I'm in Afghanistan and I purchased a alienware laptop right before deployment. The dvd rom broke 2 months into deployment, its crazy heavy to carry around and it loves to over heat. So the other day I bought a Macbook Pro from the exchange, it was like 20 dollars off the apples website price and no tax and no shipping. So my questions are, is this a smart time to buy? I plan to install windows on the machine to play swtor, its the 15 inch with the AMD Radeon HD 6750M with 512MB GDDR5 and 4gb of system ram. Will this play swtor properly? I would also like to know if this is a smart buy for a mobile entertainment solution. When I am back in the states most of my gaming will take place on my desktop. Thanks in advance
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Did I make a smart buy?
- Thread starter Dustinlf
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Does it matter? You already bought it... The MBP is mid-cycle anyways. Check out the Buyer's Guide.
Return it and wait for Ivy Bridge. If you don't like the new model you can always get the previous version at a lower price from MacMall or eBay.
why should he wait for ivy bridge, which boasts limited improvement on clock speeds that the average user won't even notice?
It is true that Apple is prepping an update, whether that's a month away, 3 months or 6 months away is anyone's guess.
From your post, I'd say you have an immediate need and the Sandy Bridge chipset is no slouch. It is a nice machine and you'll not gain a lot of performance between Ivy Bridge and the current chipset.
Bottom line, keep the MBP, enjoy it and don't worry about what the future will bring, there will always be a faster computer being released around the corner.
From your post, I'd say you have an immediate need and the Sandy Bridge chipset is no slouch. It is a nice machine and you'll not gain a lot of performance between Ivy Bridge and the current chipset.
Bottom line, keep the MBP, enjoy it and don't worry about what the future will bring, there will always be a faster computer being released around the corner.
It should play your swtor just fine.
If it is a smart buy depends on what else you use it for. Just for gaming and a bit of web surfing it is no smart buy. Including the Windows license it is just really expensive and the MBP really isn't worth it when used with Windows. A game every other week okay but not if that is what you use it for mostly.
A Lenovo Y570 is really cheap and better for gaming.
An Asus N55SF can be had for half the money with more speed a really good 1080p display and better cooling under full load.
A MBP works fine for the occasional gamer but unless you have other real reasons for having a 15" MBP it is a waste of money.
If it is a smart buy depends on what else you use it for. Just for gaming and a bit of web surfing it is no smart buy. Including the Windows license it is just really expensive and the MBP really isn't worth it when used with Windows. A game every other week okay but not if that is what you use it for mostly.
A Lenovo Y570 is really cheap and better for gaming.
An Asus N55SF can be had for half the money with more speed a really good 1080p display and better cooling under full load.
A MBP works fine for the occasional gamer but unless you have other real reasons for having a 15" MBP it is a waste of money.
I would have loved to have this dilemma down range but that's the way life is 
I say take it back, for no other reason than your going to spend most of your time in windows anyway and I know what the insides of MBP's look like after a stint in Afghanistan. The PX has a ton of disposable notebooks get one and sell it to your replacement when he/she gets there.
I say take it back, for no other reason than your going to spend most of your time in windows anyway and I know what the insides of MBP's look like after a stint in Afghanistan. The PX has a ton of disposable notebooks get one and sell it to your replacement when he/she gets there.
You have a great machine, don't be one of those "spec" buyers who always must have the newest technology when they buy something. These are also the guys that buy a new laptop each year because they think it makes a huge difference when Ivy bridge won't be that huge compared to a normal user like /user/me said.
People like this follow the golf club motto: "It's the clubs, not me, guess I need to go buy the most expensive set to fix my game".
People like this follow the golf club motto: "It's the clubs, not me, guess I need to go buy the most expensive set to fix my game".
It all depends on whether you crave the latest or are happy with it just working. Yes, Apple is rumored to have a redesigned MBP lineup coming in the near future. Since a change is coming, I would probably return the MBP and buy an iPad to use while overseas. You can always buy apps for word processing and other tasks to get by in the meantime.
Dustin, go with your gut. As you can see, many people have lots of conflicting ideas, and the only one who knows what you want is you.
