Buying a new MacBook pro

[warrmr]

Hi guys,

I'm in the process of saving to purchase the new 15" MacBook pro 2.5ghz i7 and am considering the options.

Do you think it's worth the extra £150 to upgrade from the 2.5ghz to the 2.8ghz? If so why; what benefits does the extra 300mhz give me.

I currently own a 2008 MacBook unibody which I upgraded to 4gb of ram and a sea hate momentus xt320gb which has a 4gb flash integrated to speed up regular files.

I use this for general internet usage, play a few games from steam and edit a few movies from my go pro. Overall I'm happy with my current Mac but video editing and playback is a bit sketchy especially at 1080p.

I think the biggest reason for me wanting the upgrade is that it is over 5years old and starting to look tatty and feel slow. I want my new Mac to last as long if not longer before I feel the need to upgrade.

Note I have sacrificed my iPhone upgrade in order to get the new Mac ( yes it's been put a few months but is still new. )

 

[MCAsan]

The single benefit is the obviously faster CPU. Depending on the apps you are running, you may never see an benefit in the next year or two. On the other hand years from now that extra speed could be the extra amount needed to keep the machine one or two more years.

If you are like most of us, you have wasted more than 150quid on things in your past. So, if they budget allows, I would say go the the extra speed. If that extra 150quid is a critical problem, don't do it. It all comes down to your finances.

 

[MacInTO]

It's 4-5% faster according to geekbench. But I'm not sure that that is in real world performance. If you can afford it go for it!

 

[duervo]

Maybe.

If you don't do any 3D gaming, then no.

If you do, then it depends.

Don't forget, with integrated graphics, a faster CPU also = better graphics performance.

With that in mind, I would say that the cost to bump up to the next CPU is worth more than it used to be before integrated graphics came around.

Unfortunately, GeekBench does not consider GPU related performance, so it's relevance is somewhat diminished in those systems. For lack of a better overall test, though, they are better than nothing. They should really add some GPU benchmark tests to their software.

 

[poiihy]

0.3GHz is a small difference and you would barely notice it. I suggest you save the 150 pounds and use them for some useful peripherals or something else.

Or, even better, don't buy a new MBP, because your old one is just fine and still good. After all you already upgraded it.

 

[macjunk(ie)]

Hi guys,

I'm in the process of saving to purchase the new 15" MacBook pro 2.5ghz i7 and am considering the options.

Do you think it's worth the extra £150 to upgrade from the 2.5ghz to the 2.8ghz? If so why; what benefits does the extra 300mhz give me.

I currently own a 2008 MacBook unibody which I upgraded to 4gb of ram and a sea hate momentus xt320gb which has a 4gb flash integrated to speed up regular files.

I use this for general internet usage, play a few games from steam and edit a few movies from my go pro. Overall I'm happy with my current Mac but video editing and playback is a bit sketchy especially at 1080p.

I think the biggest reason for me wanting the upgrade is that it is over 5years old and starting to look tatty and feel slow. I want my new Mac to last as long if not longer before I feel the need to upgrade.

Note I have sacrificed my iPhone upgrade in order to get the new Mac ( yes it's been put a few months but is still new. )

Try putting an SSD instead ? That made a world of difference to my 2011 MBP. Unless you want the retina display....

 

[warrmr]

The single benefit is the obviously faster CPU. Depending on the apps you are running, you may never see an benefit in the next year or two. On the other hand years from now that extra speed could be the extra amount needed to keep the machine one or two more years.

If you are like most of us, you have wasted more than 150quid on things in your past. So, if they budget allows, I would say go the the extra speed. If that extra 150quid is a critical problem, don't do it. It all comes down to your finances.

I think you have nailed it for me; thank you. If it is the difference between it lasting say 3 years vs 5 years then it's worth the £150. It all comes down to how patient I can be as that is the difference between being able to order in Nocember or December.

@duervo I'm not sure that integrated graphics is relevant but please correct me if I am wrong. But Apple have two versions of the pro and the one has dual graphics the iris pro and a GeForce 750m which I believe is the same chip that my flat mate has in his Alienware and that looks pimp when it plays farcry.

I probably should have mentioned in my first post that my Polycom and Cisco labs cripple the system when running in VMware. I should really buy myself a small server to run them but hey ho.

With regards to upgrading my existing MacBook I don't think its worth it, as the battery needs replacing in order to clear the warning in the task bar, the White coating on the power cord has started to peel off and crack exposing the shielding. And I cannot possibly put any more ram in there as 4gb is maximum supported but I hear you can get 8gb in there if you wanted.


EDIT: Thinking about it its pretty much a "free" upgrade as I could probably sell my old macbook for somewhere between £100 - £150.

Sounds like a done deal.