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Do I wait for the next MBP 13" or get the current one?

A

AdamCapriola

macrumors newbie
Original poster
Jul 5, 2010
6
0
Hey everyone,

I am looking to get my first Mac and have decided on the MacBook Pro 13" (the cheapest configuration).

I have seen some talk about it not having the i5 processor (?) which the 15" has.

This is a laptop I want to be able to use for at least the next 4 years, so should I get the current 13" or wait until the new one comes out?

If I should wait, then is there any speculation as to when that new model will be released?

Thanks in advance!

-Adam

P.S. I don't do any gaming, might do video editing in the future, but right now I mainly use my laptop for writing/blogging.
 
I think it's been discussed a lot of times right after the new 13" model was announced. The fact of the matter is, having a i3 or i5 processor won't make much of a difference in the case of the 13". Not owning one of the new processors won't make it less fit for future use. If you were to wait, prepare to wait at least another year, even then you might not get what you exactly want.
 
My suggestion would be to buy a refurbished MacBook Pro and then put the money you saved into buying a SSD. You'll see a much bigger increase in performance from that they you will from a slightly faster processor. (The Intel SSD's are highly regarded)
 
i think the late 2010 refresh will still have a C2D / GF320 combination at a slightly higher clockspeed. I don't think we will see i5 or even sandybridge in the MBP13 until at least mid2011 (just speculating).

I for one am either going to wait for an upgrade or get something else (MBP15) because of the CPU and the dedicated GPU as well as the matte option.

I think 4 years is stretching it for the P8600. if you just it for light home use and don't need to upgrade to CS6, CS7, etc. however you'll be just fine with the current MBP13, it will run safari and ilife like a breeze for the next few years.
 
Littlefields said:
I think it's been discussed a lot of times right after the new 13" model was announced. The fact of the matter is, having a i3 or i5 processor won't make much of a difference in the case of the 13". Not owning one of the new processors won't make it less fit for future use. If you were to wait, prepare to wait at least another year, even then you might not get what you exactly want.
Click to expand...

Why exactly would the 13" having an i5 not make a difference?

I get that the i3 is a poor upgrade from the C2D, but the i5 is a great CPU. And unless the person buying the computer does any video intensive tasks, the i5 is a better upgrade than the 320m.
 
kny3twalker said:
Why exactly would the 13" having an i5 not make a difference?

I get that the i3 is a poor upgrade from the C2D, but the i5 is a great CPU. And unless the person buying the computer does any video intensive tasks, the i5 is a better upgrade than the 320m.
Click to expand...

Wrong. Intel's Core series of CPUs have the Intel HD graphics chipset soldered onto them and you can't just cut them off. Due to the form factor (thin, small, etc.) of the 13" unibody structure, you only have room for one GPU and one CPU. The 15" unibody structure offers a bit more room, that's why you seem the Intel HD graphics/NVIDIA 330M combination. And NVIDIA's GPU licensing agreements with Intel don't extend to the Core series so basically you're stuck with the Intel HD graphics on the 13".

That is a horrible combination. For most tasks, the Core series offers little performance gain. I highly doubt many people will do serious/heavy computing (video editing, audio editing, graphic design, etc.) on the 13" MBP. That is why Apple decided to use the slightly older Core 2 Duo CPU paired with the NVIDIA 320M GPU. Together, it offers a much better balance of power and offers much more real world performance gain than a Core i5/i7 paired with the Intel HD graphics. In terms of performance, the Intel HD graphics are a step backward compared to the 9400M. The 320M is much better than 9400M. The Core i5/i7 with the Intel HD graphics combination is fine in the 15" MBP since you can switch to the 330M. It's not so much of a problem there. But the 13" doesn't have room.

To OP, I would check out the refurbished store. You can get great deals there. If not, the 13" MBP is still a great machine. The entire MB/MBP lineup has been refreshed and the hardware is relatively recent. I would stick with the aluminum MBPs because it will last longer.
 
Thanks for the input everyone.

The word refurbished makes me shudder a little bit...I am worried that it would clunk out on me.

I am a student so I get $100 off plus the free $200 Ipod touch (which I could sell), so the 13" seems like a decent value. (I guess I could get a $100 printer and resell that too.)

I thought Microsoft Office was going to be free (as there was no price listed next to it on the additions page), but after I went to the checkout on the online store it added an extra $130 onto the computer. :/

Will probably pull the trigger on it later tonight, just wish Office came with it free.

