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Late 2011 vs. high end Early 2011

M

mwells65

macrumors newbie
Original poster
Oct 25, 2011
24
0
Ohio
Ok as of right now I have the opportunity to either get a early 2011 13" with the 2.7ghz for about $1040 without tax (open box) or a brand new 13" 2.4ghz for about $1000 without tax. Feel like I should act quick since there is only one of the 2.7's. Is there a warranty with open box? What do you guys think?

Oh and I plan to use Garageband alot as well as word, excel, internet etc.
 
Here's the thing with open box. If the MBP was opened and used, then the warranty period has begun since it would have been registered to get the latest updates. That would mean you have limited time on the your warranty but you should still have a warranty.

Also, does the open box model have Lion. If not then that is another $30 investment.

If you get Lion and a years warranty then the 2.7 is a better deal. If not then take the latest 2,4 which is the safe bet
 
Ah ok. So say I get real lucky and it was purchased in August or September and they returned it cause of the refresh then warranty would go til Aug./Sept. 2012, therefore good purchase?
 
Just found that it has Snow Leopard. This means its pre July right? Darn, I was getting excited too!
 
Probably, but not necessarily. Many MBP were shipped after lion with a free Lion upgrade. Of course this could be the store demo for the past 8 months.

Without Lion that is another $30 or 1070 vs 1000, or a 7% more for a 12% increase in power. For $70 less you get a new computer, new battery and full warranty. Plus the latest refresh has a 500gb drive. I know the old 2011 base models were the slow 320gb drive but the 2.7 may or may not have 500gb - something else to look into.

$1000 is a good price.
 
Early 2011 Pros:
-2.7ghz
-$1040
-500gb hdd

Cons:
-SL
-Warranty may have may be 8 months or less
-May have been demo (hundreds of people picking up, closing, feeling, possible drops)
-Used battery

Guess I should just go with the safe (almost equally as powerful) 2.4. I guess a battery and warranty arent something i want to risk to only gain .3ghz
 
Edited to add: The 2011 is not 1040 but 1070 because it does not include Lion - we need to compare Apples and Apples, pun intended.

The only way to notice the power difference is if you are doing heavy processing work, about 10% faster which is barely noticeable. If you don't do heavy photoshop type work.... then you will never see the any difference at all - like a sports car and family car on a 60 mph highway, there is no difference.

However, if you do video editing or heavy gaming then neither one is ideal since the 13" does not have a dedicated graphics chip.

Take the $70 savings and upgrade the ram to 8gb - about $58 from OWC even has a RAM tradein, about $14, so you get a new computer, plenty of RAM (if you need it, I know I do) and a few bucks left over. In a year or two the resale value will be the same for both, slightly faster vs new model.
 
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Ya I was gonna get 8 gigs of ram with either of them. I will use iLife a lot but I'm not worried about the graphics (I'm running big 3d modeling files on a 9 year old graphics card) despite what everyone says. I'm confident it can run programs it came with.

I currently have an hp with an amd 2.2 dual core. So mbp's processor is going to be a lot faster. However I can't find the benchmarks for the gpu. The hp right now has a radeon hd 3200. I bought it early 2008. Do you think this gpu is still better than intel's?
 
If you purchased an open box Mac from an Apple Certified Retailer (MacMall, Amazon, etc), then the warranty begins from the date YOU purchase it. You send them your receipt and they'll update the warranty start-date at Apple.
 
Well this changes everything. lol. It would be from BestBuy, so I'm assuming that counts.
 
mwells65 said:
Well this changes everything. lol. It would be from BestBuy, so I'm assuming that counts.
Click to expand...

Yes. Get the open box. Punch in the serial number to the Apple Support site to check the warranty, and it'll give you an option along the lines of "if this date is incorrect, fill out this form and fax/email us a receipt/proof of purchase"
 
That's really great to know about the warranty for open box items :D

I currently have an hp with an amd 2.2 dual core. So mbp's processor is going to be a lot faster. However I can't find the benchmarks for the gpu. The hp right now has a radeon hd 3200. I bought it early 2008. Do you think this gpu is still better than intel's?

What you have is very slow compared to the 13" MBP with a geek score likely be close to 3,000. The 13" with a new 2.3 i7 is about 5,900 (the 2.4 would be slightly faster), and the 2.7 i7 scores about 6,800. Make no mistake, these 2011 13" MBP's are faster than any 2010 15". It will sing.
http://www.primatelabs.ca/geekbench/mac-benchmarks/
 
So you guys would definitely go fo the open box (upon seeing that there are no physical scratches, damage, etc)?

Well I forgot something else. Let me throw another wrench at you guys. I forgot the brand new 2.4 would be online so no tax.

So: Open box 2.7ghz mbp 13" for around $1110 total
or Brand new 2.4ghz 13" for $1000.
 
Well I forgot something else. Let me throw another wrench at you guys. I forgot the brand new 2.4 would be online so no tax.

So: Open box 2.7ghz mbp 13" for around $1110 total
or Brand new 2.4ghz 13" for $1000.

When you first started this there was a 4% difference which was a great deal. But now, since the open box deal does not include Lion which adds another $30 the price difference is $140 or 14% higher the value is different. Personally, I would go for the new model for $1,000 and use the savings to upgrade ram or hard drive if needed. For what you do, as stated above, I don't think you will notice a tangible difference with a slightly faster CPU (both are very fast, faster than what I have in my 2010 15"). More ram will make it snappier if you have plenty of things open. Also, a faster, 7200 rpm hard drive will improve performance (faster read/write times like opening programs...) and you can use the original drive as a cloned backup. I think that is a better way to spend $140 - but that's me and how I think and make purchases.

Out of curiosity where is this $1000 MBP deal without tax? I know MicroCenter runs these deals but they are for pickup only so there is tax (in most states)
 
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Ya I like your strategy. The most I'll do with it is maybe bootcamp into W7 and run a solid modeling program. I'm sure it will handle it because I am running the program (pro/e) on a 2002 Dell with the Pentium 4 processor and 1gig of ddr memory (i'm assuming there wasnt ddr2 in 2002). Here is the video card in it:

http://www.gpureview.com/quadro4-900-xgl-card-334.html

If i remember right, Intel's integrated gpu has better specs in all categories.

Anywho, I think I would be happier with a brand new computer. It's one thing if I could leave BB at $1040, but i gotta tac on $70 in tax, as well as $30 for Lion, as you mentioned.

I would think BB would go under $1000 for an open box older model? Ohwell. Thanks for the advice!
 
Pentium 4 processor and 1gig of ddr memory

You are in for a pleasant surprise. I was using a 2006 XP PC with a 3.2 Pentium 4 processor and 2GB RAM when I switched to a Mac. The difference was more than significant. Pardon the pun but it wasn't apples and and apples, more like the tortoise and the hare.

Personally I often shop on Amazon or B&H photo, good prices and no tax with free shipping. But if you can get a new 13" Pro for a $1,000 and no tax then that is the best deal around.

Also, you can always try to ask BB to price match or beat an advertised deal. BB may also have deals on Black Friday which is the best day of the year to shop for a Mac
 
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