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[ADVICE] Aluminum Macbook unibody for Penryn MBP. Good trade?

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itsxtian

macrumors newbie
Original poster
Apr 7, 2009
22
0
Hey everyone I'm sorry if this questions has been asked before but I just can't seem to find the right keywords to find the right threads with the answer I'm looking for.

I currently own a 13" Aluminum Unibody MacBook running a 2.0ghz processor and someone wants to trade me for a 15" Penryn MacBook Pro with a 2.4ghz and I was just wondering if this is an upgrade a downgrade or just an equal trade.

Besides the obvious differences like the bigger screen and the new design what else would I be losing/gaining by doing this trade?

My understanding is that the FSB is much higher in the unibody as well as the new DDR3 ram compared to the previous DDR2. Are these big differences? Whats the better choice?

Thanks. Sorry it's much longer than I thought it would be.
 
S

Sace

macrumors member
Mar 30, 2008
75
0
If it's the old MBP classic with Nvidia 8600MGT, dont!

The GPU fails very often on these (search the forum)
 
HLdan

HLdan

macrumors 603
Aug 22, 2007
6,383
0
snaky69 said:
It will also be replaced free of charge.
Click to expand...

Still not worth the hassle of having to go through that and the inconvenience of the GPU eventually failing.

OP steer clear of it if it has an 8600GT.
 
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ironicall

macrumors newbie
Sep 19, 2010
8
0
Keep your macbook mate.
If it is the 8600GT version then it will fail, and you will be faced with the
hassle of taking it to an apple store and then however long it takes to
replace the logic board. Your really only gaining some better performance in the video department at a price of eventual failure and a slightly bigger screen.....
The macbook you have has faster ram and a faster FSB. If you need
a performance increase get a 7200rpm HD and add some more ram, other wise sell it and and put the money towards a newer macbook pro.
 
I

itsxtian

macrumors newbie
Original poster
Apr 7, 2009
22
0
Thanks for all the replies folks. It's much appreciated. After much more research it seems like this 8600mgt issue was the plague of MBP from 2007 to late 2008. That's unfortunate as I was actually looking forward to the trade.

My question is though, just out of curiosity, is would Apple replace these cards even way after warranty or if it had no warranty or applecare at all?

And ironicall, I've been thinking of upgrading the ram but those DDR3 are so expensive at the moment.
 
iLog.Genius

iLog.Genius

macrumors 601
Feb 24, 2009
4,908
452
Toronto, Ontario
apolloa said:
And...... The op has a unibody MacBook, read between the lines and it sounds like the MBP being offered is the OLD model that is not a unibody.

If I am right op then do not swap. The unibody design is much better.
Click to expand...

If the Early-2008 MacBook Pro didn't have the faulty 8600M GT, I think many others, not just me, would jump on that trade no questions (granted the MacBook Pro is in good shape/condition).
 
P

paintballswimgu

macrumors 6502
Feb 13, 2010
320
0
the battery life won't be nearly as good. Otherwise, it is a better computer as long as you don't get problems with the gpu. The trackpad is also different i think.
 
I

itsxtian

macrumors newbie
Original poster
Apr 7, 2009
22
0
Again, thanks for all the responses folks.

Just to clarify as I think some of you may be getting confused with what's getting traded here..

I currently own an 13" Aluminum Unibody MacBook which was released late 2008 before they redubbed it as the pro. Its the 2.0ghz version. MacBook 5,1 in the identifier.

The one he is trading me is the 15" MacBook Pro 4,1 but the problem is I'm not sure whether it's Early 2008 or Late 2008. Wiki doesn't seem to have info for 15" in the Late 2008 slot. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/MacBook_Pro maybe you guys could fill me in on that one. So as far as the information there it does have the 8600m gt video card.

That's just to clarify what versions the MB and MBP are just because some of you seem to think its the Unibody MBP. It's in fact the "classic" one as some of you have called it. :)
 
I

itsxtian

macrumors newbie
Original poster
Apr 7, 2009
22
0
Update

Don't mean to bring back a dead thread but I stuck with the Unibody and upgraded the ram to 4GB and the hard drive to a 250GB 7200rpm sata! Thanks everyone who contributed to this post.
 
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