Any 2011 MBP 2.0 6490 (Base Model) Buyers Regret Not Going With 2.2 6750 (High End)?

[JoJoCal19]

Several months in, I'm wondering whether anyone who has opted for the low end 2011 15 MBP is regretting their decision.

I've read the 6490 vs 6750 threads from the launch, I know how gamers are saying the 6490 is worse than the 330m it replaced, etc etc. I just want know real world usage what people are thinking now.

Gaming is of no concern to me and if do decide to game, it might be some light WoW usage (doubtful), maybe CS Source, nothing too demanding.

I will use it for the usual everyday stuff, programming in xcode and VS 2010 Professional, most of the Adobe CS Master Collection suite down the road, light photo editing using Aperture, some encoding using Handbrake. That's about it. Don't ever see myself using any 3D modeling or heavy (not even really medium) gaming.

I've seen the Geekbench and other benchmarks, not a whole lot of difference between the 2.0 and 2.2.

The most CPU intensive thing I will be doing is running a virtual machine or few at the same time. While I know every bit helps, I don't see .2 helping much.

 

[superericla]

The base 15" should be plenty enough for you. I do some light/medium gaming, some light photo editing with Aperture, and a large amount of encoding with Handbrake and my base 15" is more than fast enough for all of that.

 

[iMackPro]

EVERYONE THAT BOUGHT THE BASE SHOULD BE REGRETTING IT

 

[deadwulfe]

I've read the 6490 vs 6750 threads from the launch, I know how gamers are saying the 6490 is worse than the 330m it replaced, etc etc. I just want know real world usage what people are thinking now.

I don't know where people are getting their info to say the 330m is better than the 6490. Between the Notebook Check's benchmark scores and the game benchmarks listed under their respective pages, 330m and 6490, the 6490 easily outperforms the 330m.

I will use it for the usual everyday stuff...some encoding using Handbrake. That's about it. Don't ever see myself using any 3D modeling or heavy (not even really medium) gaming.

I can vouch for Handbrake not even using the full processor power of the 2.2, so you may not even need it in other areas, either.

 

[Floris88]

EVERYONE THAT BOUGHT THE BASE SHOULD BE REGRETTING IT

Why?

 

[JoJoCal19]

I don't know where people are getting their info to say the 330m is better than the 6490. Between the Notebook Check's benchmark scores and the game benchmarks listed under their respective pages, 330m and 6490, the 6490 easily outperforms the 330m.



I can vouch for Handbrake not even using the full processor power of the 2.2, so you may not even need it in other areas, either.

Yea I know, I didn't understand how Apple would put in a worse graphics card, but at the time the benchmarks for the 6490 weren't out and people in the threads I read were stating the 330M was better. I guess since the benchmarks are now out, that dispels that claim, and good to know.

 

[JoJoCal19]

EVERYONE THAT BOUGHT THE BASE SHOULD BE REGRETTING IT

Your non-contributing post has been flagged for removal. My thread and question is not looking down on people who bought the base model. I'm trying to see if anyone bought the base model and have bumped into the limits and now wish they had gone with the higher end model.

I for one was set on the high end model just because it was better on paper, but now taking a much harder look at things, I don't NEED the higher model.

 

[edifyingGerbil]

Your non-contributing post has been flagged for removal. My thread and question is not looking down on people who bought the base model. I'm trying to see if anyone bought the base model and have bumped into the limits and now wish they had gone with the higher end model.

I for one was set on the high end model just because it was better on paper, but now taking a much harder look at things, I don't NEED the higher model.

i think imackpro is being facetious

i had the 2.0 model but i returned it after 10 days or so because i was dissatisfied with its graphical performance. i'm very pleased with my 2.2GHz's graphics and performance so far... only thing i need is a RAM upgrade, 4 GB is nowhere near enough for multi-tasking

 

[AlanFord]

Very happy with my purchase.Don't game, don't do any hard video editing, so after a little testing before buying, decided to go on base on.Just got the hi res option, cause I liked more this screen.
Needs are office, word, presentations, internet and some base things on cad software.
But since you mentioned using VM, adding 8 gigs of ram would be recommended.

