View Full Version : When to buy my Mac..
ForeverG5
07-10-2005, 04:14 PM
Hey guys.
Last week was my birthday. And as a present, my parents said they would buy me a Mac Mini with the specs I choose. They said it's up to me when to buy though because there are so many rumors circulating about Mini updates.
After much thinking, I have decided that I think I will wait until the end of July and then order the last week in July/the first week in August. Do you guys think this is a good idea? Your comments/thoughts would be appreciated! Thanks, everybody!
-Caitlyn :)
skateboarderx24
07-10-2005, 09:33 PM
im waiting for the intel switch guy at mac store in chicago said in like year
funnyperson1
07-10-2005, 11:27 PM
Well I doubt there will be any significant updates until they switch to Intel (when the Mac Mini will get a superior Pentium M Dothan or Yonah chip) but if you can wait til August there may be a price drop or a small upgrade like a better hard drive or more ram in the base model.
Although if you are looking at maxing out the specs on the Mini you might want to consider an Emac if space is not a concern. It will be $1-200 more expensive for similar specs, but you don't have to buy a monitor/keyboard/mouse. An Emac would also have a faster video card and hard drive.
buzski
07-11-2005, 02:13 AM
Apple usually udates their hardware every six months or so, I know that it seems like a while, you are better off waiting to see what comes out next, then to get a mac and see that it has been outdated a month later.
archurban
07-11-2005, 02:20 AM
well, now Apple company doesn't have any plan to upgrade computer line. there are big reason. apple will be changed microprocessor from next 2006. actually, from powerPC to Intel chip. so until June in 2006, we won't see any new upgrade at all. maybe there will be one more uprgade for iBook, mac mini, powerbook. but it is not positive. in this year, they lined up for new iMac G5, powermac G5, eMac, powerbook G4. so there is only ibook upgrade left. but I don't know when? I understand that you are willing to wait for some reason. but if I were you, I will buy mac mini or whatever right now. if you're not, you should wait until next June, 2006 which Apple will introduce new Intel inside mac.
Kristiano
07-11-2005, 03:45 AM
Caitlyn,
As I put forth to you earlier, I think you should get a Mini now. I normally don't advocate waiting unless there are rumor sites buzzing with details of updates in which case, there aren't any at the moment.
:)
What are you planning on doing with the mac? Is it going to be your first personal computer, or is it going to replace an old PC?
baggss
07-18-2005, 02:26 AM
Originally posted by funnyperson1
Well I doubt there will be any significant updates until they switch to Intel (when the Mac Mini will get a superior Pentium M Dothan or Yonah chip) but if you can wait til August there may be a price drop or a small upgrade like a better hard drive or more ram in the base model.
Now I'm curious if Apple will keep the Intel code names or adopt their own as they have for the G3, G4 and G5. The chips had PPC names from IBM (IIRC G5 = PPC 740 or something) but Apple sort of renamed them to make them more user friendly, even when the chip names themselves changed as they were upgraded (the G4 series went through several iterations) Wonder if the Intel Macs will be the "G6" or something like that.
swy32x
07-18-2005, 02:31 AM
Originally posted by archurban
well, now Apple company doesn't have any plan to upgrade computer line. there are big reason. apple will be changed microprocessor from next 2006. actually, from powerPC to Intel chip. so until June in 2006, we won't see any new upgrade at all.
Whoa, where did you get that from?!
Steve Jobs himself said that IBM updates will continue to progress until the Intel Macs are implemented - think about it, it makes no business sense to announce that they are changing their processors and that their computer line up will not change until mid-2006 ...
pohatu771
07-19-2005, 06:03 PM
With computers, if you want to wait until something better comes around, you'll spend the rest of your life waiting. I'd say just buy the best Mac mini you can, and be done with it. The Intel switch won't be complete until 2007 anyway.
wco81
07-19-2005, 08:51 PM
There are rumors about the iBook and Mac Mini lines being updated on other sites.
Supposedly those two products have gone the longest since updates.
Mac Mini was announced in January at Mac World and the current iBook was released even before then.
So you would think in the next month or so, they would get updated, if they're going to be updated at all.
One thing is that they upgraded all the PowerBooks to 512 MB RAM earlier this year and they did the same thing to iMacs.
