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MacBook Pro Merom or the new Penryn?

I

iLLucionist

macrumors regular
Original poster
Apr 6, 2008
102
39
The Netherlands
Hi y'all. I have a question and I need answer quick. Later on I'll explain why.

I have two options to go for:
1) Spend about 2500-2600 euro's on the new MB Pro.
2) Profit from the offer of buying the previous Merom AND buying a Pentax K10D.

Why fast answer? The offer is going to expire soon.

And last: my primary question: is the Penryn worth waiting to by the Pentax K10D SLR, in other words: is it that much faster and 'better' you would choose to allocate the money for only buying the new MB Pro?

Thanks!
 
The speed difference isn't going to be huge between the two, ram is something you will want to upgrade though. The penryns do run cooler if that is important to you. the 256 vs. 512 vram won't be a great difference unless you are doing graphic intensive tasks which if you are looking at a camera you might be. both have led screens except on the merom 17". some of the meroms had yellowing problems but i don't have it on mine. you do get multitouch in the new ones if that feature interests you but i wouldn't make the switch for it. in my opinion the computers are pretty similar so you might as well get the mbp and the camera.

there is a likely upgrade to the mbp line this summer if you can wait that long.
 
I vote Merom

I was facing a similar dilemma. Apple was offering new 2.2 GHz Merom MBPs clearance priced considerably cheaper than even the education discount on the Penryn models. I had concerns about the Merom heat issues that some complained about, but in the end, decided on the Merom MBP.

I'm glad that I did. Moving from a PB G4, this MBP is super fast, almost silent, and generates far less heat than my PB doing similar tasks. The bottom case does tend to get pretty warm when performing processor intensive tasks, but not to the extent that I was expecting. It also cools down quickly once the fans ramp up. For what it's worth, tests show that the Merom and Penryn processors generate similar amounts of heat - many Penryn users report the case feeling cooler, however.

So unless you need every ounce of processor performance, I'd definitely suggest the Merom/camera combo.

Happy shopping.
 
Thanks so far, but...

Hi y'all, thanks for the fast replies!! I still got one thing not sorted out properly, I guess...

First: a quick overview of how far I got:
  • Speed difference not significant to justify pricing difference.
  • Difference in heat exists although not extreme nor cause of irritation.
  • VRam does make a difference.
So.. Should I prefer the Pentax K10D over the Canon EOS400D? Both kit lenses come with a 15-55mm objective (correct me if I'm wrong).

In my opinion: the K10D has better features for the price, but the EOS400D is a bit cheaper, though.

Reason to ask this question is that I find some contrasting reviews, as where A says it's a great camera with great image quality as where B says that EOS400D sucks and the kit lens sucks big time and the prismaview view finder sucks big time.

Anyone experience or final thoughts?

Many thanks so far!
 
iLLucionist said:
So.. Should I prefer the Pentax K10D over the Canon EOS400D? Both kit lenses come with a 15-55mm objective (correct me if I'm wrong).

In my opinion: the K10D has better features for the price, but the EOS400D is a bit cheaper, though.
Click to expand...

I'm no professional photographer, but my fiancée is, so I know a good bit about it. Plus, I like to look and drool! So... here's my opinion.

I've always been a fan of Canon. Along with Nikon, I think Canon makes amazing products. Not only are their bodies great, but their lens selection is amazing. Pentax's lenses are not as abundant as Canon or Nikon, so I prefer them.

Both the Canon EOS 400D and the Pentax K10D are previous generation cameras, but both are very capable of taking phenomenal pictures.

Not sure if you have time, but see if you can go to a local camera store and pick them both up and see how they feel in your hands.

Hope this helps.
 
I'd take the EOS over anything else. Sure I'm a Canon fan, but I've been using their DSLR for years now and I know they take good pictures, their lens are great, not to mention their camera body quality is superb,
 
To come to my conclusion...

Thank you guys for all the responses.

Now my conclusion for myself is to wait till the summer since they may be revising the MB Pro after Intel releases it's new platform called 'Montevina'.

Since I'm good at playing the waiting game and I would really feel bad when I got myself a Merom while I could've got myself a (perhaps) Montevina, I'll wait till I know more until June or July this year.

