MacBook Pro 15.4" 2.6ghz (Hidden Gem)

[MDemm]

As way of saying thanks to the MacRumors forum users. I found a Hidden Gem earlier. I have been reading countless webpages in researching what kind of MacBook I should purchase... Money as well as performance is any issue. I was looking at the late 2008 MacBook, Macbook pro and the early 2008 MacBook Pro. MacMall is selling the 2.6ghz for $2600.00 this is after a $150.00 rebate. I know what you are thinking... This is no Hidden Gem... You are right. But, this is. Even the salesman at B&H Photo-Video asked me how I found this. They will probably be sold out within an hour of this posting... Its a brand new, top of the line MacBook Pro special order 2.6ghz. 512mb Video memory, 6mb L2 cache, 250 gb HD and more for -- $ 1500.00-- with free shipping. Good Deals go very quickly !!! Here it is: http://tinyurl.com/54smuz
Regards,
MDemm

 

[SPEEDwithJJ]

Fantastic deal. Thanks for sharing the link. Appreciate that.

 

[HiFiGuy528]

It's a GREAT deal, but I think with the upcoming Snow Leopard in early 2009, I would get the new MBP. You are buying a laptop that's old in design and will be even older when Snow Leopard.

 

[andiwm2003]

It's a GREAT deal, but I think with the upcoming Snow Leopard in early 2009, I would get the new MBP. You are buying a laptop that's old in design and will be even older when Snow Leopard.

?????

what is that supposed to mean? his MBP is just as fast as the brand new MBP. And Snow Leopard will make both MBP's faster by improving multicore use and use of the GPU. the 9600 is not much faster than the 8600 so his notebook will be up to date for the next years to come (till they release quad and octocore notebooks). just like the late 2008 model.
on top of that he's got the better screen.

There is no reason to believe that snow leopard will not bring the same improvements to the early 2008 MBP as it does to the late 2008 MBP.

 

[e12a]

lol snow leopard doesnt make a computer outdated... you'd also be spending 1000 more for the equivalent high end model, for what? one less firewire port, proprietary mini displayport, glossy only screen...and first gen goodness. Snow leopard would probably be in the 80 dollar range via edu discount. I'd go with the last gen, thanks.


great deal. I let my parents know about it, as they are in the market. My dad needs a nice toy to play with and to work on with matlab. I hope to convert them! Thanks for the link.

 

[convergent]

Anyone know if this is the matte or glossy display? I can't find where it says in the specs.

 

[convergent]

Anyone know if this is the matte or glossy display? I can't find where it says in the specs.

It is matte, and I pulled the trigger on one a few minutes ago... free shipping and no tax sweetened the deal even further. I was literally ready to order a 2.53Ghz newer design MBP through our corporate rep, and this was too good of a deal to pass up. I figure this is 40% less than I would have paid for similar performance, even including the cost of my upgrading the RAM and HDD. Thanks for sharing it.

By the way, when I called to check on the display, they told me there were two left... not sure if that included mine because I already had it in the cart online... so either one or two left.

 

[convergent]

Did anyone else on here order this deal? They are out of stock now. Free shipping and no sale tax sweetened the deal for me.

 

[mhnajjar]

That is not a good deal. I would spend extra money to get the new design with the new specs and features instead of this.

 

[convergent]

That is not a good deal. I would spend extra money to get the new design with the new specs and features instead of this.

How do you figure its not a good deal? I'm serious, I can always return it unopened if I find that I'm not getting the deal I thought I was. I'm out return shipping. Given that they were going away, I had to order it then if I wanted the option for the savings.

This one...

2.6Ghz, 2GB RAM, 250G 5400rpm HDD, 8600M nVidia 512M Video, 15" Matte display (plus adding in the cost of upgrading to 4G RAM and 320G 7200rpm drive plus an enclosure to put the 250G drive in that runs/powers from Firewire port... so one cable)

$1499 +$160 for upgrades, and I end up with an external 250G portable drive. $1659 + free shipping and no tax

New model...