Plus when they discussed earnings last week, they said a lot of component prices, like RAM, had gone down more than they expected in the last 3 months.
So keep your fingers crossed.
funnyperson1
07-19-2005, 11:55 PM
Originally posted by baggss
Now I'm curious if Apple will keep the Intel code names or adopt their own as they have for the G3, G4 and G5. The chips had PPC names from IBM (IIRC G5 = PPC 740 or something) but Apple sort of renamed them to make them more user friendly, even when the chip names themselves changed as they were upgraded (the G4 series went through several iterations) Wonder if the Intel Macs will be the "G6" or something like that.
That is a very good question. I would think it would be smart to keep the Intel names. That way they get free marketing everytime Intel puts out a Pentium M or 4 commercial. People recognize the Pentium trademark quite readily and I am not sure it would be smart to omit it.
wco81
07-20-2005, 12:06 AM
Well the PC vendors don't really use Intel names.
For instance, about 6 months ago, they were selling Pentium M laptops with 400 Mhz bus, which was Dothan.
Now they're selling Pentium M laptops with 533 Mhz bus, which is Sonoma.
But nobody is really using these Intel code names. You have to figure it out by looking at the specs. Intel is using marketing numbers like Pentium M 740.
pohatu771
07-21-2005, 11:37 PM
That is a very good question. I would think it would be smart to keep the Intel names. That way they get free marketing everytime Intel puts out a Pentium M or 4 commercial. People recognize the Pentium trademark quite readily and I am not sure it would be smart to omit it.
Intel commercials? I've never seen any Intel commercials... I've seen one Windows commercial.
And what are the Intel names? I don't want to buy an iMac 4... it makes it seem, to the unaware shopper, that the iMac has gotten less powerful, going from iMac G4, to iMac G5, to iMac 4...
What I want to know, will low-end desktops (Mac mini, maybe even eMac) have Celeron at entry-level?
BaMaFeVeR
07-22-2005, 01:02 AM
ewwww...celeron
jsupetran
07-22-2005, 02:28 AM
If you checkout macrumors.com, there's a long awaited mac mini update buzz, and it's from a good source apparently. I'd wait atleast the end of August imo.
Kristiano
07-22-2005, 03:14 AM
Rumors will go on forever. The only official stuff you can get are off mainstream press or Apple.com
funnyperson1
07-22-2005, 07:48 AM
Originally posted by wco81
Well the PC vendors don't really use Intel names.
For instance, about 6 months ago, they were selling Pentium M laptops with 400 Mhz bus, which was Dothan.
Now they're selling Pentium M laptops with 533 Mhz bus, which is Sonoma.
But nobody is really using these Intel code names. You have to figure it out by looking at the specs. Intel is using marketing numbers like Pentium M 740.
I am talking about using the Intel Marketing Numbers and names not their intel code names. Like a Mac Mini with Yonah should be a Mac MINI Pentium M and not a Mac Mini G6 or something like that.
Intel commercials? I've never seen any Intel commercials... I've seen one Windows commercial.
And what are the Intel names? I don't want to buy an iMac 4... it makes it seem, to the unaware shopper, that the iMac has gotten less powerful, going from iMac G4, to iMac G5, to iMac 4...
What I want to know, will low-end desktops (Mac mini, maybe even eMac) have Celeron at entry-level?
You haven't seen the commercials with the Blue Man Group? For every MS commercial I see like 5 of those Blue Man ones.
I envision seeing Imac and Powermac commercials with Intel Pentium 4/M Inside at the end.
Kristiano
07-22-2005, 08:21 AM
Originally posted by funnyperson1
I am talking about using the Intel Marketing Numbers and names not their intel code names. Like a Mac Mini with Yonah should be a Mac MINI Pentium M and not a Mac Mini G6 or something like that.
You haven't seen the commercials with the Blue Man Group? For every MS commercial I see like 5 of those Blue Man ones.
I envision seeing Imac and Powermac commercials with Intel Pentium 4/M Inside at the end.
Apple hasn't done an advertisement for its chip in a long time though. I see that being feasible only for the PowerMacs.
The mac Mini might have a celeron M processor (in 2006), which is very close to the performance of the Pentium M processor.