Advice regarding purchasing a MacBook

[Starkicker]

I'll be purchasing a Macbook towards the end of summer but I was hoping to get some insight and advice as to when to purchase it.

I'm going on the assumption that I'll be paying full price for it (less any rebates, coupons or Education pricing that'll be available to me at the time of purchase).

I was watching the updates of WWDC yesterday and I really like some of the features of 10.5. I also like the fact that If I buy now, I can get a "free" iPod (as I qualify for Educational pricing). I can live without having an iPod, but if I can swing a deal where I get it cheap, then all the better.

My question is this: is it better to buy the current configuration of MacBook and get the "free" iPod (I'll be waiting until closer to the end of the sale sometime in late August/September) or wait until 10.5 is released and then hopefully there'll be an updated Macbook which comes with 10.5 pre-installed?

I realize that I'll loose out on the iPod, but I think that loss might be outweighed by getting 10.5 included in the purchase price and the possibily of having a hardware refreshed MacBook.

Do you guy who are in the know think that the Macbook will be refreshed by the end of August/September? Is it worth the wait (despite loosing the iPod) for 10.5? If I buy within a month of 10.5's release, is there some kind of OS upgrade discount, or will I have to buy 10.5 at full purchase price?

Thanks, any input is appreciated.

[Chrispy]

Isn't leopard's release scheduled for October?

The macbooks were just refreshed anyways on May 15th, so I doubt we'll see anything prior to Leopard, but who knows.

[and or]

Keep an eye on some of the Mac rumours websites (http://www.macrumors.com/) towards the end of summer for a more accurate word on when 10.5 will be released.

Also, I thought it was longer than 1 month that they will upgrade your system for free on recently bought machines (60, 90 days?)

[turnstylez18]

im in the same situation as u...but i feel that im going to end up getting the 10.4....

i dont think i can wait until october since my current computer is near death...
worst comes to worst ill buy 10.5 off apple.ca ..there's educational discounts on it as well...and it wont cost a lot such as vista...(well im hoping)
since 10.4 sells for less than 100 with the educational discount...

[slicecom]

worst comes to worst ill buy 10.5 off apple.ca ..there's educational discounts on it as well...and it wont cost a lot such as vista...(well im hoping)
since 10.4 sells for less than 100 with the educational discount...

10.5 will cost $89 with the student discount like previous versions of OSX. $149 without the discount.

[turnstylez18]

so would 10.5 run well on an entry level macbook? since vista requires good specs to run well

[quikkid]

It should run fine on any Macbook, more so on the Core 2 Duos, as 10.5 will be a 64-bit OS. The back to school offer lasts until Sept. 16th. More news about Leopard should be out by then.

[MrWizard]

- Leopard will be out in October at the earliest.
- The iPod deal goes until September I believe
- Leopard will run on EVERY mac that you could buy from Apple right now.

[ineedaname]

The macbook and macbook pro's JUST got upgraded within 2 weeks.

I HIGHLY doubt they will be upgraded again before you wanna buy it.

My friend bought a macbook pro a few days ago and it already had leopard on it. (not sure if it came with it or he installed it)

So you might as well buy it now and get the free ipod.

But then again I bought my completely new updated with 1 year warranty black macbook for $1300 and it came with a incase backpack. Got it off craigslist.

So that totally outweighs an ipod :cheesygri