2.53Ghz, 4GB RAM, 320G 7200rpm HDD, 9600 nVidia 512M Video, 15" Glossy display (Matte no longer available in new models) plus this requires a special $100 cable to hook up my 30" display while the older one has the port right on it.

Retail $2648 (with the cable for DualLink)... Discounted price through my corporate account rep $2383 + tax and shipping approx. $2550

So $1659 vs. $2550 for essentially the same machine in performance... just lacking the slick carved from aluminum case, 4 finger gestures, and less ports to plug things into. To me, $891 less is a lot of coin... not sure about you. With the slightly faster processor on the old one, and slightly faster RAM/video on the new one, I think you'd be hard pressed to tell the difference in performance, plus I get a matte screen which I really wanted anyways.

 

[coledog]

And their out of stock...

 

[nikhsub1]

That is not a good deal. I would spend extra money to get the new design with the new specs and features instead of this.

And I have a bridge to sell you. Clueless. Was a great deal.

 

[MDemm]

That is not a good deal. I would spend extra money to get the new design with the new specs and features instead of this.

One has got to shake there head with comments like this. I look at it this way... The consumer MacBook 2.0ghz is $1300.00. The consumer MacBook 2.4ghz is $1600.00. Hummm.. The one I mentioned is $ 1500.00... It has a superior screen, double the video memory and L2 cache.. We won't mention all the extra ports the pro version has... This thing smokes the MacBook 2.4 in each and every way, and costs $100.00 less... The only one that comes close to the older 2.6ghz is the new 2.53ghz and thats $1100.00 more... If you really believe that buying the newest / latest / greatest computer is money well spent ??? Whatever... Hopefully this link has helped others save as I have.

 

[e12a]

That is not a good deal. I would spend extra money to get the new design with the new specs and features instead of this.

wow just wow... go spend 1k more on the new one. I would have bought the linked one instead.

for only a slightly faster GPU, mini displayport (which can't be used with anything unless you have a 30-100 dollar adapter or their new uber expensive CDisplay), and otherwise virtually similar specs.

i like the fact that you dont have to spend 100 bucks to get a feature that was already on the previous gen (Dual Link DVI)

 

[convergent]

i like the fact that you dont have to spend 100 bucks to get a feature that was already on the previous gen (Dual Link DVI)

Yep, and I do have a 30" display, so that is a definite $100 savings and a cable to lose. I also will have 2 firewire ports instead of one... so that will be good if I want to use it for tethering cameras while also using my firewire drive... not needing a hub. I also think I'll like the matte display better. Of course I'm convincing myself that I will like this better, but the new ones are dang sexy... just hard to pass up a savings like this. I know there are other deals out there... the Apple Clearance center has these for I think about $400 more... but thats still significant moola.

So no one else on here got one of these?

 

[daneoni]

I got a similar machine from Apple Refurb (mine came with a 200GB 7.2K RPM Drive & 4GB RAM installed) for £949 ($1426)and it came in immaculate condition, you couldn't tell it was refurbed. i'm really liking it. I had a bad GPU initially but Apple replaced it and the new board seems to be working fine.

Its great to have a computer thats as fast (if not faster in some cases) as the new gen for a fraction of the price

 

[nikhsub1]

I wanted to jump on it bad but, I have a 2.4 17" hi res, 4GB etc. Couldn't do it I need my 17"

 

[Son of Matrix]

I got a similar machine from Apple Refurb (mine came with a 200GB 7.2K RPM Drive & 4GB RAM installed) for £949 ($1426)and it came in immaculate condition, you couldn't tell it was refurbed. i'm really liking it. I had a bad GPU initially but Apple replaced it and the new board seems to be working fine.

Its great to have a computer thats as fast (if not faster in some cases) as the new gen for a fraction of the price

I got the similar refurb machine at £1,129 last month! when did you get it? are you sure it's 2.6GHz?

