MBP 2.53 or 2.8???

[yabxe]

Any reason to bump up to the 2.8 CPU for an extra $300? Running Lightroom and Maya and can see going to 6 on the RAM when prices drop but not sure if the 2.8 improves performance very much. Also run XP on occassion. I have concerns over heat with the 2.8.

[FinalCutJay]

Originally Posted by yabxe

Running Lightroom and Maya and can see going to 6 on the RAM when prices drop but not sure if the 2.8 improves performance very much.

I do video editing as well as AE & Shake and i'm getting into Cinema 4D as well as Maya soon.

If you are making a living off of using Maya and Lightroom, then make the investment and get the best machine possible. there is always going to be something bigger and better waiting for you around the corner so think in terms of the longevity of the machine and how much time you can squeeze out of it before needing a new one.

I'm still running a PPC 2.5 GHz Quad with 10GB of ram and an upgraded video card. The machine runs great. I do a lot of filter/effects rendering and my render times are just now starting to feel a bit slow compared to the newer towers.

Apple's upgrade seem so incremental that you need to think in terms of, in 3 years from now how slow will my computer be? if you go with a 2.5 well you'll be just a tad bit more behind. Personally i'm not exactly psyched on the idea that in June 2006 i spent $3200 on my tower and it's consider completely outdated and unsupported by Apple.

[Scepticalscribe]

Originally Posted by FinalCutJay

Apple's upgrade seem so incremental that you need to think in terms of, in 3 years from now how slow will my computer be? if you go with a 2.5 well you'll be just a tad bit more behind. Personally i'm not exactly psyched on the idea that in June 2006 i spent $3200 on my tower and it's consider completely outdated and unsupported by Apple.

Agree with this. It really depends on a number of questions which only you can answer. Such as, just what do you want to do with it, but also how long you wish to have the computer for? What you expect its working life to be, and how long you hope for it to be sufficiently technologically advanced to be able to do what you need it to do, without the computer feeling slow or strained.
In the circumstances, my advice would be the same as FinalCutJay's; get the best spec you can afford now and that should last you for a few years until it seems a bit out of date and has been superseded technologically.

Cheers

[yabxe]

Thanks for both replies. I am just hoping to have something for the road when you want to tweak a project or play with some idea that comes up understanding the unavoidable tradeoff with a laptop. Rendering will be painful but not as painful as waiting to get back to a tower and I do not want to lug a more powerful pc that comes with the weight. I am just having trouble with $300 to go from 2.53 to 2.8. I suspect the RAM when reasonably priced to move to 6GB will have a bigger impact.

[bigboy99]

It's less than a dollar a day if you don't upgrade for three years. I just got a fully loaded MacBook Pro - my G4 PowerBook Apple Care warranty expired last month, and the performance/feature difference between these two models was enough to make it a no brainer.