2.0 w/ 1 gb... or..... 1.83 with 2gb?

[Nar1117]

Hello everyone...

Ive been quite interested recently in The performance of the 2.0ghz Macbook Pro versus the performance of the 1.83ghz model. Ill be getting a Macbook this summer, for school, and im looking to get the best Macbook for playing Battlefield 2 on, without spending the most amount of money. My budget is about $2600. I plan on getting applecare and a sub-$100 printer (apple has a up to $100 rebate on printers through July 17th), and i will be using my student discount.

It seems my options are:

A 2.0 Ghz w/1gb RAM with Applecare and a basically free printer.. Cost: $2,538

1.83 Model with 2Gb RAM and Applecare, with a basically free printer.
Cost:$2,488


My question is: Is it a better deal to sacrifice the .17ghz and 128mb of Vram for an extra 1gb of RAM?

Whichever system any of you suggest, do you know what sort of settings i will be able to run BF2 on? Ive done a lot of research around the net, and on here, and it seems that most folks are doing Medium settings all around with maybe 2x AA, and it runs 30-40 FPS. Is this what i can expect?


Thanks for reading!
-Nar

 

[calebjohnston]

I get the first option, 128 more vram mmmmmmmmmm.

 

[isgoed]

I would drop the AppleCare. MacRumors is here to help you.

 

[greatdevourer]

Definatly the 2.0 w/ 1GB. You can upgrade the RAM at a later date (probably for less than off Apple), and I wouldn't even think of attempting to upgrade the proc

 

[bugfaceuk]

Definatly the 2.0 w/ 1GB. You can upgrade the RAM at a later date (probably for less than off Apple), and I wouldn't even think of attempting to upgrade the proc

The VRAM will make a big difference to games, the extra clock Mhz... I'm less convinced of the benefit of.

As for adding the RAM later, get a single DIMM 1Gb, Crucial have some great prices (last time I checked around 120 UKP, not sure what the USD price is). While we are here, does anyone know of the impact of not having a matched pair?

 

[JFreak]

upgrade the CPU and VRAM now that you can. it is very easy to add ram later on, if you feel the need.

 

[Nar1117]

If i drop the applecare and upgrade to 2gb RAM on the 2.0 model, the price goes up to $2,570. Is that a good Option?

How much does the 1 yr warranty cover? Is it basically a 1 yr. Applecare? Apple or not, i would def. like some sort of warranty, things break.

 

[kretzy]

If i drop the applecare and upgrade to 2gb RAM on the 2.0 model, the price goes up to $2,570. Is that a good Option?

How much does the 1 yr warranty cover? Is it basically a 1 yr. Applecare? Apple or not, i would def. like some sort of warranty, things break.

The 1 year warranty is Applecare. Buy purchasing it you get an extra 2 years plus phone tech help. I think you only get 90 days otherwise.

 

[eXan]

Definately get faster machine with less RAM, cuz u can upgade RAM later and you cannot upgrade CPU, GPU, etc

 

[Nar1117]

Well im pretty sure that the macbooks come with a standard 1 yr warranty, unless im reading the Apple site wrong. For $240 i could get an extra 2 yrs with that.

Ive had one of those Desk Lamp iMacs, the 17 inch, for... 3 years? 4? And we've never had to send it in or anything to get worked on. A friend of mine has an older iBook, and hes had to send it in a few times, its had the mobo rerplaced, the Hdd replaced, and now hes sending it in for a screen repair. It is pretty old though.

Im hoping i wont have to send my Macbook in too much, just because of the inconvenience. Anyone know if the standard warranty pays for the shipping if you have to send it in? I know Apple will send you a box and pay for litetrally everything if you have a problem, and also have the 3 year Applecare.

I might just go with the 2.0 with 1gb and Applecare, and get some cheaper RAM in the future.

 

[Abulia]

You can get AppleCare within the 1 year of your warranty, so you don't even need to buy AppleCare out the gate. See if the machine has problems and before the warranty expires in a year, pick up AppleCare.

