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Capability of MacBook Pro 13" 2.4 320m for these uses?

JoJoCal19

JoJoCal19

macrumors 65816
Original poster
Jun 25, 2007
1,078
55
Jacksonville, FL
I decided to start a new thread after doing 10+ hours of searching and scouring for threads like this only to find pretty much all of them are for things that I don't do: CS4, CAD, Encoding, Gaming, etc.

Regardless of the impending update, I'm getting a MacBook Pro somewhere between the end of February and end of March. I'm deciding between the 13" and 15". I WANT a 13" due to size and price, also because I want an iPad for document viewing and reading. I pay cash for my purchases so I do a lot of research and make a calculated decision where to spend it. The reason I am considering the 15" is because a) It's more powerful than the 13" and doesn't have the C2D and b) Because with the high res screen, I may be able to negate the need of an iPad to read PDF's and documents and I could view the entire page at once, something you cannot do on the 13" screen.

What I want to know is if the MacBook Pro 13" 2.4 320m WITH 8GB of RAM will be sufficient for this (NO Gaming whatsoever and no hardcore video encoding/editing, no hardcore sound recording/editing):

1. 1080p video playback. YouTube, H264, mkv, any format. I want to play any sort of 720p and 1080p video flawlessly with no hiccups. Just smooth effortless playback.

2. Running Windows XP/7 virtual machine through Fusion. Right now my MB runs it OK but can cause the fans to run and I can tell it's really taxing the CPU. I want to run it smoothly.

3. Simple and light video and photo editing using either iMovie and Aperture/Pixelmator.

Of course the usual stuff we do on Macs and utilizing Office 2011 which my 5 year old MacBook does well so I'm confident the 13" MBP is more than capable of.

Of course if Apple updates the 13" to a newer processor and slightly better resolution before I purchase that would be ideal.
 
JoJoCal19 said:
I decided to start a new thread after doing 10+ hours of searching and scouring for threads like this only to find pretty much all of them are for things that I don't do: CS4, CAD, Encoding, Gaming, etc.

Regardless of the impending update, I'm getting a MacBook Pro somewhere between the end of February and end of March. I'm deciding between the 13" and 15". I WANT a 13" due to size and price, also because I want an iPad for document viewing and reading. I pay cash for my purchases so I do a lot of research and make a calculated decision where to spend it. The reason I am considering the 15" is because a) It's more powerful than the 13" and doesn't have the C2D and b) Because with the high res screen, I may be able to negate the need of an iPad to read PDF's and documents and I could view the entire page at once, something you cannot do on the 13" screen.

What I want to know is if the MacBook Pro 13" 2.4 320m WITH 8GB of RAM will be sufficient for this (NO Gaming whatsoever and no hardcore video encoding/editing, no hardcore sound recording/editing):

1. 1080p video playback. YouTube, H264, mkv, any format. I want to play any sort of 720p and 1080p video flawlessly with no hiccups. Just smooth effortless playback.
Click to expand...

This will be no problem

2. Running Windows XP/7 virtual machine through Fusion. Right now my MB runs it OK but can cause the fans to run and I can tell it's really taxing the CPU. I want to run it smoothly.
Click to expand...
The 13" will be as good as the 15" at this. The nature of virtual machines is that they WILL tax whatever you give them to run on, however, so you probably will still get the fans running on either system.

3. Simple and light video and photo editing using either iMovie and Aperture/Pixelmator.

Of course the usual stuff we do on Macs and utilizing Office 2011 which my 5 year old MacBook does well so I'm confident the 13" MBP is more than capable of.

Of course if Apple updates the 13" to a newer processor and slightly better resolution before I purchase that would be ideal.
Click to expand...

And of course the rest will be fine. For your needs, I think the 13" mbp is a great solution.
 
JoJoCal19 said:
1. 1080p video playback. YouTube, H264, mkv, any format. I want to play any sort of 720p and 1080p video flawlessly with no hiccups. Just smooth effortless playback.
Click to expand...
My 2007 iMac with 2GHz and 4GB RAM with 667MHz can do that.

2. Running Windows XP/7 virtual machine through Fusion. Right now my MB runs it OK but can cause the fans to run and I can tell it's really taxing the CPU. I want to run it smoothly.
Click to expand...
A fast HDD (Momentus XT) or SSD might help.

3. Simple and light video and photo editing using either iMovie and Aperture/Pixelmator.
Click to expand...
My 2007 iMac with 2GHz and 4GB RAM with 667MHz can do that.
 
Thanks for the info. Good to know that the 13" can more than handle what I want it for, especially the high def video playback. I will be going to the Apple store tomorrow to check both of them out and give them a good working.
 
simsaladimbamba said:
A fast HDD (Momentus XT) or SSD might help.
Click to expand...

