About the MBP - Upgrading

I'm going to be a freshman in college this fall (2008) and I've decided that I'll get a MBP to do some light gaming + schoolwork. This is my first Mac product, btw.

The thing is that I want to have the labtop right now, but since there are rumors that the Montevina platform is right around the corner in June, with the possibility of a new GPU, I'm pretty torn.

Does apple offer some sort of upgrading service and/or exchanging service(I'm sure it's covered somewhere along these threads, but I'm too lazy =/ )? If they do, how much would each option cost?

Also, there are rumors about Nehalem being 30% more power efficient. **** damn. I know, I know...hardware improves everyday. sigh.

Also, is there a way to get the resolution for the monitor to 1440 x 9xx ? I just don't want my native resolution too high.

 

No, Apple does not offer a "step-up" style program. Fortunately though, Apple products tend to have a higher resale value in comparison to other notebook PCs if that's a route you're willing to go.

Otherwise, buy only when you need. The bleeding edge is a moving target. Don't bother, you'll just drive yourself crazy waiting for the next "big" thing.

Oh, and Montevina isn't a rumor. It's pretty much confirmed for June. Intel is supposed to announce it at Computex Taipei 2008. It's up to Apple by then to roll out the new MBPs. Nehalem is still a good year and a half away in my opinion.

 

You won't see the next update till end of the year, if not, January.

 

nehalem could potentially show up around this time next year. the closest update is likely to be june. if you want your laptop now, get it now. they just updated them. otherwise, wait until june. if you can live for a few months of college without a new laptop, then get one when you need it.

good luck!

 

Nehalem is supposed to be a huge improvement, yes. No, Apple doesn't do any hardware upgrade programs, unfortunately. Since you don't need (I'm assuming) the MBP yet until in the fall, I'd wait for Montevina .