Wait for the Core2Duo Macbooks?

[Anonymous]

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Thinking about crossing to the dark side and getting a Macbook Pro.....I lke the idea of a dual boot lappy for my Windows XP/Vista along with the estimating and engineering apps. My girlfriend likes the MacOS for video and photoshop stuff.

So I'm looking these over and I notice no Core2 Duo Macbook Pro yet. Should I wait or just get the Core duo? Any idea of when they would be released into the wild?

I just picked up a Dell 3007WFP monitor so this thing should work as a pretty sweet home office setup.

Also.....what do you guys prefer....glossy or matte screens?

[Thomas Holm]

The latest I heard is that the Core2Duo MacBookPros will come soon, perhaps within two weeks. Whatever, since they can handle 64-bit programs which the CoreDuos can't, they'll probably last longer before they get obsolete. I'll wait.

[Anonymous]

Thanks Thomas.
Think I will wait.

Do you know if the video is going to be upgraded as well? Or do I need to worry about that at all since it is a Mac?

[Thomas Holm]

Antonin wrote:
Do you know if the video is going to be upgraded as well? Or do I need to worry about that at all since it is a Mac?

No idea.
But you'd have to check. According to Graphisoft, the MacBookPros work fine with AC, but the MacBook isn't within specs. I don't know what that means, but I guess that they don't regard the IntelGMA950 graphics in the MacBook as good enough. Perhaps someone in this forum has used it. I would guess that it works, but not very good for big projects.

[jbArch]

Looks like your wait is over:
http://store.apple.com/

Please let us know how the new Core2Duo works out for you if you take the plunge -- I'm thinking of buying one myself and I'd be anxious to hear what anyone has to say about it running AC10.

Cheers,
JB

[TomWaltz]

The previous MacBookPro is an absolute processing dream, so if this one really is that much faster it should be pretty impressing.

[Thomas Holm]

I don't think the Core2Duo will be much faster than the CoreDuo - Apple's "up to 39%" is just marketspeak. The reasons I decided to wait are 2:
- the second generation (in this case, of intel macbookpros) is usually better engineered (I hope for less heat problems and such) than the first
- the Core2Duo is fully 64bit-enabled, which the CoreDuo is not. This means that it will be able to fully take advantage of coming 64-bit operating systems (read Leopard) and programs (read Archicad version 18 )
This boils down to that I hope the machine will get obsolete slower than the CoreDuo.
I'm still working on a 6 year old G4Dual533, reasonably fast, mind you!

[SeaGeoff]

I am seriously tempted by these babies. Like Thomas I like to wait for the 2nd gen of a new design. As for 64bit it is my understanding that while the Core2Duo is 64bit ready other parts of the chipset are not so these books will not run at 64bit. This probably doesn't matter to most and will have no effect on any app I use. My only disappointment with these models is the lack of numeric keypad, even on the 17" model where there is ample room.

[Thomas Holm]

Geoff wrote:
As for 64bit it is my understanding that while the Core2Duo is 64bit ready other parts of the chipset are not so these books will not run at 64bit..

I didn't know that, Geoff! Do you have some source?

[TomWaltz]

Thomas wrote:
I don't think the Core2Duo will be much faster than the CoreDuo - Apple's "up to 39%" is just marketspeak. The reasons I decided to wait are 2:
- the second generation (in this case, of intel macbookpros) is usually better engineered (I hope for less heat problems and such) than the first
- the Core2Duo is fully 64bit-enabled, which the CoreDuo is not. This means that it will be able to fully take advantage of coming 64-bit operating systems (read Leopard) and programs (read Archicad version 18 )
This boils down to that I hope the machine will get obsolete slower than the CoreDuo.
I'm still working on a 6 year old G4Dual533, reasonably fast, mind you!

64-bit does not mean a thing unless your software is 64-bit as well.... I have not heard anything about Archicad 64 yet....