Comments | tongodeon: New Mac

tongodeon

New Mac

Feb 26, 2008 09:50

Back in November I said that Apple would be releasing Penryn MacBooks at MacWorld. Turns out I was about two months late, possibly because Apple delayed because of the Migetbook. New stuff came out today pretty much as I anticipated but without the rumored case redesign. The new MacBooks have the multitouch trackpad from the Air, and that's ( Read more... )

macintosh, apple

Comments 26

matrygg February 26 2008, 18:50:29 UTC

So how long are you figuring for a Montevina-based Macbook? Assuming the chipset does release in June, it might make sense to try to get one out for Christmas. If I do end up in Texas, the numbers-crunching, assuming I didn't buy a new car, might let me buy a new Macbook even while being a grad student, instead of my traditional "buy new tech in summer when I am working some contract job" route. Especially if I turned the old one around on eBay.

tongodeon February 26 2008, 22:23:18 UTC

Penryn CPUs were released on January 6 2008 but Penryn PC laptops started shipping in early/mid February. PC manufacturers needed a month and a half and Apple needed almost two months. I don't have a specific time that Montevina is released - I've seen it listed as sometime in the 'second quarter' - which is apparently from January 1 to March 31. Add 2 months onto that figure and it's looking like May 31, although I could be wrong.

matrygg February 26 2008, 22:27:54 UTC

Based on your wikipedia link, it looks like June as a release date for Montevina by Intel. Figure your two months for Apple on that, and it's August...which wouldn't be too bad for me since hopefully the expenses from moving will be in the past. I would, if I were Apple, time it for a bit later in Fall though.

tongodeon February 27 2008, 07:32:03 UTC

I would, if I were Apple, time it for a bit later in Fall though.

Other laptop manufacturers aren't going to wait. If Apple "times it for the fall" they're going to lose two months of sales since other Intel laptops will be massively improved. Apple is at the mercy of Intel's release dates, which is the whole reason why we can start making predictions like these in the first place.

haineux February 26 2008, 19:37:29 UTC

Apple's policy on "you bought something right before the next thing was announced" used to be more generous, but if you bought from Apple, and you bought in the right time frame, your refund is only a toll free call away. They already have all your paperwork in the system.

kraquehaus February 26 2008, 19:58:54 UTC

The new MacBooks have the multitouch trackpad from the Air,

My sources state that the multitouch functionality is a software limitation on existing MacBooks that support the two finger scroll. i.e., My laptop is purposely being crippled for marketing reasons.

tongodeon February 26 2008, 22:15:45 UTC

That was true back in 2005 when they released the two-finger-scroll powerbooks and you needed iscroll to make them work. Are you sure you're not talking about that?

kraquehaus February 26 2008, 22:27:58 UTC

Nope. Specifically about the more current multi-touch macbooks.

(The comment has been removed)

Thread 23

martian687 February 26 2008, 23:12:57 UTC

Huh, I called 1-800-MY-APPLE to ask about the 14-day price guarantee for the brand spanking new MacBook I bought last week and they redirected me to my local Apple Store. (At first they asked for my order number, but when I mentioned I'd bought it at an Apple Store they told me I needed to go in to my local Apple Store and fill out a form. Maybe they can only do instant refunds if you bought online?)

How'd he get them to give him money back without asking questions??

tongodeon February 27 2008, 01:31:01 UTC

How'd he get them to give him money back without asking questions??

He called them and said "so I bought a new MacBook last week and they just dropped the price today..." He never even got to the part where he asked. They just said "oh yeah, you'll be wanting that refund then".

martian687 February 27 2008, 01:42:07 UTC

Jeez. Guess I just have crappy luck.

A similar thing happened back in '99 when I attempted to purchase a G3 desktop. I even got a shipping confirmation e-mail before I was notified several days later that my order had been canceled due to the launch of the G4s. When I tried to call and complain, I was told that I should be happy I got the chance to buy a G4, as many people who'd recently purchased G3s were calling and complaining that they wanted to return them. Ultimately, I ended up forking over $400 extra for the privilege of buying a computer with the same exact specs as the one I'd just tried to buy.

fredtheplumber February 27 2008, 02:34:01 UTC

Wow!
That was a handy bit of advice!
I was seriously considering an upgrade, I think I'll hold out!
Thanks