Yea I've actually got a 500GB 7200rpm (I hate 5400) in my MacBook now. I think it's probably due to the age of the computer as the first version of Fusion ran better but over time it's just gotten to where it doesn't run as well and taxes the Mac even more.
 
I use my 13" MBP for everything you have mentioned. Can't fault it at all
 
grawk said:
The momentus is particularly slick, because it's an SSD/traditional hd hybrid. Speeds up most tasks VERY effectively.
Click to expand...

I'll look into that.

Also I forgot to add, later this year I'm looking at getting into programming and would be using Xcode. Does Xcode run great on it?
 
The only thing I'd check out would be the screen size - probably easiest in store (if there's a local one) to make sure you'll be happy with the size and resolution.

Also as per the normal advice:

1. You can get $200 off from the refurb store
2. Upgrade the memory from a 3rd party - only $110 vs Apples $400
 
JoJoCal19 said:
I'll look into that.

Also I forgot to add, later this year I'm looking at getting into programming and would be using Xcode. Does Xcode run great on it?
Click to expand...

yes, even the first intel macs can handle Xcode with ease.
 
JoJoCal19 said:
Yea I've actually got a 500GB 7200rpm (I hate 5400) in my MacBook now. I think it's probably due to the age of the computer as the first version of Fusion ran better but over time it's just gotten to where it doesn't run as well and taxes the Mac even more.
Click to expand...

I think it's more likely that the newer versions are more memory hungry than previous. It's even slower than I like on my computer with 4GB memory, so 8 should be a very nice jump from 2. Not sure how the XT would help performance other than VM startup time. VMs are more memory and processor-intensive than HDD, so I wouldn't imagine a huge boost in general performance of the VM.
 
JoJoCal19 said:
Yea I've actually got a 500GB 7200rpm (I hate 5400) in my MacBook now. I think it's probably due to the age of the computer as the first version of Fusion ran better but over time it's just gotten to where it doesn't run as well and taxes the Mac even more.
Click to expand...

That's most likely not Fusion's fault, but Windows.

One important thing when using Fusion, or Parallels, or whatever: You need whatever RAM would be a good amount for a Mac, and then add whatever would be a good amount for a PC running Windows. RAM is quite cheap right now, so this might be a good time to upgrade to 8 GB.
 
I use this Macbook Pro every day. I don't play BR, but everything else (iMovie/FCE, PS, Ofc 2011) works fine. With Fusion 3.x, I run W7Pro. I upgraded to 8GB RAM as 4GB was too little. Otherwise stock. One note -- Fusion shortens the battery run time significantly -- probably by 1/2. Worked this way on my 15 MBP, too.
 
mr0c said:
The only thing I'd check out would be the screen size - probably easiest in store (if there's a local one) to make sure you'll be happy with the size and resolution.

Also as per the normal advice:

1. You can get $200 off from the refurb store
2. Upgrade the memory from a 3rd party - only $110 vs Apples $400
Click to expand...

Yea I've got the 13" MacBook now and I would prefer to have the higher res screen like on the 13" MacBook Air but I don't care to have only 128GB of storage on the Air. That's the only reason I'm even considering the 15". I do have a nice 24" Samsung 1080p monitor though so if I really need the screen space at home I hook it up to that.
 
Another question, I know an SSD will make booting up and launching applications MUCH quicker than HDD but does the SSD also make the applications run faster? For example moving around within the application, loading new tabs in Sarfari/Firefox, rendering pages, etc?
 
JoJoCal19 said:
Another question, I know an SSD will make booting up and launching applications MUCH quicker than HDD but does the SSD also make the applications run faster? For example moving around within the application, loading new tabs in Sarfari/Firefox, rendering pages, etc?
Click to expand...

For me it does with Safari and loading Flash objects and such and even the crapfest called IMDB does not hang my Mac.
 
JoJoCal19 said:
1. 1080p video playback. YouTube, H264, mkv, any format. I want to play any sort of 720p and 1080p video flawlessly with no hiccups. Just smooth effortless playback.
Click to expand...

Just wanted to point out that I usually don't have trouble, but some 1080p clips in MKV format do skip a little at times, but I think that might just be VLC non optimized for it. It doesn't happen alot, but does happen every so often for me, and not on all clips. I own the current 2.4 mbp 13.

Also and SSD won't affect how fast your application runs per se, but loading components might be faster off the SSD, but rendering new pages and such shouldn't be affected as far as I know
 
Slightly Off-Topic, but where's a good place to buy a 500-750GB Momentus XT in the UK?
 
altecXP said:
Only fools buy SSD's and RAM from Apple.
Click to expand...

Yea I do all of my own work on computers. As a matter of fact I just popped in a new inverter to my MacBook 10 minutes ago and my screen flicker issue is GONE! Guess what, cost me $7 for the part on eBay and 10 minutes of my own time :cool:

I'm really leaning towards the 13" + an iPad 2. Going to the Apple store tomorrow to try out the 13" more and the 15" High Res.
 
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