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$2,500 budget, need your opinion

milan03

milan03

macrumors 6502
Original poster
Jul 16, 2002
440
13
New York City
Well, like the title says, I can spend no more than $2,500 usd, and absolute not a penny over so please avoid the replies like "if you add just ... $, you could get blah blah.. :)

Here is what I'm looking into:

1. Refurbished 17" Hi-Res Glossy Merom 2.4Ghz 7,200rpm $2,350

2. New 15" Penryn 2.5Ghz 7,200rpm $2,350 (after the student discount)

3. New 15" Penryn 2.4Ghz 7,200rpm $1,890 (after the student discount)

My main concern is if the previous gen 17" nonLED merom screens are good enough comparing to the new LED 15" or 17" penryn MBP ones? Ive been seeing lots of complaints about the new LED panel defects, wondering if the previous gen 17 inchers had less problems.
Please share your opinions ups and downs of each generation.

Your opinion is HIGHLY appreciated! :)
 
I think the biggest question is how are you going to use your MBP. As a student, I wanted the 15" version because it has more portability. Especially now that I live off campus, it is easy for me to bring my PBG4 15" to school. I feel that the 17" would have been too bulky and heavy. That being said, between 2 and 3, I would choose 3 hands down. The only difference between them is the CPU (negligible), the L2 Cache (from what I understand, doesn't make any appreciable difference), the video card RAM (from what I have read, the card cannot even utilize the extra RAM), and the HDD (but it seems that you are using a BTO HDD option). Therefore, IMO, I think it comes down to what screen size you want. When you decide that, if you want a 15" screen, then 3 is your answer, if you want 17" 1 is your answer.
 
robanga said:
The third one. All of that $$ for just another .1 Ghz seems a bit of a stretch.
Click to expand...

Whats the deal with the screen? How do the merom and penryn 17" panels compare?
As i said $2,500 is the budget. I'm not really chasing the .1Ghz, but rather more screen real estate as I will be doing lots of music and video editing as well as watching HD videos. However, as I said, I really need opinion on how good are the previous 17" lcd's. I'd rather go for the new 15" if the previous 17" panels were a lot worse than the current ones.

Thank you guys!
 
milan03 said:
Whats the deal with the screen? How do the merom and penryn 17" panels compare?
As i said $2,500 is the budget. I'm not really chasing the .1Ghz, but rather more screen real estate as I will be doing lots of music and video editing as well as watching HD videos. However, as I said, I really need opinion on how good are the previous 17" lcd's. I'd rather go for the new 15" if the previous 17" panels were a lot worse than the current ones.

Thank you guys!
Click to expand...

I would say that you'll probably get a good LCD with a refurbished since they are guaranteed to be looked over by a human. Although I would go with option 3 as that is the most cost effective method, and I have the same laptop and it is perfect.
 
iBookG4user said:
I would say that you'll probably get a good LCD with a refurbished since they are guaranteed to be looked over by a human. Although I would go with option 3 as that is the most cost effective method, and I have the same laptop and it is perfect.
Click to expand...

Oh I'm absolutely sure that the refurbished MBP will be mint condition, but I wanted to know in technical terms how are the previous gen nonLED 17" panels compare with the current 17" LED ones in terms of pure performance, battery life, etc...

Thanks for your fast replies!
 
u can get a santa rosa basemodel mbp for 1699 @ guitar center with 1 year intrest free no payments i think that right there blows all those deals away.;)

but at the same time the basemodel penryn is the best choice i cant complain

get a external upgrade the memory buy a nice 22inch screen maybe a mouse too wid the left over dough
 
DJJONES said:
u can get a santa rosa basemodel mbp for 1699 @ guitar center with 1 year intrest free no payments i think that right there blows all those deals away.;)

but at the same time the basemodel penryn is the best choice i cant complain

get a external upgrade the memory buy a nice 22inch screen maybe a mouse too wid the left over dough
Click to expand...

Actually, if you are talking about the previous basic merom model 2.2Ghz, refurbished one off the apple site is about 1,449, 2.4Ghz is 1,649. I am buying the laptop through the 1 year 0% interest Visa... also already have 24" Dell's 24wfp. hehe :) Lol I shouldnt've posted the option 3 hehe...
 
