Depends on your time table. If you are several months out, I would totally wait until Leopard comes out and buy a MacBook Pro. Rumors have it (note I said RUMORS, people) that February could see BluRay drives in Apple machines. Not sure if that means Mac Pro only or if they could find their way into the MBP, if it even happens. If it's just a matter of having the latest and greatest thing, give up. Something will always come out just after you bought your machine. :D I would simply wait until the next MBP update that happens after Leopard is released if you aren't in any big hurry.

If your timetable is gotta-have-it-right-now soon, I would strongly suggest that you at least wait until MWSF (first week of January) because that's when they announce a lot of good stuff.

I am not big on the MacBooks because they have integrated graphics rather than dedicated vRAM. That being said, a friend of mine just got one and she loves it. She doesn't do any heavy lifting with hers though, so TIWAGOS.

I was in the same position last winter- waiting for the Intel laptops to be released...I bought a mini to hold me over until the macbooks came out.

I've had my black macbook since May and can't think of anything it can't do that a newer, more powerful model would that I would really need. Now I use Adobe's programs(still not universal but good enough for me), run WinXP in Parallel's, run a sign business with an overly expensive sign program and do all the usual photo, music and websurfing. I have no problems with speed, memory or the integrated graphics.

I really think computers have gotten to the point where they are plenty powerfull for 90% of the users out there. It might be tempting to wait for the next OS upgrade....but that could bring it's own large can of worms...we won't know till it happens.

If you buy now you'll be happy sooner...then can upgrade the OS when you see other's experiences(horriffic or pleasantly smooth or somewhere in between). You'll be glad you made the switch either way.

Of course this question depends more on your own preferences than anyone else's opinion??but I'd say this is a great time to go for it. When the original MacBook Pro was announced I decided to wait on rev2, hoping that all of the first model issues would be fixed. I ordered a Merom MBP the day they were announced and have had it a little more than a month. It is a wonderful machine??fast, smooth, quiet, no issues at all (kow). It runs Photoshop about the same speed as my G5 dual 2.0 and runs universal apps something on the order of 10X faster than my old G4 iBook. And it even does Windows. I just have a feeling that when Vista and Leopard are both released the market share numbers will shift considerably. No reason not to love this machine??have a nice Christmas.

I say, "Go for it!" One thing that you can always be certain of with technology is that bigger/better/faster is only ever a few weeks away... I see no reason to wait. If you load it up with memory and a spacious hard drive, it will serve you well for years to come.

I have a 12" Powerbook G4 that I've had for 2 and a half years, and though I am trying to convince myself (and my wife) otherwise, there really is no compelling reason to replace it.

I have a MacBook 2.0 CoreDuo.

It kicks ass.

Now granted, I do some light photo/video stuff, but mostly research, writing, Terminal.app all over the place, DEVONthink and OmniWeb.

World of Warcraft is playable on it but the video isn't anything special by any stretch. Thats the only real strain I put on the MacBook though. It compiles about twice as fast as my dual G5 though. Ugh.

Emory, that's a helpful comparison <=> the MacBook and the Dual G5. Considering your post, I have to ask: Do you think that too much is made of sharing system RAM with the video card for VRAM? (I am selfishly considering my own uses for web design (text editor, web browser, Photoshop and/or Fireworks and/or Flash running most of the time) not to mention the insane number of things I run in the background on my machine...)

I think in your case it is moot. The performance between intel GMA video and the RADEON is comparable in 2D-space. In fact, I really doubt there is much of a difference. MacBook runs Aperture great. I haven't installed Photoshop on the MacBook yet (I'm not even sure it is a Universal Binary now, I'm still using Photoshop CS on my G5 and have no intention of paying through the nose for the "upgrades" they've been giving lately.)

If you have 2GB of RAM in the MacBook (which you do) it is a fantastic machine. Until my RAM came it was kind of a dog. Now it is agile and peppy.

I do my photo work on the G5. There is very little difference on the G5 between using a RADEON 9800 or an nVidia 5200 in 2D land. I've got a 7800 on order but that's just because I play WoW. If I didn't play that (or some other game), I can't imagine that I'd even bother.

If you're doing a lot of 3D/GL you want the best video you can get. If you work with images, stills, and video, who cares?

To echo what emory said, I think for the kind of work you are doing a MacBook would be more than adequate if it's loaded up with RAM. I think that even as recently as 2 years ago the shared VRAM would have been an issue, but at this point unless you're doing real, heavy-duty video work I don't think you're going to sacrifice anything by going with the MacBook. In fact, I actually like the form factor of the smaller MacBook better than the MBP.

I listen to several Mac-oriented podcasts including iLifeZone and MacBreak Weekly and the general sentiment seems to be that we have gotten to the point where even the "basic" computer has sufficient power for 90% of users.

iLifeZone recently dedicated an entire podcast to discussing the different Apple hardware and which one you really need for the work you want to do. I highly recommend giving it a listen. Zip over to this link. You can listen right on your computer or download the MP3.

Here's a snippet from the show notes:

Good luck!!

Yeah I find the size and formfactor of the MB superior to the MBP. The *only* complaint I have is on how a game performs. So, honestly I would get the MB again and again.

I don't need a bigger display (have multi-head 20x17 on my G5) or expansion slot (wireless Internet via Bluetooth to my mobile).

So what, I'm going to pay $500-800 more for a bigger machine for better video?

It just wasn't worth it to me. I don't like carrying big computers.

Here is an odd question: Is 13" widescreen on the MacBook bigger, smaller, or the same as my screen real estate on Cyprian? That has been my biggest problem with the 12" is that I have had to become something of an Expose ninja lest I go crazy. I aim to get a larger display for home eventually, but for now, I'm bound to the built-in LCD.