My only thought is that if the weight is an issue, you may have wished to consider an Air instead of a Pro, but I love my own Pro and wouldn't trade it.
Unrelated to the above, thank you for being there and serving our country.
My only thought is that if the weight is an issue, you may have wished to consider an Air instead of a Pro, but I love my own Pro and wouldn't trade it.
Unrelated to the above, thank you for being there and serving our country.
Keep it. The MBP has a fit and finish far above the Alienware and while I can't speak to the long term component quality of the Alienware, I can to the MBP and I can say that it is a very good choice for mobile users as it is very durable. The model you have is also plenty fast. If you are doing most gaming on a PC, that MBP sounds good. If you plan to do more on it, you may want to consider a 2.2/2.3/2.4 GHz CPU as they have 1GB video cards. With that said, what you have has pretty good reviews.
Now, since you are going to play some games on it, I would up the RAM to 8GB (like $40) or 16GB (like 100-220) as it will help that and all performance overall. If you do photo/video editing, you will see a big difference in 4 vs. 8. If you are on the go a lot, which it sounds like you are, I would also look at getting a Solid State Drive (SSD), as they can take a lot more shock than a traditional platter hard drive and from my experience, the hard drive is the first component usually to break on laptops. The MBP is a solid device for mobile use all around and OS X is a great operating system which I think you will really enjoy using.
Now, since you are going to play some games on it, I would up the RAM to 8GB (like $40) or 16GB (like 100-220) as it will help that and all performance overall. If you do photo/video editing, you will see a big difference in 4 vs. 8. If you are on the go a lot, which it sounds like you are, I would also look at getting a Solid State Drive (SSD), as they can take a lot more shock than a traditional platter hard drive and from my experience, the hard drive is the first component usually to break on laptops. The MBP is a solid device for mobile use all around and OS X is a great operating system which I think you will really enjoy using.
Lol you have no idea what the next MBP will be like (like all of us obviously), why try to make him keep the machine even though it's absurd?
Would you feel better next month if you were not alone being stuck with an old school MBP?
Anyhow I'm taking my new 15" MBP back tomorrow, being in no hurry I'll wait and see what's next.
That's not what i'm saying. I'm saying that since his need is immediate, there's no need to wait for the ivy bridge to come out because op won't notice differences in performance.
Yup and we'll probably not see a huge increase in cpu performance in Ivy Bridge, but it is reported that the integrated GPU of Ivy Bridge will be better then the current model, so it will be useful to keep that in mind
Reports have the new ivy bridge GPU at easily 30% improvement from what Ive read, Ive even read higher than that but the number thirty are from several places. The overall improvement should be quite decent.
The part of me who just hates waiting have thought "come on, the current one with an SSD and more RAM will do fine, but considering the amount of money, waiting a while to make sure you get the best performance for the longest amount of time wins over my lack of patience, and thats a good thing I reckon.
The part of me who just hates waiting have thought "come on, the current one with an SSD and more RAM will do fine, but considering the amount of money, waiting a while to make sure you get the best performance for the longest amount of time wins over my lack of patience, and thats a good thing I reckon.
Most of the performance improvements tend to centre around the improved GPU thus any noticeable improvement will primarily be seen in the likes of the MacBook Air more than for example a MacBook Pro with a dedicated GPU.
End of the day I'd get one now simply because if the rumours are correct about Apple considering the use of nVidia GPU's and given nVidia's based reputation I'd want to grab a MacBook Pro with an AMD GPU instead.
Ive had my 9400 nvidia for a long time and its worked perfectly well, and The increased gpu power of the ivy bridge will still benefit the Pro, in all areas where the dedicated gpu isnt needed. Well if they stick to that solution, which I find fairly likely.
If I were you, I would return it and wait for the new MPB. It will probably be out in a month or two.
I agree with GermanyChris. Deployments cause havoc to electronic toys. I'd get a cheap PC laptop while you're there and get the Mac when you return.
I disagree. The G84 was a major f-up, but nVidia's mobile GPUs are solid otherwise.