Which MBP to Buy? Coming from MacBook Air.

[rhyx]

I currently use a 2.8 Octo Mac Pro at work. I also have a 1.8/SSD MacBook Air that I use at home. I frequently find it beach balls when I have FireFox and VMWare running. Sadly it just doesn't seem to have the power I need. I think this is mainly limited by the 2GB of RAM.

I'm looking at picking up a MacBook Pro but I'm not sure which will work best for my needs. If I'm not playing games do I really need the Nvidia 9600m discrete graphics? I'm not sure how much the 256MB of shared ram on the low end 15" will affect me. I plan on giving the machine 4GB of RAM for sure and maybe 8GB as prices drop.

I used to have a aluminum 15" 2.4 MBP but sold it a little over a year ago. It was a great machine and makes me wish I had kept that one.

Which MBP would you recommend I get?

[dwd3885]

Originally Posted by rhyx

I currently use a 2.8 Octo Mac Pro at work. I also have a 1.8/SSD MacBook Air that I use at home. I frequently find it beach balls when I have FireFox and VMWare running. Sadly it just doesn't seem to have the power I need. I think this is mainly limited by the 2GB of RAM.

I'm looking at picking up a MacBook Pro but I'm not sure which will work best for my needs. If I'm not playing games do I really need the Nvidia 9600m discrete graphics? I'm not sure how much the 256MB of shared ram on the low end 15" will affect me. I plan on giving the machine 4GB of RAM for sure and maybe 8GB as prices drop.

I used to have a aluminum 15" 2.4 MBP but sold it a little over a year ago. It was a great machine and makes me wish I had kept that one.

Which MBP would you recommend I get?

You don't need the 9600 graphics. I do Lightroom, Photoshop, iMovie, iDVD, iPhoto, Safari, Firefox, Mail, etc and exclusively use my 9400 integrated graphics. So much that I decided it wouldn't be a big deal to go for the refurb $1449 MBP that doesn't have the 9600. I do not game or use 3d apps like Motion or After Effects.

[rhyx]

Originally Posted by dwd3885

You don't need the 9600 graphics. I do Lightroom, Photoshop, iMovie, iDVD, iPhoto, Safari, Firefox, Mail, etc and exclusively use my 9400 integrated graphics. So much that I decided it wouldn't be a big deal to go for the refurb $1449 MBP that doesn't have the 9600. I do not game or use 3d apps like Motion or After Effects.

Thanks! I figured I wouldn't notice the 256MB shared RAM usage.

Now I'm looking at the previous gen since I do have a few things that use ExpressCards.

[dwd3885]

Originally Posted by rhyx

Thanks! I figured I wouldn't notice the 256MB shared RAM usage.

Now I'm looking at the previous gen since I do have a few things that use ExpressCards.

Yea if you are looking at the previous gen express card MBPs, this question doesn't matter because you get both graphic options.