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Buying first Macbook Pro (Looking for help)

U

UnSolidSerp

macrumors newbie
Original poster
Oct 24, 2009
4
0
Hello all.

I've been wanting to purchase a mbp for some time now, and I finally have the money to 'realize my dream.' haha

My question(s) to you: What is the highest-grade mbp I can buy?

I'll be using this mbp for a few things. Browsing the internet at home, in-class schoolwork & homework, and (hopefully) (video)gaming.

I have the money now to afford pretty much any SSD, and any upgrade(s).


For gaming even if a different/more expensive SSD gave me a functioning 3 or 4 extra frames per second it would be worth it to me. So, what do you recommend?


I want the fastest, most reliable, overall-greatest machine I can get my hands on, since I now have the money to self-indulge a bit. :)

Thank you.
 
Dude, you're getting a Dell!

Nah, just joking.
Get the 17", upgrade to 3,06GHz, and buy a 160gb Intel G2 SSD. Optionally, you can install the SSD in the Superdrive-slot, by using the Optibay addon. That will allow you to use both the SSD and the norman HD that comes with the machine, but you'll have to read CD/DVDs with an external reader.

Oh, and things are looking very good for a january upgrade, so if you feel like waiting for a bit and hanging around the forums, you might get a much better machine for the same price.
 
Ok the fastest processor you can get is a 3.06GHz Intel Core 2 Duo in the high end 15in or 17in Macbook Pro. The high end 15in and 17in Macbook Pros have the 512MB 9600M graphics card, which is good. The most RAM you can have is 8GB so get that if you want a fast machine. Also, get an Intel 160GB X25-M SSD (the silver model) from Amazon.com as it is one of the fastest SSD's out there.
 
tofagerl said:
Dude, you're getting a Dell!

Nah, just joking.
Get the 17", upgrade to 3,06GHz, and buy a 160gb Intel G2 SSD. Optionally, you can install the SSD in the Superdrive-slot, by using the Optibay addon. That will allow you to use both the SSD and the norman HD that comes with the machine, but you'll have to read CD/DVDs with an external reader.

Oh, and things are looking very good for a january upgrade, so if you feel like waiting for a bit and hanging around the forums, you might get a much better machine for the same price.
Click to expand...
LOL

.

Will they work hand-in-hand, meaning will both Drives work at the same time, or just one? I'm fairly computer illiterate, but SSD's are better for large-writes, whereas HD's are better for small writes. Or am I way off?

ps. What is general consensus on what upgrades are expected in january. hardware, and(/or) software?
What are your personal thoughts on what apple might introduce to their consumer?

pps. Thank you for the hasty reply, I wasn't expecting one so quickly. :D
 
Nah, SSDs are faster at everything, but they're still expensive, so a HD is great to have for storage of media. Music, movies, whatever. Games should be installed on the SSD.
In january there will be a CPU bump to the new Arrandale chips. You can read a lot about them on the Internet, but to put it bluntly, they're way faster.
Other than that, not much is known. In fact, the Arrandale bump is strictly theoretical as well, but it's almost guaranteed to happen, since the Core 2 line of chips are on their last legs.
Also, I expect a resolution bump on the 15", since the resolution right now is pretty low. That's not quite as likely to happen, but it would be nice.
I expect no external changes, although a new 85W power supply with the new plugs from the 45W and the 60W from this tuesday should be released at the same time.
 
I don't know about a January upgrade. In my opinion Apple would hold off a little longer than that so as not to royally tick off all of the people planning on getting a Macbook Pro for Christmas (like myself). That would totally leave a bad taste in my mouth if they went and did something like that. If they had any sense they would update BEFORE Christmas so they could capture even more holiday sales from people who know the computer they buy for Christmas will be a "new model" for at least a few months.
 
tardman91 said:
I don't know about a January upgrade. In my opinion Apple would hold off a little longer than that so as not to royally tick off all of the people planning on getting a Macbook Pro for Christmas (like myself). That would totally leave a bad taste in my mouth if they went and did something like that. If they had any sense they would update BEFORE Christmas so they could capture even more holiday sales from people who know the computer they buy for Christmas will be a "new model" for at least a few months.
Click to expand...

Here's the problem with that theory: The chips won't be released by Intel until january.
 