 

[convergent]

I got the similar refurb machine at £1,129 last month! when did you get it? are you sure it's 2.6GHz?

Won't have it until Thursday, but its coming from B&H Photo, so I don't expect any problems. They are very reputable. Their site clearly indicated 2.6Ghz in numerous places, and the model number showed 2.6Ghz by Google search. We'll see.

 

[daneoni]

I got the similar refurb machine at £1,129 last month! when did you get it? are you sure it's 2.6GHz?

Yup got it Nov 4th...although it was listed as a 2.5GHz stock model on the site. Someone must've screwed up the serial number labeling and as a result i got stealth upgrades

 

[Son of Matrix]

Won't have it until Thursday, but its coming from B&H Photo, so I don't expect any problems. They are very reputable. Their site clearly indicated 2.6Ghz in numerous places, and the model number showed 2.6Ghz by Google search. We'll see.

you really got yourself a good buy!!! good luck and update us on Thursday!

Yup got it Nov 4th...although it was listed as a 2.5GHz stock model on the site. Someone must've screwed up the serial number labeling and as a result i got stealth upgrades

and I have only 2Ghz ram....u are so lucky....arghhh...so happy for you

 

[convergent]

you really got yourself a good buy!!! good luck and update us on Thursday!

I am pretty excited, but as of this morning the B&H order tracking still showed processing, so I gave them a call. After getting bumped around to 4 different people I got to a guy that was trying to verify who I was. He had called and left a message yesterday, but didn't identify himself or company and talked so fast that I didn't understand the number. He said he sent an email too, but I checked and didn't get one and then he said, "Oh, sorry, I never sent it.". So now I'm getting annoyed. I've got a 5 year order history with B&H as I have a photography business too. And, my credit card company had called an hour after I ordered it to confirm the charge and I had confirmed it. (Advanta is hyper sensitive... which is good I guess). So now I'm coming to the conclusion that UPS ground isn't going to get it here by tomorrow, and I'm impatient. I felt partially to blame because I didn't take the phone call from him yesterday since I was busy and didn't recognize the callerid number. So I asked him to bump the shipping up to overnight. The regular price for that is $39, and he knocked it down to $29. So, I should have it tomorrow. My 4G of RAM, 7200rpm drive, and enclosure are also going to be here tomorrow from NewEgg. I found out the local authorized Apple service provider that I've had do work for me in the past will swap in the new drive for $55, and thus maintain my warranty (on all but the drive), so I'll be doing that at some point... probably not until I've decided for sure that there aren't any problems with it. Excited and will have a fun Friday playing with this bad boy.

 

[e12a]

good luck with it!


my parents ended up buying a 2.5GHz IBM T500 for 1079...not a bad deal either.

 

[roland.g]

I'd say it was a great deal. Only reasons I would want the newer one are I really like the glass trackpad with built in button.

I got a 2.4 MacBook which actually cost more than this 2.6 MBP. But I wouldn't have jumped on this for two simple factors:

a. Didn't want the 15.4, wanted a 13.3.

d. Didn't want the extra pound of weight.

Sure I could have gone with the MBA and shaved off an additional 1.5 lbs, and it was a tough decision for me, but ultimately came down to MBA having less RAM capacity, less HDD capacity, slower CPU, less ports, though it does have a superior screen, would have cost $200 more, and I would have had to wait for the rev. B MBA to become available while I needed the MB now. So the MB was the right middle ground of features, size, specs, etc. I just didn't want to lug the heavier/larger MBP nor do I need the performance since I have a 2.8Ghz Extreme 24" iMac in storage.

congrats to everyone who cashed in on this good deal!

 

[convergent]

good luck with it!


my parents ended up buying a 2.5GHz IBM T500 for 1079...not a bad deal either.

If anyone is looking to buy an IBM/Lenovo machine, send me a message and I can possibly get you a good price through the friends/family program. They do make nice machines, but they aren't Macs.