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1 x MBP or 2 x Dell Laptops?

MacFanUK

MacFanUK

macrumors 6502a
Original poster
Jul 29, 2009
546
0
UK
I am getting my student loan next week which means I can finally get myself a laptop but I still can't decide what to go for.

Here are my options:

1. 13" 2.26GHz Macbook Pro plus 24" ACD (£1298 with HE Discount)
2. 13" 2.26GHz Macbook Pro plus 2 x Samsung F2380 23" PVA Screens (£1241.98) - One for laptop one for desktop Windows 7 PC
3. 13" 2.53GHz Macbook Pro plus 1 x Samsung F2380 23" PVA Screen (£1223.99)
4. 15" 2.53GHz Macbook Pro (£1110 with HE Discount)

I will be using the laptop for university work (I'm studying Advanced Web Development) and will also be doing some light video editing (however this would only be done using the external display). I will also be doing image editing using Photoshop CS4.

What would you go for?

Thanks in advance
 
I would go for something within my needs, so not knowing yours makes it difficult to assess what you should buy.
 
MacMini2009 said:
I would do #3.
Click to expand...

Thanks. Is there a lot of difference between the 2.26GHz and 2.53GHz?

I have looked at the geekbench scores and the 2.26GHz has a score of 3140 whereas the 2.53GHz has a score of 3436. How much of this is likely to be down to the CPU and how much is likely to be due to the extra 2GB of Ram?
 
MacFanUK said:
Thanks. Is there a lot of difference between the 2.26GHz and 2.53GHz?

I have looked at the geekbench scores and the 2.26GHz has a score of 3140 whereas the 2.53GHz has a score of 3436. How much of this is likely to be down to the CPU and how much is likely to be due to the extra 2GB of Ram?
Click to expand...

Well this is how I see it, since the 2.53GHz comes with 4GB of RAM and a 250GB hard drive, you don't have to go through the hassle buying RAM and a hard drive, then opening it up, as you would do with the 2.26GHz model.
 
MacFanUK said:
F2380 23" PVA Screen
Click to expand...

IIRC, this monitor dithers under 10.5. This was posted in HardForum by ToastyX Link.

For photo editing, 6-bit colour isn't too good. Dithering is where 6-bit colour flashes between two colours to get a somewhat adaquate colour for the monitor to be displaying full 8-bit colour, as designated by the RGB colourspace.

Forgive all the "u"s in "colour" :p
 
MacMini2009 said:
Well this is how I see it, since the 2.53GHz comes with 4GB of RAM and a 250GB hard drive, you don't have to go through the hassle buying RAM and a hard drive, then opening it up, as you would do with the 2.26GHz model.
Click to expand...

Well, I am planning on either getting a SSD or a 500GB hard drive anyway, so the only advantage would be the CPU and Ram. The 250GB would be used in a USB or FW enclosure but it wouldn't be anymore useful than the 160GB as I doubt I will need to cart around more than 160GB of data.
 
MacMini2009 said:
Well this is how I see it, since the 2.53GHz comes with 4GB of RAM and a 250GB hard drive, you don't have to go through the hassle buying RAM and a hard drive, then opening it up, as you would do with the 2.26GHz model.
Click to expand...

Buying RAM and a hard drive need not take longer than 15 minutes online.

If you then go on to save around £100 for an hour's work (buying+fitting) that is worth mine and, from reading around, many consumers' time. When Apple's 4 GB RAM was a couple of hundred pounds more than it was to buy from Crucial, you agree that it was madness to continue to buy 4GB from Apple? Convenience never came into that equation either for me.
 
Dr.Pants said:
IIRC, this monitor dithers under 10.5. This was posted in HardForum by ToastyX Link.

For photo editing, 6-bit colour isn't too good. Dithering is where 6-bit colour flashes between two colours to get a somewhat adaquate colour for the monitor to be displaying full 8-bit colour, as designated by the RGB colourspace.

Forgive all the "u"s in "colour" :p
Click to expand...

