Sidebar Sidebar
Become a MacRumors Supporter for $50/year with no ads, ability to filter front page stories, and private forums.

I Might Be Switching...questions/help

B

benzboy429

macrumors newbie
Original poster
May 28, 2010
12
0
So I am ready to type in my credit card number on apple.com and order my 15'' MBP. I have a few questions.

I am currently using an Alienware M15X. My Specs:
Intel Core i7 - 1.73ghz, 6gig of ram, 1 gig nvidia geforce gtx 260m. 500gig HD.

Would switching to the i7 MBP satisfy me?? (if you know what I mean) considering what I would be leaving it from.

is 4 gigs of ram enough?
SSD is sooo expensive to upgrade to, so I guess I would stick with the standard 500gig 5400rpm.

Any my other question. Could I pickup this at the apple store? Will the apple store give me the education discount, do I need to show any documentation?

oh and i saw this on MAC 9-5....SHOULD I WAIT A MONTH OR 2????

http://www.9to5mac.com/27048/will-apple-have-an-octobernovember-macbook-surprise-likely

Thanks for your help!
 
It might help to say what you use computers for

The link you posted refers to the MacBook, not the MacBook Pro
 
Easy questions first.

No, you cannot pick up an online order at the Apple Store. However, they have all the "standard" (as in, uncustomized and shown as ready to buy specs online) in the store for the same price so you can get one from the store if that's the model you're looking to purchase. Some (most?) Apple Stores also carry the 15 inch 2.66 i7 in high resolution antiglare. Apple Stores will honor the education discount. Sometimes they ask for proof, sometimes they don't (they didn't for me). Just bring a transcript or acceptance letter to be sure.

4 gigs of RAM is plenty for most people. What are you using the notebook for? If it's just every day stuff, you'll be fine.

SSDs are quite expensive, and the Apple stock one is not worth it. If you must, get one independent of Apple and you will get a much better deal. Intel X25-M is always a good choice. The Vortex 2 and the OWC drives have the Sandforce controller and are good choices as well. People will tell you to wait for the next generation Intel drives to come out, which will have bigger capacities, faster specs, and supposedly cheaper prices, but my philosophy is if you keep waiting, you'll never do anything. Up to you.

And the more complicated question, will you be satisfied. Be honest, are you a spec junkie? What do you use your computer for? Is gaming important to you?

Your Alienware may be better spec wise, but the Macbook Pro has things that are superior that aren't shown on the spec sheet. OSX plays a great deal in the decision, and much of it is about aesthetics, don't let anyone lie to you. I've had an Alienware and it's built just as well as a MBP in terms of not falling apart.
 
Because your Alienware is still in a good shape and we will most likley see new MBP's soonish I would wait for them.. no matter what..
 
I game every so often, i do a lot of video/pictures..and i usually have between 10-20 web browsers open...

I was just looking for the standard i7, so I guess the store has it in stock.

Definitely not a spec junkie. I just don't like waiting or slow computers. I hate lag (during gaming and browsing).

So MB is being updated but MBP isn't???
 
Regarding the link, I would say that some of the rumors are fanciful at best! There doesn't seem to be any reason to think that the Macbooks will have the optical drive remove (it'd be a mistake anyway, IMO), and 1080p on a 15" screen is very unlikely indeed.

Having said that, some small processor speed bumps may be around the corner. As usual, buy now if you need it, otherwise wait!

The macbook pro will definitely have a faster processor than your alienware. The graphics card in your alienware will be faster though - this chart is quite comprehensive & a good comparison tool (if you search you'll find the GT 330m a bit further down).

http://www.videocardbenchmark.net/video_lookup.php?cpu=GeForce+GTX+260M

It's up to you how much RAM you include (although you can upgrade this yourself at a later date if you're up for removing a few screws). I've got 4GB in my macbook, and I do run out sometimes, but only very occasionally. Since you're worried about spec, I assume you're going to be doing some intensive tasks meaning that you might benefit from more RAM.
 
is this the correct processor..Intel® Core™ i7-920 Processor
(8M Cache, 2.66 GHz?
 
