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I just bought this refurbished late 2011 15" but...

Zwikker

Zwikker

macrumors regular
Original poster
May 28, 2012
129
0
Morgantown, WV
So I bought this late 2011 15" http://store.apple.com/us/product/FD318LL/A refurbished late 2011 last friday and just realized that I could have gotten this late 2011 15" refurbished http://store.apple.com/us/product/FC723LL/A with 1gb of GBU instead of an 512mb one.

Difference is only $170 more!

That being said I'm thinking about using this computer for the next at least 4 years and I know that GPU is not an user upgradable feature.

Go for it or stay with the 521mb GPU one?

I can still return this with full refund!
 
I guess it depends on how much you are gonna play games on it and how graphic intense games
 
I use AutoCad a lot. That being said, AutoCad might require a better GPU in the near future. We never know what's going to happen tomorrow with the technology nowadays:)
Melih said:
I guess it depends on how much you are gonna play games on it and how graphic intense games
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Zwikker said:
I use AutoCad a lot. That being said, AutoCad might require a better GPU in the near future. We never know what's going to happen tomorrow with the technology nowadays:)
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Even 1GB isn't exactly high in cad terms now. Apple cards always get shorted on vram. They get up to date DDR5, but they're still shorted on it. Considering that 512 is the lower limit for a lot of things these days, I'd suggest the 1GB to stay within future requirements.
 
Thanks! I'll go and get the 1gb CPU one for sure. Hope I won't get charged for returning this item tho.
thekev said:
Even 1GB isn't exactly high in cad terms now. Apple cards always get shorted on vram. They get up to date DDR5, but they're still shorted on it. Considering that 512 is the lower limit for a lot of things these days, I'd suggest the 1GB to stay within future requirements.
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Zwikker said:
Thanks! I'll go and get the 1gb CPU one for sure. Hope I won't get charged for returning this item tho.
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No problem. I was just double checking and auto cad doesn't seem to be one of the gpu heavy ones:confused:. I was thinking of other cad applications that make extensive use of opengl and a lot of others like photoshop now require a minimum of 512 in their current versions. 512 makes me nervous no matter what I guess. I mean if I was going to buy a laptop right now and I wanted 5 years from it, I'd be annoyed at the lack of a 2GB option.
 
Absolutely. Cad has to find a better way than requiring more and more gpu's for their software:)

I just called the apple and being told that there's no charge on returning the item. They said they ll give me an apple gift card If I just want to upgrade the item right away. So I won't have to wait for a refund:)

thekev said:
No problem. I was just double checking and auto cad doesn't seem to be one of the gpu heavy ones:confused:. I was thinking of other cad applications that make extensive use of opengl and a lot of others like photoshop now require a minimum of 512 in their current versions. 512 makes me nervous no matter what I guess. I mean if I was going to buy a laptop right now and I wanted 5 years from it, I'd be annoyed at the lack of a 2GB option.
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$170 for another 512M of vram?? I doubt if the extra Vram makes a difference, the GPU itself might be a problem too. If you are going to worry about so much about performance, why not buy the current 2012 model, it is not much more expensive, or better yet, buy the rMBP. Personally, I think the model you ordered is a fantastic value.
 
I think $170 is worth to get a 1gb of GPU since I can't upgrade it later on. It'll also have 750gb of HDD instead of a 500gb which doesn't really make that much of a difference but good to have.
As I said if I wanna use this computer for a long term I need to have a better gpu since 512mb is mot going to help me out in near future.
Macbook Retina is +2400 and the one I'll get is $1529. +$900 of difference we are talkin about. I can't do it at this point.
riveting said:
$170 for another 512M of vram?? I doubt if the extra Vram makes a difference, the GPU itself might be a problem too. If you are going to worry about so much about performance, why not buy the current 2012 model, it is not much more expensive, or better yet, buy the rMBP. Personally, I think the model you ordered is a fantastic value.
Click to expand...
 
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