My Next Computer

I have bought a new laptop every 18-24 months since August 1998 like clockwork. I didn’t notice that my lifecycle for laptops had been so consistent until last year. So, it is no surprise that I am starting to think about replacing my almost 2 year old MacBook Pro.

Luckily for me Apple has recently rolled out the new models and they have been around long enough that the kinks are getting worked out. It is amazing how that happens.

So which laptop will I buy? (and I am not buying one just yet)

Normally I buy the cheapest configuration of the highest end model. Then I typically upgrade the hard drive and RAM myself. A curious couple of things have happened this time though.

1. The distinction between the MacBook Pro and MacBook is probably not compelling enough for me to buy the higher end model.
2. The markup on RAM and Hard Drives is small enough that I might as well just max it out from Apple.

There are some differences between the MacBook and the MacBook Pro. The Pro has a bigger screen for starters. Bigger is better, but the MacBook Pro screen is not really bigger enough to matter. In fact, it is just big enough for my workspace to look cluttered. Also, I now have a 24″ monitor in my office, so the majority of the time I don’t really use the laptop screen any more. There are supposedly some other differences in the quality of the LCD.

There Pro also has better graphics capabilities. Granted, I use Photoshop every week or two for something, but I am not exactly a heavy graphics user. I don’t play video games. I don’t do movie editing. I don’t need the bigger graphics cards. The other side of the graphics cards is that they will likely be utilized by Snow Leopard (the next version of OS X) for computational intensive tasks. I would use this, but really, how often is the processor what is slowing me down.

What slows me down? RAM. The MacBook and the MacBook Pro have the same RAM limitations.

I don’t need the Express Card slot or Firewire 800 either (though I have a FireWire external drive, it also has USB).

So, where normally I would buy the $1999 MacBook Pro and buy RAM and a Hard Drive. It would bring the total cost to somewhere around $2400. This time it looks like I might get away with only spending $1600. How often does that happen?