Looking to buy MBP but need some help as to what spec

[Prowl]

I am new to the forums and to Macs in general as I have always grown up PC. I got approval to get a Macbook Pro as a Christmas present for me so as excited as I was, I also did some research into what Macbook pro I should get

I will use it for daily surfing, some photo-editing once our baby is born, and casual gaming - text based games like Football Manager, WoW, and the new Old Republic Game

I was on e-bay last night and noticed a couple of models I would like:

13' 2.53 4GB RAM, 750 GB HDD 5200 RPM unibody model - $1765

or

13' 2.53 8GB RAM 500GB HDD 7200 RPM unibody - $2,160

Which one would you reccommend? I was researching HDD RPM and reading a lot of topics, but I am a little overwhelmed by the information. Can someone help a mac newbie like me out? Oh, and I would likely be using bootcamp and office.

Thanks for your help and I really appreciate the feedback

 

[mscriv]

Either of those machines are more than powerful enough for the basic tasks you want to do, but I'm not sure about the gaming. First off I don't know if the small screen or graphics card in the 13" model will be what you want. May I ask why you are looking to get your new mac from Ebay instead of going direct to Apple or a reputable reseller?

 

[thegoldenmackid]

Unless you are going to need 750 GB of storage, I would go with the second one, but even that seems high. You can get the second configuration with a 7200 instead of the 5400 directly from Apple for $2100. Given that directly from Apple is the highest price you should pay compared to other retailers/Refurb Store, I'd shop around some more.

 

[brucem91]

congrats on wanting to get your first mac. I am looking on apple's website, and you can get a:

13" 2.53Ghz Intel Core 2
Duo 4 GB Ram
250 GB harddrive

for basically 1500. 250 GB harddrive I would think would suit you just fine, although if you wanted to, upgrading to a 320 GB harddrive is $50. Also, you said you would be running office, are you planning on buying office for mac or installing it in bootcamp. iWork, which is normally $79, is $50 when you buy it with a new mac. Office is $130 when you buy it with a new mac. iWork is basically Apple's office suite, Pages rather than Word, Keynote over Powerpoint, and Numbers vs Excel. I've tried both on the mac, and I prefer to stick with iWork, so much that I gave my office cd to my stepdad for his macbook.

 

[Prowl]

Thanks for the advice guys. I usually start off with e-bay as a starting point, but will be checking out other sites. Where else would you recommend that I look?

As for the gaming, it'd be for casual purposes. Football Manager is the game I'd most play, and maybe the new Star Wars game when it comes out. Other than that, not much else

 

[techound1]

If you're used to MS office, you'll cringe with iWork. The free, open-source neooffice will provide you with the interface and functionality you are used to with MS office.

Shop apple's refurb store - you'll get a heck of a deal, plus apple does a first-class job. Do a mroogle search of these boards and you'll find a number of refurb fans.

If you must go to ebay, make sure to make use of cashback/bing which will net you 8-12% back no matter what you buy if you follow the right thread to ebay (a few hoops to jump through to do that, LMK if you like and I can post them here).

 

[Badger^2]

not really sure about the whole "ebay as a starting point" thing, but whatever...

Are those prices in US Dollars? $1800 for a 13" MBP seems pretty wild to me, and $2100 seems just downright crazy. (you dont need 8 gigs of ram, which is $400 all by itself)

Are you Ok with the smaller 13" screen? What about the 15"?
Are you going to be portable a lot? Or more at home at a desk a lot?
Whats your budget? Does that include W7 and Office?
Is that the PC version of Office? Or do you need the mac version of Office?

Where are you in the world?