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Getting a new Mac in January

shamash

shamash

macrumors 6502a
Original poster
Jul 19, 2008
595
22
Portland, Oregon
I currently have a black macbook, core duo 2ghz 2gigs ram 80gig hard drive, it's decently old. I am upgrading in January, and will be waiting until January 6th to see what new is announced.

I can't decide between:

New Macbook
New Macbook Pro
Old Macbook Pro
(New 17" Macbook Pro if released)

I mainly use my computer for watching movies, playing computer games (mainly World of Warcraft) and then, of course, coursework. Being an English Education major, I don't need to run too much other than Word, though :p

Basically, I can't decide what to get. I've heard Old Macbook Pro > New Macbook, but New Macbook Pro is the best, right? Is it worth the money over a New Macbook?

Just lookin for some help so I can make the best decision on what to buy :)

-Jordan
 
My other question would be : 2.4 or 2.53? The 2.4 would be a lot cheaper, it seems, and I could just upgrade the RAM to 4gigs on my own for much cheaper than what Apple asks. Is the .13 ghz processing speed really that much better?
 
shamash said:
My other question would be : 2.4 or 2.53? The 2.4 would be a lot cheaper, it seems, and I could just upgrade the RAM to 4gigs on my own for much cheaper than what Apple asks. Is the .13 ghz processing speed really that much better?
Click to expand...

I don't think the .13 increase in processor speed is worth the price, frankly. I wouldn't (and didn't) opt to spend that money on processor. I recommend using that money to invest in RAM (yes, you can get it elsewhere cheaper; I have no qualms with that, but I did buy mine from Apple, fwiw) and a faster hd (went with the 7200 rpm 320 gb drive).

My .02...
 
Alright, cause I'll be saving roughly $300 getting the 2.4ghz with 4gigs ram and 250gig hard drive just losing 70 gigs of space (i'm on 80 gigs TOTAL right now, so i'll be fine) and that small processing speed. Good decision hehe
 
If WoW is the only game you are playing then you could go with new MB and external or Refurb MBP and I think a 2.4 with 2 gigs RAM is fine.

ChrisN
 
You are getting more than just a bump in processor speed when you buy the 2.53 Macbook Pro rather than the 2.4 MB Pro.

Larger stock HD, larger L2 cache (6 MB for the 2.53 compared to 3 MB for the 2.4), and most of all(for me) the better graphic memory (256 MB for the 2.4 and 512 MB for the 2.53). Plus you get 4 GB of RAM already installed in the 2.53.

I guess each person has to decide if that is worth the few hundred more for it. It was for me. Then again I got the 2.5 unibody Macbook Pro for $1999 and upgraded the HD to 320 GB 7200 rpm for $40 through Apple (dev. program--well, well worth it).
 
Being you mentioned WoW I'll chime in. It's really the only thing I can comment on cause I'm a new Mac user.

I'm also an avid WoW player, or at least my wife says so... but then again she's got her own game junkee tendancies (viva pinata!).

Anyhow... that was something I was thinking about too. I don't plan to game too much on my MBP, but I wanted to be able to at least play WoW at decent settings when I'm not able to be at the computer.

I went with the 2.53ghz/4gb/512 9600+/320x5400rpm setup.

I'm happy to say... the game runs great. In Dalaran in mostly high settings at max resolution I'm getting 30+ FPS with all my addons loaded as well.

I spent a bit of time questing in Zul'Drak yesterday w/ it and again it ran just fine. So you should be fine if you go that route.

I really can't say how its hit with the 256mb 9600GT version, but I went with the 512mb due to the fact that WoW has so many large open areas I figured the extra VRAM may help due to the amount of textures, etc, it's constant got held.

D.
 
I am slightly confused as the machines you have for choice vary greatly in size and specs, I think you need to narrow down what it it you need. Then it will be easier for us to try and recommend something. If you look at the photos, it will give you an idea how different these are not only in spec but size.

Unless you want a 17" I would just get a unibody macbook r macbook pro, spec-wise as said it is not worth the extra for the 2.53 MBP.
 
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