Sidebar Sidebar
Become a MacRumors Supporter for $50/year with no ads, ability to filter front page stories, and private forums.

buying advice for MBP 15"

S

samsri

macrumors newbie
Original poster
Apr 13, 2011
3
0
I am not sure of buying 2.0 or the 2.2 one :confused:
I plan to run windows 7 on using vm or parallels , primarily to use excel / bloomberg professional / matlab. For this i understand that i need to have 8 gb ram :confused:
also , i plan to use one or 2 external monitors . so not sure the extra GPU on 2.2 will help with this or 2.0 will be enough
i don't play games on the computer and do some light photo editing using Photoshop .

please advice if the extra gpu and 2.2 is really needed for tasks stated above?

btw , this will be my fist mac :D
 
Last edited:
First, 8GB is not needed to run VMs, but it makes it much more pleasurable and with the light things you are doing in the VM you may never notice.
Second, the 2.0 would more than likely be sufficient for what you want to do. If you decide to start doing more, you may notice a difference, but I would bet for your usage it will not make a difference. Many run external monitors on the 13's without issue, and they only have integrated graphics and dual core i processors, not quads like the 15 and 17's. You should be fine with the basic configuration.
 
Thanks Squeakr

i should have mentioned earlier , what i plan to run in windows 7 is a professional version of bloomberg, which is quite demanding sometimes on my current PC , hence was thinking of getting 8gb , would you think 8 gb might still be too much ? if yes, i would rather go with 4 gb .

also , this may be a dumb question, but would warranty be void on MBP if i order only 4 gb one and then change RAM to 8 gb .
 
samsri said:
Thanks Squeakr

i should have mentioned earlier , what i plan to run in windows 7 is a professional version of bloomberg, which is quite demanding sometimes on my current PC , hence was thinking of getting 8gb , would you think 8 gb might still be too much ? if yes, i would rather go with 4 gb .

also , this may be a dumb question, but would warranty be void on MBP if i order only 4 gb one and then change RAM to 8 gb .
Click to expand...

I am not sure of the reqs on Bloomberg, but these quads are brutes. I am in QA and ran some heavy Automation software (runs my 2.3 quad at 25% consistently without heavy load) on 4 GB (until my 8Gb came in and it ran fine without issue). I run several VMs so for me the more the better. In your case I would recommend getting it and using it before deciding on upgrades.
The RAM is a user upgradable part and doesn't affect the warranty as long as you don't break anything while doing it (the instructions are included in the owner's manual on how to change it out).
 
get the 15" 2.2 with anti glare hi res screen and then do the free upgrade to the 500gb 7200 rpm hard drive and get the 8gb of ram. if you decide you want an SSD down the road you can always put one in. make sure you get apple care for it. you will be able to do almost anything with this machine, if you get a lesser machine you might be worrying about what it can handle.
 
nrmillions said:
get the 15" 2.2 with anti glare hi res screen and then do the free upgrade to the 500gb 7200 rpm hard drive and get the 8gb of ram. if you decide you want an SSD down the road you can always put one in. make sure you get apple care for it. you will be able to do almost anything with this machine, if you get a lesser machine you might be worrying about what it can handle.
Click to expand...

Yup, totally agreed. The 2.2 is cheaper per GHz, and you'll definitely want 8 GB of RAM for VMs (I upgraded from 4 GB to 6 GB, and it was a massive difference) and get the fastest possible I/O, so at least 7200 rpm, or, better, an SSD. Also agreed on the high-res anti-glare - in fact, that's the exact config I'll order tomorrow (with 7200 rpm HDD).
 
samsri said:
also , i plan to use one or 2 external monitors . so not sure the extra GPU on 2.2 will help with this or 2.0 will be enough
Click to expand...

Just FYI, you're not going to get 2 external monitor support from the MBP. You're limited to 1.

But you can use an external in conjunction with the LCD on the laptop for dual display functionality.
 
