MAC fans

Apple geeks, when does Apple normally do their next round of price drops or feature rollouts? I'm starting to look for a new laptop for purchase in the April/May time frame.

The MacBook looks hard to argue with at $999, but in some ways I really like the MAC book pro at $1,199, but it's hard to pay more for a smaller hard drive. The aluminum case, Firewire, illuminated keyboard are really nice and worth the extra, but not with less memory.

thx

Apple and price drops somehow doesn't sound right . Anyway, I think the most recent opportunity was when they presented the iPad, although they've been known to sneak new models out between announcements (happened when I bought my MacBook - they released a new model a day later, but they were happy for me to swap my "old" model for a "new" one).

For the most (Apple) bang for the buck, I'd keep an eye on the refurb store: http://store.apple.com/us/browse/home/specialdeals/mac/macbook_pro

My MacBook was bought new, my iMac from the refurb store - I didn't notice any difference apart from not being able to specify a custom config for the refurbed iMac.

I really like the aluminum case on my MacBook, that's all I have to add.

Pet Peeve:
Mac = Apple Macintosh Computer
MAC = Media Access Control; the MAC address is the hardware address of your network card.

Continue on.

Keep an eye on:

http://www.macrumors.com/

New models seem to commonly coincide with MacWorld, but other times are certainly possible. The used to drop prices in January after Christmas, but I don't think they follow that trend anymore.

I've owned Macs since they first came to be, and have only ever bought one system brand new. I usually wait a couple of months and start surfing ebay and kijiji. Paid $600 for my last duo-core laptop.

scardeal wrote: Pet Peeve: Mac = Apple Macintosh Computer MAC = Media Access Control; the MAC address is the hardware address of your network card. Continue on.

Pet Peeve:

In the context of an Automobile related forum MAC means MAC Tools.

scardeal wrote: Pet Peeve: Mac = Apple Macintosh Computer MAC = Media Access Control; the MAC address is the hardware address of your network card. Continue on.

and here i thought someone was talking about Akron, Bowling Green, Kent State, and the other local Mid America Conference college teams.

BoxheadTim wrote: For the most (Apple) bang for the buck, I'd keep an eye on the refurb store: http://store.apple.com/us/browse/home/specialdeals/mac/macbook_pro

That is an excellent point and I know some people who will only buy refurb electronic products even without a price incentive, they claim (I've no idea is this is accurate or not) that the refurb units have been more thoroughly tested and less likely to suffer early issues.

The thing is a) I don't see any Macbook's there, although there's times and b) I can get a corporate $100 discount on any new Mac through my employer and I don't think that applies to the refurb units.

In reply to patgizz:

Does it have any teams NOT from Ohio?

Adrian_Thompson wrote:

BoxheadTim wrote: For the most (Apple) bang for the buck, I'd keep an eye on the refurb store: http://store.apple.com/us/browse/home/specialdeals/mac/macbook_pro

That is an excellent point and I know some people who will only buy refurb electronic products even without a price incentive, they claim (I've no idea is this is accurate or not) that the refurb units have been more thoroughly tested and less likely to suffer early issues. The thing is a) I don't see any Macbook's there, although there's times and b) I can get a corporate $100 discount on any new Mac through my employer and I don't think that applies to the refurb units.

My wife has a 17" Macbook Pro frm the refurb store... it works flawlessly at a huge discount and has the same warranty as a new one. No brainer IMO.

aircooled wrote: Keep an eye on: http://www.macrumors.com/ New models seem to commonly coincide with MacWorld, but other times are certainly possible. The used to drop prices in January after Christmas, but I don't think they follow that trend anymore.

Perusing that site I found. http://www.macrumors.com/2010/03/01/apple-preparing-to-add-hdmi-to-macs/ What do you need to do today to output a Mac to your HD TV through HDMI?

Please note, this complete lack of technical knowledge is why I'm a MAC (sorry scardeal, I mean Mac) guy to start with. I am happy to remain a luddite at home.

Use a VGA adapter I'm guessing.

patgizz wrote:

scardeal wrote: Pet Peeve: Mac = Apple Macintosh Computer MAC = Media Access Control; the MAC address is the hardware address of your network card. Continue on.

and here i thought someone was talking about Akron, Bowling Green, Kent State, and the other local Mid America Conference college teams.

