Cash plus contest gives me MBP cash!!!!

[MacsBestFriend]

Hey everyone, hope your all having a great week!

With my school right now we are all enrolled in this online contest where we take an online science test every week. The prizes include... what do you know... a $550 laptop! I already have $1600 for my 2.4 GHz MacBook, which I am waiting until I can go into the store and buy it instead of going to MacMall, and trying to coax my mom into an upgrade while there . Right now I am around fifth place in my class in the quizes, and this morning a kid in my grade won one of the 23 laptops to be given out in the next 7 weeks! There were kids with better scores, but the best are all put into a drawing. So if I win, I can sell the prize and conbine my other cash and get the base MacBook Pro! I just have a few questions:

Is the upgrade in general worth it??? I am only getting an upgraded screen and discrete graphics card, right?

In two years, rather than upgrading my entire system, I would overhaul my laptop. When I did this, could I upgrade my discrete graphics card with the other stuff, and would this void a warranty?

Are the speakers better in the MBP?

How long is the real battery life? I often go on road trips and when I do I want to watch movies on my lappy, with some time in between. I know the old iBooks had a feature that shut down the HDD while watching a movie: is this true for the MBP? Is the battery going to get me through a 2.5 hour movie (would the MacBook beat the MBP length)?

I will probably add some more soon!
Thanks, and have a great day!
-Josh

 

[MattZani]

On the MacBook Pro, only the RAM and HDD can be upgraded, like the MacBook.

You get a better screen, which is also bigger, and has a significantly higher resolution.

You also get a lot more GPU Power

Your choice really, do YOU need it?

 

[MacsBestFriend]

On the MacBook Pro, only the RAM and HDD can be upgraded, like the MacBook.

Really? I always thought that a discrete card was able to be upgraded?

Thanks for the other info!

**EDIT**
i was hoping to put a 9600gt card with 512 in after a few years (like whats in the mid-level right now)

 

[iParis]

You might be better off getting an Alu 2.4GHz MacBook and upgrade the HDD to 320GB and the ram to 4GB.

Really? I always thought that a discrete card was able to be upgraded?

I think it's integrated into the logic board.

 

[MacsBestFriend]

You might be better off getting an Alu 2.4GHz MacBook and upgrade the HDD to 320GB and the ram to 4GB.



I think it's integrated into the logic board.

OK, I found out that Dedicated didn't mean upgradable. So I am most likely wrong now.

Dedicated graphics cards

Main article: Video card

The most powerful class of GPUs typically interface with the motherboard by means of an expansion slot such as PCI Express (PCIe) or Accelerated Graphics Port (AGP) and can usually be replaced or upgraded with relative ease, assuming the motherboard is capable of supporting the upgrade. A few graphics cards still use Peripheral Component Interconnect (PCI) slots, but their bandwidth is so limited that they are generally used only when a PCIe or AGP slot is unavailable.

A dedicated GPU is not necessarily removable, nor does it necessarily interface with the motherboard in a standard fashion. The term "dedicated" refers to the fact that dedicated graphics cards have RAM that is dedicated to the card's use, not to the fact that most dedicated GPUs are removable. Dedicated GPUs for portable computers are most commonly interfaced through a non-standard and often proprietary slot due to size and weight constraints. Such ports may still be considered PCIe or AGP in terms of their logical host interface, even if they are not physically interchangeable with their counterparts.

Technologies such as SLI by NVIDIA and CrossFire by ATI allow multiple GPUs to be used to draw a single image, increasing the processing power available for graphics.

Integrated graphics solutions

Integrated graphics solutions, or shared graphics solutions are graphics processors that utilize a portion of a computer's system RAM rather than dedicated graphics memory. Computers with integrated graphics account for 90% of all PC shipments[6]. These solutions are cheaper to implement than dedicated graphics solutions, but are less capable. Historically, integrated solutions were often considered unfit to play 3D games or run graphically intensive programs such as Adobe Flash. (Examples of such IGPs would be offerings from SiS and VIA circa 2004.)[7] However, today's integrated solutions such as the Intel's GMA X3000 (Intel G965 chipset), AMD's Radeon HD 3200 (AMD 780G chipset) and NVIDIA's GeForce 8200 (NVIDIA nForce 730a) are more than capable of handling 2D graphics from Adobe Flash or low stress 3D graphics[8]. However, most intergrated graphics still struggle with high-end video games. Chips like the Nvidia 9400M in the new Macbook and Macbook Pro have similar performance to a dedicated graphics card. Some Intergrated Graphics Modern desktop motherboards often include an integrated graphics solution and have expansion slots available to add a dedicated graphics card later.

As a GPU is extremely memory intensive, an integrated solution finds itself competing for the already slow system RAM with the CPU as it has no dedicated video memory. System RAM may be 2 Gb/s to 12.8 Gb/s, yet dedicated GPUs enjoy between 10 Gb/s to over 100 Gb/s of bandwidth depending on the model.

 

[Eddyisgreat]

Nope. The cards in the MB and MBP are discreet (i.e. not intergrated) but aren't module based. they are soldered directly onto the logic board.

The MB's 9400 is not comparable to the MBP's 9600. The statement above implies that you will be able to do some light gaming and a few graphics intensive applications, but the MBP includes the 9400m for longer battery life and the 9600m gt for faster clock speed/dedicated memory/faster processing abilities.