Another aspect is that I definitely need a MB Pro and do not specifically need a DSLR. And since I do photo development (Aperture) and heavy music development (Logic) and I'm on the road often, I'll wait some more...
 
iLLucionist said:
Thank you guys for all the responses.

Now my conclusion for myself is to wait till the summer since they may be revising the MB Pro after Intel releases it's new platform called 'Montevina'.

Since I'm good at playing the waiting game and I would really feel bad when I got myself a Merom while I could've got myself a (perhaps) Montevina, I'll wait till I know more until June or July this year.

Another aspect is that I definitely need a MB Pro and do not specifically need a DSLR. And since I do photo development (Aperture) and heavy music development (Logic) and I'm on the road often, I'll wait some more...
Click to expand...


Why wait... Honestly.... Penryn's just came out....
 
get whatever's cheaper? I dunno. In my experience, my MBP runs at a cool 35 deg C with chat/mail and web surfing and I don't have the newer Penryns. The MBP itself is a great machine.
 
Also they might redesign it! You want to know you got a MBP before they redesigned it!
 
I typically fall in love Apple's new designs, but I don't like the quirks that come with Rev. A machines. Been there, done that. The MacBook Pro is a mature design with most issues having been addressed or at least known. I advise scooping up this generation - assuming it suits your needs - or waiting until Rev. B of the new design...assuming of course that there is a new design with the new chipset.

Good luck with your decision.
 
Hate revs

I changed my mind. I'm gonna get a Penryn. I've seen some weird stuff around with first gen MBPro's. Like too much thermal grease, weird overheating problems, disintegrating cases e.d.

I don't want that, so I'm gonna get me a Penryn! I think I'll go for the 15.4" 250gb 2GB DDR-II 512 V-Ram 8600M GT and hook up a Cinema Display 23" later on when I have some spare money.

I haven't seeked out this forum entirely yet, but anyone interested in photos/movies of unpacking the stuff?

Again many thanks for the replies.

Cheers!
 
iLLucionist said:
I changed my mind. I'm gonna get a Penryn. I've seen some weird stuff around with first gen MBPro's. Like too much thermal grease, weird overheating problems, disintegrating cases e.d.

I don't want that, so I'm gonna get me a Penryn! I think I'll go for the 15.4" 250gb 2GB DDR-II 512 V-Ram 8600M GT and hook up a Cinema Display 23" later on when I have some spare money.

I haven't seeked out this forum entirely yet, but anyone interested in photos/movies of unpacking the stuff?

Again many thanks for the replies.

Cheers!
Click to expand...

So what makes you think that a penryn doesn't/wont have any of the issues you mention?
 
neil321 said:
So what makes you think that a penryn doesn't/wont have any of the issues you mention?
Click to expand...

I've been following every release of new Apple hardware over the last two or three years or so. And with every release, I've been following major issues. And in my experience, the later revision you got is mostly better than the first gen.
 
iLLucionist said:
I've been following every release of new Apple hardware over the last two or three years or so. And with every release, I've been following major issues. And in my experience, the later revision you got is mostly better than the first gen.
Click to expand...

Thats mostly true as they do tend/try to iron out issues as the rev go along,but in the respect of quality control i think they have gone backwards rather than forwards

But on a side note i have a REV A MBP i keep as a spare and it has never had any issues from day 1
 
neil321 said:
Thats mostly true as they do tend/try to iron out issues as the rev go along,but in the respect of quality control i think they have gone backwards rather than forwards

But on a side note i have a REV A MBP i keep as a spare and it has never had any issues from day 1
Click to expand...

Think you got luck. I totally agree on the quality control that was much better in the past. For example, the MBP of a friend of mine has some dents in it FROM FACTORY. And most funny of all...Apple didn't care for it till they knew I do law school. Really really irritating if you ask me.
 
iLLucionist said:
Think you got luck. I totally agree on the quality control that was much better in the past. For example, the MBP of a friend of mine has some dents in it FROM FACTORY. And most funny of all...Apple didn't care for it till they knew I do law school. Really really irritating if you ask me.
Click to expand...

Maybe i did get lucky,but you would have thought 2yrs on they would have got there act together,you basically have to take pot luck,what with
screen issues,noise bla bla bla
 
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