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macbook 2.13 or macbook pro 13" 2.53...i am going nuts trying to decide! please help

G

Gumbercules

macrumors member
Original poster
Jul 16, 2009
49
0
Hello all,

I have been going nuts trying to decide between a macbook white (£828/$1352) with bto ram to 4gigs and HD to 320 gigs, and a stock 13" 2.53 mbp (£1033/$1687) for the past week, and I just can't seem to come to a decision. It seems almost every day my head switches between the two! I really need some guidance :eek:

I need it for the basics really, typing, voice type software, ilife, heavy internet and importantly...online tv like BBCi player and 4OD catch-up (which will likely be HD soon). I usually buy a new laptop every 2.5-3 years so I would like it to comfortably last this long for all of these functions.

It is also very important that the computer is very cool on my lap, and also very easy to type as that will be its primary function.

The main differences between the two are:

Macbook:

- slower processor
- slightly larger HD
- looks much cooler (IMO:))
- less reflective screen
- over £200 ($325) cheaper with nearly the same specs (only differences are processor and ram speed!)

13" MBP

- .5 Ghz faster (more long-lasting?)
- faster RAM (any better for graphics stuff as GPU uses ram?)
- MUCH better trackpad
- BL keyboard
- less HD
- very reflective screen (annoying outside!)
- LED screen with less colour-shift

Please can someone convince me either way, as I am fed up deciding between the two, it has been so long now that it is getting really quite boring thinking about it! So much so in-fact that i have found myself looking past the mac counter at John Lewis at spying Vaio's, which as a mac user for a long while, scares me :eek:
 
Get the MBP 2.26 or 2.53, not the white. I personally think the MBP is worth every cent more then the whitebook.. The screen and trackpad are enough for me.
 
I think you have done all your research.

I would always get an Alu machine where possible as they are easier to keep clean, less prone to scratches and feel far more solid.

Having gone from a WhiteBook -> Air -> Alu MacBook -> 13" MacBook Pro it combines all the things I like. I disliked the screen on the Whitebook and Alu MacBook. Loved the size and weight of the Air but was a tad on the slow side but did have a wicked screen. The Alu MacBook was great but missed the backlit keypad and the screen was really bad.

I agree the glass can be reflective but feel the quality, brightness and viewing angles compared to a WhiteBook make it still win.

Good luck with your choice.... even I miss my Air still!
 
ryan.hayes79 said:
I think you have done all your research.

I would always get an Alu machine where possible as they are easier to keep clean, less prone to scratches and feel far more solid.

Having gone from a WhiteBook -> Air -> Alu MacBook -> 13" MacBook Pro it combines all the things I like. I disliked the screen on the Whitebook and Alu MacBook. Loved the size and weight of the Air but was a tad on the slow side but did have a wicked screen. The Alu MacBook was great but missed the backlit keypad and the screen was really bad.

I agree the glass can be reflective but feel the quality, brightness and viewing angles compared to a WhiteBook make it still win.

Good luck with your choice.... even I miss my Air still!
Click to expand...

Thanks for all of the replies so far guys, they are all super helpful. I have a couple of questions if that is ok...

1. Do you think that the extra 0.5 Ghz would make much of a difference either today or in the future (especially when everything goes nehalam?)

2. Does anyone find it more difficult reading from the glass screen than the standard white macbooks, when I tested today it seemed a little bizarre, but i couldn't quite put my finger on it
 
I recommend the 13in 2.53GHz Macbook Pro. It will last longer, ability to have 8GB of RAM, 7 hour battery, etc. Although, you said the Whitebook "looks cooler." Get whatever laptop you want, but the 13in Macbook Pro is my recommendation.
 
Gumbercules said:
Thanks for all of the replies so far guys, they are all super helpful. I have a couple of questions if that is ok...

1. Do you think that the extra 0.5 Ghz would make much of a difference either today or in the future (especially when everything goes nehalam?)

2. Does anyone find it more difficult reading from the glass screen than the standard white macbooks, when I tested today it seemed a little bizarre, but i couldn't quite put my finger on it
Click to expand...

1. Well today it wont be much a difference. In the future, it might because of quad/octo cores and faster clock speeds.

2. I've been to the Apple store a couple of times and it is not difficult for me to read on.
 
Personally I would go for the MBP. The LED backlit screen is much nicer on the eyes than the regular (CCFL?) screen on the white macbook. 500 MHz is also quite a bit faster, and would most likely be noticeable if doing anything remotely cpu intensive. And in my opinion the MBP is much better looking than the white MB. It feels a lot nicer when using it too.
signature_silverapple.jpg
 
Personally I think the faster RAM speed, ability to add more and the MUCH better battery would bother me more than a 0.5 processor bump.

Your going to love either machine but still would go for the 13" pro.

What machine are you using at the moment?
 