 

[JoJoCal19]

i think imackpro is being facetious

i had the 2.0 model but i returned it after 10 days or so because i was dissatisfied with its graphical performance. i'm very pleased with my 2.2GHz's graphics and performance so far... only thing i need is a RAM upgrade, 4 GB is nowhere near enough for multi-tasking

Can you tell me why you were dissatisfied with the graphic performance? Details would be great.

As a note, I will be upgrading to 8GB of RAM right off (aftermarket).

 

[2tallyAwesome]

Have the base model (8gb RAM) and am very happy with my purchase. I don't game, and use it for music production. I've never come close to maxing out the processor, and I haven't had any issues with graphic performance.

From what I've read, If you're not gaming or doing 3D rendering of some sort, the base model will usually suit your needs fine.

 

[DustinT]

For what its worth, I have the 2.0 and I'm happy with the performance of the graphics. I play Team Fortress 2 and Portal and on the out of the box settings it can handle playable framerates at 1920x1080 resolution.

If I got serious about gaming I'd get the 2.2 because it is significantly more powerful but for what I do the 2.0 is fine.

 

[edifyingGerbil]

Can you tell me why you were dissatisfied with the graphic performance? Details would be great.

As a note, I will be upgrading to 8GB of RAM right off (aftermarket).

because of this:

From what I've read, If you're not gaming or doing 3D rendering of some sort, the base model will usually suit your needs fine.

 

[harcosparky]

I am in the process of replacing my 24" iMac.

I know an iMac refresh is soon to be, or so the rumors say and if I have not made a purchase before it does I may look at it.

I want a little more functionality than the iMac gives me and I think the ideal package will be ....

15" MBP
27-30" external display.

I will be portability and a larger screen for my photo editing work. When I edit I often times have to apply a single change to many images. ( 25 to 150 )

Would be nice to select all 250, apply the change and not have the computer choke!

My current video card is HD2600 with 256MB VRAM ---- you can see it is time to upgrade --- I have to believe going from 256MB VRAM to 1GB GDDRS will be better than going to 256MB GDDRS.

I am leaning towards the upper end model for 2 reasons, standard larger HDD and also that enhance video.

Not a game player here, but I do have a graphics intensive training simulator that I run and it may well benefit.

Going 15" MBP and 30" display may cost more than a straight up iMac - but the benefits make the cost worthwhile.

 

[JoJoCal19]

because of this:

Gotcha. Yea no 3D rendering here, not now and probably not anytime before I would be able to build a monster desktop.

Gaming isn't an issue either.

 

[edifyingGerbil]

I am in the process of replacing my 24" iMac.

I know an iMac refresh is soon to be, or so the rumors say and if I have not made a purchase before it does I may look at it.

I want a little more functionality than the iMac gives me and I think the ideal package will be ....

15" MBP
27-30" external display.

I will be portability and a larger screen for my photo editing work. When I edit I often times have to apply a single change to many images. ( 25 to 150 )

Would be nice to select all 250, apply the change and not have the computer choke!

My current video card is HD2600 with 256MB VRAM ---- you can see it is time to upgrade --- I have to believe going from 256MB VRAM to 1GB GDDRS will be better than going to 256MB GDDRS.

I am leaning towards the upper end model for 2 reasons, standard larger HDD and also that enhance video.

Not a game player here, but I do have a graphics intensive training simulator that I run and it may well benefit.

Going 15" MBP and 30" display may cost more than a straight up iMac - but the benefits make the cost worthwhile.

a slightly annoying thing is that the power adapters provided by apple don't have a high enough wattage to keep up with the 2.2GHz under full CPU/GPU capacity so you lose power, albeit slowly. playing Dragone Age II, a not that intensive game, on max settings for 3 hours caused me to lose 8-9% battery which is slightly concerning...

i hope they release a slightly increased power adapter sometime.

