MacBook Pros updated today - Good time to buy | Hacker News Reader

MacBook Pros updated today - Good time to buy

apple.com

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Bad time to buy. This is just the update to 45nm CPUs. The next generation chipset will be out in 6 months. That will be a good time to buy.

Unless you don't already have a Mac, then anytime is a good time to buy.

That's one POV.

Another: if you wait 6 months, there'll be another significant bump 6 months after that. (WiMax!) The sensible thing to do is to wait a year. Sorry, 18 months. Oh no, 2 years.

now is a good time to buy last gen's macbook pros for a steal.

You'd think so - but it rarely happens. I did this with my current macbook and only got a few hundred dollars off after waiting ~7months.

I'll give some YC hacker a good deal right now for my 1st gen macbook pro (2 GB RAM) :)

ak (at) semigeek (dot) com

Always like picking up more hardware - send the specs.

current macbook pro price: $1999 + taxes some thread perusing on macrumors: $1500-1600 shipped

Hopefully in 6 months, there will be a bigger upgrade, with form factor changes. That will be a good time to buy.

I wonder why there is no Multi Touch or Led displays in the Macbook.

Because new tech costs more? To create differentiation between two models that are already really similar?

One subtle but annoying change: Apple rearranged the function keys at the top of the keyboard to match the Macbook Air.

it now looks like this: http://images.apple.com/keyboard/images/gallery/wired_1_2007...

As an Emacs user, it's one of the things I look for when I buy a laptop. Right now the right ctrl key on my HP laptop is directly underneath the slash key, and the left ctrl key is mapped to caps lock, so both my pinkies only have to move slightly.

For the Mac users, how are you guys dealing with this? I've used 10.4 and the re-mapping feature in the preferences panel seems fairly limited.

Same thing I've always done, on every platform: make sure the key to the left of A is mapped to control, and only use that. Even when I'm on a keyboard with 3 control keys, I only ever use the one.

I don't think any laptop has a good key layout. Just pick one and try to get used to it.

I only use the left Control key, and I remapped Caps Lock to Control in the Mac OS preferences panel. Works very well for me.

I don't have any problem with the control key position, I just swap it with caps lock.

The real pain for me is the meta key mapping. If I'm using Carbon Emacs I use one mapping, if I'm using emacs in a terminal I have to switch to another mapping. Things work a little differently with my external keyboard v.s. the built in one. I find the whole thing really irritating, almost enough to make me switch back to Linux on my laptop.

Anyway, I use http://doublecommand.sourceforge.net/ to map keys that aren't handled by the limited built-in mapping choices.

Thanks for the link. I thought it was just me going crazy with Emacs/Apple keyboard bindings.

I do the Capslock/Ctrl swap, but I really want to make the Apple key my meta command, since that's the location of the Alt button on every other keyboard I've used

Do these still come with bootcamp? I really want a Mac Pro, but the ability to dual-boot would be key.

Yep. All is included.

$2000 is a bit steep isn't it?

Here's a comparable machine:

http://www.tigerdirect.com/applications/SearchTools/item-det...

$1050

The "fashion" tax is pretty high on Apple. The only advantage it has on the HP is a superior video card.

The "only advantage" it has is insanely good video card...

That HP machine is in no way comparable to Macbook Pro...

The base Macbook is the same price as that HP machine, and is roughly the same price.

I believe Steve Jobs has a patent on inappropriate uses of the word "insane" and its inflections.

Anyway, the HP actually seems better for most things. The AMD processor seems to cost a bit more than Intel. Aside from that, I won't compare them.

mac:

  2.4GHz Intel Core 2 Duo
  2GB memory
  200GB hard drive1
  Double-layer SuperDrive
  NVIDIA GeForce 8600M GT with 256MB

hp:

  Turion 64 X2 TL-62
  Memory Size:  	3GB
  Dual Layer DVD RW
  Capacity:  	250GB
  Unspecified, probably crappy, video card.

