Thoughts on Mac Pro refresh

[Webster J. Duck]

I'm getting that itch again. Any speculation on a refresh to the Mac Pro line...perhaps with leopard?

[Zoidberg]

http://guides.macrumors.com/Mac_Pro_Buyer%27s_Guide

[Chupa Chupa]

Probably not until late Oct.

[hal]

most speculators have called on it to happen in the last month or two...

but we all know it will happen next tuesday...

[Mike Johnson]

When I bought mine, everybody was telling me to wait because the line was due to be refreshed. That was months ago.

Depending on what model you want, you might think about getting an ADC membership first, and then buying the MacPro with your developer discount.

[laarree]

As soon as I found out Leopard was delayed, I said screw it and bought
a Mac Pro 2.66. It was huge jump forward from what I had before, and
I've not regretted it in the least. I would guess that whatever replaces the
current lineup of Mac Pros will show incremental improvements in performance,
and would not be a major change like the change from G5s to Intel, where the
greatly lessened need for cooling the CPUs allowed for a major redesign of the
interior of the case.

[Zoidberg]

In kind of a counter to my "buying guide" link post, I've almost always said buy what you need when you need it, especially if your business relies on it. I used to say hold off about 30 days prior to MWSF or WWDC, but that doesn't really matter anymore.

Example, I needed a MacBook or MacBook Pro. The time had come for me to move from a G5 to Intel, since Adobe had finally come on board. This was, what, April/May...? Bucking rumors of an imminent release of new models, I went ahead and got the MacBook Pro, 15", 2.33GHz. While I was out of town a few weeks after I got it, I got a call from a client for a small project -- actually one that I had been working on for a while -- but that he had to have finished right away. Since I had gone ahead and gotten the MBP, I had the files with me, was able to finish it (in a very short amount of time that evening, in the hotel lobby, while the family was upstairs asleep) and email it to him so he had it in the morning. I got paid "overtime" (I work for myself and set a double-fee rate when I'm "bugged" after hours or when on vacation), and got a tidy little bonus (about half the worth of the MBP) for getting it to him so quickly. Kismet, eh?

So get it. I still think a major case refresh is in the works; as laaree notes, the G5 case is like looking under the hood of an old muscle car these days (remember when you could practically crawl into the engine area?). Had I waited on the MBP refresh I would've gotten some incremental upgrades in terms of speed, and the whole new screen thing, but that'll still be there in a year or thereabouts when it's time for me to upgrade again.

[chas_m]

I recently learned the lesson the pro Mac people have been trying to teach me for a decade: if you use your Mac as a moneymaker (ie primarily a business computer), but a new one every two years MAX.

1. It's a business expense you can write off (to some extent, let's say 25%).
2. Sell the old one (let's say that gets you 60% of what you paid for it).

This means that 85% of the purchase price of the new one has ALREADY BEEN PAID FOR. If the new machine makes you even 5% more productive, it could easily COMPLETELY pay for itself.

But so what if it doesn't? Isn't ALWAYS using the latest and greatest worth something, both in terms of lack of hassle and in terms of attracting new business? Why yes it is.

I do a lot of presentations, some writing and some graphic arts. Having the latest everything keeps me busy and productive, and showing off the new toys ALWAYS gets me new contacts. I sold my BlackBook Core Duo for 90% of what I paid for it (lucky!) and bought a new one. The difference comes to under $200, and even if I hadn't already attracted more than enough work to make up the difference, $200 for a year's use of a brand new machine was a fair deal IMHO.