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Can't decide on a used notebook (lots of questions)

N

niganator

macrumors newbie
Original poster
Jun 28, 2013
2
0
Boston
I'm going to be a freshman at uni next year and I want a "new" laptop. Currently I'm on an asus 17 inch quad core i7 monster and I'd like to downgrade size-wise. I was fortunate enough to receive a $2k grant to pay for school related expenses, however my mother would like me to budget ~6-700 dollars of this on a "new" laptop instead of using all of my grant on a laptop. (I don't know if I'm getting rid of my current machine or using it for gaming still/selling it and building a new rig)

I do light gaming (WoW, LoL, CS:GO, L4D2) and I'm an econ major so I don't need any crazy heavy software.

Can I game on an 11" air or is it cramped?
Would a core 2 duo mbp outpace an i5 mba? (Do I get an older MBP or a newer MBA)
Whats the fastest used air/pro I can get for 6-7 hundred dollars?
Is there a better place than eBay to get good prices on used apple notebooks?

TELL ME WHAT TO DO MACRUMORS
 
A

adamtj11

macrumors 6502
Feb 26, 2011
418
41
Belfast
niganator said:
I'm going to be a freshman at uni next year and I want a "new" laptop. Currently I'm on an asus 17 inch quad core i7 monster and I'd like to downgrade size-wise. I was fortunate enough to receive a $2k grant to pay for school related expenses, however my mother would like me to budget ~6-700 dollars of this on a "new" laptop instead of using all of my grant on a laptop. (I don't know if I'm getting rid of my current machine or using it for gaming still/selling it and building a new rig)

I do light gaming (WoW, LoL, CS:GO, L4D2) and I'm an econ major so I don't need any crazy heavy software.

Can I game on an 11" air or is it cramped?
Would a core 2 duo mbp outpace an i5 mba? (Do I get an older MBP or a newer MBA)
Whats the fastest used air/pro I can get for 6-7 hundred dollars?
Is there a better place than eBay to get good prices on used apple notebooks?

TELL ME WHAT TO DO MACRUMORS
Click to expand...

Any MacBook Air from the last 2 years or so will greatly outpace any Core 2 Duo MacBook Pro in terms of speed and performance. This is also due to the face that Airs are built around solid state storage whereas any pro from circa pre 2010/11 will probably have a clunky old spinning hard drive, that is much slower than the solid state in the Air. If it is a 15" Pro you are looking at and graphics are important then it might be a better choice than the Air, especially one previous to the last two generations(Intel HD 3000 is not the best for graphic intense programs).

For 600-700 hundred $ you are probably looking at best at an 11" Air from 2011 or a 11/13" model from 2010 with a Core 2 Duo(not the best to buy in my opinion).
 
fedecape

fedecape

macrumors 6502
Oct 23, 2011
414
32
Miami, FL
niganator said:
I'm going to be a freshman at uni next year and I want a "new" laptop. Currently I'm on an asus 17 inch quad core i7 monster and I'd like to downgrade size-wise. I was fortunate enough to receive a $2k grant to pay for school related expenses, however my mother would like me to budget ~6-700 dollars of this on a "new" laptop instead of using all of my grant on a laptop. (I don't know if I'm getting rid of my current machine or using it for gaming still/selling it and building a new rig)

I do light gaming (WoW, LoL, CS:GO, L4D2) and I'm an econ major so I don't need any crazy heavy software.

Can I game on an 11" air or is it cramped?
Would a core 2 duo mbp outpace an i5 mba? (Do I get an older MBP or a newer MBA)
Whats the fastest used air/pro I can get for 6-7 hundred dollars?
Is there a better place than eBay to get good prices on used apple notebooks?

TELL ME WHAT TO DO MACRUMORS
Click to expand...

Macs are not the best choice to game, and As far as I know even Mac-compatible games will always run better on Windows because of the way they're optimized.

Anyways, my opinion is: don't get Core 2 Duo. C2D Macs were discontinued 2 or 3 years ago, so you won't find any new versions/powerful versions of the C2D.

With about 800 (maybe a bit more) you can buy an used 2012 MBA (Intel HD 4000), but again you won't get the good performance you're probably getting with your huge Asus.
 
M

Mrbobb

macrumors 603
Aug 27, 2012
5,009
209
1. No Core Duo (too old) at least an I5 and that means a 2011 Air.

2. If u buy used, budget for a new battery unless seller discloses charge cycles. They tend to not tell u.

3. PC to Mac, budget for OSX versions of your Apps? Unless u run Winfows the u have to get at least 4G/128G, and have a Windows license on a disc, can't be OEM.
 
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