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Is the 6750M good enough? The $180 decision.

J

Jshaw6000

macrumors newbie
Original poster
Apr 27, 2012
10
0
Hello All!

I am having the toughest time right now deciding between an Apple refurbished Macbook Pro vs a brand new one.

Here's what I'm trying to decide between.

- Refurbished Late 2011 Macbook Pro 15" Hi-Res Anti-Glare display, 2.4GHz Quad-core i7, 4GB ram, 750GB 5400rpm hard drive, AMD Radeon HD 6770M with 1GB GDDR5. Price + tax = $2,191.91
vs.
- Brand new Late 2011 Macbook Pro 15" Hi-Res Anti-Glare display, 2.2GHz Quad-core i7, 4GB ram, 500GB 5400rpm hard drive, AMD Radeon HD 6750M with 512 GDDR5. Student discount price + tax = $2,011.65

RAM is not an issue as I have a spare 8gb at home.

What will I be using it for? I'll be needing a Macbook for frequent video editing for various small projects. I'll either be using iMovie or FCPX. My plan is also buy a 2.5" hard drive (either 750GB or 500GB), an eclosure, and depending on which computer I get, swap out the computer drive to keep 500GB externally for video projects.I will also be using bootcamp to occasionally run Solidworks as well as the occasional BF3, COD4 and CSS gaming which is why I am struggling to decide if the 6750M with 512 is really enough?

I am a college student with a pretty tight budget of no more than $2k before tax. If there are any better deals than either of these two, please let me know. (I've heard the early 2011 macbook 2.2ghz was better than the current 2.2ghz so if i can find an early 2011 anti-glare it'd be better.)
I have also been thinking of buying used from ebay or craigslist but I'd rather buy from the manufacture because of the warranty.

Anyone have any advice on what I should do? What would you do in this situation? Is the extra $180 worth it? In advance, I appreciate the help.
 
gusping

gusping

macrumors 68000
Mar 12, 2012
1,817
1,949
for games you'll need the best graphics cards you can get, especially for bf3, that game is a beauty and needs a pretty dam good graphics card
 
thekev

thekev

macrumors 604
Aug 5, 2010
7,005
3,343
If you're on a tight budget, I'd just wait for the new ones and grab a refurb once available. They'll see a gpu refresh and you can just go with the cheaper one once refurbs start to trickle in. I don't know if you need this right away. You mention being a college student. Right now would be mid to late spring term or something like that, so unless your current machine just died, that's probably not the issue. I don't blame you for wanting a full warranty. Keep in mind that authorized retailer pricing sometimes differs from Apple pricing in case they're running any deals that appeal to you. Buying a new computer from an authorized retailer would grant you a full warranty and eligibility to add applecare.
 
Y

yukio

macrumors regular
Feb 8, 2008
145
5
if i wasn't going to wait for the new models coming "soon" then i'd spend the extra $180.

you're getting a lot more than twice the VRAM - you're getting a bigger hard drive, extra shaders on the 6770M, and a faster CPU.

but really, this close to launch - i'd wait and check your options then. that config of the refurbed 15 at the apple store will still be around, and most likely at close to that price.
 
T

The-Pro

macrumors 65816
Dec 2, 2010
1,453
40
Germany
yukio said:
extra shaders on the 6770M,
Click to expand...

WRONG!!!! Difference between the 6750 and 6770 are only the clock rates. 600 vs 725 for the core frequency.
The 6770 itself is hardly more powerful then the 6750 its just the extra 512 MB VRAM, in this case, increases performance a lot for certain tasks.
 
J

Jshaw6000

macrumors newbie
Original poster
Apr 27, 2012
10
0
Thanks for the advice guys. Because I have to get rid of my current laptop right now (giving it to my dad because his was stolen), I might go ahead and purchase the 2.4GHz now. Then if the new one comes out within 14 days, I'll just return it. After 14 days, well I think I can get most of my money back since it'll have more resale value than the 2.2GHz will.
 
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