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Buying my first Mac! Is the extra 0.1 GHz worth the money?

C

CappyAA

macrumors newbie
Original poster
Jan 13, 2008
27
0
Hey all, I'm taking the plunge and buying my first Mac in the next couple weeks. I was leaning towards a 24" iMac at first, but as I already have dual 20" Dell monitors for my PC, I decided to just get a MBP and hook it up to the dual monitors while I'm at home and get the portability.

I was pricing out MBP's though and I noticed that Apple charges $250 extra for the 2.6 GHz model over the 2.5 GHz. I want to get a top of the line machine, but is the extra 0.1 GHz really worth $250? Can anyone comment on the difference in speeds of the two? Would I really notice it?

Thanks!
 
No, it's definitely not wort it. An extra 100Mhz on each core will not be noticeable. Spending the money on something else such as RAM or external hard drive would be more beneficial.
 
As a note, without some special hardware or tinkering, you'll only be able to hook up ONE of your two 20" displays to the MBP. However, you can use the laptop's display at the same time, using the external to expand your desktop.

Also, I highly doubt you'd notice the speed difference. It'd be imperceptible in all but the most CPU-demanding activities, and even then it'd make only a very slight difference.
 
killmoms said:
As a note, without some special hardware or tinkering, you'll only be able to hook up ONE of your two 20" displays to the MBP. However, you can use the laptop's display at the same time, using the external to expand your desktop.
Click to expand...

Awesome - I saw somewhere that there are adapters out there I can buy that allows me to hook up two monitors. Is this true?

It's a moot point for about 6 months anyways as I have to keep my PC for that time. I play a lot of poker online and they don't currently make a decent tracking software for poker sites for a Mac. One's in development now, so I need the PC for that anyways.

Thanks for the advice. I was planning on getting the 7200 HD, the high res matte monitor, and maxing out my RAM through a 3rd party source as well anyways.

Can anyone recommend a good wireless mouse that'd be compatible?
 
CappyAA said:
Awesome - I saw somewhere that there are adapters out there I can buy that allows me to hook up two monitors. Is this true?

Can anyone recommend a good wireless mouse that'd be compatible?
Click to expand...

For 2 monitors, check this out: http://www.matrox.com/graphics/en/gxm/products/dh2go/
This will work, but there are some limitations (VGA input/output, computer sees it as a single monitor, etc.)

Pretty much any wireless mouse bluetooth mouse or one with a usb thingy will work. Bluetooth mice are a little more expensive, but you don't need to connect/disconnect the usb thingy every time you use the mouse.
 
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