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impulse mac book pro buy? (got a mbp today!)

W

weblogik

macrumors regular
Original poster
Hi
I have been scouting the mac pro forum for a couple of months waiting for the new Pennryin mac pros, eh, still not here

my intention was to buy a top of line mac pro and then a laptop...

Been kind let down by the wait and really wanting to get my hands on a mac, today i pickedup a macbook pro from macmall taking advantage of their black friday discounts... I'll be using it primarily for adobe cs3 (ps, illustrator, indesign, dw)
this is what i got,
17" 2.33 ghz 160gig hd, 2gigs of ram, no sales tax, free shipping
$2099 after rebates
This seemed like a great deal. I kinda wanted a larger hd and will want to ad ram, (if anyone can direct me to best deal sites that would be appreciated)
Only thing is i was really thinking i should have gotten a high resolution screen 1920 wide so that i could plug out to my 24inch monitor at same rez, but the one i got is 1680 but the price was coming to $2800 with that
I also didnt feel like spending the money on applecare but will prolly get it before the 60 days from purchase

I dont feel great about this purchase right now cause it was a bit of an impulse buy, but you guys think i got a good deal????

I got a vaio once with a high rez screen and did not like it, i currently have a 1680 wide screen, my only gripe is how it will look on my 24 inch screen

anyway, kinda excited now 🙂
 
i just read external monitor resolution up to Up to 2560x1600 ???

is this right?? if so im stoked 🙂

damn it. This is what i mean about impulse buy. I have been planning a new mac pro for months and i bought a macbook pro on the same day i looked into it...

this is an "older" model rigth? Whats the difference in performance to the new ones? Can i add a second hd up to how many gigs:?

What about ram? does it come with 2x1 , so if i buy a 2gig stick will i only be able to go up to 3 unlessi replace both?

DID I MAKE THE RIGHT CHOICE??? i still got time to change/ cancel it!
 
NO love!

well i got most questions answered, 3 gigs is top memory it seems

$2099? good price? not sure it seems good to me 🙂
 
weblogik said:
NO love!

well i got most questions answered, 3 gigs is top memory it seems

$2099? good price? not sure it seems good to me 🙂
Click to expand...

Thats an awesome price.. congrats!

I have a 2.33 15in MBP with 2 gigs of RAM and I love it. I recently upgraded my HD to a 200gb Hitachi Travelstar which I am very pleased with. The difference between the model you have and a newer model is the chipset, video card and processor... and the newer models can address up to 4gb of ram.

You made a great choice IMO, this machine will be your new best friend for the next few years.

Here are my recommendations for Ram and Hard Drive upgrades, however I would tell you to use it for a few weeks before you make any decisions.
 
djejrejk said:
Thats an awesome price.. congrats!

I have a 2.33 15in MBP with 2 gigs of RAM and I love it. I recently upgraded my HD to a 200gb Hitachi Travelstar which I am very pleased with. The difference between the model you have and a newer model is the chipset, video card and processor... and the newer models can address up to 4gb of ram.

You made a great choice IMO, this machine will be your new best friend for the next few years.
Click to expand...


Truuuue!
do you know if i can hook up my 24inch monitor to the mbp and run it at 1920 rez????

I might just run this bad boy as my main design machine if thats the case !
 
weblogik said:
so i guess the mbp screen resolution has nothing to do with external output?

man thats pretty rad. might not get a mac pro for a looong while then!
Click to expand...

I myself was thinking of originally getting a Mac Pro simply for the fact that I could connect it up to a 30" Apple Cinema Display, which has always been one of my dreams ever since I saw the setup for the first time.

But considering how similar the prices were for the MBP and the Mac Pro I decided that it was better value for money to get the laptop. That way I'd get a display built in, have a portable solution and get the iSight and Front Row remote control included not to mention the backlit keyboard.

Remember you can use your MBP's display AND a 30" at the SAME TIME. I've got the Hi-Res display on my MBP so it means I would be able to get 6.4 megapixels of resolution! Even with your standard resolution MBP and the 24" monitor you're thinking of you'd end up with over 4 megapixels!

Even now with so many applications open at once my MBP doesn't break a sweat and I have loads of free memory. I can even play games thanks to the decent graphics card. All in all, unless you NEED all that extra processing power (and most people don't, unless number crunching / video editing is a must), a faster graphics card or the ability to upgrade more easily, then the MBP is basically a portable Mac Pro. It can feel like a laptop one minute and a fully fledged desktop the next when using an external display with keyboard and mouse.

The best of both worlds I say, and I'd never go back, you made the right decision! Who needs a Mac Pro when you've got a Mac[book] Pro? Hell, I might even put that phrase as my new signature ... 😀
 
I would say it wasn't a good impulse buy. You obviously are planning on using the laptop connected to an external, so the 17" is unnecessary and you should have gotten a 15". Secondly, the model IMO is not worth it, considering it is a past generation and if you are planning on spending over $2k you should definitely have the latest, no matter what.

I would cancel it if at all possible, go with a 15", either the high end or you could even be fine with the 2.2 at $1699 on apple's refurb page. Will save you some cash, be more portable, and work you the same. Or just cancel it outright and wait till january
 
typerlover said:
I would say it wasn't a good impulse buy. You obviously are planning on using the laptop connected to an external, so the 17" is unnecessary and you should have gotten a 15". Secondly, the model IMO is not worth it, considering it is a past generation and if you are planning on spending over $2k you should definitely have the latest, no matter what.

I would cancel it if at all possible, go with a 15", either the high end or you could even be fine with the 2.2 at $1699 on apple's refurb page. Will save you some cash, be more portable, and work you the same. Or just cancel it outright and wait till january
Click to expand...

I could never own a laptop with a screen smaller then 17inch as i design for print and need the screen real estate (and i work from my couch quite a bit..)

except for the ram bump up, the benchmarks between my 2.33 and the current 2.4 do not seem significant enough to excuse the extra $700

i wasn't sure yesterday but today im feeling pretty groovy about the purchase 🙂
 
Congrats! I, too, made an impulse MBP buy today. The deals at MacMall were the sweetest I've seen since seriously looking for a MBP.

A 17" for $2099 is a great deal and that machine should last you for years to come. Did you take advantage of any other MacMall deals, like the free printer/scanner/copier, free case, or free Parallels?
 
jeff^d said:
Congrats! I, too, made an impulse MBP buy today. The deals at MacMall were the sweetest I've seen since seriously looking for a MBP.

A 17" for $2099 is a great deal and that machine should last you for years to come. Did you take advantage of any other MacMall deals, like the free printer/scanner/copier, free case, or free Parallels?
Click to expand...

i took the free case and the $9.99 parallels 3.0 🙂
 
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