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High-end 15" model no longer a good value due to refresh?

K

Kendo

macrumors 68020
Original poster
Apr 4, 2011
2,363
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I would have easily considered paying $400 more for the early 2011 high-end 15" model due to the slight increase in CPU and HDD and mainly due to the upgrade from a 256MB 6490M to a 1GB 6750M.

With this update, a 512MB 6750 is a great GPU to handle any task including many modern games at medium settings. Does anyone feel the high-end 15" model no longer needs to be considered due to what little you get for $400?
 
At this point the high-end doesn't separate itself as much as it did before, but if you're going to be playing a lot of games, especially on a high-res monitor, it might be worth it. But, it does make the lower-end model a lot more attractive.
 
no the high end model is still better. people forget that the high end model is not just better in specs but also has better internals and components. The IP-Ata masks used in the high end are much better and last much longer at the same while giving much better performance. TO some people the better IP-ATA performance gains are good enough to warrant buying the higher end model, as they make the video editing process more painless.
 
What is an IP-ATA mask? Couldn't find anything on the web...? Is that a component of the logic board? And could you please give reference?
 
I very much doubt what kanit says. Have never heard of anything like it.
It is also very uncommon practice in this area.

A 6750 is effectively the same as 6770. Overclock it a to the same clocks which shouldn't be hard and you get the same performance in most situations.
256mb was also really low and just not enough for most games but 512mb is much more in the green zone.
The CPU speed difference can be more or less ignored as it will never really make a significant enough difference to be noticed. If the slower one is to slow the faster one would be too.
 
haha, if you couldnt tell my last post was a joke.
In all seriousness yes the cheaper mbp does seem to be better value now but still dont know how much the lesser memory will actually affect the performance of the GPU but it still should be capable enough for everything thus making the cheaper model a better buy
 
anyone got some benchmarks of the new baseline model? i just got my 6490M based MBP friday, trying to find out what kind of improvement i can expect if i go through the hassle to return/rebuy.
 
Kendo said:
I would have easily considered paying $400 more for the early 2011 high-end 15" model due to the slight increase in CPU and HDD and mainly due to the upgrade from a 256MB 6490M to a 1GB 6750M.

With this update, a 512MB 6750 is a great GPU to handle any task including many modern games at medium settings. Does anyone feel the high-end 15" model no longer needs to be considered due to what little you get for $400?
Click to expand...

interested in what others are saying regarding this

because i just purchased a high-end 15 (at $1699 off open box) but thought the exact same thing after i saw the refresh, i mean vram at1gb may be overkill if not heavily gaming...
 
HCx said:
anyone got some benchmarks of the new baseline model? i just got my 6490M based MBP friday, trying to find out what kind of improvement i can expect if i go through the hassle to return/rebuy.
Click to expand...

According to the links above, the 6490M does Battlefield 2: Bad Company at 28 fps on medium settings, and 20 fps at high.

The 6750M does 62 fps at medium and 39 fps at high. In other words, the 6750M does more 20% more fps at high settings (39 fps) than the 6490M at medium settings (28 fps).
 
high end model is still way better imo.

2.4ghz as opposed to 2.2

and the vram!!

6770 at 1GB vs 6750 at 512MB

these specs mean a lot to ppl who do a lot of video/audio processing.
 
kanit said:
haha, if you couldnt tell my last post was a joke.
Click to expand...
I have heard people claim weirder things on the Internet.
Without some sarcasm tags it is almost impossible to tell.

anyone got some benchmarks of the new baseline model? i just got my 6490M based MBP friday, trying to find out what kind of improvement i can expect if i go through the hassle to return/rebuy.
Click to expand...
I would definitely go through the hassle. They might just exchange them if you go to the Apple Store and complain.
The 6750M has about 2 times the processing power. That doesn't always translate into twice the fps but it is definitely worth the hassle. And 512MB vs 256mb is worth something too. Some detail settings slaughter fps on 256mb while you hardly notice the few lost fps with enough VRAM.
If you don't plan on gaming at all it doesn't matter of course. In OSX alone you won't feel the difference.
 
Spoofed.

kanit said:
no the high end model is still better. people forget that the high end model is not just better in specs but also has better internals and components. The IP-Ata masks used in the high end are much better and last much longer at the same while giving much better performance. TO some people the better IP-ATA performance gains are good enough to warrant buying the higher end model, as they make the video editing process more painless.
Click to expand...


----------

The proc speed is not significantly different for either video or audio and the gpu isn't either. Video processing doesn't use gpu in this way. Games do.

MVRL said:
high end model is still way better imo.

2.4ghz as opposed to 2.2

and the vram!!

6770 at 1GB vs 6750 at 512MB

these specs mean a lot to ppl who do a lot of video/audio processing.
Click to expand...


----------

You really want to exchange it for gpu alone. At least if you play games.
The previous models gpu was ridiculous given the price of the laptop.
I see MacMall is advertising them for $1753 here. Thats no tax or shipping. They don't have them yet but should soon.
http://www.appleinsider.com/mac_price_guide/
http://www.macmall.com/p/product~dpno~8899071~pdp.gjcfgef?emOmni=null&source=APPINSDRMWB28754

HCx said:
anyone got some benchmarks of the new baseline model? i just got my 6490M based MBP friday, trying to find out what kind of improvement i can expect if i go through the hassle to return/rebuy.
Click to expand...
 
kanit said:
no the high end model is still better. people forget that the high end model is not just better in specs but also has better internals and components. The IP-Ata masks used in the high end are much better and last much longer at the same while giving much better performance. TO some people the better IP-ATA performance gains are good enough to warrant buying the higher end model, as they make the video editing process more painless.
Click to expand...

:rolleyes:

Um, no.
 
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