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Finally Decided on 15" MBP but I have 2 Questions

Disavowed

Disavowed

macrumors regular
Original poster
Apr 10, 2009
143
0
Midwest
1) 9600GT?

This will be for grad school, so I will be using this MOSTLY for writing, web, keynote, and email. I LOVE watching movies and hope to SLOWLY wade into the video editing pool....but I am NOT a gamer and if I do get some games, I probably wouldn't know the difference in rendering. It is more the movie watching and editing I am concerned with

2) Will I see a difference in the aforementioned activities with a jump to 7200rpm hard drives from the 5400?

Thanks! :D

p.s. Was going to go with the MBA but when then come come out with 256GB SSD and 4mgs of ram this winter I will hate myself. This computer has to LAST 3 years, minimum!
 
9600 gt is nice, but probably not necessary for your needs at the moment. Over time the 9600 will come in handy as minimum specs for everyday computing increase

7200rpm drives won't make any significant differences

You might want to consider one of the refurbs in the apple store if you haven't already if you want the dedicated video card and want to save some cash.
 
blackrose said:
You might want to consider one of the refurbs in the apple store if you haven't already if you want the dedicated video card and want to save some cash.
Click to expand...


Good recommendation. That said, my questions were driven due to need and partly my "educational discount" :D
 
I'm going to disagree with a previous poster and say that 7200 rpm DOES make a significant difference in everyday tasks. The computer boots faster, everything responds better, and apps open faster. It significantly decreases that feeling of slowness you get on a laptop compared to a desktop. In exchange, however, the drive may vibrate slightly more, be a bit louder, and net you a little less (maybe 10 minues) battery life. Worth it, though.
 
mike1123 said:
I'm going to disagree with a previous poster and say that 7200 rpm DOES make a significant difference in everyday tasks. The computer boots faster, everything responds better, and apps open faster. It significantly decreases that feeling of slowness you get on a laptop compared to a desktop. In exchange, however, the drive may vibrate slightly more, be a bit louder, and net you a little less (maybe 10 minues) battery life. Worth it, though.
Click to expand...

Theoretically that may be true, but the Western Digital Scorpio Blue 500GB 5400RPM is fast and holds it's on against Seagate's 7200.4. The only thing that the WD loses out on is the noticable boot time but everything else in the OS is plenty fast.

As for OP, if you're trying to future proof, this wouldn't be the best time to determine that since Snow Leopard is coming out with OpenCL which is suppose to improve things but no one knows how much. If you want to be safe, stick with the 9600M GT if you have the money even if you don't know if you'll use it because when Snow Leopard comes around, it will help.
 
Disavowed said:
1) 9600GT?

This will be for grad school, so I will be using this MOSTLY for writing, web, keynote, and email. I LOVE watching movies and hope to SLOWLY wade into the video editing pool....but I am NOT a gamer and if I do get some games, I probably wouldn't know the difference in rendering. It is more the movie watching and editing I am concerned with

2) Will I see a difference in the aforementioned activities with a jump to 7200rpm hard drives from the 5400?

Thanks! :D

p.s. Was going to go with the MBA but when then come come out with 256GB SSD and 4mgs of ram this winter I will hate myself. This computer has to LAST 3 years, minimum!
Click to expand...

1) When the time comes you'll appreciate 9600GT. From time to time I now use it for 3D protein modeling that I never thought I would at the time I got my unibody.
2) 7200rpm is not worth the money in the long run. Once SSD price drops to a reasonable price, perhaps in 3 years, you'll appreciate the wait for a significant hardware upgrade.

While HD can be upgraded later, graphics cannot.
 
I would personally go with the 9600M GT. It has more computing power you will take advantage of once Snow Leopard arrives.

Also, price wise, if you are looking at the educational discount, it is a very good value. You save $150, which you can use towards a faster drive (7200rpm). 7200rpm is an improve and you will notice subtle niceties. Not drastic, but loading times and seek times will be noticeably a bit faster. Will it be hotter, vibrate more or make more sounds? Yes. Worth it? Hell yeah.
 
I would recommend giving the 9600M GT some thought, just in case you decide to do some gaming in the future, as far as the 7200 vs 5400 - nothing in it. The 5400 is plenty fast for your needs. :cool:
 
Disavowed said:
1) 9600GT?

This will be for grad school, so I will be using this MOSTLY for writing, web, keynote, and email. I LOVE watching movies and hope to SLOWLY wade into the video editing pool....but I am NOT a gamer and if I do get some games, I probably wouldn't know the difference in rendering. It is more the movie watching and editing I am concerned with
Click to expand...

Don't bother with a more advanced graphics card than the integrated card. Despite what some people seem to think, MS Word isn't going to render faster or better with the 9600GT.

2) Will I see a difference in the aforementioned activities with a jump to 7200rpm hard drives from the 5400?
Click to expand...

