Laptop War: 15-inch: 2.53GHz or 15-inch: 2.66GHz?

[5630745]

Since Apple eliminated the extra 9600M GT with 256MB in the 15-inch base: 2.53GHz? Do you think it's worth what Apple charges for the 15-inch: 2.66GHz model? Or is the 2.53 basically a glorified high end 13, with extra screen real estate?

All things being equal, as a general rule of thumb, if you had to purchase a 15? What model would you choose?

 

[iCantwait]

[HELL YEAH, FIRST POST SINCE A HUGE TIMEOUT]

i got the middle 15" (2.66) because of, well, no reason at all, i could get by with a white macbook, but as i have a four year old iBook and am expecting to keep this for upwards of three years i decided to go with something that will run ultra HD vid (i assumes it will be coming) stuff and software over the next four years, it a strategic long term investment

 

[reallynotnick]

For me I would choose the 2.66ghz model with the 9600 because if I was going to carry around the extra weight and larger screen I would for sure want to do some gaming on it, but I can see the lower end model working for some people who just want a larger screen.

Personally I chose the 13in 2.26ghz but would love to have a Nvidia 9600m.

 

[QCassidy352]

the 2.53 isn't "basically a glorified high end 13, with extra screen real estate," that's *exactly* what it is. Except that since the 13" is now called a "pro," the 15" 2.53 isn't even really "glorified." It IS the 13" 2.53 with a bigger/higher res screen.

But that doesn't make it bad! It's still an excellent computer and a great buy. Whether the 2.66 with dedicated graphics is worth it depends entirely on whether you use graphic-intensive applications that would benefit from the better graphics card.

 

[spaceballl]

If you're not going to do any gaming, just get the lower version. The difference in clock speed on the CPU will be negligible in day to day usage. However, if you go up to the NEXT model, that's when the L2 cache changes from 3MB to 6MB and may have a larger effect on normal performance.