$500 more for MBP 2.4 & 256 vram... Worth it?

[GanleyBurger]

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Ready to walk in and buy a MBP today...

If I get the 2.2 128 vram 15" MBP... I can afford to buy 4 gigs of Ram and a 200 gig 7200 RPM drive from OWC.

For light music recording and virtual instruments, should the 128 vram be enough???

Or is the 2.4 256 vram worth the extra $500???

 

[overcast]

.

Ready to walk in and buy a MBP today...

If I get the 2.2 128 vram 15" MBP... I can afford to buy 4 gigs of Ram and a 200 gig 7200 RPM drive from OWC.

For light music recording and virtual instruments, should the 128 vram be enough???

Or is the 2.4 256 vram worth the extra $500???

Video Ram doesn't have anything to do with light music recording and virtual instruments.

 

[pablol]

Check out Barefeats.com. He did an analysis of the video RAM difference and found it negligable. Basically the extra $500 is not worth the small speed bump and video RAM. The 2.2 is where it's at. Just get the 160GB 7200 RPM drive.

 

[Jessy]

Video Ram doesn't have anything to do with light music recording and virtual instruments.

Indeed. I think you'd be ok with 128 BYTES.

 

[GanleyBurger]

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Hitachi has a 200 gig 7200 rpm

Seagate has a 160 200 gig 7200 rpm

Opinion on maker?

 

[SavageLLama77]

Check out Barefeats.com. He did an analysis of the video RAM difference and found it negligable. Basically the extra $500 is not worth the small speed bump and video RAM. The 2.2 is where it's at. Just get the 160GB 7200 RPM drive.

The website says that the 256VRAM may "help" with duel display mode with a 30'' Display. Keyword being "help". What does this mean? If I never play any complex video games and never any professional video applications. How would the 256VRAM help me? Anyone, feel free to answer this as well. Thanks.

 

[GanleyBurger]

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OP

It is funny to me that Apple made the options 2.2 and 2.4, when the top was 2.33 in the last generation.

 

[flopticalcube]

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OP

It is funny to me that Apple made the options 2.2 and 2.4, when the top was 2.33 in the last generation.

Those are the only Socket P processors available.

 

[MikeyTree]

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Hitachi has a 200 gig 7200 rpm

Seagate has a 160 200 gig 7200 rpm

Opinion on maker?

Bear in mind that in MBPs the hard drives are not considered user replacable, so if you swap it out yourself that would technically void your warranty.

 

[dextertangocci]

Bear in mind that in MBPs the hard drives are not considered user replacable, so if you swap it out yourself that would technically void your warranty.

As far as I know, that's only of you break something. Just like with the mac mini. Apple says you can replace RAM etc, but if you break something, your warranty is void.

 

[GanleyBurger]

As far as I know, that's only of you break something. Just like with the mac mini. Apple says you can replace RAM etc, but if you break something, your warranty is void.

OP

I would pay an Apple Certified place to install it.

Another question:

Would the current 2.2 be better for upcoming Leopard than the older 2.33??? Is there a post???

 

[Zwhaler]

OP

I would pay an Apple Certified place to install it.

Another question:

Would the current 2.2 be better for upcoming Leopard than the older 2.33??? Is there a post???

In some ways, yes. For example, the 2.2 C2D uses the Santa Rosa chipset, which means that it can adress 64bits of memory, or 4 Gigs. But other than that, the 2.33 is indeed a faster computer (not quite as good of a GPU though)

 

[Erasmus]

In some ways, yes. For example, the 2.2 C2D uses the Santa Rosa chipset, which means that it can adress 64bits of memory, or 4 Gigs. But other than that, the 2.33 is indeed a faster computer (not quite as good of a GPU though)

The latest BareFeats results (in CPU intensive apps) have the 2.2 beating the 2.33.

http://www.barefeats.com/rosa02.html

I'm pretty sure the extra 128MB of VRAM will only be useful to you if you want to play today's and tomorrow's games. If you have no intention of using the MBP for games, (or maybe extremely large (being over 128MB) CAD files) then the 256MB GPU will not give you much benefit.

 

[GanleyBurger]

OP

So...

according to your input, and a few calls to Apple and OWC today...

The 2.33 is fine (a Refurb), but Leopard will really want the Santa Rosa Chip (2.2 or 2.4) for 64 bit applications.

Also, in terms of Vram, if I ever want to purchase a 27" or 30" monitor for the MBP, I really need to go with the 256 V-Ram version, whereas the lower 15" only has 128vram.

Sounds like I need to go with the SR 2.4 with 256 Vram, upgrade to 4 gigs of Ram through OWC, and save-up for when Seagate releases a 200 gig 7200 RPM drive. Or get the Hitachi 200 7200 rpm drive.

If it's not that fast now, with continued updates to drivers and then Leopard, etc., plus the Ram and the faster Hard drive, the laptop may see even more speed.

Word from OWC is that Ram (all manufacturers) is going to see huge price increases next week. Global economy stuff. I may order tomorrow.

Thanks, all...

 

[JFreak]

Wake up, guys. During the days of 30-incher introduction 128MB was TOP-OF-THE-LINE so it is clearly not *required* to have 256MB VRAM to use it. 3 years ago 64MB video memory was considered "great" for a laptop. Surely the video memory demands have not quadrupled within that time frame. While it is true that more memory is always a good thing, this video memory debate has quickly become nonsense.

(this comment comes from a guy that long time ago was excited about 512KB Trident that was user-upgradeable to a whopping whole megabyte... but that was about 15 years ago.)

 

[GroundLoop]

Wake up, guys. During the days of 30-incher introduction 128MB was TOP-OF-THE-LINE so it is clearly not *required* to have 256MB VRAM to use it. 3 years ago 64MB video memory was considered "great" for a laptop. Surely the video memory demands have not quadrupled within that time frame. While it is true that more memory is always a good thing, this video memory debate has quickly become nonsense.

(this comment comes from a guy that long time ago was excited about 512KB Trident that was user-upgradeable to a whopping whole megabyte... but that was about 15 years ago.)

This is true. But, you also have to remember that the complexity of graphics and texture sizes are now greater than they were 2-3 years ago. For the stated purpose, I would say that the 128MB of VRAM is fine. But, if you introduce bootcamp and the desire for windows gaming, then it is a different story. Playing 3D games on a 20-30" monitor with eat through VRAM fairly quickly.

Hickman

 

[overcast]

This is true. But, you also have to remember that the complexity of graphics and texture sizes are now greater than they were 2-3 years ago. For the stated purpose, I would say that the 128MB of VRAM is fine. But, if you introduce bootcamp and the desire for windows gaming, then it is a different story. Playing 3D games on a 20-30" monitor with eat through VRAM fairly quickly.

Hickman

This post has nothing to do with playing games. You certainly aren't going to be playing todays or tomorrows games with 128 or even 256mb of VRAM on a 30" monitor. Especially on the cards they are attached to.