I thought he might be talking about Michigan Agricultural College. Oh wait... they call it Michigan State now.

aircooled wrote: Keep an eye on: http://www.macrumors.com/ New models seem to commonly coincide with MacWorld, but other times are certainly possible. The used to drop prices in January after Christmas, but I don't think they follow that trend anymore.

OOhhh lookie here. Also on Macrumors buyer's guide http://buyersguide.macrumors.com/#MacBook Both the Macbook Pro and Macbook air say 'don't buy - Updates coming soon' So waiting until April or May could be good. If the Macbook air up's it's HD cpacity to the same as or more than the Macbook and holds it's price, that could swing the vote for me.

Thanks aircooled

scardeal wrote: In reply to patgizz: Does it have any teams NOT from Ohio?

Eastern, Western and Central Michigan, Temple, Ball State, Buffalo and Temple are all MAC teams not from Ohio. A little over half.

Macbooks have a special sized external video connector that you'll need an adapter plug for. I haven't looked into hooking mine up to my TV, but I use it with an external monitor with no problems.

+1 on buying refurbished from Apple.

Has anyone heard about the new iPhone? I've been hearing rumours of a new one coming out very soon. That's quicker than I would have expected but I'm not griping since I just dropped mine off the 2nd story roof and cracked the glass.

Supposedly front facing camera so you can video chat, twice the memory and 4G (even tho it's not really availble now). Don't know about any other features but that's what I've heard.

Yeah. Keep an eye on the refurbs in the Apple store. They can actually change from hour to hour some days.

jg

Adrian_Thompson wrote: Perusing that site I found. http://www.macrumors.com/2010/03/01/apple-preparing-to-add-hdmi-to-macs/ What do you need to do today to output a Mac to your HD TV through HDMI?

IIRC if it doesn't have HDMI, you're not able to play back copy-protected HD on an external screen. HDMI has this sort of protection chain that prevents playback if it's broken at some point.

Oh, and in case you weren't aware of this - Apple doesn't do Blue Ray. Steve wants you to spend money with him so you can download HD content. From what I read, external Blueray drives will work under Windows but there is no playback software for OS X.

BoxheadTim wrote: IIRC if it doesn't have HDMI, you're not able to play back copy-protected HD on an external screen. HDMI has this sort of protection chain that prevents playback if it's broken at some point. Oh, and in case you weren't aware of this - Apple doesn't do Blue Ray. Steve wants you to spend money with him so you can download HD content. From what I read, external Blueray drives will work under Windows but there is no playback software for OS X.

All I care about is being able to watch downloaded Top Gear episodes on the TV!!!! I normaly DL them, plus some WRC and other stuff and watch on the lap top.

I couldn't care less about BLue Ray. I get my DVD's from Netflix and watch them on a DVD player. If/when Blue ray players get below $99 then I'll buy one and rent Blue rays. For now I'm happy with DVD's

Adrian, then your HD TV shouldn't care since the content is not protected. Just use a DVI to HDMI connector.

turboswede wrote: Adrian, then your HD TV shouldn't care since the content is not protected. Just use a DVI to HDMI connector.

perfect thx

In reply to Adrian_Thompson:

I have a Mac Mini. I'm currently using a mini-DVI to DVI and DVI to HDMI adapter to output to my TV. I think there's a mini-displayPort to HDMI adapter.

I don't think that any Macs come with Blu-Ray right now, so for the moment content protection is not an issue.

Funny, I thought I had posted to keep an eye on macrumors.com myself but I don't see it there... Anyway, +100000 on apple refurbs. I've got a refurb mac mini, AppleTV, and several ipods and they've all been as new at significant savings - more than the $100 employer discount you are looking at.

I've seen off-brand BlueRay players out there for under $50 FWIW. Also, external BR drives are available if you must have BR on the mac, and I'm sure something supports them as I've seen discussions of Handbrake supporting ripping BR discs. Probably Perian or VLC. Waiting for HDMI out is not really worth it IMHO with the ability to go DVI-HDMI for a few bucks. If you see what you want refurbed on the outlet I'd go for it.