MacBook pro ???

[purplenut]

Ok have decided to get the MacBook pro but not to sure what the difference will be in the new one released this week i5 or the one before it.
Just thought someone here with one might be able to shed some light

[raymondkerr]

the main difference is the new intel sandy bridge processor version of the i5. You'll get the new thunderbolt (mini display port) connector as well, twice the speed of USB3 and 10x the speed of USB2. Although there are no devices yet to take advantage of these speeds, I reckon Hard Disk companies will jump on the bandwagon very soon indeed, the new connection is dual bandwidth also, meaning you can stream 1080p full HD video and data at the same time.

I would say go with the new one. Rumours are that the new models are 50% faster than last years models, the base 13" i5 is 50% quicker in performance than last years "top end" 13" macbook pro.

[Aran]

+1 on the new model.

I have the previous 13" and think the size is perfect

[Danosborne6661]

13's are spot on, if you want to save yourself some good money then you can get them off ebay and some fair prices!

[Big G]

I have the 2010 15" i7 MBP and I love it to bits, but I have heard good things about the new range. I would give it a month just for any bits to be ironed out as usual

the 8gb ram upgrade was worth every penny to me as I run a lot of things every day and for £70 from crucial it's a no brainer. apple want too much for their upgrade

[purplenut]

Thanks guys,some good advice there.

[Northern Monkey]

Wotcha, can’t stress how good macs are... don’t know if you want to save some money or not but if you go to the link below they sell refurbished macs with some significant reductions on the apple website.

http://store.apple.com/uk/browse/hom...co=MjEwNTY3ODE

Al

[ryanlownie]

Always buy the latest mac, because they bring newer versions out so often, the older models devalue quite quickly.

What I do is buy the latest iMac, sell it before 12 months is up and buy the latest model. That way it costs me around £4-600 per year to have the latest top spec model.

After 12 months the warranty expires and you need to purchase Apple Care before this time. Having a mac without warranty or Apple Care seriously devalues it.

[Danosborne6661]

Originally Posted by Ry @ JE Spares

Always buy the latest mac, because they bring newer versions out so often, the older models devalue quite quickly.

What I do is buy the latest iMac, sell it before 12 months is up and buy the latest model. That way it costs me around £4-600 per year to have the latest top spec model.

After 12 months the warranty expires and you need to purchase Apple Care before this time. Having a mac without warranty or Apple Care seriously devalues it.

Not quite so true..

If you buy one that isn't the 'lastest model' you get it for cheaper anyway so there's less room for it to depreciate. If you buy the latest one you'll find the value will shatter once the next one is out yet the performance of the older generation is hardly any different.

I bought mine which is a Core 2 Duo, 4GB of Ram, 320gb hard drive with snow leopard for £395 off ebay and as someone studying Graphic Design I can run Photoshop, Dreamweaver, Illustrator & Indesign CS5 all at the same time without any issues. I find it hard to believe that it isn't going to fetch that if I wanted to sell it for any reason.

The people that tend to buy Apples will purchase them new seeing as they are considered a 'luxury' product. So if you purchase one second hand you'll find you can get them for quite good prices

[Big G]

I got lucky with mine. I bought (I think the same one as Dan has) originally new from the apple store.

After almost 18 months of ownership my work offered me a bit of a bonus where they would buy me the latest i7 MBP (2010) and I would give them my older C2D MBP for someone else in the company to use. Given the 2nd hand prices were around £800 I sort of got a £1k bonus last year

I really love my MBP. I can't imagine having another laptop now as it's such a pleasure to use and own.

I think the success of the ios devices really should kick developers up the arses to write more software for both OSX and windows machines. We do get a nice range or software now compared to what was around 4 years ago and now with Steam onboard we get a lot more games too.

[craigosh]

What are you going to be doing with it?

If your going to be doing some heavy graphics work, especially video / 3d, get the latest

If your just going to surf the web, edit a few photos, watch movies, then get an older one.

I'd recommend the refurbs myself. Had two and never had a problem with them.

The new ones are great, super duper fast, but are a bit overkill for Joe public.

