2.4ghz with 8gb vs. 2.53 or 2.66 i7 with 4gb . . .

[CCP615]

Hey guys,

Longtime lurker, first time poster . . . I'm looking to grab one of these new MBP's in the next few days, but as an admittedly ungeeky mac guy, I need some advice. . .

I'll be mostly using my MBP for DJ and Logic work, as well as the occasional Illustrator or Photoshop project, along with some movie watching. No games or 3D stuff necessary.

For my needs, will getting the 2.53 or the 2.66 make a justifiable difference over the 2.4? I'm planning on getting 8gb with the 2.4, doing the 7200rpm upgrade and getting a HR screen on whichever one I choose, but just wanna make sure my going with a cheaper processor and more RAM isn't shooting myself in the foot down the road more than getting a slightly faster proc with less RAM.

Thanks

 

[therealseebs]

Hey guys,

Longtime lurker, first time poster . . . I'm looking to grab one of these new MBP's in the next few days, but as an admittedly ungeeky mac guy, I need some advice. . .

I'll be mostly using my MBP for DJ and Logic work, as well as the occasional Illustrator or Photoshop project, along with some movie watching. No games or 3D stuff necessary.

For my needs, will getting the 2.53 or the 2.66 make a justifiable difference over the 2.4? I'm planning on getting 8gb with the 2.4, doing the 7200rpm upgrade and getting a HR screen on whichever one I choose, but just wanna make sure my going with a cheaper processor and more RAM isn't shooting myself in the foot down the road more than getting a slightly faster proc with less RAM.

Thanks

My personal advice: If you have to choose, get the faster CPU. Memory prices drop over time, and you can replace the memory. You can't swap out the CPU later. I have usually gotten my Mac machines with the minimum memory Apple would sell and bought my own memory third party. (This time's an exception; it turns out that I end up paying less for the 8GB from Apple than I would buying decent memory myself, because of a discount, and I have no use for the spare 4GB I'd end up with...)

 

[Chupa Chupa]

I'd go w/ more RAM -- not Apple's though. Too expensive. Judging from the Benchmarks there isn't a whole lot difference b/t the 2.4 and the 2.53 -- maybe 5-7%. Sure it's faster, but not significantly so. OTOH you will feel the extra RAM, especially in a hungry app like Logic Pro.

If you were doing PS and Illus. all the time I'd say go for the i7 w/ the extra VRAM but for occasional use the i5 will be fine.

 

[gadgetfreaky]

more ram in this case.

 

[CCP615]

Ok . . . so now I'm deciding between the 2.4ghz with 8gb and the 2.66ghz also with 8gb - I know that the better computer is obviously the i7, but does the extra .26ghz, 256mb of VRAM, and 1mb more cache justify the $200 difference? Sorry if the answer's obvious, but my I keep second guessing myself . . .

 

[vant]

Ok . . . so now I'm deciding between the 2.4ghz with 8gb and the 2.66ghz also with 8gb - I know that the better computer is obviously the i7, but does the extra .26ghz, 256mb of VRAM, and 1mb more cache justify the $200 difference? Sorry if the answer's obvious, but my I keep second guessing myself . . .

Depends on what you plan to do. If you plan to surf the web, it's overkill.

 

[CCP615]

As I said before, I'm a DJ who will also be using Logic frequently . . . I do use Photoshop and Illustrator to design flyers and do stuff for my company's site, but nothing insane or overly complicated. I think I'll just get the i7 with 8gb, high res, 7200rpm upgrade(might swap for SSD later, but I need more internal space) . . . That way I'm at least maximizing longevity.

 

[Jaro65]

The i7 will maximize your laptop's longevity. You can get an SSD whenever you'd like.