
 MacRumors Buyer's Guide: Know when to buy your Mac - NextNetNow
http://buyersguide.macrumors.com/
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arn
surprised to see this on HackerNews. I run macrumors, and have plans to try to
improve on this in the near future. Right now it runs the same as it has for
years, which is based on a running historical average with links to recent
rumors. (I know this will sound strange for anyone who follows the site, but
I'll finally be quitting my day-job at the end of this month, which will give
me a lot more time to work on this and other projects)

\- I think the iPod predictions are a little off right now, I think they
probably are not going to be updated until September, so not sure if it
qualifies as an "updates soon"

\- Intel transition didn't really change much, except we have a better idea
what processors are coming for the next refresh

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Alex3917
I think that for those using PowerBooks, the ideal time to upgrade to a
MacBook or MPB will be after the next refresh. The current MBP processor uses
34W, and the new Montevina refresh will use about 29W. The next refresh after
that is going to be Nehalem in Q2 2009, which is going to be use between
35-45W, probably at least 40 for the version that will go into the MPB. So the
new Montevina chips seem to be striking the best balance between speed and
battery life. The 22nm Sandy Bridge refresh will fix the power consumption
problems, but that doesn't come out until 2011. Since realistically no one
still using a PowerBook will wait until 2011 to buy a new one, it seems like
the optimal time to upgrade is going to be in late August or whenever the new
ones come out.

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culley
It would be great to have this kind of historic information on all consumer
electronics.

It's nice to buy a fridge on the cheap because it's last year's model.

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softbuilder
I thought this was relatively well known. But it definitely would be nice to
have this for other product lines. Apple is especially problematic though...
Even knowing the release cycle, you often don't know whether a new rev will be
a mere upgrade or a big leap.

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ComputerGuru
Brilliant guide, thanks. I need an MP3 player right now, so this is real
helpful.

(OT: Anyone know the closest thing to an iPod with WMA support?)

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noelchurchill
Can you just convert from wma to mp3, and then place on ipod?

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antidaily
Gotta think Apple's relationship with Intel will change some of these release
cycles. Great resource though.

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ComputerGuru
Not really - Apple's hardware market is driven by marketing principles not
hardware costs or availability.

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gstar
A similar site is mactactic.com