As I'm from the UK, i like to see the "u"'s in colour every now and again :)

Thanks for pointing that link out. It seems to be quite a naff monitor. I think I'd be better off going for a 24" TN panel than that. What do you think?

Thanks
 
Ok, new problem:

My fiance has just managed to break her aging Acer laptop so now I'm not sure what to do. Should I offer to buy her a new laptop?

If I do, it will limit my options somewhat to:

1. 13" 2.26GHz Macbook Pro (£770 HE Price) plus Dell Inspiron 15 (C2D 2.1Ghz, 4GB Ram, 250GB HDD (£399) - Total £1170

2. 2 x 13" 2.26GHz Macbook Pro's (£1540 HE Price)

3. 2 x Dell Inspiron 15's (C2D 2.1GHz, 4GB Ram, 250GB HDD) (£798)

I can afford option 2 but only just, and it will put some strain on finances for a while. Alternatively, I could tell her tuff and continue with my original options.

What would you do?
 
Personally I think you should buy what you think you need for your Uni education. If you need the external monitor than go with one of your first options. If your the same age I take it she's at uni and then also have a student loan which she could use. Or she'd prob be working and could get her own. But yeah personally I'd get what I needed. If you don't need the external then get yourself the mbp and her a cheaper laptop if you want to
buy her one.
 
MacFanUK said:
As I'm from the UK, i like to see the "u"'s in colour every now and again :)

Thanks for pointing that link out. It seems to be quite a naff monitor. I think I'd be better off going for a 24" TN panel than that. What do you think?

Thanks
Click to expand...

*facedesk* Sorry if this reply took a long time.

Anyways, the reason why I was bringing it up was that the *VA panel was acting like a TN panel; it has to dither 6-bit color to display the whole gamut, and even then its an approximation (a very close one) by where the viewers head usually is in respect to the monitor. That's why there's all the nonsense about colour-shift and the like.

Personally, I have no clue on UK pricing for monitors (I hope its not crazy!) For accuracy, a 20" ACD (the "newer" variety, not the older) would do dandy. The Dell 2209WA is also pretty good, if not better.
 
Scarzy said:
Personally I think you should buy what you think you need for your Uni education. If you need the external monitor than go with one of your first options. If your the same age I take it she's at uni and then also have a student loan which she could use. Or she'd prob be working and could get her own. But yeah personally I'd get what I needed. If you don't need the external then get yourself the mbp and her a cheaper laptop if you want to
buy her one.
Click to expand...

My fiance is a bit younger than me, doesn't go to uni and can't work due to medical reasons. Her laptop has been dying for a long time (constantly going into hibernation, rebooting, keyboard has a couple of loose keys, etc, etc).

The final blow was when the power supply doesn't provide power to the laptop - could be fixed with a new PSU but who knows, so I would like to buy her a laptop if I can realistically afford it.

I already have a 23" Samsung monitor so buying an external monitor isn't really an issue - it would just be nice to have 'dual displays' but not a necessity.

Dr.Pants said:
*facedesk* Sorry if this reply took a long time.

Anyways, the reason why I was bringing it up was that the *VA panel was acting like a TN panel; it has to dither 6-bit color to display the whole gamut, and even then its an approximation (a very close one) by where the viewers head usually is in respect to the monitor. That's why there's all the nonsense about colour-shift and the like.

Personally, I have no clue on UK pricing for monitors (I hope its not crazy!) For accuracy, a 20" ACD (the "newer" variety, not the older) would do dandy. The Dell 2209WA is also pretty good, if not better.
Click to expand...

Thanks for your advice. I'm not sure whether a 20" or 22" would be sufficient as the resolutions are quite low compared to what I'm using now. Will have a look though.
 
The only advice I can add is that Dell's laptops are of a really bad quality, both in build quality and the level of design. They really are horrible, unless you pay quite a it more for the 'upper' models, at which point you enter the cost bracket of a MacBook or MacBook Pro anyway.
 
