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Closeout MBP 15" 2010 or 2011 model?

Y

YOTR

macrumors member
Original poster
Feb 26, 2011
59
10
Ater receiving my refurb 15" a couple of weeks ago, I sent it back due to some issues (locking up, keyboard was going to have to be replaced, etc). I was about to just spend more money and order a new 2011 model when I noticed a few places caring the base 2010 15" model brand new for $1450 shipped. I payed $1400 shipped from apple for the refurb one so I am starting to consider the 2010 model.

I know the quad core is way more powerful but honestly the refurb I had (for a weekend at least) was plenty fast coming from a 3 year old Lenovo thinkpad. Plus the differnece in price (from a base 15" 2011) would pay for Applecare. I pretty much will be surfing the web, doing some word/excel documents and looking at pictures (maybe some minor editing) via my digital camera. I am not buying this for gaming but I admit I might occasional play something like Half Life 2 or Amnesia (although I am on my PS3 99% of the time because of my 60" tv :)).

Worth it or should I just pony up the extra money for the 2011? I was considering the higher end 2011 15" model but I honestly can't justify that kind of money (so I was looking at the base 2011 15"). Thanks in advance!
 
Going by what you described for your uses & your budget, you're more than fine with the base 2010 15" MBP (MC371LL/A). Good luck. :)
 
Hard to argue with the price difference. I do have a question though, was your refurb purchased from Apple directly? I ask because I'm considering a refurb myself, and your experience is a little concerning.
 
I would also recommend the 15-inch 2010 MacBook Pro for your needs. The price difference could be invested in a memory upgrade, solid state disk, software or accessories which would add more value to your purchase.
 
Some people like/need to have the latest and greatest. Me, I'm more inclined to save some money and buy an older model. If it was good enough 12 months ago, it'll still be good enough now.
 
2010 for cost savings. If you can afford it, go with the 2011 as it really is much faster than the previous model.
 
I got a 2010 17" early in Jan. I am not disappointed at all, nor do I regret buying with an impending update. I web browse, work on my photos, run a Win 7 Virtual Machine for a few things. The only thing I need to do is add some more RAM. I am going to move to 8GB sometime in the near future.

Then maybe sometime in 2012, when SSD's get a little more maturity and prices come down, I may replace the HD with an SSD.

Until then I love my 2010 MBP. Got for the 2010.
 
Go for the 2010. I chose the i5 2.53 and added SSD before maxing out the RAM to 8 gigs. Flying and still cool.
 
Thanks to everyone for the replies. I am going to order it tonight. It seems like a no brainer plus the difference will pay for my applecare. I was starting to consider a new thinkpad T series but honestly by the time I priced it out with a 3 year warranty, it was only a few hundred less than the macbook pro.

The main reason I was considering a pc again was because the 2011 model was somewhat pricey (at least to me) compared to a pc. That's why I went with a refurb 2010. Now I can get a brand new 2010 for just a little more than I payed for the refurb. Hopefully I can get it ordered before they sell out of stock :).
 
TxdoHawk said:
Hard to argue with the price difference. I do have a question though, was your refurb purchased from Apple directly? I ask because I'm considering a refurb myself, and your experience is a little concerning.
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Yes I purchased directly from Apple. Most people have been totally satisfied with the refurbished ones. I have a couple of friends at work that received flawless ones. I think it was just fluke to be honest. Once I found out I could get a new one for just a little bit more (after I sent back the first refurb), I just decided to consider that one if I went with a 2010 model. I wouldn't worry about it though because Apple will take care of you regardless. Order a refurb with confidence :).
 
get the 2010 honestly. the i5 is an amazing pcu and is still ahead of it's time. it is also very fast. you can't loose with either option but you really can't say the 2010 is slow. i'm on mine now and it's ****ing incredible.
 
DarwinOSX said:
Get the latest one. Its much faster, has thunderbolt, a better vid card and will last you longer. You have a year to buy Applecare and you can buy it from an authorized reseller like B&H for $244 instead of $349 from Apple.

http://www.bhphotovideo.com/c/product/582543-REG/Apple_MC247LL_A_3_Year_AppleCare_for_15.html
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Good point. The problem was I started looking at the base 15" 2011 and was set on that one until I started reading threads about people just suggesting to get the higher end one, lol. So I started thinking well it's only a few hundred more so I might as well. So a $1400 refurb quickly turned into me almost buying the high end 15" 2011 on Amazon for $2075. By the time you add apple care, mouse, case, new printer, office for mac, etc, I was looking at over $2600. So I started panicking a little, lol. I won't be playing games much at all on it but it seemed like there was a huge gap performance wise between the graphics card in the lower end 15" 2011 and the higher end one. From what I have read the 2010 graphics card is pretty comparable to the lower end 2011 model.

Your right, I could buy applecare later down the road. I just don't know what to do, lol. This thread is confusing me more :). I am coming from a pc laptop where I was basically able to buy it with warranty and all the extras for less than $1400. So this macbook pro is a really big purchase for me.
 
Well that makes it easier. The store I was going to buy from never really had it in stock (even thought it showed to be) so I guess I will have to go towards the 2011. They ran out of the 2010 model a couple of days ago.

