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2011 15 MacBook Pro vs 2012 15 MacBook Pro vs 15 MacBook Pro Retina

maxwelltech

maxwelltech

macrumors 6502
Original poster
Dec 29, 2011
423
104
Irvine, CA, USA
Hi,
I am not sure to buy which of these MacBook Pros. My main use is video editing in FCPX and developing applications for the iPhone (Xcode).
1.2011 15 MacBook Pro refurb ($1359)
Honestly there are a lot of 2011 MacBook Pro refurbs out there so I am not sure which to pick up, so I am going to go for this one:
Refurbished MacBook Pro 2.2GHz Quad-core Intel i7
This MacBook Pro is $1359. It is the late 2011 one, and the graphics card is the AMD Radeon HD 6750M with 512MB GDDR5.
This is going to be the cheapest option of all three. The biggest drawback is going to be the graphics card (much less powerful than the new GT 650M). I plan to up the memory to 16GB and upgrade the hard drive to SSD myself.
If there is other refurb model that you recommend, please leave them down as well.
2.2012 15 MacBook Pro ($1799)
This is going to be the 2.3GHz i7 Ivy Bridge MacBook Pro. The biggest advantage of choosing this model over the refurb will be USB 3 and the new graphics.
Again, planning to upgrade this to 16GB and SSD.
3.2012 15 MacBook Pro Retina ($2199)
This retina MacBook Pro is also 2.3 Ghz i7 and GT 650M.
This is pretty much my dream machine. A powerful laptop in a thin and light body. However, it is also very expensive. 2 grand for a laptop is just crazy. Another issue is that the SSD and the memory is very hard to upgrade.
Anyway, this is my take on it. I hope somebody could help me out. Thanks!
 
I'd go with the 2012 15" MBP unless you have a real desire to get the Retina, but you have to remember there's a month wait on these things, some apps might look a little funny for a while etc. I think the 2011 model is a little to old/ slow for you and what you want to be doing.
 
I am actually on a budget so the 2011 15 MacBook Pro looks good to me. $1359 for a quad-core Core i7 and a discrete graphics card is a pretty good deal. I don't think Xcode requires a strong processor, and video editing is pretty much a hobby of mine.
I just saw a Feb 2011 MacBook Pro refurb that has a 2.0 Ghz quad-core i7 and a AMD Radeon HD 6490M. This model is $130 cheaper. Should I buy this instead of the 2.2 Ghz model?
Also, I really wanted USB 3, and the 2011 Pros don't have that. Should I go for the 2012 13 MacBook Pro instead of the 2011 15 MacBook Pro?
Thanks a lot.
 
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