Another MacBook Pro advice topic

[jshbckr]

Background story:
I've got a 1.67 GHz PowerBook, with 1GB of RAM, from early 2005. I do a lot of video work, and as of the last year or so, started doing a bit of 3D modeling/animation as well as After Effects work. When Apple introduced the 8-core Mac Pro, I got that to replace my PowerBook and be my primary computer for the next few years.

Being a college student who lives off campus, I travel onto campus every day. The hour/two hour breaks between some of my classes and screenings (film student) do not provide sufficient time to travel back and forth to my apartment to do any work, but those are precious hours that I could be working on stuff... so I'm stuck on my PowerBook.

Needless to say, a 1.67 GHz PowerBook isn't cutting it. After Effects CS3 is runs like molasses and I'd rather not spend 5 hours rendering a 15 second 3D animation from Cinema 4D.

Which brings me to my point:
I want to get a laptop that can actually handle a portion of what my Mac Pro can. I'm looking at the 15" MacBook Pro. But I'm not sure if I should spend the extra $500 for the upper-end one.

2.4 GHz would be enough... but part of me wants the larger cache. 256MB of VRAM is double what my PowerBook has... but 512MB would match my Mac Pro! I'm going to upgrade to the 7200 RPM drive... which is $90 for the low-end MBP and $45 for the upper-end MBP.

Am I just falling for the "numbers" of the specs (and they really won't make a difference)? I mean... I could buy AppleCare on the low-end one and still save $250!

Suggestions?

 

[Freyqq]

i'd wait a few weeks until real benchmarks come in comparing the two models. I don't think graphically the extra vram will make much of a difference at this point b\c the 8600GT can't really take advantage of it that well. I'd be more interested in the effect of the extra cache. I'd love to see a 3dmark05 or 3dmark06 between the two models. For comparison, I have the 2.2 ghz last gen one with stock components and I get a 7600 on 3dmark05.

 

[scienide09]

Have you considered a refurb MBP? The prices are great right now, and the savings compared to new are better than the educational discounts.

Also, if you've got an Octo MacPro at home to do the heavy lifting, the base MBP would probably serve your needs for working from home. It should be able to handle medium tasking during the day and between classes. You can then head home after class and set your MP to finish up those few tasks that couldn't be done during the day.

 

[jshbckr]

Yeah, I'd probably save the real rendering for the Mac Pro. But about refurbs, I think I'd rather just get a new one now. Apple's site currently lists these, for 1449 each:


Refurbished MacBook Pro 2.2GHz Intel Core 2 Duo
15.4-inch widescreen display
2GB memory
120GB hard drive
8x SuperDrive (DVD±R DL/DVD±RW/CD-RW)
NVIDIA GeForce 8600M GT with 128MB of GDDR3 memory
Built-in iSight Camera


Refurbished MacBook Pro 2.2GHz Intel Core 2 Duo
15.4-inch glossy widescreen display
2GB memory
120GB hard drive
8x SuperDrive (DVD±R DL/DVD±RW/CD-RW)
NVIDIA GeForce 8600M GT with 128MB of GDDR3 memory
Built-in iSight Camera

For the extra couple hundred bucks, I'd rather get the new 2.4 penryn (which probably runs cooler than the older ones), a 200 GB 7200RPM hard drive, a 256MB graphics card, AND multitouch.

I think I'll probably go with the base model. Unless someone has some really good reasons!