Just as the world was about to run out of patience, Apple updated it’s line of MacBook Pro notebook computers. There are brand new CPU’s, more gigabytes, more gigahertz, fancy graphics cards, you name it. The base ($1799) 15″ Macbook Pro now sports a 2.4 GHZ Intel Core i5 CPU, 4GB of RAM, and a 320 GB hard drive. Oh, and it finally has discrete graphics – a 256MB NVIDIA GeForce GT 330M. Normally this was reserved for the mid and high-end 15″.
For the spendy folks, the mid-range 15 incher ($1,999) gets a bump to 2.53 GHZ Core i5 and a 500 GB hard drive. Still not enough juice? Try the top end. It has a 2.66 GHZ Core i7, and 512 MB of VRAM instead of 256. Of course, it will set you back $2,199 too – all that power doesn’t come cheap.
After months of waiting patiently for this very update, I’m not rushing out to buy one. Why? Certainly not because the upgrade disappointed. If I was waiting for a 13″ model, perhaps, but I’ve been set on a 15″. Basically Apple updated exactly what I expected – from the Core 2 Duo CPU to the Core i5 / i7. Tossing the discrete graphics in the base 15″ model was an added bonus, as was the extended battery life. Here’s the thing, though.
I can live without a MacBook Pro right now.
Yep. Six months ago it would have hurt to type those words. Today, not so much. The nerd in me really wants to rush out and pick one of these bad boys up. But the rest of me is content to wait. After all, what in the world do I need a fancy laptop for?
Nearly all of my work is done from my desk – where my iMac is a much better fit. I do very little work when I’m not at my desk these days…. and the little I do can pretty much be handled by my iPhone. I thought the iPad would be a great supplement to that, but it turned out not to be a great fit.
Sure, I catch myself thinking, if I had a MacBook Pro, I could work from the couch. Heck, I could even work from the back patio in the evenings, enjoying the fresh air.
Sure, I could. But would I?
Working from the couch sounds grand, but in reality, it’s not for me. There are too many distractions in the living room, from kids coming in and out, to people watching television, to phones ringing, dogs barking, etc etc. It’s just not a place where real work happens very often.
The outside idea is more interesting. Besides the dogs issue ( I have two wonder, if sometimes very annoying, dogs), there is the fact that the weather isn’t really made for working outdoors here. There are maybe 2-3 weeks out of the year where the weather is nice enough to work outside. Beyond that, it’s either too cold in the winter, or blistering hot in the summer, even in the evenings.
The nerd is trying to rationalize something that I really don’t have a need for.
I’m not going to let him get away with it. While it would be “cool” to have a new MacBook Pro, I’m not going to do it just yet. I don’t need it. All it would do is complicate my computing life and cost money. I’d have to worry about purchasing the computer, another set of the programs I need. Then there’s backups, where to keep file that I need ( DropBox, perhaps? ), etc etc.
More hassle, no real benefit = no go. Sorry, Apple. You’re not getting my money today.