Derango said:
Just FYI, you're not going to get 2 external monitor support from the MBP. You're limited to 1.

But you can use an external in conjunction with the LCD on the laptop for dual display functionality.
Click to expand...

Wrong. There is a DVI dual adaptor that works as well as a USB to video adaptor that works independent of the MDP adaptor.
 
Wombert said:
Yup, totally agreed. The 2.2 is cheaper per GHz, and you'll definitely want 8 GB of RAM for VMs (I upgraded from 4 GB to 6 GB, and it was a massive difference) and get the fastest possible I/O, so at least 7200 rpm, or, better, an SSD. Also agreed on the high-res anti-glare - in fact, that's the exact config I'll order tomorrow (with 7200 rpm HDD).
Click to expand...

Although I like the 2.2 better, I don't feel it is that great of a savings over the base for the OPs uses (unless you qualify for the student discount then it makes a difference). As for the 8GB, not true about needing it. I had run a 2008 with 4 GB for several years with heavy VM usage without problem. Until you have used these newer quads you can't really comment on what is needed (does it make a difference, yes it can depending on how heavy the processes are, but needed I would say not necessarily). As I have stated I ran mine (the old 2008 and the new 2011) with 4 GB fine (and I run heavy automation software). As has been stated here as well 7200 RPM isn't always better than 5400 RPM, you need to know platter density and numbers used. The OP wanted opinions if the base 2.0 would run what he needs it to do, not which we thought was the better deal or would run everything faster.

Having said this, I hope your new MBP works for you as well as mine does for me.
 
Base 15" would be enough.You won't notice any lack in speed for your needs.
Just go on hi res, (antiglare?) since imho a nicer resolution.Ram and ssd can always add latter if you need it.
 
Get the 2.2 or the 2.3 just because it comes with faster parts that you cannot replace and so it will (theoretically) be 'modern' longer. For what I do, the 2.3 is significantly faster than the 2.2 and much faster than the 2.2. It depends on individual use, but the GPU in the 2.2/2.3 is very nice for a factory card.
 
Thanks for the responses everyone , they were helpful

I initially considered 2.2 one , but i understand there will be heating issue with higher gpu and cpu running. anyone with 2.2 would like to comment on that ? or its just that some people may have lemons ?
Also , i gather from the forums that battery life will be worse on 2.2 vs 2 ? :confused: it that correct or am i missing something ?

on ram , i am not sure if i can get the compatible ram here in Singapore , would anyone know if "Strontium PC 1333 " is compatible with 2011 MBP
 
Wirelessly posted (Mozilla/5.0 (iPhone; U; CPU iPhone OS 4_3_1 like Mac OS X; en-us) AppleWebKit/533.17.9 (KHTML, like Gecko) Version/5.0.2 Mobile/8G4 Safari/6533.18.5)

Trust me, if you're planning to run windows in a vm you'll want 8 GB of ram. You may not "need it", but you'll definitely want it. It is painful to run it with 4 GB. As for the RAM, do the upgrade yourself. It takes 5-10 minutes max. Search the first couple of pages of this forum to find out which memory works well. Go for known brands such as GSkill, Kingston, OWC or Crucial.
 
BB on Mac with Parallels

samsri said:
Thanks Squeakr

i should have mentioned earlier , what i plan to run in windows 7 is a professional version of bloomberg, which is quite demanding sometimes on my current PC , hence was thinking of getting 8gb , would you think 8 gb might still be too much ? if yes, i would rather go with 4 gb .

also , this may be a dumb question, but would warranty be void on MBP if i order only 4 gb one and then change RAM to 8 gb .
Click to expand...

Hi samsri. What was your experience with running Bloomberg Professional on a mac using parallels. I've heard mixed things like it's not smooth and that Excel tie-ins don't work. Same with Bloomberg Anywhere. Any of that true? Also heard it uses up the battery at much faster rates.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Register on MacRumors! This sidebar will go away, and you'll see fewer ads.
Top Bottom
Back