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Decisions, Decisions

Swad

By Swad

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This is an interesting time to be a potential Mac buyer. On the one hand, you've got these nice new MacBooks and MacBook Pros which are quite fast but also have some technical problems like whines, heat, etc... things that I really don't think I should have to deal with. (I was actually just interviewed on the subject by PC World! How cool is that?) One the other hand, you've got some exciting new things just around the corner.

 

While I really want to get one of the new portables, I think I'm going to wait around until Merom comes out later this year. Why? Well, first I think that Merom - Intel's upcoming 64bit chip - will be a little more future proof than the current MB selection. There's a great article from Tom's Hardware regarding the leap that Merom could be from current processors. From the article:

Yesterday, we also mentioned that Intel expects Merom to gain 20% more performance compared to Core Duo; Conroe promises performance increases of 40% over Pentium D 950 while decreasing power consumption by the same amount; and Woodcrest is forecasted to achieve an 80% jump in speed coupled with a 35% drop in power over today's dual-core Xeon DP 2.8 GHz. "Merom is the best processor we have ever built," summed up Pat Gelsinger, who runs Intel's digital enterprise group. Gelsinger added that Merom will be the most power-efficient processor on the market, and will give Intel a "very strong position" - strong enough, in fact, that Intel no longer feels the need to develop an integrated memory controller for Merom at this time.

Those are some pretty big claims, but other benchmarks (here and here) seem to justify the position that Merom will be a significant step up from Core Duo. I know that there's always the danger of waiting a few months for that "next great thing" that's just around the corner. I hope that's not what I'm doing in this case.

 

I'm also planning to wait for a few of the quality control problems to be fix. The new MacBook seems to have many of these beat - probably due to their construction being handled by a different manufacturer - but reports are still cropping up about the whine (and it's a little early to tell). I plan on using this laptop for at least 3-4 years, so I want to make sure that Apple's Intel growing pains get worked out before I snatch one up. I don't want to buy an adolescent notebook - I was awkard enough at that stage... :)

 

What say you? Are you waiting for Merom or Conroe or are you perfectly content with the current offerings?

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Colonel

I'm gonna wait for a Merom..er...Core 2 Duo iMac before I get my real Intel Mac desktop. They should be out before the end of the year, and I would hate to waste my money on a 32 bit processor when they will be upgrading to 64 bit soon.

 

BTW, that's awesome that you got interviewed. The OSx86 community seems to becoming more frequent in the news lately.

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jgrimes80

I'm perfectly content with my MBP, but if something comes out that's significantly better CPU power (64-bit, etc), I'll probably snatch it up. I replace mine yearly...

 

My advice is to wait for anyone who can and can't spare money to keep "up-to-date" because they're definitely a few limitations (32-bit) and a few issues (Heat)

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bofors
What say you? Are you waiting for Merom or Conroe or are you perfectly content with the current offerings?

 

Unless you *need* something now, absolutely. Otherwise, I am really looking forward to running OSx86 on dual Woodcrest machines which will be available next month before Mermom and Conroe:

 

http://theinquirer.net/?article=31789

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Sabr
The MacBook, which comes with an integrated Intel GMA 950 graphics processor, does not include an option for discreet graphics. This a sticking point for users such as "Mashugly," the founder of The OSx86 Project, a site focused on Mac OSX and Intel-based hardware. "The only thing that would keep me from [the MacBook] is the integrated graphics," asserts Mashugly, who says that otherwise the MacBook is "probably the best entry-level notebook that I've seen."

 

Mashugly also says that he hopes Apple has resolved reported technical problems with currently shipping MacBook Pros. These problems include faulty latches, uneven screen brightness, and heat issues that PC World reader Jim Kenton calls "egg-frying hot."

 

"I can't recommend to my friends to buy a Mac laptop right now because of the quality issues," Mashugly says. "That's really sad. I mean, I run a Mac forum. When you have the faithful telling their friends that you should wait until the next revision, that's not a good situation."

 

Very cool, Mash!

 

If I was going to buy a Mac, I would probably wait until Merom is out. Spending the amount of money Apple expects for there products needs to be spent wisely...

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kernalzero

I'm waiting for the 64bit processors. I expect leopard will take advantage of this in terms of performace boosts that the current 32bit macbooks won't be able to. My only worry is that when apple moves to 64bit that the prices will go up and I obviously won't be able to make as much reselling my dell laptop a few months down the road. Does anyone know when this supposed to happen? I hope leopard comes out at the same time and that the new 64bit Macbooks will have it preloaded but that's just wishful thinking. I hope for september as a release date and I'll be on the apple store website, credit card in hand...

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