, and I think it is supposed to be the beginning of June.

 

so ur sayn a good amount of notebooks are gonna have centrino 2 around mid june... so then how long until the m15x has it?

 

i don't think the m15x is going to get Centrino2...

it already has a key centrino2 feature integrated gfx switching.

and what the best centrino2 processor is going to be a locked 3gig duel.... no reason why alienware cant sell a x9000 pre overclocked at that speed...

i think we wont see a revision of the m15x till quadcores come at high speeds in notebooks late 2009 imo.

only thing to wait for in the m15x is a switch to geforce9's i think... but thats prob end of this year as well.. and possibly 0 performance change beside heat.. even in the 9800m GTX vs 8800m GTX

ohh and colors .

 

Cizmo offers notebooks with Centrino 2, 8800M GTX

http://www.electronista.com/articles/08/04/15/cizmo.cx15.game.notebook/

 

I think you should wait as late as possible because there will be a lot more options to choose from (i.e. perhaps some other companies will come out with attractive notebooks) once Montevina comes out. This way you will not be regretting that you paid so much but your hardware is already outdated.