Current gen base 15"MBP or refurb 15" w/ 9600GT

[kingcrowing]

Hey,
So I just sold my laptop & desktop and I'm looking to just have one laptop so I've decided that the 15" Unibody MBP is gonna work. I mainly do internet/email etc, I'm a business student so I occasionally need windows so I'll do a dual boot with Vista Ultimate (7 once it's officially out).

The one thing I do that's intensive is occasional 720p video editing with iMovie, and watching some 720p videos/converting them so I can watch them on my PS3.

So I'm looking at either the current 2.53GHz 15" MBP with the 9400 for $1599 (education price) and selling the free iPod, or getting a refurb 2.4GHz 15" with the 9600 for $1349, and I'd need to buy 4GB of RAM (~$60 on newegg).

Will the 9400 be good enough for light video editing or should I get the refub and up the RAM?

 

[andiwm2003]

Hey,
So I just sold my laptop & desktop and I'm looking to just have one laptop so I've decided that the 15" Unibody MBP is gonna work. I mainly do internet/email etc, I'm a business student so I occasionally need windows so I'll do a dual boot with Vista Ultimate (7 once it's officially out).

The one thing I do that's intensive is occasional 720p video editing with iMovie, and watching some 720p videos/converting them so I can watch them on my PS3.

So I'm looking at either the current 2.53GHz 15" MBP with the 9400 for $1599 (education price) and selling the free iPod, or getting a refurb 2.4GHz 15" with the 9600 for $1349, and I'd need to buy 4GB of RAM (~$60 on newegg).

Will the 9400 be good enough for light video editing or should I get the refub and up the RAM?

definately refurb. the prices will be the same but the video card is much better. not only for 3D but also for all core applications.

 

[oculus42]

Refurb, for the DVI connector

This might be minor for some users, but I have an external 30" display, so my next MacBook Pro will come at a $100 additional premium, because I need the bulky and expensive Mini DisplayPort to Dual-Link DVI adapter.

The refurb also offers an ExpressCard slot, which you likely won't ever use, but it's nice to have the possibility of adding eSATA or an internal cellular data card.

 

[kingcrowing]

Well, I just remembered about the cashback from bing.com through eBay, so I can get a new sealed in box 15" 2.8GHz/4GB/500GB/512MB 9600 for $1675! So I think I'm going to do that.

 

[kingcrowing]

I do use an SD card for my HD camcorder so that will probably be more useful than an express card. I also just sold my 24" LCD with my desktop... so no external (except for my old Apple 15" with my G4 MDD...)

 

[kingcrowing]

So I jumped on a refurb... I got for $1,449 the last gen 2.53GHz/4GB/320GB/512MB! Awesome deal and I like that this one has the user removable battery. Score!

 

[jamesryanbell]

So I jumped on a refurb... I got for $1,449 the last gen 2.53GHz/4GB/320GB/512MB! Awesome deal and I like that this one has the user removable battery. Score!

You're going to love it.

 

[airplaneman]

Depends on what you want

Here's my suggestion in a nutshell:

To get the most bang for your buck, go for the refurb. Installing more memory is easy enough. However, if you are like me, I think the 7 hour battery can't be beat. The screen is better too. There should not be too much of a difference in movie editing and other intense stuff. So, if you want more performance, go refurb. If you want a better screen and more battery (it's insane, I tested it myself by playing continuous loops of music and surfing the web at minimum brightness; it does last 7 hours!), go for the newbaseline model. Well, I guess this isn't really in a nutshell anymore but I hope this helps. Good luck and I hope you find and get what you want.

OOPS! You already made the purchase.

 

[kingcrowing]

well honestly, the longest I ever really use my laptop away from a battery is in class (Maybe 3hrs of just taking notes) or a meeting which could be ~4hrs but I'm not using my laptop the whole time. So as nice as 7hrs is it's not a huge deal.

I'm real excited for what I ordered!