So, It's a Date?

Trust me, the title will make sense in a little bit.

Knowing what I do about the computer industry (being a professional geek and all), I know that one shouldn't necessarily fall into the trap of always waiting for the "next big thing" before making a computer purchase. After all, there's always something that will be coming soon that will make what you currently have obsolete. As Weird Al said, "You say your laptops a week old? Well, that's great if you could use a nice heavy paper weight." And sometimes, it feels like this simply because the hardware improvements are coming so fast that what you get today does become old news in a big hurry. That's just the nature of the beast. That being said, I shall now start to rant.

As I've mentioned previously, my next computer is most likely going to be a Mac. More specifically, I'm going to get a MacBook laptop. I'm hoping to be able to save up enough for the MacBook Pro, but I think I'm starting to see that as being out of reach for me. I think I'm okay with that, but haven't completely decided yet. I'll let you know. Part of the reason that I'm able to be so serious about actually getting a laptop at some point in the foreseeable future is that my wife said I can. The trade-off is that I can't complain about her getting a dog when she wants to. A man's gotta do what a man's gotta do.

There are a couple of things that I want to have happen before I actually take the plunge and purchase my long-anticipated new computer. For one, I want to wait until the latest version of Apple's OS X (Leopard) is released. That way I have the latest and greatest software on the computer instead of having an upgrade cost not long after purchasing the computer. Also, there's the fact that the new version of the operating system will have cool features like virtual desktops. I became addicted to having multiple virtual desktops while I was going to school and used Linux for the first time. I'm something of a windows (notice the lower-case "w") pack-rat in the sense that I really don't like to close a window that I have open. As such, I usually end up with way more windows on my screen than I probably need. The virtual desktops allow me to have different tasks allocated to different work spaces. In one I have my email program running. In another, I have my web browser, and in a third I have all the windows I need for writing the program on which I'm working. It's a feature that I think I'll appreciate in Leopard. The other upgrade that I'm waiting for is for the MacBooks to go to the latest Intel chip, the Core 2 Duo. The Core's are supposed to be one of the biggest upgrades in performance that people have seen in a while in a chip. Another big plus is that, supposedly, their heat output is much lower. This is important since excessive heat can really kill the length of your CPU's life--and there's also the fact that one of the biggest complaints people have had about the new MacBooks is that the bottoms get very, very hot. This makes having a cooler-running chip very nice. So, that's what I'm waiting on.

Now, however, we come to the problem: I have no idea how long I'm going to have to wait. Apple put the Core 2's into the iMac line fairly soon after the new chips were available for shipping. Still no word on getting them into the laptops. You know that they will be going into the laptops, but we have no idea as to when this will occur. This is also the problem with the latest version of OS X. It's very hard to plan for a purchase when you have no idea when the thing you want to purchase will be available from the manufacturer. Apple seems to want to have a gigantic pomp and circumstance surrounding every announcement, no matter how minor. It has to be some large event for everyone to "ooh" and "aah" over and, seemingly, boost Steve Jobs's ego. Also, so Jobs can turn around with that special twinkle in his eye and say, "One more thing" before revealing some other little tidbit of information. They seem to forget that people (well, people as in me) don't care how the information is presented, just that we have something to look forward to. Every year, I know when I'm going to have a birthday. Every year, I know when Christmas is going to arrive. I may not know the exact particulars of what I'm going to get for each, but I know the when aspect. This is what annoys me with how Apple handles their information. All we know about the new version of OS X is that it will come sometime in the "Spring." That's it. Meanwhile, we don't even know that much about the new chips being placed in the MacBooks. As far as I have seen, Mac has said nothing about it. I don't care if I know all of the particulars concerning about how the MacBooks will preform with the new chips. I just need to know that it'll be better and when I can expect it. I don't need to know everything about all of the new features of Leopard. I just need to know when I will be able to get it. Is that so much to ask?