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I've got MacBook buyer's paralysis

Posted on January 21, 2008 by Jeremy Toeman

Back when I decided my Sony Vaio was slightly less useful than the OLPC I have (and not nearly as plastic-y), I “experimented” by buying a MacBook. I bought the bottom of the line model for $1099. A few weeks later I upgraded the RAM for another $99. First lesson: don’t buy the bottom of the line model, the one slightly above it is a significantly better deal.

Now I’m short on hard drive space (it comes with an 80GB unit), albeit some of it would free up if I deleted seasons 1-3 of Arrested Development from the disk. Some find it easy to upgrade the drive, I am a little nervous about that. I’d like to move to Leopard and get Boot Camp running too, but really don’t want any down time, nor do I feel investing another $129 in this computer makes sense.

I could just buy a MacBook Pro and probably be happy with it. The problem is I foresee one or two MB revisions from Apple in the next 60-120 days (they’ve done it before people!). The MBPro is ripe for a quick rev, like adding the gesturelike functionality from the Air (UPDATE: I told you so). I have to say, this was my only real MacWorld disappointment, I was really hoping for a thinner/lighter MBPro.

After a week’s consideration, I’ve decided the Air is not the right laptop for me. It’s slightly less powerful than the regular MB, and the ubersexiness of it isn’t enough. I’m too cheap frugal to buy it for vanity reasons alone at $1799. By the way, I would not be surprised to see a new Air (or two or three) with a wider price range soon. I’ll quickly predict that within 120 days the current one drops to $1599, they swap up to a 160GB drive in the $1799 one, and bump the processor speed for a $2199ish one.

So anyone have any triggers to help break me out of my paralysis? Splurge on the Pro today, or proceed with continued caution?

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8 thoughts on “I've got MacBook buyer's paralysis”

  1. jonathanpberger says:
    January 21, 2008 at 8:22 am

    Don’t be nervous about upgrading the hard drive. It was built to be user-replaceable, and it really is this easy. (The same is NOT the case for the MB Pro, which makes no effort to make swapping HDs easy.) Swapping a HD on the MB barely requires more than 1. opening the case, 2. pulling out the sled, 3. swapping the old drive for the new one, 4. reinserting the sled and closing the case.

    But if you want to free up some space right now, the 2nd season of AD is really the only one that needs to be at yr fingertips at all times.

    Reply
  2. tivoboy says:
    January 21, 2008 at 10:09 am

    you could get a refurb mbp for quite a bit less, then come up pretty often, or get one on craigslist, and let that carry you for a while. Upgrading the HD is not a big deal, I helped a friend do that when they first came out. There are great programs, like carboncopycloner and superduper that make the drive transition a snap. The swap out takes no time, the drive transfers take the most time, but in all it was done in about four hours.

    Reply
  3. Mike says:
    January 21, 2008 at 6:17 pm

    I’d like to echo what jonathan said: swapping out drives on a Macbook is super easy. In fact, here is a link to Apple’s own directions for how to do it:

    http://manuals.info.apple.com/en/MacBook_13inch_HardDrive_DIY.pdf

    I am planning on buying a Macbook soon, and am planning on buying the smallest memory and hard drive available, and upgrading them on my own for a substantial savings over Apple’s prices. (for example, 4 GB of Macbook-compatible memory is now under $100; and there are drives from 160-320 GB out there for much less than Apple charges, plus you have a spare drive to have in reserve in case of emergency…

    Reply
  4. Sol says:
    January 22, 2008 at 12:19 am

    I’ve had the same debate. I think that I’m going to hold off as my macbook seems to be working well. Yep, I needed some more storage too so I offloaded my stuff onto a cheap portable drive. I just throw it my bag and if I need the media, it’s there. I was hoping for a new MBPRO too and was bummed about the Air (which is cool but not functional enough – one USB port?). I think you’re right about 60-120 days. I say tough it out.

    Reply
  5. Jonathan Crouch says:
    January 23, 2008 at 6:40 am

    Hi Jeremy

    I came to your site seeking an answer to an rss problem I’m having with recently upgraded IE7.

    I notice that my own RSS Feed doesn’t always display in post date order (newest post first etc).

    WOrks fime with Firefox etc – any ideas??

    (the rss feed is http://www.purple13.co.uk/rss.xml and it validates fine).

    On the subject in hand of a new notebook. My 3 year old sony vaio has had 1 new screen, 1 new hard drive, 2 factory attempts and 3 call out attempts to correct flickering/dying screen (which only rights itself by shutting screen and opening again).

    I recently recommended a vaio for a colleague – 17 inch screen all singing and dancing but when it arrived, the wireless lan didn’t work and had to go straight back to europe for a new lan card!!

    So despite loving their phones so much, I can’t recommend a sony product (our 32 inch tv just went kaput after 2 and ahalf years!) so I’ll be checking out all the macs but probably at moment i’d go for the pro version with the larger screen etc and save up for an i-phone.

    Oh and did I mention the w880i mobile had to go back after a month because of bad dust contamination under the screen?

    Hope that all helps – I’m not bitter but the numerous faults I’ve experienced from a ‘premium brand’ has put me off them.

    Jonathan

    Reply
  6. Mark Evans says:
    January 23, 2008 at 1:20 pm

    I suggest upgrade but if you do decide to buy a MacBook Pro, I’d be happy to take your “old” MacBook off your hands. 🙂

    Reply
  7. Dave Zatz says:
    January 24, 2008 at 1:48 pm

    I’d wait a few weeks to see if multi-touch will be a hardware or software rev. The MBP is a solid platform and I’ve been using it as my main computer for nearly a year. As a frequent traveler, the size/weight hasn’t been an issue. There’s no way I’d buy a computer without an Ethernet jack… (MB-Air).

    Reply
  8. tivoboy says:
    January 26, 2008 at 3:12 pm

    I think that as Dave says, some sort of MT will come to the MBP line. Based on a 10 minute adventure I had with the MBA, and the current reviews, I’m not going there, I’ll get new MBP when it comes out in the next few months. It is due for an upgrade NOW.

    Reply

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About

Jeremy Toeman is a seasoned Product leader with over 20 years experience in the convergence of digital media, mobile entertainment, social entertainment, smart TV and consumer technology. Prior ventures and projects include CNET, Viggle/Dijit/Nextguide, Sling Media, VUDU, Clicker, DivX, Rovi, Mediabolic, Boxee, and many other consumer technology companies. This blog represents his personal opinion and outlook on things.

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