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r.egan

macrumors newbie
Original poster
Jun 10, 2012
4
0
Upon ordering the MBP I had finally decided on (2.3 GHz, 8MB RAM, 1GHz video RAM and a 750 GB - 5400 RPM HD) I learned that B&H was out of stock.

Not knowing how soon they will have inventory I have neen looking at essentially the same configuration except with a 2.6GHz processor and a faster HD (750GB - 7200RPM). The difference in price is $200. Are these upgrades going to be noticable enough to warrant the additional cost?

I plan to use the MBP primarily as a desktop machine with an external monitor. I am by no means a power user, the machine will mainly be used for web surfing, MS Office, some photo and video editing and possibly a few games. I have heard that the battery life decreases significantly when going from the 2.3 to the 2.6, has this been confirmed? Any other possible drawbacks? I tend to keep my computers a long time (my current desktop is a Dell XPS tower I bought in 2005), will going for the 2.6 buy be some additional time over the 2.3?

I have no problem spending the additional money if it can be justified. Comments and feedback would be greatly appreciated.
 

AirThis

macrumors 6502a
Mar 6, 2012
518
14
I need to make the same choice as you. I tend to prefer the cheaper machine. Apart from the slower processor, the only difference I can see is the graphics card. 512Mb for 2.3Ghz model vs 1Gb for the faster processor (see explanations below). My main motivation for getting a powerful machine is to run VMs for client/server scenarios. I'll also do some light video editing (15-20 minute movies), a bit of programming, and some image editing. For me the real deciding factor is the possibility of getting 16Gb of RAM (for the VMs) and of adding a 512Gb SSD drive when the price is right. The higher end machine would help a bit with the VMs, but I don't absolutely I need it.

P.S. I'm a bit puzzled by the specs you gave for the 2.3 GHz cMBP, in particular for the graphics card. (Edit: are we talking about the cMBP here or the rMBP?).These are the specs on Apple's web site:

2.3GHz quad-core Intel Core i7
Turbo Boost up to 3.3GHz
4GB 1600MHz memory
500GB 5400-rpm hard drive1
Intel HD Graphics 4000
NVIDIA GeForce GT 650M with 512MB of GDDR5 memory
Built-in battery (7 hours)2
 

r.egan

macrumors newbie
Original poster
Jun 10, 2012
4
0
What appealed to me about purchasing from B&H is the fact that you can get a 2.3GHz machine with the 1GHz video card. I assume that Apple is supplying them with a custom configuration as I have yet to find any other retailers, including the Apple store, that offer the 1GHz video card with the 2.3GHz processor. The only catch is that you have to go with 8GB of RAM and the 750 GB HD. I plan at some point to upgrade to 16GB of RAM and add a Solid State drive.

----------

AirThis, here are the specifications:

2.3GHz Intel Core i7 Quad-Core Ivy Bridge with Turbo Boost to 3.7 GHzL3: 8MB2x Type: 1600MHz DDR3 SDRAMInstalled: 8GBCapacity: 8GBType: IntegratedInstalled: Intel HD Graphics 4000 Shared; nVIDIA GeForce GT 650M with 1GB GDDR5 SDRAM
 
Last edited:

AirThis

macrumors 6502a
Mar 6, 2012
518
14
AirThis, here are the specifications:

2.3GHz Intel Core i7 Quad-Core Ivy Bridge with Turbo Boost to 3.7 GHzL3: 8MB2x Type: 1600MHz DDR3 SDRAMInstalled: 8GBCapacity: 8GBType: IntegratedInstalled: Intel HD Graphics 4000 Shared; nVIDIA GeForce GT 650M with 1GB GDDR5 SDRAM

Do you have a link by any chance? BH effectively sells with 8Gb (good point), but the spec sheet says 512Mb for the dGPU on this link:

http://www.bhphotovideo.com/c/product/875267-REG/Apple_Z0MV_MD1032_15_4_MacBook_Pro_Z1032.html
 

PhoenixMac

macrumors 65816
Mar 7, 2010
1,009
1
Upon ordering the MBP I had finally decided on (2.3 GHz, 8MB RAM, 1GHz video RAM and a 750 GB - 5400 RPM HD) I learned that B&H was out of stock.



I plan to use the MBP primarily as a desktop machine ..................
I have heard that the battery life decreases [\b].......


I am confused by the bold part. You want to use it as a desktop but worry about battery life?
 

r.egan

macrumors newbie
Original poster
Jun 10, 2012
4
0
AirThis, I went back to their web site and the specs now reflect 512MB of video RAM and a 750GB-7200RPM HD. Apparently they made an error and changed the specs since I last viewed the computer this morning.
 
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