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Macbook Died - MB Pro question

BasilFawlty

BasilFawlty

macrumors 65816
Original poster
Jun 20, 2009
1,082
3,040
New Mexico
My 2009 Unibody MB recently died after an unfortunate water spill. It will cost a minium of $435 to fix, and that's IF there is noting else wrong besides a dead logic board. So, I am thinking of upgrading to a MB Pro (entry level). I have a couple of options. First option is to buy a brand new MB through my company's Apple Employee Purchase Program. This would get me:
13 inch MBP
2.4GHz Dual Core
4GB memory
500 GB (5400RPM) HD
Running Lion.
With tax, this would be around $1203.

-OR-

At my local military base exchange (I'm retired military) I could get an earlier 2011 MBP that has the following specs:

13 inch
2.3MHz Dual Core (slightly slower)
4GB memory (not sure if the memory is as fast as the newer MBPs)
320GB HD
Running SL
Cost: $989 (no tax at the BX)

So the earlier model is $214 cheaper. The only real differences are a slightly slower CPU (2.3 vs 2.4), a smaller HD (which is moot since I'd swap the HD with the new 500GG Seagate Hybrid from my dead MB anyway) and Lion vs SL (But I'm pretty sure I could get free upgrade to Lion).

My inclination is to get the earlier MBP at the BX, but are there any other factors I'm not considering?
 
Last edited:
With the 13" the graphics is still the same. I don't remember if they upgraded the hard drive, but ether way, personally I'd save the $200. That base price is even cheaper than the refurbished model.
 
The clock speeds are very misleading - you are comparing two different architectures.

In fact the most recent model is more than TWICE as fast as the 2009 model.

A nice chart
http://www.primatelabs.ca/geekbench/mac-benchmarks/


BasilFawlty said:
My 2009 Unibody MB recently died after an unfortunate water spill. It will cost a minium of $435 to fix, and that's IF there is noting else wrong besides a dead logic board. So, I am thinking of upgrading to a MB Pro (entry level). I have a couple of options. First option is to buy a brand new MB through my companies Apple Employee Purchase Program. This would get me:
13 inch MBP
2.4GHz Dual Core
4GB memory
500 GB (5400RPM) HD
Running Lion.
With tax, this would be around $1203.

-OR-

At my local military base exchange (I'm retired military) I could get an earlier 2011 MBP that has the following specs:

13 inch
2.3MHz Dual Core (slightly slower)
4GB memory (not sure if the memory is as fast as the newer MBPs)
320GB HD
Running SL
Cost: $989 (no tax at the BX)

So the earlier model is $214 cheaper. The only real differences are a slightly slower CPU (2.3 vs 2.4), a smaller HD (which is moot since I'd swap the HD with the new 500GG Seagate Hybrid from my dead MB anyway) and Lion vs SL (But I'm pretty sure I could get free upgrade to Lion).

My inclination is to get the earlier MBP at the BX, but are there any other factors I'm not considering?
Click to expand...

Did you consider buying online (e.g. Amazon) I am not sure how much they take off but I'd imagine it is at least 100 dollars plus in many states you do not have to pay sales tax on online purchases - I am not sure about your state.
 
Last edited:
Laco said:
The clock speeds are very misleading - you are comparing two different architectures.

In fact the most recent model is more than TWICE as fast as the 2009 model.

A nice chart
http://www.primatelabs.ca/geekbench/mac-benchmarks/
Click to expand...

Thanks for the reply but I think you may have misread my post. The current MB that died was a 2009 model. The MBP I'm looking at locally is "early 2011" with 2.3GHz processor. According to the chart you posted (thanks), the earlier one (Feb 2011) I'm looking scored 5928 versus 6096 for a "new" 2.4GHz MBP, so the difference is a little under 3%. Either of them seem to score 3 times what my dead MB scores. I'll look on Amazon too, but this deal for 989 seems pretty good at this point.
 
BasilFawlty said:
Thanks for the reply but I think you may have misread my post. The current MB that died was a 2009 model. The MBP I'm looking at locally is "early 2011" with 2.3GHz processor. According to the chart you posted (thanks), the earlier one (Feb 2011) I'm looking scored 5928 versus 6096 for a "new" 2.4GHz MBP, so the difference is a little under 3%. Either of them seem to score 3 times what my dead MB scores. I'll look on Amazon too, but this deal for 989 seems pretty good at this point.
Click to expand...

Sorry my mistake. I would go with the 989 deal, seems great.

I would also like to say thank you for your (military) service! It is deeply appreciated.
 
Take a look at the 13" refurb on apple...$929. Unlikely you'd know the difference unless someone told you it was refurb'd!

13" MBP Early 2011

You may pay sales tax, tho, through Apple....might be a wash in price depending on your tax rate.
 
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