 

[saniko]

I bought the base model and I slightly regret it. However, the $400 difference between this and the 2.2 models was too much for an improved graphics card and slightly faster processor.

$400 can get you 8gb of RAM and a nice 128gb SSD with change left over. I'm not a gamer, so the improved graphics card may not be a huge deal.

However, even if I was a gamer, there are two technologies that would make me consider the lower end 15" Pro model. After beta testing OnLive for gaming, I found pretty low latency and pretty spectacular graphics. There is also a high probability of external thunderbolt GPUs that would be better than the HD 6750.

My gut says the HD 6750 is nice right now, but won't be important in the near future.

 

[JoJoCal19]

With my student discount, the difference is dropped to $300 between the two. That's what makes it harder to decide.

 

[edifyingGerbil]

In the UK we get 15% off if we're students at university which is what made it easier for me to decide, plus we only pay ~£50 for Apple Care

If I were you I'd sell things on ebay or craigslist until you get $300 and then get the higher end MBP. You never know what you'll require in the future, right?

 

[NickZac]

Go for the 2.3

 

[xxplosive1984]

I did. I originally bought the low end and I was very pleased with it. Then I started to think I was missing out on something by not going with the higher end so I returned the base model. In the end, I'm glad I did because there's not a lot this computer cannot do. Just played a game of NBA 2K11 on high settings!

 

[aznguyen316]

I think after the $300 difference with the massive jump in graphics the CPU from 2.0 to 2.2 is also a bigger jump than some may think. Look at some benchmarks the 2.2 is a solid performer over the 2.0 while the 2.2 to 2.3 is a less of a jump. Anyway If you can AFFORD it I say wh not get the 2.2 model? I got 2.3 because I'm impatient and wanted AG which retail stores only have the 2.3 paired with it. I have notched that iMovie does utilize nearly 800% CPU when importing an avchd file so at least I'm making use of the CPU lol.

 

[mark28]

I don't know where people are getting their info to say the 330m is better than the 6490. Between the Notebook Check's benchmark scores and the game benchmarks listed under their respective pages, 330m and 6490, the 6490 easily outperforms the 330m.



I can vouch for Handbrake not even using the full processor power of the 2.2, so you may not even need it in other areas, either.

http://www.notebookcheck.net/Computer-Games-on-Laptop-Graphic-Cards.13849.0.html

The 330m beats the ATI 6490m at World of Warcraft, Starcraft 2, Sims 3, Maffia 2, GTA 4, Resident Evil 5. Where do you see that the ATI 6490m easily outperforms the 330m

And the test with the ATI 6490m is done with a Sandy Bridge CPU most likely, while the tests of the 330m are from 2010 with a weaker CPU.

 

[darkeartg]

a slightly annoying thing is that the power adapters provided by apple don't have a high enough wattage to keep up with the 2.2GHz under full CPU/GPU capacity so you lose power, albeit slowly. playing Dragone Age II, a not that intensive game, on max settings for 3 hours caused me to lose 8-9% battery which is slightly concerning...

i hope they release a slightly increased power adapter sometime.

That's weird, i've never had this happen

 

[aznguyen316]

http://www.notebookcheck.net/Computer-Games-on-Laptop-Graphic-Cards.13849.0.html

The 330m beats the ATI 6490m at World of Warcraft, Starcraft 2, Sims 3, Maffia 2, GTA 4, Resident Evil 5. Where do you see that the ATI 6490m easily outperforms the 330m

And the test with the ATI 6490m is done with a Sandy Bridge CPU most likely, while the tests of the 330m are from 2010 with a weaker CPU.

OSX tests show the 6490m outperforms the 330m. Most likely the better nvidia drivers in Windows help but in OSX the 6490m in OpenGL tests perform better as well as OSX games.

If you're gonna compare 6490 vs 330m purely sure it can be debatable, but it's kind of moot since the 6490 will only be paired wit the sandy bridge quad while the 330m with the arrandales, and I'll take the 6490 with sandy bridge any day.