Looking to purchase a macbook pro, and i've got a few questions

Question

Hi Guys,
I know some of these questions have been asked before, but i'm just trying to get all that information together...
I really don't want to purchase a macbook pro - only for a new one to be announced a week later - the few people i've talked to say this is unlikely due to space and heat constraints within a case any smaller than it is currently... what do you guys think?
The display issue... i work in graphic design, using quark, photoshop etc and i am unusre as to wether the glossy is better than the matte? if anyone works in the same type of feild and can give me their opinions on what they have, wether they are happy with it etc?
Battery... a lot of the time i will be using the laptop plugged into a second monitor, i was always taught to use run the battery down and then plug it in to charge to avoid damaging the battery life, is this an issue anymore? i'd really like to use it plugged in in this situation, and only unplug it when i need to be mobile, will i then find the battery is rubbish because i've used it plugged in all the time? what do you guys do?
thanks!! i think that is it for now!!
N

Answer 1

if you want an idea of if an update is possibly on the horizon, macrumors.com has a buyer's guide. of course it's based on nothing more than speculation, but what they do is calculate if an update is likely to be coming, and when, which is worked out from the history of how often a particular model has been updated in the past. I've never used it myself, but it looks like it might be useful at least as a guide.
at any rate, if you need a machine now, or soon, there's not a lot to be gained by waiting. looking at intel's roadmap for what's next in terms of notebook CPUs, the 'santa rosa' chip is due to be released in about a month I think. it is obviously going to be a step forward, as usual, with probably lower power consumption and less heat, no surprises there. also from what I've read, it will top out at 2.4Ghz which is not a great deal more than the 2.33Ghz max of the core 2 duo available now. I also read that it will have double the cache size of the current chips, which will have a positive impact on performance. and it's also possible, though I haven't read it, that machines using this CPU may be able to have more than 3GB of RAM. if any of this is life-changing for you, then I suppose you could wait. how long a wait it will be, no one can say.
as for the display.. I would go for matte. traditionally that's what visual pros opt for, so it's probably the safer bet. but check them out and see what you like.. bearing in mind that glossy is far more susceptible to ambient light changes, so your experience of working may vary a great deal in different light conditions.
as for battery cycling.. you can stay on power the whole time you work. just make sure to do a power cycle about once a month to ensure a healthy battery. there are detailed instructions for this at apple support, it's not the same technique as for powerbooks.