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MacBook Pro 13-inch 2.26 vs 2.53GHz

J

jim468

macrumors regular
Original poster
Jun 14, 2009
117
5
Hello All,

I am student and am planning to buy the MacBook Pro 13-inch in a couple of days.

I am confused as to which model to buy - the 2.26 or the 2.53GHz one.

If the base model is customized to the higher end model, is the difference of 0.27Ghz really worth the extra money?

Also, are there any other differences between the two models other than the CPU, RAM and HDD. For example the display model number or such?

Thanks in advance.
 
jim468 said:
Hello All,

I am student and am planning to buy the MacBook Pro 13-inch in a couple of days.

I am confused as to which model to buy - the 2.26 or the 2.53GHz one.

If the base model is customized to the higher end model, is the difference of 0.27Ghz really worth the extra money?

Also, are there any other differences between the two models other than the CPU, RAM and HDD. For example the display model number or such?

Thanks in advance.
Click to expand...

you just named the only differences....spend a little more, get a little more
 
I would personally advise you to purchase the low end model.

You will certainly not notice the difference in processor speed, .26 is negligible in every day computing tasks.

And for much cheaper you can order 3rd party RAM and upgrade it to 4 gigs, if you felt so inclined. Depending on what tasks you typically do, that might not even be necessary. It's easy as sin to upgrade the RAM, just hit up youtube and do a search and see for yourself. It also doesn't void your warranty or anything like that, so no worries.

I'd recommend Crucial RAM from newegg.com if you choose to go that route.

In conclusion, save yourself some money and get the 2.26. I don't think the slight increase in processor speed, overpriced RAM, or HD space is worth the 200 dollars or whatever the difference is.
 
Dear All,

Thank you for your comments. I will be going with the base model and upgrade the RAM and HDD.

Thanks again!
 
I opted for the base model 2.26ghz best choice I reckon.
Imo going for the .53 wouldn't make any sense whatsoever... Braggin rights maybe yea... But the extra pounds (a whopping £250! to be precise) I'm saving would be better suited to 3rd party ram and bigger hdd instead of paying a premium to apple.

I'll most probably upgrade at some stage. For now its fine as it stands.
 
how do I increase HD space

other than buying an external hard drive is there another way to increase the HD space?

Thanks-
 
isaaclimdc said:
Uhm what do you mean by that? You can buy a raw 2.5" drive and swap out the one inside the MBP.
Click to expand...
Or do a custom to order on Apple's Internet Store. They have up to 500GB that you can have installed in your Macbook Pro from the start. That is one reason to use the online store instead of buying at the store. Doing the change yourself with a drive takes 15 minutes and saves you money. But if you are not comfortable doing this then just custom to order your computer. That way the bigger harddrive is on Apple's warranty also.
 
MacBook Pro 13-inch 2.26 vs 2.53GHz

get the 2.26 ghz because with this model you can upgrade to 4gb of ram and upgrade to a 250 gb hard drive. that will cost about $1,349.00 compared to $1,499.00. now all of a sudden you have the same thing as the 2.53 ghz model (just without the extra .27 ghz). when you think about it, you will be paying $150 for .27 ghz. trust me it is not worth it!!!
 
I have the 2.53GHz macbook pro 13 and I love it and I had a BTO macbook because I upgraded the hd to 500GB. I would recommend OWC for macbook upgrades as I have friends who have used their products. The products offered by OWC are guaranteed to be compatible while newegg.com can be risky is you don't know what your buying. And OWC hardware comes with instructions :D
 
iAlexG said:
I have the 2.53GHz macbook pro 13 and I love it and I had a BTO macbook because I upgraded the hd to 500GB. I would recommend OWC for macbook upgrades as I have friends who have used their products. The products offered by OWC are guaranteed to be compatible while newegg.com can be risky is you don't know what your buying. And OWC hardware comes with instructions :D
Click to expand...

How is the OWC $65.99 4GB memory upgrade for the MBP 13"? That seems like a crazy-good price. Is it good memory, or would it be better to spend more for something like Crucial?
 
2.26!!

Hi I just read the thread had to register it reply as most of these guys said go with the 2.26 don't waste your money I made the mistake I bought the 2.53 then my wife wanted one so she got the 2.26 and trust me there is no noticeble differance what so ever I do alot of music editing on pro tools and I thought well let's load pro tools on it and then maybe we can tell the difference nope not at all granted this is after the computer got 4 gig ram kit from crucial but still I feel shafted because her computer was 300$ cheaper which I bought from ABT and by the way this is a great place to do bussiness they give a 5% student or teacher discount which brought her computer down to 1139$ out the door and no taxes which is great and the cucial kit was 60$ so her grand total was 1200$ and I got virtually the same computer for 1615$ with tax that is boy apple really did a number on me!
 
Da juice said:
Hi I just read the thread had to register it reply as most of these guys said go with the 2.26 don't waste your money I made the mistake I bought the 2.53 then my wife wanted one so she got the 2.26 and trust me there is no noticeble differance what so ever I do alot of music editing on pro tools and I thought well let's load pro tools on it and then maybe we can tell the difference nope not at all granted this is after the computer got 4 gig ram kit from crucial but still I feel shafted because her computer was 300$ cheaper which I bought from ABT and by the way this is a great place to do bussiness they give a 5% student or teacher discount which brought her computer down to 1139$ out the door and no taxes which is great and the cucial kit was 60$ so her grand total was 1200$ and I got virtually the same computer for 1615$ with tax that is boy apple really did a number on me!
Click to expand...

Punctuation? Boy was that one hell of a sentence.
 
you can't go wrong either way...i got the 2.53 mainly b/c i didn't want to wait for a new HD & Ram to be shipped to me plus with the student discount, 5% cashback (discovercard), free ipod (sold for $175), and a free printer (sold for $50) the price was right.

I figure when I sell this in the future it'll be a little closer to whatever the current specs are at that time and I'll probably be able to get a little more in resale value.
 
I went with the 2.53 GHz, got the student discount and iPod rebate. You can sell off the iPod to make up for some of the money. It's steal!
 
I'd say if have the cash, spring for the $200 upgrade. Sure you can buy memory and hard drives from 3rd party retailers but you waste time with installing it. A new hard drive includes a fresh OS install, which takes half an hour. If you are tight on time like me, then $200 isn't much. But if you are stripped for cash, every penny counts.
 
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