[andys]

Apple refurb store as suggested always good for a nice saving.

I've bought plenty off there and they always look brand spanking new when they arrive.

Only get the latest if you can afford it. Depending what you are doing it may be overkill. I use mine for my work, and I bought the older model, last time they they updated them as they were being sold off cheaper, and for what I needed it was more then powerful enough !

Macs do generally last ages too, so if you look after it, it will seriously outlast any PC. You should find it will run apps at good speeds too, even many years after you buy it.

[Big G]

Originally Posted by raymondkerr

You'll get the new thunderbolt (mini display port) connector as well, twice the speed of USB3 and 10x the speed of USB2. Although there are no devices yet to take advantage of these speeds,

Lacie released a external HDD at the same time I think

[purplenut]

Originally Posted by craigosh

What are you going to be doing with it?

If your going to be doing some heavy graphics work, especially video / 3d, get the latest

If your just going to surf the web, edit a few photos, watch movies, then get an older one.

I'd recommend the refurbs myself. Had two and never had a problem with them.

The new ones are great, super duper fast, but are a bit overkill for Joe public.

I know where you are coming from,but i wil be useing it for day to day internet,but i want to use it for video(hd) from my video camera and pics form my canon eos 50d.
I think from what i have read referb might be the way to go.

[purplenut]

Originally Posted by andys

Apple refurb store as suggested always good for a nice saving.

I've bought plenty off there and they always look brand spanking new when they arrive.

Only get the latest if you can afford it. Depending what you are doing it may be overkill. I use mine for my work, and I bought the older model, last time they they updated them as they were being sold off cheaper, and for what I needed it was more then powerful enough !

Macs do generally last ages too, so if you look after it, it will seriously outlast any PC. You should find it will run apps at good speeds too, even many years after you buy it.

I heard unless you have a apple warranty they it could cost loads???.

[purplenut]

Think in the long run i will get a refurb as they are £200 cheeper.
But for what i will use it for it will be just fine.
Just wanted to make sure i was spending a £1000 on the right model altho i think it will have to be the 15inch £1500+ouch
the thunderbolt wont realy affect me and the 320 hard drive wil be ok (i think)as i want to get the wireless hard drive(awsome).
Thanks for all your input all taken on board

[andys]

Originally Posted by purplenut

I heard unless you have a apple warranty they it could cost loads???.

Not sure what you mean here.
All I can tell you is I've bought a LOT of Mac kit, both for home and business. Where I used to work we built our own PCs for all our admin staff, because it was so much cheaper. Problem was after 6 to 12 months all manner of components started failing. Power supplies, motherboards etc. In the end it cost us so much in time, fault finding and replacing stuff, we sacked PCs off and went to all Mac, as we already were in the design studio.

I've only had one power supply go on an iMac in all the time I've had macs, even macs I bought decades ago still worked perfectly before I let them go ! It's robust kit and I've never, ever bothered with apple care insurance for any Mac I've bought.

If you are accident prone, or worried as it's a laptop, it might be worth having. I was in the apple store the other day and a family had spilt a drink over their macbookpro, so I guess in those situations AppleCare is good !

[Aran]

+1 on what Andys said macs will run all day, just be careful with them I had some strange bug problem behind the screen and it cost £500 to fix it and they fixed it 3 times glad I had the warranty still. Laptops are more accident prone than a desktop I would get a Invisible shield cover or skin if your fussy like me :P

[purplenut]

Cherrs for updated advice.
I have 4young boys so AppleCare might have to be purchased.
Altho could I just do it through the house insurance if it got spilt on ect???
As AppleCare is a hefty price on top of the laptop.

[Richard Lowe]

Originally Posted by Aran

I had some strange bug problem behind the screen and it cost £500 to fix it and they fixed it 3 times glad I had the warranty still.

This is a good example of how they bum you, most laptop LCD panels are about £60, even really posh ones are only around £100 for the panel and it's usually less than 10 screws and a few clips to change them. So even if they put a new panel in they're asking £400 labour for a 10-15 minute job!