Moving on to Apple, should I wait for next year?

I have an Asus UL30VT-A1, and would like to move on to something more powerful with more real estate. I am looking towards the 17" MBP, and I am in Canada. Should I wait until next refresh? And how can one usually get a good deal on MBPs in general? When is the next refresh? I hope it is Sandy Bridge... does SB go over 3 Ghz? What's so good about SB compared to the i7-960?

Also, is this possible? Buying AppleCare right before normal warranty runs out.

 

If you think you can wait, you probably can.
Trying to stay on top of a technology curve is rather difficult.
You simply buy when you feel the need, earlier or later depending on actual need, tempered by patience & exacerbated by desire of gratification. Some speculate that the 15" and 17" MBP are due for a major update soon, so logic says wait if you can.

This may help. Then again, it might frustrate you even more. LOL
http://buyersguide.macrumors.com/

Yes, you can buy and register AppleCare anytime during the warranty period, but the expiration date of coverage always remains the same, regardless when you buy the coverage.

 

If you wait to buy, you will always be waiting.

As far as more powerful, you can find more power in a windows based machine rather than a mac. Yes, macs are easier to use and have an (arguably) better OS, they do lack power.

Apple has just implemented the iX processors this refresh, but windows have been using them for over a year now. Apple might not implement sandy bridge until the next refresh (not this coming one).

So just buy if you need it. This has been discussed many times before.

 

as for 'good deals' there are a couple safe ways to get a deals that I know in Canada.

1. student discount 50-100$ off
2. get a job at apple and get staff discount (25% + some times more)
3. know someone how works at the apple store who can get the friends and family discount (15%)
4. or there is the Apple refurbished store (my buddy who works at apple retail says they replace the cases before selling them as refurbished so they are in pretty good shape).

 

dont forget the Elitebook mobile workstations. I replaced my MBP 17" with one, as it met my particualr needs better.

 

the macbook pro is due for a refresh soon. within the next 4 months. i wouldnt buy now.

 

If you can afford to wait till the next refresh on the MBP, which shouldn't be too long now (my guess within the next 2-3 months) then you'll have two options that you don't have today; one, at refresh date you'll see current MBPs discounted fairly well at B&M stores till inventory goes or two, the option to purchase the new model which may be a better option based on your personal needs.

 

Aw bummer, I am so ready to make the switch from PC. If it's really only 2-3 months, I might have to wait too. There's supposed to be a "sales event" on Friday (acc. to apple.com) - I wonder if they'll start discounting MBP's already. (Hopefully it's not just free gift wrap!)

 

most Black Friday Apple sales are barely any sale at all... but they will take a little bit off.

 

yah! massive sale at apple.com! 50$ of any MBP, 25$ of any MB!!!

:sarcasm:

 

I'd still take it, esp. as I'm ready to buy right now, so waiting until Firday isn't a big deal. $50 isn't much compared to the price of the MBP I'm looking at, but if someone walked up to me and offered me $50 right now, I wouldn't say no

I'm having a tough time deciding if I should wait for the update or not, though, especially because it figures that the current MBP will be significantly discounted once the new ones are out. Hmmmm.

On the plus side, it looks like the Mac version of Civ 5 just came out, and you can download it for free if you've purchased the PC one. Another $50 gift!

 

I'm not sure if this was in reference to my post or not but in case it is here's the thing; B&M stores (not Apple stores or online), such as BestBuy, FutureShop et al, do clear out their inventory pretty heavily discounted once the refresh is released. I scored two MBPs (a SR 15 and the first unibody 15) over the the last 3 years at $700CAD below MSRP, and they weren't open box or refurbs, they were brand new. It's all about the timing. Typically, if memory serves me, you'll have a 2-5 day window before stocks vanish - it's a pretty good time to buy.

 

cool I didn't know Civ 5 is out! cool,

just so you know, Apple doesn't really discount there old stuff... it just tends to disappear. And my 50$ claim thing was a joke, I have no what the deals will be.

 

Ah well. I'll still hit up the Apple store site on Friday. And yeah, I'm pretty excited about Civ 5. The Civ series is more or less the only series of games I still get excited about.

 

I been playing the Win version since it came out (without using Windows )... I'll have to check the native version sometime and see if it actually works better. For about a year that I was playing Civ4, I could get the Win version to run better under Wine than the native version ran... Aspyr isn't all that great at porting. Civ4 native is a bit better now after quite a few really late patches, so hopefully they won't take years getting Civ5 decent

 

Is wine that great? have you tried crossover? which one do you prefer amongst these two?

 

Crossover uses Wine... but its more of a platform to run Windows games.... thats why i make Wineskin. Uses stock open source Wine (or can customize the code) and makes a finished Mac .app ... kind of like how Cider ports work.

None of it is super user friendly, but Crossover is probably the easiest to get working on certain games to work, they have a lot of specific games set up to be able to get them to work easy... plus buying Crossover helps fund a lot of Wine development, so I'm always for people buying it