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Buying my first Mac...

S

Suzuki

macrumors member
Original poster
Aug 7, 2006
33
0
United Kingdom
Hello everybody! My first post to the forums, so be nice to me.

A friend of mine has converted me, and I'm about to splash out on my very first Mac.

Thinking of getting the 15" MacBook Pro, but have a few questions I want answered before I buy.

First, 5400rpm drive, or the 7200rpm drive? I've heard arguments for both, but have no idea which to go for.

Second, do I buy now, or wait for the outcome of WWDC? How long would any upgrades announced take to get into the shops?

Third, Leopard - 2007 before release? Or will it be soon enough that it's worth waiting so that I can get it included in the initial purchase of my MacBook Pro?

Thanks in advance for your help. :)
 
Hello and welcome to Macs and MacRumors. Before we can say which drive you should get, it might be more helpful if you tell us what you plan on doing with the machine. As a rule, I'd recommend the 7200RPM drive and then maybe an external drive if you need the extra space.

Definitely wait 'til after WWDC. You may as well, it's not long to go now. Whether the products announced are either relevant or shipped promptly can only be speculated at this stage. Generally if it's a major product change then it'll take a little longer to ship. If an update to the MacBook Pro is announced, I doubt it'll be anything too major so it should be shipped relatively soon.

As for waiting until Leopard, I really think that's unnecessary. Just check back at the Apple Online Store post-WWDC and see what takes your fancy. :)
 
Oops, should have given more information in the first place.

I will mainly be using it for webdesign, coding, email and internet, however I will also be using it for photo editing.
I have a Nikon D100, and will be editing RAW files on it. I don't imagine I will be doing much (if any) video editing.

Since I'm only using static images, that's why I wondered if the faster drive was really all that important. I'd heard that it was noisy and sucked the battery's power?
 
Coolness. In real life terms, the faster hard disk will not change the battery times. I can't speak for the noise but I can't imagine the difference would be huge. I still reckon the 7200RPM drive would be ideal, but the 5400RPM drive will be fine too. :)
 
hey there

www.barefeats.com (those guys rock for unbiased performance tests on apple computers) tested 4200 rpm vs 5400 rpm drives a while back, and found no noticeable difference. I think they even got more life out of the faster drive? (takes more juice to spin a drive up for reading, and if you read faster, it is on for less time) at any rate, battery life was close. the performance difference is worth it.
here's the quote:

WILL A 7200RPM NOTEBOOK DRIVE DRAIN MY BATTERY FASTER?
The short answer is, "Probably not." You see, the 7200rpm drives are as much as 28% faster doing random reads and writes compared to the 5400rpm drives. They are as much as 80% faster than 4200rpm drives. Yet the Hitachi Travelstar 7K100 uses the same amount of power as the Travelstar 5K100. The Seagate Momentus 7200.1 uses only 10% more power than the Momentus 4200.2. The Momentus 5400.3 uses less power than the Momentus 4200.2. My theory is that the "speed to power" ratio is so good with the 7200rpm drives that the net effect on the battery is negligible.
 
Thanks for your help! :)

Right then, I'll get the 7200rpm 100GB drive, in the 15" MacBook Pro.

I'm going to upgrade it to 2GB ram, but I'll buy it from crucial.com because Apple's prices for RAM are insane.

Now I've just got to persuade myself to wait a week or so for WWDC to tell me if I'll get a better laptop if I buy a month from now.

I don't like waiting. :(
 
Suzuki said:
Now I've just got to persuade myself to wait a week or so for WWDC to tell me if I'll get a better laptop if I buy a month from now.

I don't like waiting. :(
Click to expand...

WWDC and all it's product/software announcement begins in 4 hours, 23 minutes.

If you're doing RAW stuff, look into Aperture too, from what I hear it's a great program for organising your RAW workflow and photos.
 
Wait for today and see if a new Mac Book Pro Comes Out (Not Likely). You will want to get the 7200 RPM hard drive if you do a lot of intense video editing or just want faster performance.
 
Chundles said:
look into Aperture too
Click to expand...

I already have, and it's one of the reasons I'm getting a MacBook Pro over the standard MacBook. Aperture wont run on the MacBook due to the poor graphics card it ships with.

I just hope my MacBook Pro is worth the additional money, and that I enjoy OS X as much as people keep telling me I will. I've been a Windows user in desktop environments all my life, so this will be quite a change.
I work as a systems programmer, working mainly in Solaris and Red Hat, so shell work is second nature to me. That's one of the reasons I'm looking forward to OS X - having a unix shell under the covers! :D
 
Suzuki said:
I just hope my MacBook Pro is worth the additional money, and that I enjoy OS X as much as people keep telling me I will. I've been a Windows user in desktop environments all my life, so this will be quite a change.
Click to expand...

That`s one thing I am damn sure is going to happen. Compared to WinBlows you`d absolutely love OSX` ease of use and nice GUI. I simply hate it when I cant use expose in XP. Just that one feature is more than enough to keep me away from windows.
 
