Macbook and the next osx question

Hi, right now I am on the fence on getting either a macbook or hp dv6000t. Umm, I am leaning more towards the macbook because It would be easier to carry around, plus I've never tried OSX and I really want to switch, I'm pretty open-minded and so far it seems anyone that switches loves macs, so yeah.

So far the only concerns for me about macbooks are the lack of integrated graphics... I'm not a gamer, I mean I like to game sometimes but these games run fine on my five year old computer, so I don't think it'll be much of a problem on a macbook, but I don't remember where I read, that the new version of OSX, leopard I think, is going to rely more on graphics than tiger, so is it safe to say that on current hardware leopard is gonna run crappier? Should I just wait until apple updates mb's motherboards to the santa rosa chipset?

I'm pretty impatient, and I have the money now, $1300 to be exact, just enough to get a white macbook (2.0ghz, 1gb ram, 80gb hdd), but if I buy it now I may have to spend extra money when leopard finally debuts, and if I end up upgrading, I don't want it to run like crap.

Is this just a rumor? Or will I be safe getting one now? How much is leopard gonna cost?

 

I would wait. It is not too much longer to wait.

 

like "they" always say, if you NEED the notebook, get it now. if you can wait, of course a newer revision will be better.

 

Leopard will use more hardware acceleration, but it will be something the GMA950 is capable of handling easily. Even Vista's aero runs fine on the GMA950, so there should be no need to worry about the OS becoming slow after upgrading to Leopard.

Unless you can get some sort of discount, like education discount or something, the Loepard upgrade package is going to cost you £80 ($130) for a single licence (discounts for multiple licences exist).
Compared to Vista, this is cheap. But, if your budget is a bit tight, and you can afford to wait, you should wait until either Leopard is out or the Quad Core machines. Alternatively, you could just purchase a refurb at a discount price.

 

Thank you all for the replies. I think I will just wait, even though I wanted to start the new semester (may 5th) with the new laptop, but oh well, this way is probably better cause I will save some money in the long run and will wind up getting a better product in terms of hardware and software. Just two months....aaaaaaaarg so impatient. I hope apple at least updates their machines with leopard quickly.

 

Well, you'll be waiting no more than a few weeks after your semester starts. Intel's new platform will debut on May 25, so Apple should have parts in its hands by then. Beyond that, OSX 10.5 (Leopard) will definitely be out by then.

 

No one knows when Leopard will be out. There are rumors that place it anywhere for early April to June. You can wait, but your wait maybe a while. I think buy when you are ready. Most people do agree that developers are seeing in beta versions of Leopard is nowhere near a finished product.

 

Would my mac mini cut it? With 512mb ram? I'd hate to go through hastle of upgrading!

 

From what I've heard, mac osx is a pretty ram hungry OS, so the more ram it has the better. I think upgrading to 1gb ram is only $75 so you should upgrade at least that.

 

Hey, I'm looking into macbooks too, I'm a windows user, I would be working a lot with audio mixing, engineering etc. ( I have an external soundcard ) and I would like to know if it's worth waiting for the new ones for how many long, or buy a MBP now? thx 2

 

I'm planning on waiting for Santa Rosa/Leopard. It's a pretty big upgrade. There's currently not a big reason for me to get a Mac now as the notebook in my sig is powerful enough and will last me a while. If you need the laptop now, it may be a different story for you. At the time I bought this current laptop, I needed it as the old one was dying on me. But if you can wait, I say wait. You'll be getting the better Core 2 Duo, Leopard, and better graphics. Not to mention, they may up the standard amount of included memory to coincide with Leopard.

 

May I ask... does anyone know by any chance when is apple planning to release the new set of macbooks?! Like in 2 months or so ? Cause I really needed to know that...

 

No one nows for sure. As said many times before, Intel is releasing their Santa Rosa platform in the May-ish time frame. Speculation has that Leopard will be out before summer. If you don't need a computer right this instant, wait it out.

 

It would be about two months most likely. Mac OS X Leopard is set to arrive in 'spring', and Centrino Pro (Santa Rosa) is launching around May, so it would be perfect timing for Apple to release a new lineup around May-June-ish. Again, this is all speculation, you never know for sure.

 

Hm.. but basically they prices will be higher than the current MBP right? And Leopard will just run fine on a MBP 15" with 2gig ram right?? I would be using it more for audio mixing/engineering, and casual stuff, and ditch the whole windows thing.