MacBook Pro advise

[Artmuzz]

Hi,

I am in the UK and I am wanting to buy a new top of the range 15" MacBook Pro before the VAT goes back up on 1 January 2010.

I am wanting to use it for video production and wondering if the top of the range 15" model will be a good performer and worth £1,699? Also how much will the MacBook Pro be when the VAT goes back up to 17.5%?

Just now I own the mid 2008 MacBook Pro 2.4GHZ. The first MacBook Pro with the multi touch.

Art

 

[kellen]

Sounds like it is a good time to upgrade, if you save 20%. However updates are supposedly coming in early 2010.

Is the 2.4 not running everything? I have the same computer and have thought about upgrading, but I dont think it will be that much of an improvement.

 

[Artmuzz]

Is the 2.4 not running everything? I have the same computer and have thought about upgrading, but I dont think it will be that much of an improvement.

I love my old MacBook Pro and find it a good performer but I am scared to use it any longer because of rumours I have read here and on other sites of the timebomb on the Nvidia Geforce 8600M GT Graphics card on the MacBook Pro. Also I have heard that the build quality, FSB and ram are much better than on the old MacBook Pro machines.


Art

 

[kellen]

double post, see below.

 

[kellen]

I love my old MacBook Pro and find it a good performer but I am scared to use it any longer because of rumours I have read here and on other sites of the timebomb on the Nvidia Geforce 8600M GT Graphics card on the MacBook Pro. Also I have heard that the build quality, FSB and ram are much better than on the old MacBook Pro machines.


Art

Apple covered the 8600 for 3 years, so you should be fine.

The newer ones bring faster ram, more rigid structure and lack of express card. They also have faster interface with the HD, so if you are using a SSD it may be beneficial.

However what do you do with your MBP?

 

[nuke123]

Good idea buying it for the vat increase, it should be fine for your needs, you could always get an external monitor and hook it up?

 

[Artmuzz]

However what do you do with your MBP?

I use my MacBook Pro for editing videos, adding music to videos on Final Cut Pro and making my music on Logic Pro. I was going to buy the mid range Macbook Pro but the problem is that it has a smaller L2 cache than the top of the range version plus the top of the range version has a better graphics card.


Art

 

[XxEjGxX]

there is speculation of new ones, but the top one should definately be good enough for what you wanna do

it just depends whether you wanna risk waiting after the tax increase for a lot better device, with the negative of getting a relatively unchanged device for 2.5% more or you buy now and get a good device only to find amazing ones out next month, its one of those lose lose situations, i say bite the bullet and buy now

 

[student_trap]

2.5% of £1700 is £42.50, hardly worth worrying about when you are spending so much already.

Also, the upgrade really wont make too much of a difference from where you are at the moment.

With both these points in mind, I would wait until the arrandale chips are out in late January/early feb as they will offer a comparably far larger increase in performance.

Finally, I don't think that apple's prices will change anyway after the tax increase as they didn't put them down after the VAT decrease, they just took an extra 2.5% for themselves!

 

[Artmuzz]

Finally, I don't think that apple's prices will change anyway after the tax increase as they didn't put them down after the VAT decrease, they just took an extra 2.5% for themselves!

That is shocking I know Apple are money hungry but I didn't expect them to be as greedy as that!! So basically Apple customers were still screwed with the 17.5% VAT because Apple took the 2.5% for themselves while every other customer in the UK took the advantage of the 15% VAT decrease. That is wrong

I guess this was only the case for their computers as I when I bought my iPod Touch this year I got cheaper because of the VAT decrease.

Art

 

[milton.sheaf]

Good idea buying it for the vat increase, it should be fine for your needs, you could always get an external monitor and hook it up?

External monitor? Why?? The MBP has a very nice screen already built-in. In order to get a better screen, you'd need to spend $800 on a Cinema Display or equivalent. It's foolish to put away that nice MBP screen in favor of a $129 piece of garbage crap monitor from Newegg.

The man said he was video editing, so he'll likely need an external hard disk solution to support the I/O and transfer rates demanded by his application. Personally, I'd go with a two-drive RAID0 in a Firewire 800 enclosure. That will *guarantee* you a steady and consistent 75+ MB/s over the entire length of the disk.

 

[thegoldenmackid]

Now seems like an awful time to buy given the updates coming. It's likely you can get the same machine you are going to buy today much cheaper, even with VAT increases, after the release of the new models.

 

[Artmuzz]

It's likely you can get the same machine you are going to buy today much cheaper, even with VAT increases, after the release of the new models.

Yeah, but with 3MB L2 cache compared with the 6MB L2 cache as intel always have this annoying habit of downgrading the L2 cache size when they update their processors for example the 2.66ghz Core2Duo MBP in 2008 had 6MB L2 cache but the 2.66ghz Core2Duo MBP in 2009 only has 3MB L2 cache


Art

 

[MikeACmdLV]

Yeah, but with 3MB L2 cache compared with the 6MB L2 cache as intel always have this annoying habit of downgrading the L2 cache size when they update their processors for example the 2.66ghz Core2Duo MBP in 2008 had 6MB L2 cache but the 2.66ghz Core2Duo MBP in 2009 only has 3MB L2 cache


Art

I'm trying decide between MBP 13 (really annoyed by reflective glass screen, SD card slot that leaves card hanging out, the 2 USB ports too close together, no ExpressCard slot) and Sony Vaio Z-series (much nicer screen, smaller footprint/weight, SD cards flush in slot, 2 USB ports separated- 1 USB port on either side of machine, ExpressCard slot) and noticed this somewhat annoying change as well. In the older Z-690 available on Sony Outlet, the 2.66Ghz processor is the P9600 with 6MB L2 rated @ 25W; in the current Z-890, the 2.66GHz processor is the P8800 downgraded to 3MB L2 @ 25W (as you have noted); to get 6MBL2 now, the next choice up is P9700 but the power consumption increases to 28W, which is a negative hit on battery life.