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Help in deciding

Z

zhensley

macrumors member
Original poster
Apr 2, 2007
33
0
I will be buying my first Apple Computer in the next month or so. I have perused these forums for a while and I know these types of questions often annoy you all, so I will keep the question simple.

I will buy refurbished and will buy either the 2.4 MacBook Pro for $1349 or the 2.4 Black MacBook for $1099 (the extra $100 is worth the black and upgraded HD to me).

Regardless, I want this computer to function adequately for a minimum of the next 3 years.

What say you? What are the major benefits of the MacBook Pro over the MacBook? Speed-wise, am I right in saying both would function about the same? Is the main benefit to the Pro the clearly superior video card, or am I missing other things as well?

Thanks for your patience and guidance in this process.
 
I posted in both forums because I thought I would get two different perspectives.

Regarding your post - I understand the differences between the two computers. Actually, I am very well aware of the differences on paper since I have done a lot of reading on the subject. What I'm interested in is hearing your all's experience and more practical thoughts on the subject.

Thanks
 
zhensley said:
I posted in both forums because I thought I would get two different perspectives.

Regarding your post - I understand the differences between the two computers. Actually, I am very well aware of the differences on paper since I have done a lot of reading on the subject. What I'm interested in is hearing your all's experience and more practical thoughts on the subject.

Thanks
Click to expand...

What do you normally do on your computer currently. Identify your needs, web? Music? Video?

After that I may be able to provide a perspective.
 
jav6454 said:
What do you normally do on your computer currently. Identify your needs, web? Music? Video?

After that I may be able to provide a perspective.
Click to expand...

Simply, I don't do anything the necessitates the MacBook Pro now. Pretty normal word processing, e-mail, music, Photoshop, and with the Mac I will venture into some [light] video editing. As I said, I know my needs don't necessitate the MBP now, but I am trying to think long-term in this process as well.
 
Then a Macook will do fine. A MacBook Pro will be just overkill. I'd tell you to choose the new Al MacBook 2.0Ghz model. It has a great graphics chip and makes it a great machine.
 
jav6454 said:
Then a Macook will do fine. A MacBook Pro will be just overkill. I'd tell you to choose the new Al MacBook 2.0Ghz model. It has a great graphics chip and makes it a great machine.
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If I were to spend $1299 on the AL Macbook, why not just spend $50 more and get the Refurb 2.4 MacBook Pro?
 
zhensley said:
If I were to spend $1299 on the AL Macbook, why not just spend $50 more and get the Refurb 2.4 MacBook Pro?
Click to expand...

Perhaps because...
1. you don't need a Pro machine;
2. the MB is more portable;
3. last generation MBP is not automatically more valuable than a MB that's one generation newer. Apple didn't price the refurb products to give a deal, they are what they are worth.

When you try to sell it in 3 years, chances are your Al MB is still the current generation at that time.
 
well i recently sold my first gen core duo MBP for $1400.
the guy who bought it told me he knew he could drop $200 more on a new macbook or refurb but he simply wanted a bigger screen.
 
D.M.S said:
well i recently sold my first gen core duo MBP for $1400.
the guy who bought it told me he knew he could drop $200 more on a new macbook or refurb but he simply wanted a bigger screen.
Click to expand...

Sounds like you made out really well and he made a poor financial decision.
 
Here is why you don't need a MacBook Pro (MBP)

1. Its overkill for your needs. A current Al MacBook will handle that a more.

2. Last Gen MBP are known to carry defective nVidia chips. That means that at any given time the graphics card may die on you.

3. Portability, MacBook is much much lighter and portable.

4. MacBook has 16 cores in its graphics chip, it is a very capable machine. Much more than the old MacBook.
 
jav6454 said:
Here is why you don't need a MacBook Pro (MBP)

1. Its overkill for your needs. A current Al MacBook will handle that a more.

2. Last Gen MBP are known to carry defective nVidia chips. That means that at any given time the graphics card may die on you.

3. Portability, MacBook is much much lighter and portable.

4. MacBook has 16 cores in its graphics chip, it is a very capable machine. Much more than the old MacBook.
Click to expand...

