Buy my wife a MacBook now or wait?
Okay, here's the deal: my wife's birthday is at the end of September. Since getting her an iPhone 3 weeks ago she's completely fallen for the thing and is now ready to accept a new Mac as a replacement for her rapidly dying Windows XP laptop. The Windows laptop she uses is running painfully slowly and needs a full reformat and reinstall. Since I'm now heavy into Macs I'd rather not deal with it anymore so the time has come.That said I've got a bit of a challenge. My wife is a high school teacher and qualifies for not only an educational discount but also the special that Apple is running through September 15th that gives students and teachers up to a $299 rebate on a qualifying iPod purchase. That means we could get her a nice little MacBook and give the free 8GB iPod Touch to our oldest daughter in college.
This would be a slam dunk except for the news that's been building that Apple is on the verge of releasing updates to both the iPods and MacBooks. Apple Insider just summarized what's potentially coming up and it sounds pretty interesting. The biggest news for me is that the new MacBook would address the one issue I've had with my white MacBook: the fragility of the plastic case.
The plan according to Apple Insider is that MacBooks will now be sheathed in aluminum just like my MacBook Pro. Since I've had the palm surface of my MacBook crack on me and have had a number of people send me e-mails and comment on my blog about the same problem I would like to avoid dealing with that again if at all possible.
I have a strong suspicion that the information Apple Insider is predicting is exactly what's going to happen. The free iPod Touch promotion is helping clear out the existing inventory now, both for iPods and MacBooks.
So the question is, buy now and get the free iPod Touch or buy a little later, pass on the iPod Touch but get the next generation MacBook. I realize this is a common refrain; buy now or wait for the next release however I only have just over two weeks to make a decision.
Any suggestions?
Comments
The 8 or 9 September is really near.
When the birds are of the Apple species the answer is almost always no.
Personally, I'd wait. What you're really giving up is the touch. Is it that important to get your daughter a touch? And what if she decides she wants an iPhone? Then the touch gathers dust.
I'd wait, coz I've seen a lot of Apple's birds in the bushes, and they are always worth waiting for.
Also, you'll end up with previous gen iPod and MacBook. So you'll be doubly disappointed when you see what you could have had. And they lose value the minute new ones come out.
And if the case ever cracked or discoloured on the MacBook, you'd kick yourself.
Of course, there's always issues with new designs for MacBooks, so you'd be taking that risk.
But I reckon you should wait.
The disappointment of an upgrade so soon after buying an Apple product is too much to take!
You should wait.
i don't think i'll wait, since i can no longer wait.
And waiting gives you the option of picking up the latest and greatest, or grabbing one of the discontinued models at a discounted price.
The big deal for me is: Is your waiting a result of your wishes for your wife, or actually considering her needs.
In any case, Apple will still have the "old" models available at your wifes birthday, if you wait.
So you might forfeit an iPod for your daughter. But you know - it's your wifes birthday present, not your daughters ;) If you want to get her an iPod - get her one. Just because (if you can afford a 12Gb 8core Mac Pro, you can get her an iPod David ;) ).
So wait. See if the new model becomes available, get her one of those. If they don't become available (huge difference between making the announcement and making the product readily available, as we saw with the iPhone that June), get her one of the "old" models.
Since there's that 3 week gap between their announcement and your wifes birthday - what's to lose by waiting ?
On the other hand, your wifes gift could potentially be better by waiting.
Who cares about computer models. It's all about what makes sense compared to your wifes happiness :)
Even if they do come out a little later, I doubt that your wife will mind a short wait for the latest and greatest.
@chris@ equixotic
"Sidenote: why Apple didn't refresh its laptop line *before* many started back to school is beyond me."
Probably to clear old stock and make way for the new.
The trend on rev's is typically 6 months, and in some cases, speed bumps have occurred in as few as 3 months.
We just passed the 6 month mark on the current MacBooks.
My wife needs a laptop, but until the new ones are released, she's tethered to her desk and our Mac Mini.
Since it is a present, she doesn't need to know that you've purchased it & you won't have to feel bad about not using it until the announcement is official.
They take back computers all the time - you can usually ask about open box discounted computers and receive a discount, but they don't do educational discount + open box discount too (or they didn't use to do this). The told us when we were buying last year that is almost always buyer's remorse - deciding they wanted a different model after they got it home - and a full hard drive restore to original state is done before a return is sold.
