First timer: 15' 2.8GHz vs. 15' 2.66GHz?

[Jericho87]

Hello, I stumbled on these forums when I was investigating on which Mac to buy. I've been following for a few weeks so I've narrowed my choice in what type of Mac I want to a MacBook Pro 15'.

Here's a bit about what I want to do with it:

I'm a first time Mac buyer. I've used them before, but have always been a buyer of HP and Toshiba. Haven't really had any major problems recently with my other computers so that's not the reason for the switch, I've just decided to give Macs a try based on advice and investigation. My last notebook was a Toshiba Satellite A 100 that has lasted me about 5 years and still going strong (though it needs a reformat). I'm handing it down to my dad to use and I'm in the market for a new lap top.

I want to invest in a high end 15' not only because I want power, but I want to be able to use it for the long-term. I figure if I'm investing in something it might as well be in the vicinity of top-line.

I'd like to be able to game on it also and I know there have been labels attached to Mac's and gaming in the past, but it seems that Mac's are more than capable of handling most high-end games (at least from the information I've gathered). This is basically where the need for high-end comes in, as I'm not so much into the whole editing video's/pictures (though I do some of that stuff, and will likely do more of it in the future). The 15' seems like the way to go if I want to do gaming on it. If I want to throw a potential game I'd want to run would be maybe, Star Craft 2 for example (though they don't have Computer Requirements for it yet).

Now, to get to my question which 15' is better suited for me: 2.8GHz vs. 2.66GHz. I'm not very fluent with computer technology term (I know the basic stuff like processor speeds, RAM and things like that) so try and dumb it down as much as possible for me .

Money is not a huge issue for me, but as most would expect I'd rather not pay top dollar if I can help it (as in, there isn't much difference between two things). And yes, I understand there is an upgrade coming out for the MacBook Pros and I will be waiting for it to come out as I'm in no rush to buy a new notebook right now.

Thanks in advance, hopefully my post made sense. Tried the search function, didn't really give me the answers I was looking for, so sorry if it's been discussed before.

 

[appleisgod]

. And yes, I understand there is an upgrade coming out for the MacBook Pros and I will be waiting for it to come out as I'm in no rush to buy a new notebook right now.

This ruined your question as all anybody is going to say (me included) is that we have to wait for the new models to come out to even have an idea of what will work best for you. I'm in the exact same market and waiting for the very same update.

 

[0186279]

Yeah nobody knows what will be in the new ones...but it wont be the specs you are talking about.

As for the computers now, I have the high end 15" and the 512mb graphics card definitely helps for games, my cousin has the low end and dosent do nearly as well as me, where I can play most games on higher settings.

If you can afford it, you might as well go for the high end community, you will get more out of it in the long run.

 

[Bill Gates]

15' = 15 feet.
15" = 15 inches.

I'm not trying to be rude, it's just that it's obviously not a typo since you repeated this mistake and you ought to know the difference.

 

[Jaro65]

15' = 15 feet.
15" = 15 inches.

I'm not trying to be rude, it's just that it's obviously not a typo since you repeated this mistake and you ought to know the difference.

I would really not enjoy carrying that around.

 

[James_C]

Well as you said you are going to wait for a new model, then there is not a lot of point discussing 2.8 v 2.66, although to be honest the difference is probably negligible, the biggest impact is more likely to be the graphics card for games, and we will not know what that is going to be until Apple releases the new specs. Hopefully the new MBP's will be out in the next couple of weeks, so you don't have long to wait.