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Big decision: Sell 15" MBP Santa Rosa, Buy Unibody 13", or keep and upgrade 15"?

C

craiginbminor

macrumors newbie
Original poster
Oct 22, 2006
12
0
Hi guys,

I have a pretty tough decision here. My friend wants a Mac and he wants to buy my 15" MBP for $600. At first I was completely against the idea, but then I started thinking: should I sell it to him and put up the $600 for the 13" Unibody, or keep it and buy a new keyboard, max the RAM, a new battery, and a used cinema display for it for nearly the same price?

First, I love my 15". But I also love the Unibody. I don't like the 13" size, but I would take it just for the Unibody. I love the Matte screen on my 15" more than the screen on the 13". On my 15", I had Apple replace the Logic board (the dreaded 8600 problem). I like the Unibody keyboard more. I dislike the Unibody expandability options (no FW400). So I guess the pattern that's developing is should I go with the newer macbook pro or the older upgraded one?
 
craiginbminor said:
Hi guys,

I have a pretty tough decision here. My friend wants a Mac and he wants to buy my 15" MBP for $600. At first I was completely against the idea, but then I started thinking: should I sell it to him and put up the $600 for the 13" Unibody, or keep it and buy a new keyboard, max the RAM, a new battery, and a used cinema display for it for nearly the same price?

First, I love my 15". But I also love the Unibody. I don't like the 13" size, but I would take it just for the Unibody. I love the Matte screen on my 15" more than the screen on the 13". On my 15", I had Apple replace the Logic board (the dreaded 8600 problem). I like the Unibody keyboard more. I dislike the Unibody expandability options (no FW400). So I guess the pattern that's developing is should I go with the newer macbook pro or the older upgraded one?
Click to expand...

1st thing, the 8600 issue will most likely will happen again in your 15". I had the problem happening 3 times and Apple replaced it with the unibody. So if I were you, I'm not going to use the 15" for another long term use. The unibody is reliable enough.

2nd thing, if you don't like the 13" size, go check for the refurb part of the Apple online store. There you can find 15" unibody refurb for the same prize as the new 13" MBP

hope that helps.
goodluck
 
macfrik said:
1st thing, the 8600 issue will most likely will happen again in your 15". I had the problem happening 3 times and Apple replaced it with the unibody. So if I were you, I'm not going to use the 15" for another long term use. The unibody is reliable enough.

2nd thing, if you don't like the 13" size, go check for the refurb part of the Apple online store. There you can find 15" unibody refurb for the same prize as the new 13" MBP

hope that helps.
goodluck
Click to expand...

Thanks for the response. I never had Applecare with this MBP but Apple still came through with the 8600. Does this mean that if I sell it to my friend and the graphics card goes out again they'll fix that?
 
craiginbminor said:
Thanks for the response. I never had Applecare with this MBP but Apple still came through with the 8600. Does this mean that if I sell it to my friend and the graphics card goes out again they'll fix that?
Click to expand...

Yes, they'll still fix the graphic card if it goes out again. I've read somewhere (forgot where I read this) that explain both Apple and nVidia had a 3(or 5)-year agreement with each other to repair failing graphic card in their chipsets. Sorry I can't provide the source for this quote.
 
Yes, the 8600M GT is covered even without AppleCare.

Imho keep the Santa Rosa.

The new 13 inch has a slightly faster CPU, but the Santa Rosa is far more powerful when it comes to graphics, the Santa ROsa also have more cache than the 13 inch. (SR came with T7500 and T7700 CPUs which have more cache than the current ones have until you buy a highend 15 inch)

I just added a new battery to mine this summer and i bought 4GB ram and a 320GB HD a year ago.

When I compare my Santa Rosa to my brothers 13 inch MBP they feel identical in terms of speed and snappiness, until you boot up a game, where the Santa Rosa eats the unibody for breakfast.
 
What's your opinion of the display differences? That's the one thing that I'm reluctant about -- I love the Matte display that Apple needs to include an option for on their 13. In the Apple Store, the glossiness is almost unbearable.

cluthz said:
Yes, the 8600M GT is covered even without AppleCare.

Imho keep the Santa Rosa.

The new 13 inch has a slightly faster CPU, but the Santa Rosa is far more powerful when it comes to graphics, the Santa ROsa also have more cache than the 13 inch. (SR came with T7500 and T7700 CPUs which have more cache than the current ones have until you buy a highend 15 inch)

I just added a new battery to mine this summer and i bought 4GB ram and a 320GB HD a year ago.

When I compare my Santa Rosa to my brothers 13 inch MBP they feel identical in terms of speed and snappiness, until you boot up a game, where the Santa Rosa eats the unibody for breakfast.
Click to expand...
 
Go visit the apple store and try one out there. I found the apple store to be the worst case scenario when it comes to the glossy display. Personally, I was pro-matte but my glossy MBP is awesome and none of the issues people whine about bother me at all. I see no reflections in my display and the colors are vibrant. Great display.
 
...the Arrandale CPU update/releases are coming early next year, upgrade your current machine as its pretty cheap to do and you like your current laptop, then see if you like the newer models when they hit the store shelves...
 
Personally, I'd ditch any laptop (Apple or otherwise) with the nvidia 8x00 GPU. The glossy display is not as bad as people make it out to be, however for the vocal minority this is truly personal preference.

Cheers,
 
I would deff upgrade to the unibody, it's a great computer. Plus the battery in the newer unibody makes it all worth it.
 
craiginbminor said:
What's your opinion of the display differences? That's the one thing that I'm reluctant about -- I love the Matte display that Apple needs to include an option for on their 13. In the Apple Store, the glossiness is almost unbearable.
Click to expand...

I really dislike glossy too. I have matte screen on mine and I love it, I also think that the display is a bit better on the SR than on the MBP 13 inch.
The 13 inch is a bit warmer than the 15 inch, which I kinda find too cold.
(I know displays decay over the years, but I did get my MBP display replaced)

When it comes to matte vs glossy thats kinda up to your personal preferences. I', just sure i'll never buy a glossy screen...
 
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