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Last Macbook Pro vs New Macbook Pro - The Differences? (New question about Ram)

S

sun surfer

macrumors regular
Original poster
Jun 6, 2010
105
0
Hi everyone, I lurk here off and on but decided to join to ask this question:

I'm not a very tech-savvy person, but I always use macs. I had an old ibook that quit on me last year so I bought the new macbook pro. I thought about it and decided that from then on, I may as well just always upgrade to the newest macbook every time a new one comes out and sell the old ones online each time.

Well, the time has come with the upgraded laptops. Since this will be my first time doing it, I was just curious what the differences were in the old macbook pro (the one sold at the end of last year) and the just released one, in layman's. All the changes/upgrades and any differences in cost. I have the 13" pro and am planning on getting the new 13" too.
 
So you have no idea what the benefits are of the new MacBook Pro's yet you want to sell your current one for the new one..?

Sounds like your current MBP is good enough for your needs and all you have is a crave for the latest and greatest.. a machine that will be complete overkill for your needs.
 
Seriously agree with what Kilamite said. If you aren't able to find out the (minute) differences between the last and current generation mbp's, you probably don't need to upgrade for at least the next year or so.
 
Yeah, because the way I see it now, the cost won't be much different and it'll keep me with a newer and therefor less likely to mess up laptop.

I price-compared online to see what people are getting for used laptops. If I keep my present one for a few years before selling it and getting a new one, #1 it could mess up but mainly #2 its resell value will drop a lot so I'll have to spend more money in the changeover.

I've figured that if I just take the time to always get a new one when it comes out and sell the older but still very new one, I'm only spending a few hundred give or take each year, and with the big plus of always having the latest one.

And, I sometimes play games on my laptop and any improvement in graphics and speed will be welcomed for sure. On the apple site, they tout the new laptops as their "fastest" and best yet, so I was curious how much better because while I can easily find the "specs" for the new laptops, I can't find anywhere that puts in layman's terms how much better they actually are from the last laptop.
 
sun surfer said:
Yeah, because the way I see it now, the cost won't be much different and it'll keep me with a newer and therefor less likely to mess up laptop.

I price-compared online to see what people are getting for used laptops. If I keep my present one for a few years before selling it and getting a new one, #1 it could mess up but mainly #2 its resell value will drop a lot so I'll have to spend more money in the changeover.

I've figured that if I just take the time to always get a new one when it comes out and sell the older but still very new one, I'm only spending a few hundred give or take each year, and with the big plus of always having the latest one.

And, I sometimes play games on my laptop and any improvement in graphics and speed will be welcomed for sure. On the apple site, they tout the new laptops as their "fastest" and best yet, so I was curious how much better because while I can easily find the "specs" for the new laptops, I can't find anywhere that puts in layman's terms how much better they actually are from the last laptop.
Click to expand...

So you're pretty much wasting a few hundred a year. There's no need to buy a new one every year especially since you don't even see any difference.
 
TRUCRACKER said:
So you're pretty much wasting a few hundred a year. There's no need to buy a new one every year especially since you don't even see any difference.
Click to expand...

Actually, the way I'm calculating it, the opposite. I'm saving money in the long run. Because resell value of almost-new laptops is very high, whereas if I wait a few years to upgrade, the decline in resell value is actually losing me more money than the money I'm spending on the upgrades from almost-new to brand new each time. The only sucky part is the time spent each time buying a new one and selling the old one, but I think it's going to be worth it (this'll be my first time doing it).
 
It sounds like your mind was made up before even posting. Many people do this, if you want to also, then do it(upgrade every refresh). You don't need justification from everyone here, because more often than not, you won't get it.

Say you wait 3 years to upgrade, and take a ~$500 depreciation hit. Or instead upgrade 3 times in those 3 years and take a ~$150-200 hit every time. Whatever floats your boat.
 
Yeah my mind was made up - I never pretended otherwise! :p

I started this thread so someone with more mac knowledge than me could tell me the difference between old and new specs in layman's terms because I was curious what they were since I'm upgrading.
 
The difference is that you get much more powerful graphics, a slight CPU speed bump, more stock memory on the lower-spec model, larger hard drives, longer battery life, and audio through the mini-DisplayPort connector.
 
Sorry to take over your thread but it's somewhat related :

The current i5/i7 processors are basically C2D with hyper threading. Are the next chips going to be 'real' 4 cores and are these expected to be delivered in 2011 Q1 or Q2 ?

I'm confused about Clarksfield, Arrandale etc. so please help me understand !
 
NStocks said:
Sorry to take over your thread but it's somewhat related :

The current i5/i7 processors are basically C2D with hyper threading. Are the next chips going to be 'real' 4 cores and are these expected to be delivered in 2011 Q1 or Q2 ?

