Macbook Pro for Music Production, New or Refurbished?

[TheJediMaster]

I'm contemplating on what I should do, can anyone offer some advice?

I'm looking to purchase a Macbook Pro, the one I have is from 2008 and its beat up.

Should I purchase a new Macbook Pro, or refurbished?

I'm going to be mostly using it for heavy projects, Logic Pro X with lots of audio units and tracks.

Should I bite the bullet and get the new one which comes out to $3199.

or

Is this a viable option at $2679?

http://store.apple.com/us/product/G...-28GHz-Quad-core-Intel-i7-with-Retina-Display

Pro's & Cons?

Thanks in advance.

 

[John.Lynn]

I was in a really similar situation, had a 2008 MBP and needed to upgrade. I purchased a refurb with the exact same specs except with the 512GB hard drive back in January and haven't regretted it since. I use mine for heavy CAD work in circuit simulation, board design, etc, mixed in with some music production and live stuff and it handles like a champ. I don't think you can go wrong with a refurb, this was my third one (not including iPads). They come with a great warranty and look spotless out of the box.

 

[\-V-/]

If it were me and I was spending the money, I would get the brand new 15" MacBook Pro: http://store.apple.com/us/buy-mac/macbook-pro?product=MJLT2LL/A&step=config

The graphics card and PCI-E SSD take a fat, steamy dump all over that refurbished laptop you just posted.

 

[John.Lynn]

Guess I didn't read the listing close enough.. The one I bought has the PCI-E SSD and the current graphics card

 

[TheJediMaster]

If it were me and I was spending the money, I would get the brand new 15" MacBook Pro: http://store.apple.com/us/buy-mac/macbook-pro?product=MJLT2LL/A&step=config

The graphics card and PCI-E SSD take a fat, steamy dump all over that refurbished laptop you just posted.

How much of a difference is PCI-E SSD vs a regular one? Are there any benchmark test results I can look at?

@john did you get your laptop through Apple?

 

[\-V-/]

How much of a difference is PCI-E SSD vs a regular one? Are there any benchmark test results I can look at?

The new MacBook Pro uses PCI-E 3 instead of the last model which used PCI-E 2. It has effectively doubled the speed of the SSD compared to the last model (upwards of 1.5 GB/sec or more). This is almost 3 times faster than regular SSDs, which get around 500 MB/sec read/write.

 

[TheJediMaster]

Got the $3199 MacBook Pro.

Cheers.

 

[\-V-/]

I'm sure you are going to thoroughly enjoy that.