Suzuki said:
I already have, and it's one of the reasons I'm getting a MacBook Pro over the standard MacBook. Aperture wont run on the MacBook due to the poor graphics card it ships with.
Click to expand...
Wrong! Aperture works fine on MacBooks. Its just that if it goes wrong, Apple don't help you.
 
ChrisG said:
Wrong! Aperture works fine on MacBooks. Its just that if it goes wrong, Apple don't help you.
Click to expand...

Oh. The man in the Apple shop said it wouldn't work on the MacBook. He even showed me the Aperture webpage to corroborate his story. :confused:

So, is the Pro really what I should be buying? Is it worth the extra money to get the Pro rather than the standard MacBook?

I'm so confused. :(
 
Suzuki said:
Oh. The man in the Apple shop said it wouldn't work on the MacBook. He even showed me the Aperture webpage to corroborate his story. :confused:

So, is the Pro really what I should be buying? Is it worth the extra money to get the Pro rather than the standard MacBook?

I'm so confused. :(
Click to expand...

In your situation, yes it is worth the extra money. Aperture will run on the MacBook but it will work much better on the MacBook Pro. Plus you get a larger screen to work with your photos when you're out and about.

Definitely go for the Pro.
 
Chundles said:
In your situation, yes it is worth the extra money. Aperture will run on the MacBook but it will work much better on the MacBook Pro. Plus you get a larger screen to work with your photos when you're out and about.

Definitely go for the Pro.
Click to expand...

Aahh, a voice of reason in the nightmare that is Apple Advertising. :)

Right, I'm decided now. 15" MacBook Pro, with the 7200rpm drive, and an upgrade to 2GB ram from www.crucial.com

Now to just stop myself from changing my mind again! :rolleyes:
 
Suzuki said:
Oh. The man in the Apple shop said it wouldn't work on the MacBook. He even showed me the Aperture webpage to corroborate his story. :confused:

So, is the Pro really what I should be buying? Is it worth the extra money to get the Pro rather than the standard MacBook?

I'm so confused. :(
Click to expand...
They say that so you get the more expenive/high margins MBP ;) .
 
Congrats on the decision to make the switch :D

What do you plan on using your system for? Is the faster speed on the drive needed?

Please wait until after today's WWDC keynote to see if Apple announces updates to the MacBook Pro.

As per your Leopard question, Apple will provide some insight into the release date during Steve Jobs' keynote.
 
Yeah, I really think the MacBook Pro is the right machine for you. The MacBook will run Aperture, but not terribly well. Considering this is one of the primary reasons for getting this machine, you want it to run smoothly. :)
 
Well, after Steve's Keynote speech yesterday at WWDC, and no announcement for an upgrade to the MacBook Pro, and with Leopard not due for release for at least another 6 months, I've finally splashed out.

Bought the MacBook Pro with the following spec:
MacBook Pro, 15-inch, 2.16GHz Intel
2.16GHz Intel Core Duo
1GB 667 DDR2 - 1x1GB SO-DIMM
100GB Serial ATA drive (7200rpm)
SuperDrive (DVD-RW/CD-RW)
MacBook Pro 15 Glossy Widescreen Display
Backlit Keyboard & Mac OS
AirPort Extreme Card & Bluetooth
When it arrives I'll buy an extra 1GB from crucial. :)

Apparently there is an estimated 5 day build time, followed by 3 to 7 days for delivery. All "business days" of course.

Estimated delivery date is 22nd August. I want it now! :(

I can't wait!!! :D
 
Suzuki said:
Well, after Steve's Keynote speech yesterday at WWDC, and no announcement for an upgrade to the MacBook Pro, and with Leopard not due for release for at least another 6 months, I've finally splashed out.

Bought the MacBook Pro with the following spec:
MacBook Pro, 15-inch, 2.16GHz Intel
2.16GHz Intel Core Duo
1GB 667 DDR2 - 1x1GB SO-DIMM
100GB Serial ATA drive (7200rpm)
SuperDrive (DVD-RW/CD-RW)
MacBook Pro 15 Glossy Widescreen Display
Backlit Keyboard & Mac OS
AirPort Extreme Card & Bluetooth
When it arrives I'll buy an extra 1GB from crucial. :)

Apparently there is an estimated 5 day build time, followed by 3 to 7 days for delivery. All "business days" of course.

Estimated delivery date is 22nd August. I want it now! :(

I can't wait!!! :D
Click to expand...

Sweeeeeeeeeeeeet.......... :D :D

That is dead-set awesome. Well done on your purchase, you should get plenty of milage out of it, especially with the fast HDD and 2GB of RAM.

Start saving up for a nice big external HDD and by the time OS X 10.5 Leopard comes out, with your MacBook Pro, Aperture and the file archiving abilities of Time Machine you will have to ultimate portable photo editing studio.
 
Suzuki said:
Oooh, and I can have a silly signature boasting about what new shiny things I've got now!

:rolleyes: ;)
Click to expand...

It's not silly when you can put "MacBook Pro" in your sig.
 
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