I would really like to just buy the 2011 base model but am tempted by the higher end 15" if the graphics card is really that much better. Decision, decisions.
 
YOTR said:
Well that makes it easier. The store I was going to buy from never really had it in stock (even thought it showed to be) so I guess I will have to go towards the 2011. They ran out of the 2010 model a couple of days ago.

I would really like to just buy the 2011 base model but am tempted by the higher end 15" if the graphics card is really that much better. Decision, decisions.
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It depends, will you be doing a lot of gaming now or down the road? If so, then the faster graphics processing unit would be an advantage, otherwise the price difference may not be worth it and you'd be better off with the base model.
 
Kyzelios said:
It depends, will you be doing a lot of gaming now or down the road? If so, then the faster graphics processing unit would be an advantage, otherwise the price difference may not be worth it and you'd be better off with the base model.
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Good point. I am not going to game a lot because I have the PS3 for that. I would however play occasionally. I am just trying to decide if the higher end 15" is worth the extra $360 (I would order from Amazon as of right now).

For the extra $360, I would get a better graphics card, bigger hard drive, and slightly faster processor. I honestly don't think I would notice the slight bump in processor speed or even a minor upgrade on the hard drive. It seems like the video card is a good upgrade (at least from reading various posts in the forum) so that would be it. If I consider all of that, I don't know if graphics card is worth an extra $360. At the same time though, if the base model graphics card is way less powerful, I will just pony up the extra money for the high end 15".

I know when I was going to get the 2010, the graphics card was honestly no better than the base model 2011 (I think from reading the 2011 one is marginally better) so I guess that is something I need to think about.


I think I am making this way harder than it needs to be :).
 
It's funny because I went through this thought process and had ALL the same thoughts that you have now. Is $360 worth the graphics card? If you already see that the hdd and processor may not be noticed. $360 is the cost of an xbox plus stuff or the ps3 you bought. It's also the price of AppleCare etc. I debated a base 2011 but ended up picking a 2010 with hi res and decent gfx card for $1500. I thought about going all out $2300+ for hi res 2.2 6750 but that's soo much money for a graphics card when I have an xbox and the 330m plays WoW and SC2 which are my pc games. Think hard about what you'll be happy with. I debated for over a week everyday lol.
 
aznguyen316 said:
It's funny because I went through this thought process and had ALL the same thoughts that you have now. Is $360 worth the graphics card? If you already see that the hdd and processor may not be noticed. $360 is the cost of an xbox plus stuff or the ps3 you bought. It's also the price of AppleCare etc. I debated a base 2011 but ended up picking a 2010 with hi res and decent gfx card for $1500. I thought about going all out $2300+ for hi res 2.2 6750 but that's soo much money for a graphics card when I have an xbox and the 330m plays WoW and SC2 which are my pc games. Think hard about what you'll be happy with. I debated for over a week everyday lol.
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Thanks for the reply! Yup it sounds like you know what I am going through, lol. Honestly I wish I could have just scored one of the 2010 models new because it was easier to justify next to a new Lenovo thinkpad. The Thinkpad isn't really that much cheaper than the base 15" macbook pro (at least the 2010 model). Now when I step up to the base 2011 model, there is a decent gap of almost $500.

I know if I even stayed with PC, I would only be happy with a Thinkpad. I am not in a huge rush so it gives me a chance to think which macbook pro I truly want. I am leaning towards the base 2011 though unless I can somehow find a new closeout 2010 model again.
 
aznguyen316 said:
What thinkpad are you looking at btw. Just curious as it seems like a common pc alternative for Mbp users.
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Thinkpad T420/T520. I was looking at the T410/T510 because those are being discontinued for the new models. The new T420/T520 are available on lenovo's site but they only have integrated video cards. The ones with dedicated GPU's come out at the end of March. I did price just a intregrated one and was already at almost $1200 plus tax (so pretty much $1300 + guaranteed) which is why I started looking at the macbook pro. I know the ones with a dedicated gpu will be a little more than that.

I could get a closeout T410/T510 and save a couple hundred but there have been some issues with them (creaky arm rest, screen issues, etc.) that I hope have been ironed out with the new models. It's definitely not a huge issue as all manufacturers have QC issues from time to time and lenovo's are way less annoying than most companies.

The bottom line is Thinkpad is not as good as it was during the IBM days. When Lenovo took over the line from IBM, the QC and dependability definitely dropped somewhat. They are still made well for the most part (and better than 90% of other manufacturers out there in terms of build quality), but they are far from perfect. I have one of the first thinkpad's that lenovo did after they took over for IBM. It is no different than the IBM branded one I had before that.

If I remember correctly, when Lenovo first took over, they would go to IBM to get there approval on what they were doing build quality wise to make sure it was still up to their standards (even though they didn't have to). I think Lenovo still cares but some things have slipped through the cracks over the last few years. Of course IBM wasn't perfect with the Thinkpad's either and had issues.

Regardless, for me a a thinkpad is the only pc laptop I would consider again. Even some of the non T series thinkpads are really good for the money. I think once you get out of the Thinkpad line, Lenovo is marginally better (like with their ideapad's) then say dell or hp. Definitely better but they are not built as well as the thinkpads. Just my opinion.
 
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