Fastest Processor on a Macbook Pro is i7-620 (2.66GHz 2 cores only)which is a lot slower than your i7-720Q (1.73GHz 4 Cores) and a 330GT is gigantic downgrade from a 260GTX graphics card. I see the only reason you would downgrade would be for using OS X and if you wanna play games might as well stick with the Alienware (Mac has a small range of games and the 330GT isn't powerful enough to handle current and future games) rather than getting a Macbook Pro as it is a huge downgrade in technical specifications. But if you love OS X I guess you can jump ship (I have OS X and to me it doesn't seem like anything special).
 
If i'm reading your benchmark website link correctly...the apple video card is 480 and my current one is 1710.

That seems like it could be an issue..No?

As far as my CPU rating it is 3,517 but I cannot find the apple CPU rating...

All in all, i still want to make the purchase but again, it'll be my first mac and just didn't wanna jump into it. If you guys think the mac i want is good for what I need, I take your word
 
Sylafari said:
Fastest Processor on a Macbook Pro is i7-620 (2.66GHz 2 cores only)which is a lot slower than your i7-720Q (1.73GHz 4 Cores)
Click to expand...

Oops - forgot it was a 4 core processor! That said, the raw clock speed of the macbook pro processor would most probably make it faster for applications with one main worker thread. These are still around, so that might be a consideration for you

Also, since you seem to accept that you're downgrading spec-wise, what exactly are you looking for in the MBP that you don't have in the alienware? Is it a matter of the OS?
 
benzboy429 said:
If i'm reading your benchmark website link correctly...the apple video card is 480 and my current one is 1710.
Click to expand...

No - your current card gets a rating of 701. It's slightly less than a 50% performance increase, which will be noticeable when gaming, but might not be critical for your usage.

EDIT: I see you what you did - you looked at the desktop GTX 260 by accident! Your card should be highlighted in a red box when you follow the link.
 
benzboy429 said:
My CPU is 820QM if that makes any difference not the 720.
Click to expand...

Wow 820QM, thats even faster and with the Turbo Boost of the 820QM even in single-threaded applications it will be faster or the same as the Macbook Pro, and in multi-threaded apps you would slaughter the Macbook Pro in speed. Dunno why you would downgrade with such a beast of a computer. The 260GTX is a 1st class card, the 330GT is a 2nd class card and based on notebookcheck.com and the benchmarks I seen you are seeing a gigantic difference in framerates of current games and future games, for instance if you compared Windows 7 gaming benchmarks of the graphics cards (Mac has limited range of games so can't compare much games to each other so will use the same card on Bootcamp for Macbook Pro) in Bad Company 2, 260GTX can play on High while 330GT can play only on Low which is a world of textures and detail difference.
 
Yeah, I'm not so sure you're going to want to jump ship. The MacBook Pro is perfect for me, as the only game I care about running on it is World of Warcraft while I'm away on business, and it does that amiably. But this is a significant downgrade for you - going from a quad core processor to a dual core (although the clock speed is higher, so if the apps that you run only take advantage of two cores, it may be faster on the MBP), a first-class graphics card to a second-class one... I'm not sure why you'd want to switch.

Now if you want to hear some of the pros about switching, this really is a gorgeous machine, the battery life lasts incredibly long, and the track pad is fantastic. In my case, I also wanted a machine that could run OSX without hacking it. Not that I have anything against Windows 7, it's just nice to use and be proficient with all operating systems. :) Coming from an avid gamer that has a killer desktop rig, I know what it's like to go from something extremely powerful to something that isn't, and pay quite a bit of money for it, but I'm extremely happy with my purchase, and I would never look back.
 
I recently switched from a M15X to a 15" MBP i7 myself. Mine was a i7 720QM, 4GB DDR3, Ati 5850 with an 256GB SSD and I found that the processors are comparable, but the gfx card is definitely a step (or leap?) back.
As I don't play a lot of games except for World of Warcraft and Anarchy Online (an older MMORPG), I don't mind the gfx card. It's good enough for me, but if you play some more demanding games yourself it might disappoint you a bit. Don't get me wrong though, it is perfectly capable of playing every game out there, but sometimes just not at the highest settings with killer fps.

OSX is beautiful and all my applications run super smooth. The MBP feels sturdy, isn't as bulky as the AW, weighs a lot less and overall just looks better (but that's a matter of taste I guess). :)
That, plus that I'm mostly gaming on my xbox360 anyways, made me switch over to Mac and I haven't had any regrets yet.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Register on MacRumors! This sidebar will go away, and you'll see fewer ads.
Top Bottom
Back