I've been a mac person since the original mac, and I don't normally go for the first generation of any mac product or it's redo. I like for the kinks to be worked out by someone other than me. That isn't an indictment about their rollout, just a statement about my patience with dealing with work-arounds, re-furbs, or for updates once they hear from the user community about improvements to be made to the new form-factor.
It never fails.
The only time you need to worry is around MWSF and WWDC, because those are the only two times that they announce big product changes. The rest of the year is for incremental updates.
http://buyersguide.macrumors.com/
get it now and sleep well.
I've always given the advice to people to buy what you want when you want it but I've got a little time left. At a minimum I'm going to wait until 9/14 or so to see if the new stuff is announced; if not, that's the hard decision date.
@Sprocketeer: Great link - thanks!
Buy now: Most known issues have been sorted out. Get free iPod Touch.
Wait, buy later: Possible Rev. A issues.
I vote wait. Aluminum is nice; might be thinner. I believe they may be updating iPod Touches later this year along with perhaps a price reduction.
At a minimum, since the promo doesn't end until Sep 15, I've decided to wait until Sep 9 - the risk is there are no more iPod touch to be bought. And I don't expect to see the new laptops on Sep 9; I'm hoping for mid-Sep, but they could roll into Oct.
mark
The current line of Macbooks are nice, but due to the longevity of Macs, the expected nearness of new/refreshed models, and the issues you have with your model, I think a wait and see approach is the most prudent.
Like many who have already commented here, I'm in the same boat. I want a new Macbook, but have decided to hold off until new models arrive. I want to see what internal architectural improvements have been made as well as what new case design will emerge.
If it turns out the new case design is not to your liking, you could still get what is the current model, at a reduced price (most likely you'd be able to find one new but priced low enough to make up for missing out on the promo).
Of course you could get lucky like I did with my iMac. I ordered and before they could fill the order there was a refresh and they upgraded my order to the refreshed model.
I don't know the science of why Apple does what it does, but new models and refreshes seem to come AFTER the back-to-school buying frenzy and AFTER Christmas, while everyone else rolls the new stuff before those two key buying periods.
If you aren't into the upgrades (you obviously are) you can catch some good bargains at the tail end of the school buying period and after Christmas as the last of inventory is flushed, especially from folks like MacMall.
What power hungry apps does your wife use? Or does she mostly just surf, e-mail, word process, etc.? Unless she needs the absolute raw speed of the latest machines, current models should be more than adequate.
You've been in tech long enough; you know that if you can buy it, it's already obsolete. New product fever is an incurable, recurring disease.
I'm writing this on a PowerBook G4 thats a bit over 3 years old. When I bought it, it was top dog. Today, it is still going strong, is more than adequate for my needs, and I don't anticipate replacing at least until Snow Leopard ships factory installed on new machines.
The one thing that does make a difference is that I added 1 GB of RAM to the 0.5 factory installed. ALWAYS add more RAM to a new computer; that maximizes the return on investment of the upgrade, and makes the machine faster when new, and useful for longer when comparing it to the newer releases. If you don't max out the RAM, at least add what you can to open slots.
I sense you are like the famous Leo Laporte, who upon buying the Powerbook the new one comes out the following day.
Since I am in the market for the new one you can help to speed up the release date by buying today.
Except I'm not worried about the free touch so much. I actually really like the white plastic case on my 1st gen MacBook, which she is using now. IMO, It feels more sturdy to pick up than my MacBook Pro. And I really, REALLY like the fact that I can upgrade the HD really easily. I'd like to wait for the newer, more capable model, but I'm afraid I won't like the aluminum case as much, and the HD will be unreachable without removing a hundred screws and pulling a ribbon cable or 2.
- Ray
The missus and I both got a bonus late June, so pulled the pin on a MBP 15" (refurb) early July. We had either decided on a black'book (not so hard to keep clean as white), or a MBP. The refurb MBP ended up ~US $50 dearer than a black'book retail.
I had already been holding off a number of months for the 'new updates just around the corner' and decided to go for a few reasons:
1) Rumours are often wrong, and I was driving myself nuts by sitting on the wall.
2) Buying RevA of a new design (speed bumps not so bad) appears a risky business, therefore Id be waiting for RevB (ie ANOTHER 6 months) anyway.
3) I couldnt justify a retail MBP to myself, but could stomach a refurb to get the MBP improvements (VERY happy with decision) and refurbs takes a few months to become available.