"Optionally, you can install the SSD in the Superdrive-slot, by using the Optibay addon."


If I were to install an SSD to the superdrive-slot would the SSD's read/write speed be any slower than if I had made my SSD my Macbook Pro's 'main' hard drive?


ps. which is better of these. "160gb Intel G2 SSD" and "Intel 160GB X25-M SSD (the silver model)" Or, what are the differences?

Thanks again:):D
 
I believe the connections are the same speed, but don't hold me to that.
The G2 is literally the "Generation 2", so that's the fastest.
 
First of all SSDs dont improve FPS in games at all. It will help with loading times but what happens when you're loading? You're putting stuff from the HD to RAM, thus SSD won't improve FPS.

If you're going to be doing some serious gaming, honestly I would stay away from Macs. You'll get more for your money with another brand and windows will game better. (I'd suggest taking a look at Sager laptops)

If its only a little gaming on the side then Mac games/Bootcamp + 15" or 17" with discrete graphics (9600M) + 4GB of RAM is my suggestion
 
tofagerl said:
I believe the connections are the same speed, but don't hold me to that.
The G2 is literally the "Generation 2", so that's the fastest.
Click to expand...
Thank you. This is more of a 'language' I can read.

Dan73 said:
First of all SSDs dont improve FPS in games at all. It will help with loading times but what happens when you're loading? You're putting stuff from the HD to RAM, thus SSD won't improve FPS.

If you're going to be doing some serious gaming, honestly I would stay away from Macs. You'll get more for your money with another brand and windows will game better. (I'd suggest taking a look at Sager laptops)

If its only a little gaming on the side then Mac games/Bootcamp + 15" or 17" with discrete graphics (9600M) + 4GB of RAM is my suggestion
Click to expand...
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EBddo0kw-Ko

I only want to play things like this. Not so much future-gen games. Just current-gen, and previous-gen games.

The person who made this video's specs seem to be worse than my specs if I were to get a 3.06ghz, 8gb ram, 7200rpm Macbook pro, and his mbp seems to be holding up quite well.

For gaming I think Fallout 3 is the most graphics intensive game I would play. I'd probably play some Half Life 2 (and HL2 mods) but that should be less straining of the machine than FO3. I'd also probably play a rom of No Mercy for n64 (of which I still own the actual cart/game) and maybe some mods for it. I don't think I'd be playing crysis or anything that is too strenuous on the machine.

I'm not into many current-gen games. I'm more into No Mercy, THPS2, etc, and maybe PS2/XBOX games; although some current-gen games I find to be fun.

I like GTA4 (as an example), but from what I can tell it was very poorly optimized for PC play. So, I don't expect to be able to play it even on a higher-end MBP.
 
UnSolidSerp said:
LOL
Will they work hand-in-hand, meaning will both Drives work at the same time, or just one? I'm fairly computer illiterate, but SSD's are better for large-writes, whereas HD's are better for small writes. Or am I way off?
Click to expand...
hmm i think the opposite may be right: The slowest operation for a traditional HD is actually moving the heads to search for a place to read or write. Simplyfying, this is done when you request to read a file. Once the head is positioned, then the HD starts writing full throttle. If you write, ie. 500 files of 1kb you are wasting most of the time making the head spin from one place to another. If you write 1 file of 500Kb, head only seeks once, then data is trasfered in one chunk. The benefits of using SSD's is that there's no mechanical head: We can access anywhere with no time penalty.

So the bottom line is, maybe some SSD are really slower than HD talking aout peak performance, but thing is they always transfer at peak performance. HD's got severely penalized from moving the heads.

If you have the money go get a cool SSD, I'd say, but I'd recommend 8Gb as first priority!

UnSolidSerp said:
ps. What is general consensus on what upgrades are expected in january. hardware, and(/or) software?
What are your personal thoughts on what apple might introduce to their consumer?
Click to expand...

Me personally i'm a little decepted with Apple's last stuff... they are cutting pro features without apparent reason.. Essential pro features such as expresscard slots, eSata ports, flexible video outputs ... are strangely ignored or even removed. They are back in tiny fragile ports ... And not giving screen options is ... just lame, I think, wtf???

To be honest I don't know what to expect from Apple, but I think they should finally give us the candy we are all screaming for :D Come on Apple! :apple:
 
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