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2.4 Ghz Macbook vs. 2.4 Ghz Macbook Pro

E

edenX

macrumors newbie
Original poster
Mar 5, 2009
7
1
I'm sorry if this has already been asked, but I couldn't find a thread that answered all my questions. I am in the market for a new laptop. I'll primarily be using it for web browsing, email and a photoshop cs4 class. Would the 2.4 Ghz Macbook or the 2.4 Ghz macbook pro be better for those purposes.

I was also thinking of putting Windows on it.

The specs seem pretty similar. I would probably upgrade the HD to 320GB. Is there much of a difference between the Serial ATA @ 5400 and the 7200? The memory would also be upgraded to 4GB.

I'm mainly concerned with it running fast and not freezing up when running photoshop.

Thank you in advance :)
 
The only real difference between the two computers is the video card. All of the tasks you mentioned will have identical performance on both machines. If you don't want to play games, do movie editing or 3D modelling then go with the cheaper one.
 
neiltc13 said:
The only real difference between the two computers is the video card. All of the tasks you mentioned will have identical performance on both machines. If you don't want to play games, do movie editing or 3D modelling then go with the cheaper one.
Click to expand...

Thanks for the quick response :D

Does a better video card mean that the screen will look better as well? By that I mean clearer or more vibrant. Sorry if thats a dumb question :eek:
 
No the screen will not be more vibrant or clearer because of the better video card. However, the Macbook Pro has a higher quality panel in it which will make things such as viewing angles better. For most purposes though, the Macbook will suffice perfectly. For your needs I would still go for the regular Macbook.
 
edenX said:
Thanks for the quick response :D

Does a better video card mean that the screen will look better as well? By that I mean clearer or more vibrant. Sorry if thats a dumb question :eek:
Click to expand...

The screen on the MBP is a 15" 1440 x 900 while the Macbook has a 13" 1280 x 800 so the MBP has a better resolution screen and the better video card means it can play games and do gpu intensive apps better.

ChrisN
 
No, it won't look better, but it will make your photoshop actions be "faster". Sounds like this performance boost will be negligable for your use though. The Macbook will run CD4 absolutly fine! No freezing, it will be speedy. You will mainly want to consider the FW800 on the MBP, the 15" screen, and the greater resolution in it. The higher res. screen may or may not be invaluable to you. Yes, there is a noticible increase in performance of 7.2k drives. Most people recommend you get a 3rd party hard drive, as well as Ram, as it is cheaper, yet very reliable. Check out http://www.macsales.com/
 
Thank you all for the advice! I'll probably head to the Apple store tomorrow to check out the size/screen difference for myself. I'm always a sucker for a nice screen so it might be worth it to get the MBP for that reason. The regular MB does seem more practical though, since I won't be gaming or video editing on it.
 
screen size, quality of screen, MBP-comes stock with a backlit keyboard, Video card. Nothing major, I went for the 2.4 MBP because of The bigger screen and quality of the screen. Still use the same things as if i had the macbook still. I did an exchange from the 13" unibody macbook to the 15" macbook pro unibody
 
marioman38 said:
No, it won't look better, but it will make your photoshop actions be "faster". Sounds like this performance boost will be negligable for your use though. The Macbook will run CD4 absolutly fine! No freezing, it will be speedy. You will mainly want to consider the FW800 on the MBP, the 15" screen, and the greater resolution in it. The higher res. screen may or may not be invaluable to you. Yes, there is a noticible increase in performance of 7.2k drives. Most people recommend you get a 3rd party hard drive, as well as Ram, as it is cheaper, yet very reliable. Check out http://www.macsales.com/
Click to expand...

Thank you for the link!

Is it hard to install Ram or a 3rd party HD? I was thinking if I went that way I could get my MB or MBP from the retail store instead of waiting forever for a custom one from Apple. Is it better to install it before using the computer?
 
marioman38 said:
No, it won't look better, but it will make your photoshop actions be "faster". Sounds like this performance boost will be negligable for your use though. The Macbook will run CD4 absolutly fine! No freezing, it will be speedy. You will mainly want to consider the FW800 on the MBP, the 15" screen, and the greater resolution in it. The higher res. screen may or may not be invaluable to you. Yes, there is a noticible increase in performance of 7.2k drives. Most people recommend you get a 3rd party hard drive, as well as Ram, as it is cheaper, yet very reliable. Check out http://www.macsales.com/
Click to expand...

The Graphics Chip won't make any difference if he is using CS3.
 
neiltc13 said:
The Graphics Chip won't make any difference if he is using CS3.
Click to expand...

Are you sure about that?


I was always under the impression that system resources are shared with graphics processing, therefore the presence of dedicated graphics essentially makes the entire computer seem "faster" in the sense that graphics rendering doesn't tax so much on the system... Or some $#it :mad:
 
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