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Best 1st gen Macbook Pro?

iModFrenzy

iModFrenzy

macrumors 6502a
Original poster
Jan 15, 2015
902
876
Kamino
Not sure if I'm posting in the right forums so feel free to move it if you need to :)

Anyway, I was looking at MacBook Pros as an upgrade to my current Windows PC. I like the design of the PowerBook G4s so I thought why not go for a MacBook Pro 1st Gen. since they are almost alike.

I'm not sure which one I should get though, what is the best?

My main uses are Photoshop, Browsing, Light-Med Gaming, Video Editing and Skype. I also use a HD PVR 2 but I think there is software out there for Mac.

Thanks! :D
 
iModFrenzy said:
Not sure if I'm posting in the right forums so feel free to move it if you need to :)

Anyway, I was looking at MacBook Pros as an upgrade to my current Windows PC. I like the design of the PowerBook G4s so I thought why not go for a MacBook Pro 1st Gen. since they are almost alike.

I'm not sure which one I should get though, what is the best?

My main uses are Photoshop, Browsing, Light-Med Gaming, Video Editing and Skype. I also use a HD PVR 2 but I think there is software out there for Mac.

Thanks! :D
Click to expand...

What's your price range?
 
This advice is about the "13 models.

If you don't want/need retina I'd go for a 2012 pro. Then you have a good upgradeable (ram and SSD) machine with USB3 ports beside Thunderbolt. If you don't need USB3 the 2011 version is quite a lot cheaper on the used market.
 
iModFrenzy said:
I was thinking a C2D Nvidia 1st Gen. , anything is better than my AMD E450 1.6ghz APU
Click to expand...

The Core 2 Duo is technically 2nd gen, as the Core Duo was the original MBP from 2006. Regardless, I'm not sure if you're going to be happy with the performance. For gaming and Photoshop, you will need a lot of RAM, and the C2D models generally top out at 3 GB... not a lot. If you're going off of looks/design alone, you will be disappointed in everything else. As other posted have mentioned, much better to find a deal for the same money on a newer MBP. If you were just web browsing and word processing, then I think you would find the machine's performance satisfactory, but for gaming and Photoshop, not so much...
 
iModFrenzy said:
I was thinking a C2D Nvidia 1st Gen. , anything is better than my AMD E450 1.6ghz APU
Click to expand...

The 8600m is prone to failure and even replaced motherboards did not fare better. You'll be buying a machine with a much higher chance of failing.

The X1600 models seem to be more reliable but you can only get Lion on them. Additionally, they didn't receive the santa rosa/penryn update, so they're run much hotter. The Core Duo models only go up to snow leopard.

So if you want the old non-unibody style you're stuck between 2 models: One with a GPU that's known to fail and the other which has limited OS compatability.

If it doesn't cost much more and you change your mind about having that specific design, I wouldn't settle for anything less than a 2008/2009 model with a 9400/9600m GPU setup. These models can support up to 8GB ram and require little work in upgrading storage.

On a side note, I find the powerbook/pre-uMBP design very attractive, so I guess it depends on what criterion takes precedence.
 
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