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MacBook Pro Prices *Updated*

T

TheBiggmann

Senior member
So I'm really liking the MacBook Pro, but i'm really not liking the price. Is there any chance of a price drop in the somewhat near future, like within the next 6 months or so?
 
Your best bet might be to buy the last-gen version of the MBP since they just came out with Santa Rosa...you can usually find them on Amazon discounted by a good margin. I own the pre-SR Macbook Pro and it's still a great machine
 
Originally posted by: TMoney468
Your best bet might be to buy the last-gen version of the MBP since they just came out with Santa Rosa...you can usually find them on Amazon discounted by a good margin. I own the pre-SR Macbook Pro and it's still a great machine
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The pre-SR MacBook Pros are very capable systems indeed. The biggest drawback for most people would be that the 8600GT in the new MBPs is a much better card for gaming than the X1600 is, so that turns a lot of people off.

You may also want to check refurbed ones on Apple's website. The biggest problem that I have with their refurbed prices is that they reduce the price based on the machine's previous full retail price. So sometimes you will get a situation where you can get a new SR MBP for $1799 with student discount, or you can get a Non-SR MBP for $1799 refurb, see what I mean? And the benefits of even spending the $200 extra (no education discount) are pretty serious, more RAM, faster proc, better vid card, better display, larger hard drive... If they dropped the price to $1599 or so then it might be worth it to go refurbed
 
My university actually sells overstocked original Core Duo MBP's for just $1100. I think that's a damn good deal for a brand new MBP even though it's a CD instead of C2D.
 
That does sound like a great deal. I'd do it if it were available to me. Only issue might be that the original version had some hardware defects, at least at first.
 
Oh, so it looks like they have modified the pricing a little bit on the refurbed machines. Now its $1499 for a 2.16GHz Core 2, 1GB RAM, 6x SuperDrive, X1600 and a 120GB HDD. So actually not too bad of a deal if you don't require the power to run the absolute latest games. It will still run most games just fine, but not as well as the 8600... but as far as performance in every else goes, it will be just fine.
 
Originally posted by: coupdetat
Really? What were the defects?
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Cooling problems on some of them, on others the display inverter would produce a whining noise and there were some other problems as well.
 
The refurbed ones really don't save you that much. I'm thinking about trying to get one off of eBay. Up to now tho i've only checked out NIB ones. Is buying a used computer a bad idea? Or can you just put in a new hard drive and it will more or less be like new? I just worry about anything accessed on the computer that could cause me problems, but maybe that isn't even that big of a deal with a Mac, I've been all windows up to this point.
 
If you do get a used one, try to make sure that it comes with the installation media, then once it arrives, perform a clean format. That way you can also disregard things like extra languages, extra printer drivers, software that you may not want... you get the idea.
 
putting a new drive in it won't do anything for you, just format the drive and reinstall OS X. It's the same as new anyway.

Unless you want a bigger drive.
 
You really don't want to replace the hard drive in the MBP anyway.
1) Some say that it voids the warranty. I say that what they don't know, can't hurt them. If you do replace the hard drive, and have to send it in, put the original hard drive back in there before you send it (They will wipe all your data anyway)

2) It is stupid hard to replace the hard drive.
 
So as long as i reformat the drive and reinstall OS X I basically have a new computer, despite any cosmetic blemishes. Anything that was accessed before on it isn't gonna affect it (I know porn really effs up your computer, i've seen it happen). That's my main worry, things that might have been installed or accessed beforehand.
 
No, see porn doesn't screw up the computer. The files that attach themselves to porn and porn websites that gets downloaded and installed onto your computer, those cause the problems. There has never been any conclusive evidence (that i have seen) that would lead me to believe that the same thing was possible on OS X. I would reformat it just for the sake of getting rid off all the old user's files and settings.

Plus, when you got to reformat it, it generally wants to install everything on the Restore DVDs, and that can take up to 20GB, none of it is spyware or bloatware like is on other computers, but a lot of it can be considered unnecessary. The additional printer drivers, or language translations. Some of the default apps, the iWork 06 trial... all those things and more can be ignored.

If you were to decide to only install the OS, it takes 2.5GB I believe.
 
So what you're saying is if i reformat it I'll get rid of all the unnecessary programs that were probably on there and just be able to install a clean version of OS X without all the junk, on a clean hard drive because of the reformat, which should make the computer more efficient?
 
It won't necessarily be more efficient after the reformat, simply more free hard drive space. You seem to be locked into the Windows mentality, where there is spyware, viruses, and a registry to become clogged with too much crap. OS X does not use a registry, in fact most often an application contains all of its information within itself. Others will write to the Library, and that is where the preferences, and other application information is stored.

A reformat will obviously purge the Library, thus getting rid of all the old cookies, preferences, emails, and settings within the OS. Since there is no registry to worry about, you are performing the format in order to ensure that you are using your own computer, not someone else's. Plus, during the install you can, as I mentioned before, choose to not install applications or other things that you will not need. The times that I have reformatted (usually due to doing something stupid, or from not being able to uninstall Windows properly) I have stopped including the added languages, the printer drivers, the iWork Trial, the Office Trial, Garageband, and a slew of other small programs. That shrinks the installed size considerably, almost by half just be eliminating those programs.

Once you get up and running, bop on over to the All Things Apple forum to get a list of applications for OS X that will let you do just about everything.
 
Yeah, I am definitely locked into the windows mindset, as that's what I've always used. But I hear that the Macbooks are pretty much the best option when it comes to a notebook so I'm getting set to convert to one for my portable computer source. Now all i have to do is get on that I can afford on ebay...a task in itself.
 
So is there a huge performance difference when it comes to a Macbook with a Core Duo or one with a C2D? I know how people rave about the C2D's but is it worth trying to find a used one with a C2D?
 
Originally posted by: TheBiggmann
So is there a huge performance difference when it comes to a Macbook with a Core Duo or one with a C2D? I know how people rave about the C2D's but is it worth trying to find a used one with a C2D?
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I think marginally so. I was an early adopter with the first macbooks. At school some of my friends got the c2d version of the macbooks and I think they are noticibly faster in some stuff, but not a whole lot in others. I don't remember exactly what was faster, I just remember giving a a loud "hmmmm" when I noticed the difference. I think it'll ultimately come down to price and availability.
 
There is not a huge performance difference between the two, but I think you would see better performace under Leopard (the next OS) than you will under Tiger since Leopard is more 64bit friendly. The main thing that you will find is that the Core 2 also meant a hardware revision, and therefore some of the issues with the platform will have been ironed out.
 
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