 

[baby duck monge]

Like everyone has said, get the faster computer and worry about the RAM later. Especially if you want to play some games, having a faster video card will help things out even with less memory. Then, down the line sometime, you can slap in another gig (or 2) and get a speed boost that wouldn't be possible on the slower machine. Also, delay getting the Applecare extension as long as you can so you can recoop some of your money in the meantime.

 

[TheMasin9]

heres the thing

YOU DONT NEED TO BUY APPLES OVERPRICED RAM!! get the faster machine with more vram and buy a 1 gig dimm on newegg for like 80$ you can get applecare for macbooks for like 250 or less on ebay. exhaust your shopping options mate, dont stick with just direct from apple.

 

[Nar1117]

Yees... sounds like a plan. How much RAM can the Macbook hold? 2 gigs? 3?

 

[jsw]

A couple of opinions:

(1) I always, always, always get AppleCare with laptops. I consider it decent insurance given the incredibly high cost of repairs otherwise. As mentioned, it only gives you those extra two years - the first one is included - but I personally think it's worth it. I also wait to buy it until the first year is nearly up - no reason for them to keep my money any longer than necessary.

(2) Buy RAM from a reputable dealer who sells Mac-certified sticks. I've bought many GB worth of RAM from OWC and am very happy with them. Others use other places. Macs, however, are very finicky about RAM, and I think it's crazy to save a few bucks buying from newegg when for just a bit more you can get Mac-certified RAM with a lifetime guarantee from somewhere else.

(3) You're going to eventually "need" 2GB of RAM. However, 1.5GB works nicely, so I'd get 512MB (the default), add a 3rd party 1GB stick, and be happy until you really need that last 512MB (if ever).

(4) I think the 7200RPM drive is more important than VRAM or the tiny boost in CPU speed.

Personally, if I were you, I'd get the 1.83, a 100GB 7200RPM drive, 1GB of 3rd party RAM, and AppleCare before the year is up if you don't sell the laptop by then for a newer one.

The extra VRAM is a nice thing, but I'm not sure it's worth the $$$.

Yees... sounds like a plan. How much RAM can the Macbook hold? 2 gigs? 3?

2GB.

 

[Nar1117]

yes, well as others have said, i dont mind spending a few extra bucks if it means i can squeeze that much more out of it, and i get the 1gb standard.

 

[BurtonCCC]

...for school, and im looking to get the best Macbook for playing Battlefield 2 on...

Nice to see somebody that feels the same way about college that I do.

Daniel.

 

[isgoed]

A couple of opinions:

(1) I always, always, always get AppleCare with laptops. I consider it decent insurance given the incredibly high cost of repairs otherwise. As mentioned, it only gives you those extra two years - the first one is included - but I personally think it's worth it. I also wait to buy it until the first year is nearly up - no reason for them to keep my money any longer than necessary.

(2) Buy RAM from a reputable dealer who sells Mac-certified sticks. I've bought many GB worth of RAM from OWC and am very happy with them. Others use other places. Macs, however, are very finicky about RAM, and I think it's crazy to save a few bucks buying from newegg when for just a bit more you can get Mac-certified RAM with a lifetime guarantee from somewhere else.

(3) You're going to eventually "need" 2GB of RAM. However, 1.5GB works nicely, so I'd get 512MB (the default), add a 3rd party 1GB stick, and be happy until you really need that last 512MB (if ever).

(4) I think the 7200RPM drive is more important than VRAM or the tiny boost in CPU speed.

Personally, if I were you, I'd get the 1.83, a 100GB 7200RPM drive, 1GB of 3rd party RAM, and AppleCare before the year is up if you don't sell the laptop by then for a newer one.

The extra VRAM is a nice thing, but I'm not sure it's worth the $$$.

2GB.

(1) Disagree. I consider 1 year warranty long enough.
(2) Disagree. I never heard of ram failing.
(3) Disagree. You should keep matched pairs of ram for best performance. And you don't have to sell your left-over 512 MB when you upgrade.
(4) Disagree. The 120GB 5400 rpm is also faster than the 100GB 5400 rpm (because of higher datadensity (5400x120=648k || 7200x100=720k)), plus you get an extra 20GB of storage, while the disk is also more battery efficient. The Hard Disk is the bottleneck in the system and although I do expect the 7200 RPM drive to be still somewhat faster; only for some media application (photoshop-video) will the drive be worth the bux. Since you indicate BF2, i would suggest that video RAM and CPU-speed is worth the money.