Cousin Dirk said:
The only advice I can add is that Dell's laptops are of a really bad quality, both in build quality and the level of design. They really are horrible, unless you pay quite a it more for the 'upper' models, at which point you enter the cost bracket of a MacBook or MacBook Pro anyway.
Click to expand...

I can agree with you on this really. I used to own an XPS M1530 which cost about the price I'll be paying for the MBP with HE discount and I sent it back because it would pretty poor quality. However, with my fiance's previous laptop being an Acer and having an old style Celeron processor, I feel anything would be an upgrade in both quality and spec.
 
I'd try and buy as little as possible with loans of any kind. I'm pushing 40, make a healthy six-figure income, and am STILL trying to pay off my wife's student loans. (will hopefully get them taken care of before I hit 50)

Be prudent. The more you sacrifice now, the better off you'll be in the future.
 
iMav said:
I'd try and buy as little as possible with loans of any kind. I'm pushing 40, make a healthy six-figure income, and am STILL trying to pay off my wife's student loans. (will hopefully get them taken care of before I hit 50)

Be prudent. The more you sacrifice now, the better off you'll be in the future.
Click to expand...

Not sure how student loans work in the US but in the UK they're only payable when you earn over a certain income, and the payments are taken straight from your wages. Even then, the remainder of the student loan is cancelled after 25 years :D
 
MacFanUK said:
Not sure how student loans work in the US but in the UK they're only payable when you earn over a certain income, and the payments are taken straight from your wages. Even then, the remainder of the student loan is cancelled after 25 years :D
Click to expand...

Definitely different in the US. :)
 
What a disappointment!

Went into the Apple Store today because I thought 'The MBP is a definate...it's just a matter of whether to get a 2nd laptop and if so, which one', so thought I would go and pick up my nice shiny new MBP today....Got to the store and was told I could have it for the HE price of £770, however, buying it instore would not give me the 3 year warranty that I would get if buying it online.

In the UK, as part of the HE Contract, when you buy a Mac from the HE store you get 3 years parts and labour warranty as standard, then an option to upgrade the 3 year warranty to 3 years of AppleCare for £47.

They said my only option is to buy online from my university network. Has anyone bought from the HE store over the phone? If so, did you get the 3 year warranty?
 
Yep

MacFanUK said:
Went into the Apple Store today because I thought 'The MBP is a definate...it's just a matter of whether to get a 2nd laptop and if so, which one', so thought I would go and pick up my nice shiny new MBP today....Got to the store and was told I could have it for the HE price of £770, however, buying it instore would not give me the 3 year warranty that I would get if buying it online.

In the UK, as part of the HE Contract, when you buy a Mac from the HE store you get 3 years parts and labour warranty as standard, then an option to upgrade the 3 year warranty to 3 years of AppleCare for £47.

They said my only option is to buy online from my university network. Has anyone bought from the HE store over the phone? If so, did you get the 3 year warranty?
Click to expand...

Yep I bought mine with the HE discount over the phone, no problem, my recommendation however would be wait until you have confirmation of your uni status and then join the student developer program as you get a larger discount, 20% I believe, but only on one piece of tech
 
Why not get two of the white Macbooks? These are great little machines and quite a bit cheaper than the 13" MBP. (I don't know the UK pricing, however...) Other than a small bump in processor speed, the Macbook and the 13" MBP are equal (in terms of computing power, NOT asthetics - personally, I like my white MB).
 
You can get the HE applecare in store, but many of the assistants just don't know it. I know this because I did it a month ago. As for the computers, get one for your fiance if you can, you'll feel much better for it.:)
 
Having two computers is a pain in the butt. I bought my MacBook as a complementary computer to my iMac, but sold the latter quickly after I realized I was using the MacBook most of the time. So my advice would be not to get two laptops. I would definitely go for a 13" MacBook Pro (the portability of that size is great) and an external display. Considering most computer content is more or less vertically orientated, I'd get a 16:10 display, and not a 16:9 model.
 
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