Thanks to my new found circumstances which include working full-time freelance, I’ve been in the market for a new Macbook Pro. Watching at the Apple rumor mill and seeing the release cycle for the MacBook Pro line was well overdue for a refresh, I held off. Impatiently waiting for a Tuesday morning I would wake to find the Apple store down for maintenance. (The longest Macbook Pro Streak without an update is 266 days. The current is at 263 days. This will be tied this Monday or broken Tuesday.)
I’ve been using my wife’s 2.0 GHz Macbook, it’s ok, but not up for running apps quickly and with only 2GB ram I could only open a handful of apps at once. As painful as it was, I couldn’t bring myself to pay full-price for the current MBP line knowing the next line will have the i5 and i7 processors. But after three weeks I’d had enough, caved and purchased a 27-inch iMac with the 2.8 GHz i7 processor and 8MB ram. The machine is fast, the LED screen is magnificent.
As great as this machine is, I already miss the portability of a laptop machine. I work remotely often and enjoy working (specifically coding) away from my office. When designing I prefer plugging into a large screen.
So I’m still in the market for a MacBook Pro, just not as urgent. I may wait until Apple releases 27 or 30-inch LED Cinema displays, then post my iMac on Craigslist.
I feel your pain. At work, our laptops get replaced every three years. My pre-unibody Macbook Pro is three years, and 2 months old. It’s not that the current machines are bad, but it would be nice to have a i5 or i7, a better graphics card, and (hopefully) auto-switching between the discrete and integrated graphics cards. I know if I get one before an update, I’ll be kicking myself. Maybe I should just go ahead pull the trigger on a new machine; it will mostly likely lead to an update shortly after.
If you’re going to sell your iMac, let me know before you put it on Craigslist.
Wait it out Brian. The new processors are super fast.
Dave, I will let you know.