I'm confused about Clarksfield, Arrandale etc. so please help me understand !
Click to expand...
I don't know about the next processors that are due, but the current crop of Arrandale units is not "basically C2D with hyper threading [sic]." It's a brand new architecture that puts the memory controller on the same die as the CPU, has an integrated GPU, turbo-boost, and hyperthreading. It's faster and more efficient at the same time.
 
Bill Gates said:
I don't know about the next processors that are due, but the current crop of Arrandale units is not "basically C2D with hyper threading [sic]." It's a brand new architecture that puts the memory controller on the same die as the CPU, has an integrated GPU, turbo-boost, and hyperthreading. It's faster and more efficient at the same time.
Click to expand...

Yes, I understand that the i5/i7 are much more advanced but they are not 4 physical cores which is what I was saying.

I'm not sure, but did I read something about 25nm chips to be released Q4 2010 or early 2011? I don't know what Intel are planning on doing next or how the next chp may differ from the i5/i7 in terms of architecture and efficiency.
 
It's an interesting thing you brought up.

I'd almost be tempted to try it except:
1) I'm not sure you're right about it only going down that little in price, I'd have to research it and that may change depending on year. I know if I were looking to buy a laptop, if I could get a brand new one for only a couple hundred more, you'd not have convinced me to buy yours so in my opinion, a year old laptop does not only lose a few hundred in value. But then again, just cause I think it's a rip to buy a year old laptop for only a couple hundred less doesn't mean you'd find some one who would.

2). That also means you have to make sure you keep your macbook in pristine condition. You probably have no issues on this. Me? I don't abuse them but I certainly could see mine having a scratch or two by a year unless I was extra careful. Not to mention that I use mine as a recipe book (it stays away from what I'm mixing but I do have to scroll down sometimes. Having a magic mouse now though should help minimize the dirty hands from hitting laptop. I didn't before. My old macbook's palmrest keyboard was pretty dirty and nothing seemed to clean it well). Yes, I love my notebook. But part of why I love my notebook is it allows me to do stuff like that *grin*.
 
If you're just a casual user(no games, high-end apps that need a lot of power) then the one you have is perfectly fine for you, no reason to upgrade.
 
sun surfer said:
I'm not a very tech-savvy person, but I always use macs. I had an old ibook that quit on me last year so I bought the new macbook pro. I thought about it and decided that from then on, I may as well just always upgrade to the newest macbook every time a new one comes out and sell the old ones online each time.
Click to expand...

Wow... this statement is every crap-manufacturing corporation's dream come true :eek:... no offense, but the quote "there's a sucker born every minute" came to mind :D

But seriously... if your old iBook lasted so long, and you can't figure out the differences between the current and previous models, I don't see the point in upgrading almost every year. If you are afraid of loosing your data, just get a good backup system, keep your computer longer and use your money for something worthwhile.

cheers!
 
If there were any more capable CPUs out there we all know Apple would be using them. If they aren't using them, then they decided we wouldn't benefit. They look out for us that way.

NStocks said:
Sorry to take over your thread but it's somewhat related :

The current i5/i7 processors are basically C2D with hyper threading. Are the next chips going to be 'real' 4 cores and are these expected to be delivered in 2011 Q1 or Q2 ?

I'm confused about Clarksfield, Arrandale etc. so please help me understand !
Click to expand...
 
Thanks for the replies, especially Bill Gates for the succinct and good answer.

But now I have another question! This one is about RAM and memory.

My current MacBook Pro has 4gb Ram which I paid for the upgrade from 2gb when I bought it as even though I know very little about it, from researching around most people said the upgrade from 2 to 4 is worth it but to 8 isn't worth it.

My computer has been running fine. I will say surfing the internet is sometimes a little slow, but I'm not sure if it's the RAM or the internet service being slow. I'm guessing the internet service.

But anyway, the thing is I heard something about page ins vs page outs, and that page outs should be less than 10% of the page ins or something. Well, from checking here and there, sometimes it is, and sometimes the % is way over! Like just a day ago, my page outs were almost more than my page ins. I have no idea why this is as I haven't been doing much on my computer except internet and use like Word and stuff.

So my question is - Is this important? Does this mean my RAM isn't up to par at 4? Because I could throw in a few hundred to get the 8 RAM, but that just seems so expensive and most people say it's not worth it. But in my case, with the page ins and page outs, is it?




PS-Since we're on the subject, something else I want to know about the Activity Monitor: That memory circle is usually mostly green with "free" space, but sometimes most of the green is replaced by blue with "inactive". Why is that and does it hurt my memory when it's the blue "inactive"?
 
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