ADC student account $99
2.5ghz 17" hi-res glossy MBP w/ ADC hardware discount $2,319
total $2418

thats what i did.. and the thing is amazing.. HD stuff looks incredible on this display, and not a single problem with funny noises, bad display etc.. its perfect
 
milan03 said:
Actually, if you are talking about the previous basic merom model 2.2Ghz, refurbished one off the apple site is about 1,449, 2.4Ghz is 1,649. I am buying the laptop through the 1 year 0% interest Visa... also already have 24" Dell's 24wfp. hehe :) Lol I shouldnt've posted the option 3 hehe...
Click to expand...

thats how u do it! lolll:D
 
Third one, spend the remainder on AppleCare + 3rd party RAM + and a new case for the machine.
 
Lol so i guess i should get the new 2.4Ghz...
But i already have 24" screen... I would need something for the road that has some real estate.
 
milan03 said:
Lol so i guess i should get the new 2.4Ghz...
But i already have 24" screen... I would need something for the road that has some real estate.
Click to expand...

Why would you need extra screen size on the road? Do you travel ALOT?

If not, going with the 15" is fine. You always have the 24" at home when you really need it. 2" larger doesn't make a whole big difference.
 
Ryuukumori said:
Why would you need extra screen size on the road? Do you travel ALOT?

If not, going with the 15" is fine. You always have the 24" at home when you really need it. 2" larger doesn't make a whole big difference.
Click to expand...

I do travel all the time. THats the thing. <----- musician.
 
milan03 said:
Oh I'm absolutely sure that the refurbished MBP will be mint condition, but I wanted to know in technical terms how are the previous gen nonLED 17" panels compare with the current 17" LED ones in terms of pure performance, battery life, etc...

Thanks for your fast replies!
Click to expand...

I've owned both the Santa Rosa MBP (15") and the Penryn MBP (15") both were stock $2000 models upgraded to 4GB of RAM. There is maybe a 10% or so speed increase, and an hour more of battery life which is really nice on the Penryn version.
 
iBookG4user said:
I've owned both the Santa Rosa MBP (15") and the Penryn MBP (15") both were stock $2000 models upgraded to 4GB of RAM. There is maybe a 10% or so speed increase, and an hour more of battery life which is really nice on the Penryn version.
Click to expand...

Now thats a real response :D
So i guess Penryn's battery life is a bit longer.
Could anyone compare the merom vs penryn 17" battery/screen performance?

Thank you!
 
I got the 2.4 with 200 GB hard drive. Also bought a printer, external HD, remote, iWork, and Applecare. The total was $26xx (and change). Basically, you can get under your budget very easily depending on what you need. I actually got a rebate on the printer so it ended up totalling like $2520 or something like that.

If you go with that third option of yours, you can use the remaining money to get things like external storage, or a printer if you need it.
 
swmr said:
I got the 2.4 with 200 GB hard drive. Also bought a printer, external HD, remote, iWork, and Applecare. The total was $26xx (and change). Basically, you can get under your budget very easily depending on what you need. I actually got a rebate on the printer so it ended up totalling like $2520 or something like that.

If you go with that third option of yours, you can use the remaining money to get things like external storage, or a printer if you need it.
Click to expand...

Do you notice any significant performance slowdowns due to the lower L2 cache in the basic 15" mbp?
 
Just learnt that older nonLED 17" MBP's panels lose the reproduction quality over time while the LED's never do. Also since they use more power i think ill be going for 15 inchers :)
So ya'll are saying i should definitely go for the cheapest penryn, right?
 
milan03 said:
Just learnt that older nonLED 17" MBP's panels lose the reproduction quality over time while the LED's never do. Also since they use more power i think ill be going for 15 inchers :)
So ya'll are saying i should definitely go for the cheapest penryn, right?
Click to expand...

Buy the cheapest penryn, load it up with 4gb RAM and maybe a 7200rpm hard drive (helps a lot with music production stuff, if you use Pro tools its a big help).

Thats going to give you the best bang for your buck, you'll have the great LED backlit screen in a realistically portable size (17" is pretty damn big!)
 
taylorwilsdon said:
Buy the cheapest penryn, load it up with 4gb RAM and maybe a 7200rpm hard drive (helps a lot with music production stuff, if you use Pro tools its a big help).

Thats going to give you the best bang for your buck, you'll have the great LED backlit screen in a realistically portable size (17" is pretty damn big!)
Click to expand...

Sounds like what im gonna be doing :)

15" MBP @ 2.4Ghz + 7,200rpm HD = $2,047.20 with Student Discount + Tax

4Gb Ram is about $70

Thats pretty cheap deal imho. Btw, how do you sign up for ADC discount?
 
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