MacBook Pro "Custom" or Standard Quad-Core...

[Trhodezy]

Hey there guys.


So I'm looking into replacing my iMac & MacBook Air for a powerful MBP; it will be used for FCP (although not hugely intensive) video editing and music recording (in my project studio - and not at the same time). >NOTHING ELSE, NOT EVEN BROWSING<

Now, it's not just a simple choice like most people have when talking about "new" MBP's.

I'm looking at getting one of the following:

13" Early-2011, 2.7GHz, 16GB RAM, i7 with a SSD (with Lion installed) and the standard 500GB HDD. (Yes, I know.. no Optical Drive..) \

(Note: I am considering getting the Seagate Momentus XT hybrid drive, I'd like to know if anyones used it or what their opinion is on it?)

OR

15" Mid-2011 (July time?) 2.2GHz, 4GB RAM, i7 Quad-Core with 500GB HDD.

Now the prices I can get for them are:

13" £850-£950
15" £1,100 - £1,250

My questions are simply; what would you pick (for what I am doing), would the 13" do the job?, any thoughts in general?



All help is greatly appreciated,

- T

 

[Kasalic]

Hey there guys.


So I'm looking into replacing my iMac & MacBook Air for a powerful MBP; it will be used for FCP (although not hugely intensive) video editing and music recording (in my project studio - and not at the same time). >NOTHING ELSE, NOT EVEN BROWSING<

Now, it's not just a simple choice like most people have when talking about "new" MBP's.

I'm looking at getting one of the following:

13" Early-2011, 2.7GHz, 16GB RAM, i7 with a SSD (with Lion installed) and the standard 500GB HDD. (Yes, I know.. no Optical Drive..) \

(Note: I am considering getting the Seagate Momentus XT hybrid drive, I'd like to know if anyones used it or what their opinion is on it?)

OR

15" Mid-2011 (July time?) 2.2GHz, 4GB RAM, i7 Quad-Core with 500GB HDD.

Now the prices I can get for them are:

13" £850-£950
15" £1,100 - £1,250

My questions are simply; what would you pick (for what I am doing), would the 13" do the job?, any thoughts in general?



All help is greatly appreciated,

- T

The 13" i7 is a dual core variant AFAIK. Given that the tasks you will be doing would benefit from a quad core i7 I'd suggest the 15" models.

 

[shardey]

You would benefit more from the quad core 15" as it has more processing power as well as a dedicated video card for better video editing (depends on resolution).

I think the 13" may be able to use 16gb of ram but for sure the 15" can. Also the 15" has a better resolution and you could even get the hi res model with antiglare.

 

[Trhodezy]

Thank's very much guys! I've decided to go with the Quad-croe.

 

[Ccrew]

I think the 13" may be able to use 16gb of ram but for sure the 15" can. Also the 15" has a better resolution and you could even get the hi res model with antiglare.

Correct in that both can take 16gb, but some of the 15's can take 32gb once the DIMM's hit the market.

And given the price drops on SSD I wouldn't consider a hybrid drive. That said, depends on what your storage needs are and whether indeed the ODD is going away and if the space will be usable for a second hard drive.

 

[shardey]

Correct in that both can take 16gb, but some of the 15's can take 32gb once the DIMM's hit the market.

And given the price drops on SSD I wouldn't consider a hybrid drive. That said, depends on what your storage needs are and whether indeed the ODD is going away and if the space will be usable for a second hard drive.

Are you sure that the motherboards even support 32 gb? I would understand if there were 4 slots.

 

[alphaod]

Are you sure that the motherboards even support 32 gb? I would understand if there were 4 slots.

It's all about the chipset, so yes if they made 16GB SODIMMs, we could use 32GB on the higher end configuration models.

 

[jdwagner888]

What kind of tasks really require 32gb of ram?

 

[Medic278]

I have the dual core i7 MBP with an intel 520 SSSD and 8GB or RAM and it runs photoshop cs5 and Final Cut pro just fine. It can handle the programs that you want to use. The only drawback is there is no dedicated graphics. That being said the 13 should be able to do what you need if you properly outfit it!

 

[Ccrew]

What kind of tasks really require 32gb of ram?

I run server OS's in VM's and can bang the 16gb limitation. I can see 32 given certain usage patterns.. I think it's a stretch, but someone's bound to do it. I'd consider them the exception and not the general rule tho.

 

[jdwagner888]

Dang that is alot! lol Pretty crazy how much a computer can handle now compared to a decade ago.