

MacBook Pros updated today - Good time to buy - Readmore
http://www.apple.com/macbookpro/

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davidmathers
Bad time to buy. This is just the update to 45nm CPUs. The next generation
chipset will be out in 6 months. That will be a good time to buy.

Unless you don't already have a Mac, then anytime is a good time to buy.

~~~
holygoat
That's one POV.

Another: if you wait 6 months, there'll be another significant bump 6 months
after that. (WiMax!) The sensible thing to do is to wait a year. Sorry, 18
months. Oh no, 2 years.

~~~
alaskamiller
now is a good time to buy last gen's macbook pros for a steal.

~~~
semigeek
You'd think so - but it rarely happens. I did this with my current macbook and
only got a few hundred dollars off after waiting ~7months.

~~~
DocSavage
I'll give some YC hacker a good deal right now for my 1st gen macbook pro (2
GB RAM) :)

~~~
semigeek
ak (at) semigeek (dot) com

Always like picking up more hardware - send the specs.

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chengmi
One subtle but annoying change: Apple rearranged the function keys at the top
of the keyboard to match the Macbook Air.

~~~
alaskamiller
it now looks like this:
[http://images.apple.com/keyboard/images/gallery/wired_1_2007...](http://images.apple.com/keyboard/images/gallery/wired_1_20070813.jpg)

~~~
papersmith
As an Emacs user, it's one of the things I look for when I buy a laptop. Right
now the right ctrl key on my HP laptop is directly underneath the slash key,
and the left ctrl key is mapped to caps lock, so both my pinkies only have to
move slightly.

For the Mac users, how are you guys dealing with this? I've used 10.4 and the
re-mapping feature in the preferences panel seems fairly limited.

~~~
pivo
I don't have any problem with the control key position, I just swap it with
caps lock.

The real pain for me is the meta key mapping. If I'm using Carbon Emacs I use
one mapping, if I'm using emacs in a terminal I have to switch to another
mapping. Things work a little differently with my external keyboard v.s. the
built in one. I find the whole thing really irritating, almost enough to make
me switch back to Linux on my laptop.

Anyway, I use <http://doublecommand.sourceforge.net/> to map keys that aren't
handled by the limited built-in mapping choices.

~~~
mc
Thanks for the link. I thought it was just me going crazy with Emacs/Apple
keyboard bindings.

I do the Capslock/Ctrl swap, but I really want to make the Apple key my meta
command, since that's the location of the Alt button on every other keyboard
I've used

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Prrometheus
Do these still come with bootcamp? I really want a Mac Pro, but the ability to
dual-boot would be key.

~~~
stillmotion
Yep. All is included.

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sohail
$2000 is a bit steep isn't it?

~~~
mynameishere
Here's a comparable machine:

[http://www.tigerdirect.com/applications/SearchTools/item-
det...](http://www.tigerdirect.com/applications/SearchTools/item-
details.asp?EdpNo=3550141&CatId=17)

$1050

The "fashion" tax is pretty high on Apple. The only advantage it has on the HP
is a superior video card.

~~~
chaostheory
the regular macbook (starting at $1099) is a better comparison to the Tiger
machine in terms of price, features, and performance

some would say the main advantage is the OS (without hacking to make it work
with a normal PC)

"It just works" - you just can't really say that for a PC

~~~
irrelative
It does "just work" and all, but this is hacker news! We want to know why and
how it works. Plus, we're willing to tinker to get it working.

I certainly appreciate when things work immediately, but my overall curiosity
means that even if I use Apple hardware, I put linux on it.

~~~
mwmanning
"my overall curiosity means that even if I use Apple hardware, I put linux on
it."

You'll be wasting your money.

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chaostheory
I just wished they gave an option whether to have the macbook style keyboard
or not. I really like the new keyboards compared to what the mac book pros
have

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henning
Everyone's reservations about proprietary software go away when it's Apple.
Closed source isn't a bad thing when it isn't Microsoft doing it.

~~~
kingnothing
I've never had a problem with closed source.

I bet the majority of hackers here don't mind it, as they're all working on
their own startups and only a tiny fraction of them are likely to release
their source code.

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Readmore
The only thing I wish they had done was increase the size of the touchpad. I
need some space to use my gestures.

~~~
jey
Screw gestures, use keyboard shortcuts instead.

~~~
jgrahamc
I tend to agree, but there are some gestures on the MBP that are really handy:

1\. Two finger tap: since there's no 'right click' (which is CTRL-click on a
Mac) the two finger tap means I don't remove my fingers from the pad to get a
context menu.

2\. Two fingers to scroll. Very handy on web pages and it works up/down and
left/right.

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comatose_kid
I think that the 'Douple-layer' SuperDrive on the 17 inch model is an
especially convincing reason to buy.