Some additional facts that are highly relevant to price point: 3MB shared L2 on the MB, 2x512 on the HP

Macbooks, let alone the pro, have dvi out, which is a must for most people, and the HP doesn't.

The HP is about the size of 2 macbook pros in terms of thickness.

The HP's horrible vid card and screen gives it a resolution of 1280x800 on a 15 inch screen. The Pro you are comparing has 1440x900 on the same sized screen.

I realize I am coming off as sounding fanboyish, but that is not my intention. I fully realize Macs are not priced very low, but these crappy HPs and Dells are nowhere near the quality of components.

Macbooks only have mini-DVI out. You need an adapter to get DVI output.

But that adapter is only $19. It's nearly impossible to get DVI output from most non-Mac laptops, no matter how much you spend.

Wow, I never realized that, but it seems you're correct. I wonder why in the world more laptops don't support DVI?

Most laptops don't have a good video card.

Macbooks have the small connector because the large connector is too large in form factor for a laptop (well maybe not that huge HP :P). So other laptops would have to do something similar, but perhaps apple patented the mini-dvi port?

I guess form factor could be a major part of it, although the 15" MBP does support DVI. And there are lots of laptops with decent non-integrated video cards but no DVI support -- support for DVI isn't exactly a high-end video card feature, after al.

the regular macbook (starting at $1099) is a better comparison to the Tiger machine in terms of price, features, and performance

some would say the main advantage is the OS (without hacking to make it work with a normal PC)

"It just works" - you just can't really say that for a PC

It does "just work" and all, but this is hacker news! We want to know why and how it works. Plus, we're willing to tinker to get it working.

I certainly appreciate when things work immediately, but my overall curiosity means that even if I use Apple hardware, I put linux on it.

"my overall curiosity means that even if I use Apple hardware, I put linux on it."

You'll be wasting your money.

Exactly, you are wasting your money.

The main reason for me to use macs is mac os. While the features of the apple hardware are nice, and they look good and all that, the most important thing to have is a commandline and a set of decent apps like photoshop, bbedit etc, on one machine. Most linux applications are crap compared to os x apps!!!!

If you want to run linux and are not on a tight budget, I recommend Thinkpads. Although not all features are perfectly easy to activate (power management, bluetooth, wireless :o|), the hardware is superior to macs.

I paid the price for Powerbooks since ever. But now I have decided to go with a MacBook (as soon as they come with LED backlit screens). I think the value for the money is much better. I'd rather pump them up with the largest and fastest drive and memory.

1. Apple doesn't make machines that fit into feature tables.

2. Even then, the HP is not similar to the MacBook PRo, it's missing a comparable CPU, 802.11n, backlit LED screen, multitouch mousepad, backlit keyboard, and most importantly software: Mac OS X and iLife.

3. The "fashion" tax is also the quality tax. Al casing and hundreds of screws is a very real difference.

What about the Vista tax?

I just wished they gave an option whether to have the macbook style keyboard or not. I really like the new keyboards compared to what the mac book pros have

Everyone's reservations about proprietary software go away when it's Apple. Closed source isn't a bad thing when it isn't Microsoft doing it.

I've never had a problem with closed source.

I bet the majority of hackers here don't mind it, as they're all working on their own startups and only a tiny fraction of them are likely to release their source code.

The only thing I wish they had done was increase the size of the touchpad. I need some space to use my gestures.

Screw gestures, use keyboard shortcuts instead.

I tend to agree, but there are some gestures on the MBP that are really handy:

1. Two finger tap: since there's no 'right click' (which is CTRL-click on a Mac) the two finger tap means I don't remove my fingers from the pad to get a context menu.

2. Two fingers to scroll. Very handy on web pages and it works up/down and left/right.

I think that the 'Douple-layer' SuperDrive on the 17 inch model is an especially convincing reason to buy.

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