My refurbished options would be these:

Refurbished MacBook Pro 2.26GHz Intel Core 2 Duo
13.3-inch LED-backlit glossy widescreen display
2GB memory
160GB hard drive
8x SuperDrive (DVD±R DL/DVD±RW/CD-RW)
SD card slot
Built-in 7-hour battery
NVIDIA GeForce 9400M graphics
Illuminated keyboard
$929.00

Refurbished MacBook Pro 2.4GHz Intel Core 2 Duo
13.3-inch LED-backlit glossy widescreen display
4GB (2 x 2GB) of 1066MHz DDR3 SDRAM
250GB Serial ATA @ 5400 rpm
8x double-layer SuperDrive (DVD±R DL/DVD±RW/CD-RW)
NVIDIA GeForce 320M graphics processor with 256MB of DDR3 SDRAM shared with main memory
$1,019.00

Those don't qualify for the free $200 iPod touch though, which makes them seem like inferior options.
 
I own the June 2009 13" MBP and having used it for a year it is very nice machine. It will fit your needs at school. Just the right size to tote around the campus. It has plenty of power to get almost any job done. I've run many handbrake sessions on mine and it's not as fast as a quad machine... it's not slow either and gets the job done. My vote is buy the 13" MBP.
 
Just buy the base 13" as is with the discount and do what you will with the ipod (id use it). It isn't that much money and for what it seems that you will be doing the processor and video card should be fine. You probably don't even want to think about an SSD if price is an issue.
 
Refurb is the WAY to go.

But since you're a student, that's a great option as well.

Go for the 13! I love mine.
 
https://forums.macrumors.com/threads/955631/

That is a little something I wrote up that should help you out a bit...

You don't have to get MS Office, you can use Open Office (free, and works great IMO), you can also get MS Office anytime down the road for the same price, or even less (my university sells it for $100 in the book store).

Also, like my write up says, the 13" MBP has plenty of power. It won't win any benchmark awards compared to modern power houses, but it is no slouch either. Plus, OSX is such a better running OS than Windows it evens itself out for the most part... I can run many CS5 processes faster on an '08 iMac than they do a custom built late '09 PC that has "superior" specs, but is stuck with Windows and the slow down that brings.

The current 13" MBP should last you 4 years, no problem, especially given that you are not using it for anything super intense, and doing so as your job... saving a few seconds, or even minutes, is usually overrated given that you are doing it casually, not professionally, so won't see a return on the extra $700, and even if you did, you will be doing many of those huge tasks so little, it would be marginal. Say your time is worth $35 and hour, it would take 20 hours of reduced waiting before you got that investment back. Not worth it for a casual user.
 
pjcforpres2020 said:
https://forums.macrumors.com/threads/955631/

That is a little something I wrote up that should help you out a bit...

You don't have to get MS Office, you can use Open Office (free, and works great IMO), you can also get MS Office anytime down the road for the same price, or even less (my university sells it for $100 in the book store).

Also, like my write up says, the 13" MBP has plenty of power. It won't win any benchmark awards compared to modern power houses, but it is no slouch either. Plus, OSX is such a better running OS than Windows it evens itself out for the most part... I can run many CS5 processes faster on an '08 iMac than they do a custom built late '09 PC that has "superior" specs, but is stuck with Windows and the slow down that brings.

The current 13" MBP should last you 4 years, no problem, especially given that you are not using it for anything super intense, and doing so as your job... saving a few seconds, or even minutes, is usually overrated given that you are doing it casually, not professionally, so won't see a return on the extra $700, and even if you did, you will be doing many of those huge tasks so little, it would be marginal. Say your time is worth $35 and hour, it would take 20 hours of reduced waiting before you got that investment back. Not worth it for a casual user.
Click to expand...

the 13" is no slouch, I run cs5, lightroom3 and final cut 3 just dandy
it's enough power to say the least
 
aeboi said:
the 13" is no slouch, I run cs5, lightroom3 and final cut 3 just dandy
it's enough power to say the least
Click to expand...

I was saying the same thing. I just wish it had an anti-glare option, and I would have gotten one, but I need the anti-glare for PP editing(My wife is a professional artist, so I need to more realistic colors since I do all her CS work for her... right now I am using an '08 iMac while I save the last few dollars to get the 15" i5, w/anti-glare, which that '08 iMac has slightly worse benchmarks (IIRC) than the current 13 MBP, so surely the 13" can handle my semi-pro use, and of course easily handle novice use as well)... just need that darn anti-glare, so 15" it is for me (larger screen is nice too).
 
I would purchase the current MBP 13", as I just purchased this system a week ago from Microcenter who currently has it for sale for $999 which is a better price then the education discount. If you are not real into using it for gaming this is a great system and in my opinion much faster than I though it would be. I also don't feel the next update will be much of an update, as you can just keep waiting but there will always be something newer and better.
 
Yeah I just saw the Microcenter sale, I think I might jump on that instead since there is one nearby me.