In your case, your wife probably wont really care whether she has the most up to the minute machine, as long as its doing the job she wants. Its always me that suffers buyers remorse, not the missus. And its HER laptop, not yours :-)
Missing out on the touch is probably really neither here nor there IMHO - its not an iPhone :-)
Even if they ANNOUNCE them in mid to late September, its not likely they will be SHIPPING til mid October.
You could do what I do occasionally when I have some reason for holding off buying a present. Make a special card, that says its a 'voucher' for XYZ item when it becomes available :-)
I think the wait until mid Sep is probably a good compromise :-)
So if your wife doesn't need a new computer right now, wait. It's not like computers are going to get slower and more expensive if you wait.
In the mean time, you can setup a linux on your old junk for you wife if she really need a machine to work on doing some basic stuff, ubuntu should do good.
I would check with Apple on the "Educational, Non-CTO, Closed Box" return policy for the promo items first.
http://store.apple.com/us/help/returns_refund
As long as you don't do a build to order or CTO (configure to order) purchase, and If they will honor the standard 14 day return policy usually offered for non-CTO closed box returns (read no restocking fee), I would wait until the last possible day and place your order.
This way you've covered all your bases. You get the opportunity at the Touch/Laptop Educational bundle with a decent return policy. (Again, just don't open it!!!)
If something that fits your needs/wants becomes available soon after your purchase, you'll have some options.
Cheers!
---RASTER
I love Ubuntu and have it on one of my workstations, using it fairly regularly as it parallels one of my production server environments.
The only problem is Apple doesn't have an iTunes for it, which is how my wife updates her iPhone.
Several years ago my wife presented me with my birthday present. In the box was a picture of the item I WOULD be getting BUT not on my birthday because the newer item would not be available until a later date. Tell your wife as my wife told me - she believed the wait was worth it and I would understand. I did.
- Never, never, never be an Apple first adopter. When they design something new, wait at least six months for them to fix the problems. New Macs, with a few exceptions, mean new problems.
- Sell the iPod touch. I bought an iPod with my faculty discount, and I sold the iPod and printer on eBay to defray the cost. You can gain $300.
- About your daughter's iPod. The next version of the touch will be out soon. It will cost less than the current one, and it will be the second generation.
http://buyersguide.macrumors.com/
Takes the guessing out of it. Or at least gives you some good info with which to make an educated guess.
what has been the scenario with past releases for macbooks?
I'm on the verge of getting a MacBook Pro along with the free printer and the free iPod Touch. Quite a package!
The problem is that I've now started reading about all the screen problems with the MBP! The Apple discussion forum/threads on this are pretty scary.
I'm wondering what you all think about the problem-- how bad and how universal it is. It could be that this is one case where a new model (if one comes out) is better than the old one!
Should I hold off or take my chances?
http://www.ricroberts.com/articles/2008/06/09/macbook-pro-strange-vertical-stripes
Hope it's not widespread!
2 reasons :
the change to new processors is just a small upgrade.
the new Intel platfom (core i7) will be largely multi core and will appear first quarter 2009. Snow leopard will be optimized for this. So I think they will really change the design of their macbook at this time.
I just saw this at MacsimumNews...
Apple to hold special Sept. 9 event
http://www.macsimumnews.com/index.php/archive/apple_to_hold_special_sept_9_event/
With the invitation titled "Let's Rock" it's probably an announcement of new iPod designs. But who knows...
John R
(This is of course said in my Captain James T. Kirk voice)
Rev.A models almost always have teething issues. The TiBooks had weak hinges and flaking finish, the MacBooks started out with the discoloring palm rest issue, and virtualy all Rev.A machines have had issues, minor or major.
The current MacBook is twice-proven technology...it improves on the already great iBook design while fixing its few weaknesses, and it's in its third revision, which means all the bugs are worked out by now.
Wait for the new MacBook with the Aluminum cases, and you may get a sexier machine, but you'll also get to play Early Adopter Roulette.
I bought my MacBook last month intentionally, to get one of the last white MacBooks. Then again, I like the white polycarbonate, and I don't think much of metal cases...they scratch and dent too easily, interfere with WiFi reception on occasion (TiBooks again), and only look nice when they're brand new.
Your mileage may, of course, vary.
I am wondering what would happen if Apple introduces new MacBooks next week. Will I get the old (current generation) MacBook or would I get the new MacBook? If I get the older MacBook, can I exchange it for the new one?