High-end early 2011 vs low-end late 2011 vs 2012 macbook pro

[Cache]

All of this is regarding the 15" macbook pro's.

I'm able to buy a second hand high end early 2011 macbook pro for 1100 euro's (has 1gb 6750m dGPU, 2.2 GHz i7 processer, mountain lion and aftermarket 8GB ram).

Late low-end 2011 macbook pro's are put on the internet for roughly 1400-1500 euro's here in the netherlands. If its a high end model people bid even higher... Therefore, I have a couple of questions:

Is the high-end early 2011 model for 1100 euro's a good deal? (Obviously relative to the prices of other models mentioned above)

Is there a major difference between a high-end early 2011 model and a low-end late 2011 model? If yes, on which fronts?

Would it be advisable to just drop the whole 2011 models and buy a low-end 2012 model instead (1879 euro's new from apple, 100 less with student discount)?

Would the early 2011 model have problems running Diablo 3? I don't game that much as I'm actually more of a casual console gamer, so I'm not too worried about this. However, it would be nice to at least know that I'm able to play some games pretty decent.​

Usually I want the latest and the greatest. However, as I'm getting older, I realize value-for-money is the aspect to worry about at this point in my life. I'd rather save some money, while the macbook can still keep up with most latest software (not talking about heavy gaming).

So in short, which of the following 15" macbook pro would be the best in terms of value-for-money:

Early 2011 high-end (1100 euro's)
Late 2011 low-end (1400-1500 euro's)
Mid 2012 (1879 euro's, or roughly 100 euro's less with student discount)​

 

[clyde2801]

http://www.everymac.com/systems/app...o-13-15-17-inch-late-2011-and-early-2011.html

http://www.everymac.com/systems/app...s-between-macbook-pro-mid-2012-late-2011.html

http://www.videogamesblogger.com/2012/05/14/diablo-3-system-requirements-for-your-pc-mac-specs.htm

On paper (or the internet) it looks like any of the three would fit the bill. I'd check out some diablo forums to see how the different cards run the game.

Hope that helps.

 

[Cache]

Thanks for the reply, it appears the GPU's will be doing alright in running diablo 3.

However, which of the three macbooks would be the best choice in my case in terms of value for money?

 

[iLikeTurtles!]

for you, you will not notice any difference using any of the three LOL

 

[clyde2801]

for you, you will not notice any difference using any of the three LOL

Agreed.

Also any of the three can be cheaply upgraded to 16 gb of ram and later upgraded to a third party SSD if you later desire.

 

[Cache]

Thank you both!

 

[iDutchman]

I'd choose the early 2011 high end model and upgrade it with an SSD. I has this exact MacBook Pro (w/ anti glare display) before I upgraded to my current rMBP.

The early high end is a very capable machine (especially because of the 1GB Graphics card memory). The late 2011 and mid 2012 low end models have 512MB, even though the card is a better performing one, the 512MB gives you less performance.

So, the high end early 2011 model with SSD. It's also cheaper!

If you find one with Apple Care left on it, that's a tremendous deal for say +/- 1200-1400 euro's.

Try marktplaats.nl or tweedehandsmac.nl (although it tends to be a bit more expensive)

 

[Cache]

Cool, thanks for the info, that's exactly the kind of response I was looking for! Once the guy replies to my email, I'll definately go there and take a look. Judging from the images and replies I received, the macbook is in very good shape.