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Help deciding on MacBook Pro model??

S

spmiz12

macrumors regular
Original poster
Nov 17, 2009
180
0
Hey gang need some help deciding a few things... Hope you seasoned veterans can shed some light on some of my questions. Just for FYI, I bought a iMac 27" Quad core for Christmas last year, and just love it; but i want to make the plunge to a laptop also for mobility.

I am debating either going 13" or 15" model. My huge concern are:

1.) The 13" only being a dual core, probably will be phased out on new model; so what timeframe can I see before it starts to be sluggish??

2.) The 15" model, I know I can save some cash going refurbished from the Apple store; is it worth it??

Any help, would be great...

Thanks
 
the best way is to ask yourself what will you actually use it for?

i have bought a 15" i5 with 4GB ram and 500gb HDD.

15" cos I wanted the space on the screen, 2.53 i5 because I wanted some grunt as my gf likes to do some photoshopping.

The Core2duo is still a very fast machine indeed, and I am guessing if u have a 27" iMac already it will be just for portable playability than your powerhouse system?

I bought this one as I don't have a desktop at all? my GF is the in the same boat as you already having an iMac in the end should bought an iPad, as all she wanted was facebook, web, itunes, films, the odd game all on the move and that fitted the bill just fine.
 
As long as you've got the iMac as your primary machine, you want portable, get an Air. The maxed out 13" with it's flash storage, seems faster to me than the base 13" MBP model. And the battery life on the Air puts the MBP to shame.
 
Mac Composer said:
As long as you've got the iMac as your primary machine, you want portable, get an Air. The maxed out 13" with it's flash storage, seems faster to me than the base 13" MBP model. And the battery life on the Air puts the MBP to shame.
Click to expand...

+1

I went 15" because it's my only computer, and I wanted larger screen. If you have an imac, the 13" air makes sense. It's just as fast as 13" mbp in benchmarks, but it will actually be faster in general usage because of SSD. It's not upgradable. So get as much storage as you need, but get 4GB of RAM for sure.
 
MBA
C2D 2.13
4gb ram
256gb ssd
£1509

MBP
C2D 2.4
4gb ram
256gb SSD
£1639

you pay £130 more for the MBP but i still think its a better machine than the air, backlit keyboard more ports, easier to upgrade in future built in CD drive can be removed Opti-bay'd if u wanted to do.
 
I appreciate the help with suggesting the MacBook Air, but I perfer to still have a drive and more optional ports.

I am still concerned as of the 13" duo core to how long I can figure it will give me before I start to see a sluggish performance. Being I have a 27 iMac, that is my primary; but I don't want to fork over 1200 bucks for a laptop that in a year will be to slow.... Decisions decisions....
 
If you can afford it get yourself a MBP 15" i5 or i7

I've used the MBP 13" duo and it felt sluggish compared with the above two models.

Sure it will cost you more but you should see a longer usage timeframe from it.

Just my opinion

If you can go to a store that has all the models setup, have a play with them all, and then decide for yourself.
 
I have a mid 2009 MBP 13" base model and it is my primary PC (as in Personal computer not a Windows s**t). It feels as snappy as when I bought it almost 18 months ago. Although it is my first laptop that I bought myself and that it replaced a 5yo acer laptop.
I'll recommend since you already have the 27" iMac for heavy gaming, video editing etc, the 13" MBP.
Speaking for myself I'll stick with my laptop for at least 3-4 more years, when the 8GB RAM kits and SSDs drop in price I'll upgrade it and will have a decent machine which will cost me a total of ~$1500 with all the upgrades...
 
spmiz12 said:
I appreciate the help with suggesting the MacBook Air, but I perfer to still have a drive and more optional ports.

I am still concerned as of the 13" duo core to how long I can figure it will give me before I start to see a sluggish performance. Being I have a 27 iMac, that is my primary; but I don't want to fork over 1200 bucks for a laptop that in a year will be to slow.... Decisions decisions....
Click to expand...
The computer is not going to get slower over time. If anything you can make the system faster with RAM and SSD upgrades. For about the same amount of money as a 15" you can upgrade the 13" to one or two (think RAID 0) SSD drives and max out the RAM. Of course, you would want to go the after-market route for this and Apple is way overpriced.
 
The MBP 13 has a longer battery life than the 15 and is lighter to carry. For me plus the fact that the 13 is less expensive, I went with the 13.
 
OK, Would anyone recommend only new retail, or would anyone trust going apple refurbed???

I appreciate the help
 
spmiz12 said:
OK, Would anyone recommend only new retail, or would anyone trust going apple refurbed???

I appreciate the help
Click to expand...
I've had great luck with refurbs. In addition to not having problems I have yet to get a single visible defect. The machines would pass as new, but laws force Apple to sell them as refurbs. They are great deals.
 
Last question on this subject.......

If I plan to run Parallel; would a 13" Duo Core still handle that??
 
Addressing some misinformation in the thread...

The MBA battery life is not on par with the mbp13. It is a little better when idling or doing very light tasks. However, when it comes to normal browsing or heavy usage, the mbp13 will pull significantly ahead in the endurance race.

VMs like parallels is more RAM dependent.

I think a mbp13 would work great if you don't mind the gpu and screen size.
 
vant said:
Addressing some misinformation in the thread...

The MBA battery life is not on par with the mbp13. It is a little better when idling or doing very light tasks. However, when it comes to normal browsing or heavy usage, the mbp13 will pull significantly ahead in the endurance race.
Click to expand...
Everyone's use will vary, but my better half gets over 8 hours use on a single battery charge on a 13" Air.
I get 4 hours on my 15" i7 MBP.
 
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