I'm just trying to crunch the numbers and figure out if it's worth it for me to get the free printer and ipod and resell them or if it's not worth my time. Seems like it's probably not worth it because of taxes I'd pay for those items (ipod and printer) that wouldn't get refunded by the rebates.
 
SnowLeopard2008 said:
Wrong. Intel's Core series of CPUs have the Intel HD graphics chipset soldered onto them and you can't just cut them off. Due to the form factor (thin, small, etc.) of the 13" unibody structure, you only have room for one GPU and one CPU. The 15" unibody structure offers a bit more room, that's why you seem the Intel HD graphics/NVIDIA 330M combination. And NVIDIA's GPU licensing agreements with Intel don't extend to the Core series so basically you're stuck with the Intel HD graphics on the 13".

That is a horrible combination. For most tasks, the Core series offers little performance gain. I highly doubt many people will do serious/heavy computing (video editing, audio editing, graphic design, etc.) on the 13" MBP. That is why Apple decided to use the slightly older Core 2 Duo CPU paired with the NVIDIA 320M GPU. Together, it offers a much better balance of power and offers much more real world performance gain than a Core i5/i7 paired with the Intel HD graphics. In terms of performance, the Intel HD graphics are a step backward compared to the 9400M. The 320M is much better than 9400M. The Core i5/i7 with the Intel HD graphics combination is fine in the 15" MBP since you can switch to the 330M. It's not so much of a problem there. But the 13" doesn't have room.

To OP, I would check out the refurbished store. You can get great deals there. If not, the 13" MBP is still a great machine. The entire MB/MBP lineup has been refreshed and the hardware is relatively recent. I would stick with the aluminum MBPs because it will last longer.
Click to expand...

The Intel GPU is on the CPU, it doesn't take any additional room.
 
AdamCapriola said:
Yeah I just saw the Microcenter sale, I think I might jump on that instead since there is one nearby me.

I'm just trying to crunch the numbers and figure out if it's worth it for me to get the free printer and ipod and resell them or if it's not worth my time. Seems like it's probably not worth it because of taxes I'd pay for those items (ipod and printer) that wouldn't get refunded by the rebates.
Click to expand...

You get $300 in free stuff, and you are wondering if it is worth it? Lets say you sell the iPod touch for $150 and the printer for $50, and you pay say $30 in tax, you come out $170 ahead in that case...

Or you just take the free iPod touch and printer, and run with them...

Or, you do like me, and use that money towards a 32GB iPod touch(thus pay only $100 for it), give it to your lady, and bada bing bada boom! Then get a decent printer, and after rebate end up paying $100 for a $200 printer.
 
buy it now! the 13 is an awesome machine, very portable too, if i had money to burn, i would buy it and carry it everywhere i go.
 
SnowLeopard2008 said:
Wrong. Intel's Core series of CPUs have the Intel HD graphics chipset soldered onto them and you can't just cut them off. Due to the form factor (thin, small, etc.) of the 13" unibody structure, you only have room for one GPU and one CPU. The 15" unibody structure offers a bit more room, that's why you seem the Intel HD graphics/NVIDIA 330M combination. And NVIDIA's GPU licensing agreements with Intel don't extend to the Core series so basically you're stuck with the Intel HD graphics on the 13".

That is a horrible combination. For most tasks, the Core series offers little performance gain. I highly doubt many people will do serious/heavy computing (video editing, audio editing, graphic design, etc.) on the 13" MBP. That is why Apple decided to use the slightly older Core 2 Duo CPU paired with the NVIDIA 320M GPU. Together, it offers a much better balance of power and offers much more real world performance gain than a Core i5/i7 paired with the Intel HD graphics. In terms of performance, the Intel HD graphics are a step backward compared to the 9400M. The 320M is much better than 9400M. The Core i5/i7 with the Intel HD graphics combination is fine in the 15" MBP since you can switch to the 330M. It's not so much of a problem there. But the 13" doesn't have room.

To OP, I would check out the refurbished store. You can get great deals there. If not, the 13" MBP is still a great machine. The entire MB/MBP lineup has been refreshed and the hardware is relatively recent. I would stick with the aluminum MBPs because it will last longer.
Click to expand...

How come the Vaio Z series has managed to pack the core iX and NVIDIA 330M in a 13" then?
 
highADP said:
How come the Vaio Z series has managed to pack the core iX and NVIDIA 330M in a 13" then?
Click to expand...

I said balance of power. Power also means battery power. My friend's Vaio Z lasts for about 1 hour on battery. The 13" MBP goes for 10 hours. You do the math and retract your statements. And the Vaio Z is also quit a bit thicker and starts at $1919 versus $1199 of the 13" MBP. It also lacks a FireWire port. The biggest thing it lacks is a optical drive. I'd choose a Mac over PC any day, especially when it lasts longer, is thinner, cheaper, and better.
 
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