I was in a similar position... these are the reasons I decided against the white MB:

1. The screen quality. I wouldn't say it's 'easier to see', ok it's not glossy, but it's also not as bright, and looked a lot more washed out to me. No comparison to the MBP. The viewing angle is also much better on the MBP which might be a big deal if you're watching iPlayer and such :)

2. Firewire 400. The MBP has Firewire 800. This might be significant if you are storing video on an external hard drive for instance.

3. The RAM speed.

4. Battery life.

Plus, I think I would always wonder 'what if' had I gone for the white. I actually decided on the 2.26Ghz 13" MBP though; any reason you're not looking at this?
 
Thank you all so much for all of your input, it is truly helpful...I have been so confused of late!

suekitch said:
I was in a similar position... these are the reasons I decided against the white MB:

1. The screen quality. I wouldn't say it's 'easier to see', ok it's not glossy, but it's also not as bright, and looked a lot more washed out to me. No comparison to the MBP. The viewing angle is also much better on the MBP which might be a big deal if you're watching iPlayer and such :)

2. Firewire 400. The MBP has Firewire 800. This might be significant if you are storing video on an external hard drive for instance.

3. The RAM speed.

4. Battery life.

Plus, I think I would always wonder 'what if' had I gone for the white. I actually decided on the 2.26Ghz 13" MBP though; any reason you're not looking at this?
Click to expand...

1. I was thinking primarily about reading text on the unit. For all else it is clearly a far superior screen, but I'm not sure that it is because I already wear glasses, but there seems to be something about reading text that is not quite as easy as on the macbook white. I have however only used matte screens before so it could be that, or maybe it is just something that i must try to get used to!

2. Good point

3. Is the RAM speed that significant? I had read that DDR3 offered little by means of a 'real-life' advantage. I'm guessing that it would be better for gaming, and although I'd probably give the sims 3 a go now and then, I doubt i would really play games on the machine.

4. another good point

BTW, it is not the washed out look that is a problem for me, but rather the fact that when i saw it today it color shifted an incredible amount!
 
suekitch said:
I actually decided on the 2.26Ghz 13" MBP though; any reason you're not looking at this?
Click to expand...

yeah i thought about this, but by the time I BTO'd more ram and a larger hard drive, the price difference was negligible, plus my previous laptops have had a 1.5Ghz G4, and then a 2.33Ghz Core2duo, so if i was going to pay more, i'd rather pay a little more still to get one that is faster than my last mac. I was willing do take a processor hit on the white macbook as it was so much cheaper!

Any info on why the faster ram is better? I have read that the difference between ddr2 and ddr3 is negligible.
 
Gumbercules said:
Thank you all so much for all of your input, it is truly helpful...I have been so confused of late!



1. I was thinking primarily about reading text on the unit. For all else it is clearly a far superior screen, but I'm not sure that it is because I already wear glasses, but there seems to be something about reading text that is not quite as easy as on the macbook white. I have however only used matte screens before so it could be that, or maybe it is just something that i must try to get used to!

2. Good point

3. Is the RAM speed that significant? I had read that DDR3 offered little by means of a 'real-life' advantage. I'm guessing that it would be better for gaming, and although I'd probably give the sims 3 a go now and then, I doubt i would really play games on the machine.

4. another good point

BTW, it is not the washed out look that is a problem for me, but rather the fact that when i saw it today it color shifted an incredible amount!
Click to expand...

I'm short-sighted (so I need help seeing things further away). I find it more difficult to focus on things close up where I'm wearing my glasses or my lenses so I generally take them off/out when working on computers. And that's been on a variety of screens :) Not sure about how being long sighted would fare with a computer though.

Why not consider getting the RAM and HDD elsewhere though? Apple usually charge way over the usual price for these things. Just you could get an MBP with the spec you want for less and then the price difference argument compared to the MB isn't such a big one :)

As for faster RAM - well, you seem to have an interest in the processor speed. Real world, you won't notice much for the extra 0.5 or 0.3; same with the DDR3 RAM..
 
suekitch said:
I'm short-sighted (so I need help seeing things further away). I find it more difficult to focus on things close up where I'm wearing my glasses or my lenses so I generally take them off/out when working on computers. And that's been on a variety of screens :) Not sure about how being long sighted would fare with a computer though.

Why not consider getting the RAM and HDD elsewhere though? Apple usually charge way over the usual price for these things. Just you could get an MBP with the spec you want for less and then the price difference argument compared to the MB isn't such a big one :)

As for faster RAM - well, you seem to have an interest in the processor speed. Real world, you won't notice much for the extra 0.5 or 0.3; same with the DDR3 RAM..
Click to expand...

Im short sighted too, but have always kept my glasses on while reading on the computer! I should probably try to avoid doing that!

