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Any reason to chose the 2.53GHz vs. the 2.4GHz

Dembo

Dembo

macrumors regular
Original poster
Jun 14, 2007
185
13
London, UK / Frankfurt, Germany
Hi all,

I will replace my mid 2007 15'' MBP with a High-Res 15'' i5 MBP in a few weeks and I am wondering whether there is any reason to chose the "mid" model (i.e. 2.53GHz i5, 500 GB HD).

The machine is used primarily to crunch Canon 5D2 RAW files (LR/CS4) and the usual web, music, video stuff. A SSD is out of question (for now) since I occasionally need to unload a whole set of 16GB CF cards straight to the internal HD (although RAW files are later moved to external storage units) so I need the 500 GB internal.

My plan is to either go for the 2.4GHz/i5 and swap the HD out myself (over here in Europe Apple charges enough for the upgrade so that I can buy a 500 GB drive myself and keep the 320 GB in an external enclosure) or go straight for the 2.53GHz/i5, however, the additional CPU speed seems to be minuscule.

Any reasons to still chose the "mid" option? Are there any reviews out comparing the two machines?

Cheers,
Dembo
 
2.53GHz is ~5% faster so unless you use nanosecond stopwatch, you won't notice the difference. You're better off getting the 2.4GHz and upgrade the HD yourself, you can get up to 1TB if you want
 
Agreed. No reason at all for the 2.53. Save the money and get an intel SSD. That's a huge upgrade!
 
drew0020 said:
Agreed. No reason at all for the 2.53. Save the money and get an intel SSD. That's a huge upgrade!
Click to expand...

Sorry for the hi-jack but what intel SSD is proving to be the most popular among MacBook users? I bought a new i5 15" with a 7200 rpm hd and its pretty noisy....especially compared to my wife's 13 MPB purchased in December.
 
Hooksta said:
Sorry for the hi-jack but what intel SSD is proving to be the most popular among MacBook users? I bought a new i5 15" with a 7200 rpm hd and its pretty noisy....especially compared to my wife's 13 MPB purchased in December.
Click to expand...

X25-M G2 80GB/160GB
 
Well since the 500 GB drive was important to me that and the larger student discount on the 2.53 model made it only a $50 difference between the 2.4 and 2.53 models. I figured it was worth it to go for the 2.53.
 
drew0020 said:
Agreed. No reason at all for the 2.53. Save the money and get an intel SSD. That's a huge upgrade!
Click to expand...

SSD surely is tempting but I do need the 500GB - the smallest SSD I could live with would be 240GB and the speed gains couldn't be large enough to justify the cost.

Getting rid of the optical drive and using an internal SSD and an internal HD might be a solution I look into later. Since we are diverting anyway: Any recommendations for a reliable HD kit for the optical bay?
 
Dembo said:
Getting rid of the optical drive and using an internal SSD and an internal HD might be a solution I look into later. Since we are diverting anyway: Any recommendations for a reliable HD kit for the optical bay?
Click to expand...

I've taken the SSD route, 80GB Intel SSD + 320GB factory hdd using a MCE Optibay.

They are also giving out external USB cases to put your existing superdrive in, for free, makes the price tag a little less outrageous, compared to http://newmodeus.com/shop/index.php?main_page=product_info&products_id=220 which has been mentioned on this forum
 
mcbridematt said:
I've taken the SSD route, 80GB Intel SSD + 320GB factory hdd using a MCE Optibay.
Click to expand...

Thanks for the MCE suggestion - I'll look into that. My gut feeling is that SSDs still have some way to go price-point wise. So I'll sit tight for this year and take the SSD + internal HD combo down as a project for next year.

So the plan right now is to go for the baseline MBP and replace the stock 320GB drive with a 7200rpm 500GB drive. Compared to my June/2007 MBP the speed bump should be pretty significant.
 
Why does everyone always recommend the i5 and an SSD. Does everyone have the same spending cap. Whats wrong with the i7 AND an SSD. Bunch of parrots around here barfing the same recommendations.
 
rawd said:
Why does everyone always recommend the i5 and an SSD. Does everyone have the same spending cap. Whats wrong with the i7 AND an SSD. Bunch of parrots around here barfing the same recommendations.
Click to expand...
It's a good thing you know everything and are better than everyone isn't it!
 
Dembo said:
Thanks for the MCE suggestion - I'll look into that. My gut feeling is that SSDs still have some way to go price-point wise. So I'll sit tight for this year and take the SSD + internal HD combo down as a project for next year.

So the plan right now is to go for the baseline MBP and replace the stock 320GB drive with a 7200rpm 500GB drive. Compared to my June/2007 MBP the speed bump should be pretty significant.
Click to expand...

Optibay ftw. (check my sig)
 
mcbridematt said:
I've taken the SSD route, 80GB Intel SSD + 320GB factory hdd using a MCE Optibay.

They are also giving out external USB cases to put your existing superdrive in, for free, makes the price tag a little less outrageous, compared to http://newmodeus.com/shop/index.php?main_page=product_info&products_id=220 which has been mentioned on this forum
Click to expand...

DONT go for that go for the MCE or wire splice the thing because that one does not work...another forum members have posted its fitment is uneven and sticks out a bit. So you only have two options the MCE or wiresplice which is cheaper and DIY vs. the clean install of MCE and higher price.

But if you get the student discount why not pay 50 more for the gb's and lil more CPU power...?
 
I ordered the 2.53 for it's larger HD and better speed over the 2.4. Mostly for the HD. I found it a better option than spending 100 bucks or more for a 500Gb drive on the 2.4. It was about the same price but the 2.53 gave me the extra speed boost.
 
hopefully the BTS specials soon because by the way it looks I will be purchasing my MBP next wed/thurs/fri but its really hard to KEEP WAITING

well whenever you do get it I'm sure you be happy. :p
 
rawd said:
Why does everyone always recommend the i5 and an SSD. Does everyone have the same spending cap. Whats wrong with the i7 AND an SSD. Bunch of parrots around here barfing the same recommendations.
Click to expand...

well... i7 is only good for gaming :D
so if you dont game take an i5 and upgrade to ssd ;)
and if you have too much money like us buy both an i7 and a ssd :cool: :D
 
Garrus said:
well... i7 is only good for gaming :D
Click to expand...

Not to sure about this:

"2. The MBP Core i7 beats the MBP Core i5 by only 0% to 6% -- mainly because they have the same GPU and we were running at native 1920x1200 resolution at high or ultra quality. If your main use of the MacBook Pro is for gaming, the MacBook Pro Core i7 may not be worth the extra $200 (or 9%) premium over the Core i5."

Quoted from http://www.barefeats.com/mbpp21.html

As of now I think that there are better upgrades for a notebook than investing in CPU power.
 
Macbook Pro i5 17"

fixed- my wife found the dvds. You have to use the same dvd that came with it to restore
 
phuynh24 said:
Someone please help!!!!!!!!

Here what I did. I bough a brand new Mbp 17' i5 2.53ghz. I removed my 500gh 7200rpm from my old mbp and placed in my new Mbp i5.

mbp i5 didn't regonize it so I removed it and used an usb adapter to connect to my old mbp and format it. Verified-okay.

so when place the 7200rpm hdd back in my i5 mbp and it still dont regonize. It stuck a the apple logo without spinning gear.

i went in safe mode and it not allowing me to type anything.

I don't have the i5 mbp restore dvds because we just moved and my wife threw it some where.

I bought a Snow leopard 10.6.3 dvd retail and it not booting as well.


can someone help?
Click to expand...

A retail copy of 10.6.3 has an older build than the one specific for the MacBook Pro.
 
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