I really do appreciate the help, but I think you're missing my point. I don't care if something is "overkill" for my needs now. If the MBP is overkill, yet only $50 more than the AL MB, I just don't see the logic in going with the AL MB. Overkill = longevity. What I mean is, if it is overkill for me now, then that means it will meet my needs for a longer time.

Also, I will buy AppleCare, so I don't really care about the defective nVidia chips. That will be covered by AppleCare...correct?

The Macbook isn't "much much lighter." In fact, according to the spec sheets it is .4 lbs lighter - not incredibly significant.

Thanks again though. You all have been, and continue to be, a great help.
 
To OP -
It looks like you have your mind made up already before you start this thread.

(By the way, 1. the price difference between the refurb MBP and new Al-MB is $150 when you get the Apple care. 2. The Al-MB is 1/2 pound lighter than the previous version, so 0.9 pound lighter than your MBP.)

As for Snow Leopard (quoting from others on the web - don't know how true this is):
- Rumor has it the Al-MB will support up to 8GB of RAM with Snow Leopard. It can go up to 6 GB now. (... although that may be the same for the early 2008 MBP?)
- improved graphics should Snow Leopard be able to access multiple chipsets at once, this difference will increase significantly (or is it just for the Al-MBP, not Al-MB?)
 
zhensley said:
I really do appreciate the help, but I think you're missing my point. I don't care if something is "overkill" for my needs now. If the MBP is overkill, yet only $50 more than the AL MB, I just don't see the logic in going with the AL MB. Overkill = longevity. What I mean is, if it is overkill for me now, then that means it will meet my needs for a longer time.

Also, I will buy AppleCare, so I don't really care about the defective nVidia chips. That will be covered by AppleCare...correct?

The Macbook isn't "much much lighter." In fact, according to the spec sheets it is .4 lbs lighter - not incredibly significant.

Thanks again though. You all have been, and continue to be, a great help.
Click to expand...

Seems to me your mind was set up before the thread and you just wanted confirmation.

Well, both machines are good; however, the Al MacBook will be far better when Snow Leopard comes out. Reason is Snow Leopard has Grand Central which takes advantage of multiple cores in the CPU and GPU. (Al MacBook has 2 cores in one CPU and has 16 cores in one GPU).

Also, the faster FSB (1066Mhz on the Al MB compared to 667Mhz in the MBP) and faster Ram (same specs) work together to provide even more processing juice.

Both machines will benefit from Snow Leopard but much much more the current Al MB.

When I said weight I meant weight between the MBP and the MB. MB is 4.5lbs and old gen MBP is like 5.40lb. That is a .9lb difference which can be felt when becoming a portable computer.

But as I said before, your mind is already set on the old gen MBP, so its not a bad buy, but you can get more boom and bong for your $$ with an Al MB.
 
zhensley said:
Yeah...how will the new products benefit better from snow leopard than the previous generation MBP?
Click to expand...


Simple really.

It will already make a faster and smoother notebook perform even better.

keep in that the 1299 base macbook aluminum will probably out perform the old generation 15" Macbook pro due to the bus speed alone. If i remember correctly the old generation 15" MBP has around 800mhz and the aluminum Macbook has around 1.07mhz. People always talk about memory and Processor, but the bus speed factors into how well they perform.
 
showkati said:
Simple really.

It will already make a faster and smoother notebook perform even better.

keep in that the 1299 base macbook aluminum will probably out perform the old generation 15" Macbook pro due to the bus speed alone. If i remember correctly the old generation 15" MBP has around 800mhz and the aluminum Macbook has around 1.07mhz. People always talk about memory and Processor, but the bus speed factors into how well they perform.
Click to expand...

The older Macbook Pro will outperform the Macbook 2.0 all day from all the benchmark tests I have seen. Even the older 2.4 Macbook outperforms the new 2.0 Macbook in benchmark tests.
 
hogfaninga said:
The older Macbook Pro will outperform the Macbook 2.0 all day from all the benchmark tests I have seen. Even the older 2.4 Macbook outperforms the new 2.0 Macbook in benchmark tests.
Click to expand...

Gizmodo revealed in a benchmark that the new MacBook performs equally as the old MacBook Pro.
 
I was a long time windows and got my first macbook 6 months ago. I went with the cheap option to make sure I really liked my mac. And I will never go back to windows.
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