Not really.
 
Get a 7200rpm but not from Apple. Install it yourself. You'll save $ and have a backup HD to boot (pun intended).
 
miles01110 said:
Despite what some people seem to think, MS Word isn't going to render faster or better with the 9600GT.
Click to expand...


Just so we are clear, while I appreciate the advice, I don't "do Windows" or use MS products. Second of all, I think I was asking about avocation related activities as opposed to SCHOOL related WORK.

I may not be part of the intelligentsia, hence the questions, but I know the 9600GT won't MS Word. But hey, thanks for your sage advice. :rolleyes:
 
mike1123 said:
I'm going to disagree with a previous poster and say that 7200 rpm DOES make a significant difference in everyday tasks. The computer boots faster, everything responds better, and apps open faster. It significantly decreases that feeling of slowness you get on a laptop compared to a desktop. In exchange, however, the drive may vibrate slightly more, be a bit louder, and net you a little less (maybe 10 minues) battery life. Worth it, though.
Click to expand...

How much faster exactly does the OS boot?

How much faster exactly do Apps open?

Exactly how much time do you save in a day???

What data can you offer to counter what is published in this report???

http://techreport.com/articles.x/17010/14

Conclusions
On the surface, little separates these 500GB notebook drives—well, the 5,400-RPM models, anyway. But after seeing how each handled our diverse suite of performance tests, a clear winner has emerged.

That winner does not come from the Seagate camp, despite the fact that the Momentus 7200.4 boasts a higher spindle speed than the rest of the pack. I was hoping the faster-spinning platters, combined with a larger cache, would translate into better real-world performance. But they don't. The Momentus was often slower than the best 5,400-RPM drives, and while it enjoyed a few moments in the spotlight, those victories were far too rare to justify the drive's significantly higher price.

......

That favorite? Western Digital's Scorpio Blue. We subject drives to a varied mix of performance tests because we're looking for weaknesses, and the Scorpio Blue exhibited none. It may not have come out ahead of the pack in each and every test, but over our entire suite, the Scorpio was clearly the performance leader. At just $90 online, the Blue won't cost you more than other drives we've looked at today, either. Picking an Editor's Choice doesn't get any easier than that.
Click to expand...


EDIT: One thing you get with a 7200 HDD that you won't get with a 5400 HD is 'bragging rights', but of course now it seems Bragging Rights do not count unless you have an SSD ( Solid State Drive ) ;)




.
 
Chupa Chupa said:
Get a 7200rpm but not from Apple. Install it yourself. You'll save $ and have a backup HD to boot (pun intended).
Click to expand...

+1000:D

Honestly, it doesn't look like you need the 9600. Video editing, unlike most seem to think, relies heavily on the CPU. Only what shows up on the monitor is rendered by the GPU (gaming).
 
if its just for office applications and correspondence, save the cash and get a SSD in a year if you feel the need, otherwise, if your not hard on your computers now, unless you think there is something on the horizon that might change that, save the $$$.
 
I'll go against the flow and say the 9400M and 5400 drives would probably suit your purposes fine. Even a model with the 9600GT is going to be running the 9400M most of the time for battery life and I'll bet your will rarely want to reboot just to use the other graphic card.

I could be wrong, but I also have a feeling that the first gen unibodys aren't going to hold their resale as well as the Mid 2009 since Apple updated them so quickly.
 
miles01110 said:
Then I'm interested in how they differ. What applications do you use for SCHOOL that you wouldn't use for WORK- what is does your "schoolwork" require?
Click to expand...


My passion is film and was hoping to start to dabble in video editing and was wondering whether I would see a difference using the 9600. Gaming is not my thing but there will be a few....but video watching and SOME video editing are my hobbies (or those to be)

Thanks...
 
Disavowed said:
My passion is film and was hoping to start to dabble in video editing and was wondering whether I would see a difference using the 9600. Gaming is not my thing but there will be a few....but video watching and SOME video editing are my hobbies (or those to be)

Thanks...
Click to expand...

currently, no b\c video editing rendering is done by the CPU. Also, the comp with a 9400 can handle watching a 1080p video without much issue. With 10.6, though, it's possible it might help. OpenCL on the windows side allows for rendering through both the GPU and CPU, but idk if apple will take advantage of it in that way.
 
blackrose said:
9600 gt is nice, but probably not necessary for your needs at the moment. Over time the 9600 will come in handy as minimum specs for everyday computing increase

7200rpm drives won't make any significant differences

You might want to consider one of the refurbs in the apple store if you haven't already if you want the dedicated video card and want to save some cash.
Click to expand...

I don't know about the hard drive -- I think 7200 RPM drives are faster for pretty much everything. Sure, during a movie you wouldn't know, but through everyday usage surely the 7200 RPM drive would be faster. It may affect battery life, though.
 
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