As far as I can tell, buying the ram and HD elsewhere would cost about £85 delivered, which would save me about £90 on the white macbook, however the ram/hd would not be covered by applecare, and also I have never opened a computer before so think that it may be best to just pay the premium and get on with it.

So far I am heavily leaning towards the pro because of the keyboard, trackpad and screen, however am still taken by the looks of the white!

Any other ideas?
 
Gumbercules said:
Im short sighted too, but have always kept my glasses on while reading on the computer! I should probably try to avoid doing that!
Click to expand...

Well I'm far from an optician; I just find it a lot more comfortable using my eyes au naturel as it were for computer use. For all I know I'm slowly causing my eyesight to get worse or something, but even at work it takes me a bit of 'effort' to focus on things closer to me.
 
you wont be sorry with either, and as far as the trackpad goes, the whitebook will get all the multi touch of the mbp if you upgrade to snow leopard... one big difference that would matter a lot to me is that the mbp speakers are way better than the whitebook...

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TwZ5JLGEVUg

this alone would be a tipping point to push me towards the mbp... if you can afford it go for it, you will probably get more like 4-5 years out of it than your usual 2-3.. but if you are on a tight budget then the whitebook will not disappoint you, slightly softer speakers aside...
 
thanks again for all of the help guys.

I have just found a link about a potential matte display option coming soon, and wonder whether anyone else had heard anything of this?

If it is correct I would much rather wait for those and avoid the glass screen. Anyone heard anything?
 
Hello again, Thankyou all so much for all the help that you have given.

I ordered the mac about 15 minutes ago and decided in the end to go for...


the white macbook with 320 GB Hard Drive and 4 GB's of ram.

In the end, the difference between buying from 3rd parties and apple totaled £40 after shipping costs were included, so I thought it better to not bother with doing the upgrade myself, and to have it all covered by applecare at the same time!

I was going to buy the pro 2.53, and agree with you all that it offers much more for very little extra investment, however for me, I particularly liked (actually preferred) the styling of the white macbook, and when i realised that the multi touch will be cominf with snow leopard anyway I was nearly there.

Finally however, it was a couple of comments in a news thread that convinced me, which said:

"I am an architect and professor, directy influencing and teaching at least 60 design students a year. I have been a proponent for Mac notebooks for my students for the last ten years at least. I myself have been buying a new mac in some form factor every two years or so since 1990.

However, I simply cannot buy or recommend another Macbook Pro (mine is three years old now and I'm ready, cash in hand) until you offer an antiglare screen. Nor will I recommend purchase to my students until there's an antiglare screen available on machines other than the expensive 17". Our studios have windows all around, and fluorescents overhead, and there is simply no way to situate oneself to not have reflections. Maybe architects are especially sensitive to 3D, I don't know. But that black glass rectangle is itself a window, and to look <at> it as a screen rather than through it as a window is a huge effort when doing text or especially AutoCAD and the like, which use black as the default background color. When looking <at> the screen, it often puts a completely different image in each eye, one with a reflection overlaid, one without. This is a real strain. When looking through the screen/window to make the reflection cohere (and relax one's eyes), one cannot read the screen at all (which is now doubled and out of focus).

I know you've heard all this before, Apple. And it seems the problem does not bother everyone to the point of unhappiness. Fine. But that's not "my Apple." Please, please, please, please, please, make an antiglare screen option available on machines other than the 17" S O O N."
Click to expand...

and

I deeply regret the purchase of my 20" Aluminum iMac, I can tell using it long hours in a day that since its purchase, my eyesight has gotten considerably and noticeably worse. The glossy screen, on top with glass over it, causes huge amounts of eye strain and is horrible for your eyes. It's a health issue, and Apple just doesn't care!

Also, why does Apple call it Anti-Glare? Is it an actual matte screen, or is it something like a glossy screen with an "Anti-Glare" coating?
Click to expand...

I know that many people get on perfectly with the screens, however both posts seem to concur with something I experienced when using them in John Lewis, and furthermore, I would be kicking myself if I bought one and then they came out with a matte model!

Also, this way I will upgrade much sooner (probably after 1.5 to 2 years), which would be lovely!
 
Wait, are they going to have full multi touch with SL? I thought it was just the computers that already had 1, 2, and 3 finger multi touch that would have 4 finger enabled when SL came out?
 
My GF got the MB 2.13 and it is very nice.

But, the MBP will make better use of the coming Snow Leopard with its 9400 graphics chip. If you bump to the 15" model for more screen real estate it would be worth it imo.
 
skye12 said:
But, the MBP will make better use of the coming Snow Leopard with its 9400 graphics chip.
Click to expand...

MacBook has 9400M as well. Only differences are RAM (DDR2 vs DDR3), CPU (2.13 vs 2.26/2.53) + battery, SD card slot, keyboard, trackpad etc..
 
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