 

[skillz1318]

you do not need to match ram sticks, i got the 1.83 with stock 512 ram, just bought an aftermarket 1gb stick from datamem and it works great bumping my ram to 1.5gb, huge improvement in performance, i also opted for the faster 100gb 7200rpm hd...i didnt feel the extra few hundred bucks was worth it for the little bump in processor speed and the 128 mb of vram, but its up to you....im playing f.e.a.r on bootcamp at pretty much max settings with no problems....

 

[rand()]

(1) Disagree. I consider 1 year warranty long enough.
(2) Disagree. I never heard of ram failing.
(3) Disagree. You should keep matched pairs of ram for best performance. And you don't have to sell your left-over 512 MB when you upgrade.
(4) Disagree. The 120GB 5400 rpm is also faster than the 100GB 5400 rpm (because of higher datadensity (5400x120=648k || 7200x100=720k)), plus you get an extra 20GB of storage, while the disk is also more battery efficient. The Hard Disk is the bottleneck in the system and although I do expect the 7200 RPM drive to be still somewhat faster; only for some media application (photoshop-video) will the drive be worth the bux. Since you indicate BF2, i would suggest that video RAM and CPU-speed is worth the money.

(1) I disagree with you... so I agree with jsw. On a laptop (with apple's history regarding laptops) I would get the Applecare. But since you can use that money to get a better laptop, I would wait on the applecare until your 1 year is almost up. That way you've got the year to save the extra $240, which in the meantime can get you a decent upgrade now.
(2) You've been fortunate, I suppose, that you've never received a bad stick of RAM. Trust me. When it fails, it fails spectacularly. And it's not particularly uncommon - I've gotten bad ram from even a trusted supplier. That said, I'll second OWC.
(3) I agree that matched pairs will yield the best performance. But matched pairs aside, more RAM will yield better performance over less RAM regardless of matching. If it's an issue of cost, don't worry about the match.
(4) I'm with you on the drive 100%. I think generally media professionals should keep their larger files on an external drive anyway, because it adds performance, reliability, and additional portability. For general school uses, the 120GB 5400 is plenty of storage and performance. As for games, once it's loaded in RAM, the HD's not generally doing a whole lot. No worries.

Let us know what you get!

-rand()

 

[dmw007]

I might just go with the 2.0 with 1gb and Applecare, and get some cheaper RAM in the future.

This would be my advice to you. Go with the 2GHz MacBook Pro, 1GB DDR, and AppleCare.

 

[airkarol]

i would drop the applecare for now

get it towards the end of the 1 year warranty, theres always a chance you might sell the computer :?

 

[Nar1117]

i would drop the applecare for now

get it towards the end of the 1 year warranty, theres always a chance you might sell the computer :?

Surely you jest.

Well, ive revised my decision to getting the 2.0ghz with 2gb RAM, and no applecare. This comes out to be $30 more than 1gb of RAM with applecare. And since i dont need aplecare for a year, ill just use the money to get an extra gig of RAM.

However, there are going to be college deals during the summer I imagine, so ill probably wait until July-August to get it.

As an aside, Macmall is offering systems with XP already installed, which is a pretty good deal. If i dont go for what i described above, ill go with a 2.0 with 1 gig of ram, with XP installed already from Macmall. How does that sound?

 

[miniConvert]

I think buying a Mac without AppleCare is kinda crazy. These machines are going to be around for a long time, and will certainly be holding their own in 2-3 years. You're going to want AppleCare when things start to wear out.

Personally I'd lump for the extra RAM.

 

[Nar1117]

yes, but ill be getting windows after i get the mac anyway, so whynot just get it installed for less than i'd pay for it anyway? Unless people think that slipstreaming is easy... i havent tried it yet, although im considering it. We have an XP CD, but its not SP2.