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Best Deal. [Early 15", Early 17", Late 15" or maybe even Late 17")

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pyromaniaque

macrumors 6502
Original poster
Nov 16, 2008
267
0
Well..Ask your mother.
I want to know which deal really has the best bang for the buck. With the new MBPs, you're mostly paying for the look. You can argue no heat on the new ones...But then, there's the smcfancontrol app... You can argue that the new macs have gestures, but that can be hacked on the older ones and work just as well... I'm half ass about the "beefier" graphics card.. (9600) because I have yet to see ONE benchmark test in which it is even close to blowing away the 8600..

Anyways...now that my rant is over, I would love to hear your inputs, and the pros and cons.

15" Classic Macbook Pro (Refurb)- $1,349 (Pretty much the cost of a macbook). 2.53Ghz. Not currently in stock on Apple Refurb page, so I don't really have the other specs.

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15" Unibody Macbook Pro - (1,799 including $100 rebate) "Intel Core 2 Duo 2.4GHz, 15" Display, 2GB DDR3, 250GB SATA, Nvidia GeForce 9600M 256MB, 8X SuperDrive, Built-in 10/100/1000BASE-T, Airport Extreme, Bluetooth 2.0+EDR & iSight, OS X 10.5 Leopard"
CLICK HERE

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17" Classic Macbook Pro (Refurb) $1,899, 2.66GHz
17-inch high-resolution widescreen display 2GB memory 200GB hard drive; 7200 rpm 8x SuperDrive NVIDIA GeForce 8600M GT with 512MB of GDDR3 memory Built-in iSight Camera
CLICK HERE TO VIEW

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17 Unibody Macbook Pro This one doesn't even need to be explained. We all know that it is beast with that purported 8hr battery...but is it worth the $1,000 extra that will burn a deep, and flaming hole in my pocket?
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I've heard that the old 17" has a really dim display is this true? I've also heard this for the 15"... And I'm starting to hear this for the new ones, can someone fill me in with the details please?
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But yeah, all I need your inputs regarding the best overall deal.

Thanks.
 
Well don't burn me for this but I believe the ''classic'' pros have a bad video card that eventually can and will go wrong ( I just sold my 17 mbp) for that reason... But I could be wrong.

Probably for resale value is better to get a unibody.

Now... 15 or 17

In my experience I have owned both there is a big difference in portability, the 15'' is pardon the word more tossable lol, the 17'' does feel much bigger.

But the resolution on the screen of the 17'' Is phenomenal (If only the fix the backlight issue) so it pretty much depends on the real state that you need in your screen to make the decision.

In my opinion this computers can last you a long time and still run strong against new computer that come over time... like for example my 3 year old 17'' MBP (2.4ghz 4gb Ram) runs just a bit slower than my ex-17'' MBP 2.66 Unibody... (Xbench about a 10 point difference)

So if you consider that you will get the extra cash out for something that will last you at least 3 years... and that you will be able to sale at about 50% (like I did) then its not that big of a deal.

soooo....

IMO new 15 or 17 MBP Unibody depending on your needs.
 
At this point...an older machine might be a bad look because of the GPU, but there are also problems with the Unibody GPU all over this forum. The classic is a great deal, it would cut costs and you will still be getting a bomb machine.
 
pyromaniaque said:
Good post, but maybe when I grow up to be a really rich man, all my kids will have the future equivalent of the macdaddy of all laptops. the 17inch pro
Click to expand...

Well mate then do what your finances allow you to do.

You don't ask its it better to buy an Aston Martin or a Honda Accord when you have $5 bucks in the bank...
 
James Cole said:
Well mate then do what your finances allow you to do.

You don't ask its it better to buy an Aston Martin or a Honda Accord when you have $5 bucks in the bank...
Click to expand...

Oh I can buy it... I have money saved in my bank account. But it won't be a particularly pleasant experience considering the fact that I am 15. :(
 
i just bought the new 15.4 " MBP with 4gb for 2039 - 240 rebate 1799 after rebate from mac connection
 
I'd have to agree with James on this topic, the resale value 3 years down the road is incredible based on the fact you would be selling "old" tech which from any other manufacturer is worth about 200 bucks.

IF your budget allows I would hands down buy the Unibody. It is the leading edge of tech (DDR3, L2 cache, bus speed etc...) but I've always done that. Guess I'm a bit of a gadget whore that way heh.


15" vs 17" is just about what your comfortable with. I have no issues with the 17" weight or size wise, I enjoy the larger screen and not needing an external display for anything. I had a 13 MBA and at home almost always ended up hooking up to a larger monitor. It's nice to have the room to do whatever I want and not be "connected" to my desk/monitor.
 
If I were buying a refurb today, I'd only buy one with an LED-backlit screen. Only 17" MBPs with the high resolution screen (1920 x 1280) have an LED-backlit screen, while 15" MBPs released from early 2008 and onwards have an LED-backlit screen.

Check for "MacBook Pro" at the Wikipedia website and check the specs.
 
six reasons for classic macbook pro 17 (early/late 2008)

I strongly recommend the classic mbp 17 with hi-rez LED - and, yes, the 'old' glossy display.

I have tried so many different models now, this one still beats them all.

1. 'bad' nvidia chip 8600M:
looks like the 9600 has the same issues, so this is not relevant to me. apple offers the 2-year-replacement guarantee for the clasic mbp, so I'm ok with that just in case.

2. built quality:
the unibody does really feed incredibly strong and nice, but I got a scratch on it very, very easy, just by a grain of sand on my table. I don't know if the aluminium really is softer or not, but I somehow think it is..
Anyway, the classic mbp built is tested, well known, and good. period.

3. speakers:
the old 17 mbp has the best speakers, better than in all unibodies.
I know this is no hi-fi issue anyway, but it does make a difference for me. movies and music are much more fun with this little bit of extra bass. oh, and you get more stereo feeling as well.

4. display:
the most important part. I love the old glossy display. It is soo much better than the new "glassy" glossy. It just has all the advantages of gloss, but not the bad reflections the new one has. And yes, I like it better than any matte displays. They look fuzzy to me, and if you have reflections from behind, you dont see anything at all - much worse than with a (old) glossy, where have a reflection just on one area - which is much more ignorable.

5.
misc.:
trackpad on unibody is nice, but doesn't really make a big difference. I don't even use all the space on it. the click on the old one I like better, too.
lid-closing mechanism on the old one doesn have that magnetic latch thing, and you have to press the button, but I like that. Someone wrote earlier here in the forum: "If you press that button, you know some magic will happen" Nothing to add to this.
the keyboard on the new one is really nice, too ( i did not like it at first) and the old one may feel a littel washed out in comparison, but i still like it. it is very good to write fast if you are capable of, and the light from underneath does not leak through below as much as it does in the new keys. also, the full silver look is more unique, I think.

6. price:
saving very much money, getting a nearly-new refurb and buy some nice stuff for your mac, like RAM, a display (which you don't really need then), a nice sleeve, etc.)

It's specs are not really beaten by the new machines, and its construction is long-term tested. no rev. a - issues.

the old mpb 17 is more a real :apple: , I think. I love it.
 
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