Hate to do this but...

[Deedz]

Alright, I'm about to purchase a macbook pro for college this fall. Right now I'm considering a 15 inch Refurbished MacBook Pro 2.53GHz Intel Core 2 Duo or the base model 13 inch macbook pro. I will be using the computer for school work, music production (Ableton Live) as well as dj'ing. But what I'm mainly worried about is whether I should just pony up the extra $$$ for an i5, I'm pretty sure a c2d will be fine but I'm just wondering whether DAWs will start taking advantage of the i5 turbo boost, hyperthreading, etc. in the near future.

 

[MikeinJapan]

The i5 doesn't have turboboost, does it?

I would got for the i5. It is a better machine that will last longer. A bigger screen is always welcome.

 

[Mac-key]

from everything I've read the i5 DOES have turbo boast - up to 2.93, or 3.06 i believe.

However, I got a 2.53 2009 13 inch and I use FCP quite extensively. It works fine for me.

If money is an issue, get the 2.53 15 inch refurb. If not, get the i5

 

[JCCash]

from everything I've read the i5 DOES have turbo boast - up to 2.93, or 3.06 i believe.

However, I got a 2.53 2009 13 inch and I use FCP quite extensively. It works fine for me.

If money is an issue, get the 2.53 15 inch refurb. If not, get the i5

i5 and 15" is a benifit. For about the same price you could get a faster 13":


Refurbished MacBook Pro 2.66GHz Intel Core 2 Duo
13.3-inch LED-backlit glossy widescreen display
4GB (2 x 2GB) of 1066MHz DDR3 SDRAM
320GB 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
$1,269.00

 

[Hisdem]

i5 and 15" is a benifit. For about the same price you could get a faster 13":


Refurbished MacBook Pro 2.66GHz Intel Core 2 Duo
13.3-inch LED-backlit glossy widescreen display
4GB (2 x 2GB) of 1066MHz DDR3 SDRAM
320GB 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
$1,269.00

Exact model I have. The 15 inch i5 is still better though, double the graphics power with dedicated memory. Plus the turbo boost feature. If money isn't an issue, you should get the i5 15 inch @ 2.53 GHz, it's your best deal.

 

[kny3twalker]

i5 and 15" is a benifit. For about the same price you could get a faster 13":


Refurbished MacBook Pro 2.66GHz Intel Core 2 Duo
13.3-inch LED-backlit glossy widescreen display
4GB (2 x 2GB) of 1066MHz DDR3 SDRAM
320GB 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
$1,269.00

clock speed is not the only measure of performance
the base i5 at 2.4GHz is 25 to 30% faster than the 2.66GHz Core2Duo.
Then the upgraded 13" model which has the 2.66GHz CPU is the worst value in the apple lineup. $300 more than the base model, and the only upgrade is a small CPU clock increase and 70GB more hard drive space. Terrible.

While quite a bit more expensive, the base 15" with i5 is the best value in terms of price/performance followed by the base 13".

 

[stefan1975]

so what exactly is it that you hate to do ?!

 

[mrsir2009]

If you want to be using your computer to do quite hardcore things for the next 5 years I'd go for the i5