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Help, please: 2.4 Ghz or 2.5 Ghz Early '08 MBP?

S

Scottological

macrumors member
Original poster
Sep 8, 2008
75
0
Denver, CO
So I think I'm going to pick up an early '08 MBP to replace my aging, but always excellent, 1.3 Ghz PowerBook G4. I'll be using the new Mac mostly for writing, surfing, light photo editing, and watching videos through Netflix, YouTube, etc.

What are the differences between the 2.4 Ghz and 2.5 Ghz models aside from the small difference in clock speed? I notice the 2.4 has 256 MB of GDDR3 memory while the 2.5 has 512 MB, but I don't know what that means and whether it will be relevant to my needs. Also, I understand the 2.5 has dedicated video memory, but again, don't know what that means. Will that help me in watching videos or is that strictly something for gamers and video editors?

Also, is there anything else I should consider when comparing the two models? (I know about the GPU issues.)

Your wisdom is appreciated...
 
Both should have dedicated video memory, only the macbooks have integrated video.

For doing day to day average stuff, you probably won't tell a difference. The 2.5 with the 512 meg video card, may prove to be a little more future proof than the 2.4 with the 256 meg card. The 2.5 probably has a bigger stock hard drive.

If you can get the two for roughly the same price, go for the 2.5. If not, depending how intensive your needs are, the 2.4 should work fine.
 
Scottological said:
Also, is there anything else I should consider when comparing the two models?
Click to expand...

The differences between these models were CPU speed, GPU Memory, (256 vs 512) amount of memory, (2GB vs 4) and hard drive size. (160 vs 200?) I'm pretty sure all of these hard drives were 5400RPM too, the 7200 units were an additional cost when ordering.

If your buying the unit refurbished, i would expect these differences to stay the same. If your buying it used, who knows what the previous user could have upgraded. (or downgraded)
 
Yes, it's a refurb through Apple's site.

What does a video card do, exactly?

(BTW, HDD is 250 vs. 200, both at 5400 RPM. Both models come with 2 GB RAM standard.)
 
Thanks for the replies.

I think I'll go with the 2.5 Even though the spec bump isn't enormous, I think it's worth the extra $150.

(I hadn't even considered the L2 cache, so thanks for pointing that out...)

Again, appreciate all the help.
 
If it's refurbed, there are stories about upgrades by previous users. Someone posts occasionally about a refurb having more ram, bigger/faster hard drive, etc.

I would think a higher end refurb would be more likely to have one of these easter eggs.
 
You can pick up a NEW prev-gen MBP 2.5 (MB134LL/A) for the same price or less than what you would be paying for a refurbished one via Apple ($1499 + tax = $1615). My friend just bought one this week so I know. Feel free to email me (homiedru@gmail.com) and I would be happy to share the details.
 
adamk77 said:
The biggest difference (besides the video ram), is the amount of L2 cache in the 2.53 GHz processor.

The 2.53 GHz processor has twice the amount of L2 cache. From most accounts, I hear that this makes a noticeable difference. Go for the 2.53 GHz.

Read this post to see the importance of the L2 cache.

http://answers.google.com/answers/threadview/id/758626.html
Click to expand...

Don't believe it. L2 cache is important, but not as much as people make it out to be. The link you provided compares the desktop Conroe chips - not the mobile penryn chips.

This is more relevant and compares the exact chips in question:
http://www.anandtech.com/mac/showdoc.aspx?i=3246&p=12

To summarize: not a big difference. 5% on average and that includes the 100mhz advantage the 2.5ghz has over the 2.4ghz. Definitely not a "noticeable" difference.

512mb vs 256mb GPU = negligible difference if any at all

If the memory is the same, you're basically just paying for the slightly larger HD and paper specs. The performance difference between the two systems is extremely small.
 
Hello,
I had to decide the same and went for the 2,5 model for about 100€ more bacause I think I will get most of that back when I will be selling it in the future. And for the time between I have a little more speed and bigger HDD, which also should be a little faster than the 200gb one, especially when it has loaded 200gb...


edit:
btw: here in Germany the refurbished are priced above new MBP from resellers who clear their old machines...
 
I say save the money. If you're not depending on this machine to make you loads of money, don't bother. Day-to-day performance will be pretty much the same on both machines.

With that $150 you're saving you can get yourself a nice external drive to back up to, or put it towards a Time Capsule.

I see too many people worrying about their specs and not worrying about their backups. :)
 
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