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Macbook Pro vs. Macbook Black vs. Macbook White

believo

believo

macrumors regular
Original poster
May 21, 2004
161
0
Los Angeles, CA
I've been waiting a while for a Macbook Pro redesign but I'm getting a little sick of waiting. I don't do gaming and I wouldn't be using final cut. I'm a graphic designer who would use it mostly for Adobe CS which is pretty light on the processor. It seems like after RAM uprades.. performance wise there is little difference between Macbook and Macbook Pro. So I thought maybe just a Macbook would do. I mean aesthetically I like the pro and I prefer the matte screen however, I don't know it it's worth the extra money. So now I'm trying to decide between the black and the white. Anybody have any input?
 
If you are doing a lot of graphic design work as you say, then I would scratch the MacBook all together, due to the fact that the glossy screen calibration is nowhere near accurate for color representation.

A 15" Matte MBP is probably your best bet.

But if you are still wondering about the MB, the only difference between the black model and the white model is aesthetics, and you really have to decide whether or not you want to spend the extra money just for a different color.
 
NickD said:
If you are doing a lot of graphic design work as you say, then I would scratch the MacBook all together, due to the fact that the glossy screen calibration is nowhere near accurate for color representation.

A 15" Matte MBP is probably your best bet.

But if you are still wondering about the MB, the only difference between the black model and the white model is aesthetics, and you really have to decide whether or not you want to spend the extra money just for a different color.
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Thanks for your input but I would have an external monitor which I would work off of most of the time if it came to checking colors. So I don't know if that's so much of an issue for me. I believe there is a small hard drive bump for the black Macbook but you're right it does come down to whether you want to spend the extra $200 for aesthetics.
 
With an external monitor in use most of the time, it may not make a big difference.

I have a friend who routinely uses Photoshop on his Core Duo MacBook, and it runs fine.
 
For what it's worth, I just bought a white, refurbished 2.2 GHz MacBook over the entry level Pro because after two years of waiting, I had gotten so sick of obsessing over the rumors and weighing the factors that I was forced to realize that I just didn't need the power of the Pro. Once I made that resolution, I really did feel much better in general. There are enough benefits in a MacBook right now besides just the cost that I really do think the MB is the right decision if you can admit you don't need the dedicated graphics. With the extra money, you can max out a SR MB to 4 GBs of RAM, buy an external monitor, and then some.

At any rate, I would urge the OP to buy refurbished, and only refurbished from Apple.
 
DMC-12 said:
For what it's worth, I just bought a white, refurbished 2.2 GHz MacBook over the entry level Pro because after two years of waiting, I had gotten so sick of obsessing over the rumors and weighing the factors that I was forced to realize that I just didn't need the power of the Pro. Once I made that resolution, I really did feel much better in general. There are enough benefits in a MacBook right now besides just the cost that I really do think the MB is the right decision if you can admit you don't need the dedicated graphics. With the extra money, you can max out a SR MB to 4 GBs of RAM, buy an external monitor, and then some.

At any rate, I would urge the OP to buy refurbished, and only refurbished from Apple.
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I too have been mulling over whether to get the MacBook white or the low end pro. I came to the same conclusion as yourself. I ordered the MacBook white a mini dvi cable a 20" ACD, my order is now prepared for shipment. With the extra money I have ordered 4GB ram from Play and will be ordering a bigger HDD too at some point in the near future and it all still cost me less than a pro.
 
I have done some extensive Mac research over the last two months, and I decided on the White MacBook. I also use Adobe Photoshop frequently and decided not to use my MacBook for games. So far it's great, I have the 2.2Ghz with 1gig RAM - though I will be upgrading to 2gig RAM. I had to really look at what Pro had to offer me and if it was worth the extra $800. In the end I felt it wasn't worth it.

What I also did was go to the Mac Store and play with both models. It gave me a better understanding of each model.
 
I ended up going w/ the Macbook Pro. I figured the extra ~$700 was worth it considering the matte screen and titanium. Even though functionally, I won't notice any difference from the Macbook. I rarely would a make a decision based on things like that but I hate the glossy screen enough it does become a major part of the function of the computer for me.
 
Hankster said:
So far it's great, I have the 2.2Ghz with 1gig RAM - though I will be upgrading to 2gig RAM.
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Say, is the RAM in a imac 2.4 the same as the RAM in the macbook?
I just bought a refurb macbook 2.16 and upgraded it to 2GB, and then my imac G5 died (bad logic board) so I bought a refurb imac 2.4 and upgraded the RAM to 4GB.

So I have a 1 GB imac RAM unit and 2x 0.5 GB macbook units. It looks like the imac uses laptop RAM.

I wonder if anybody would buy the old RAM, say here or on ebay.
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CS is not light on the processor. I'm afraid you may regret that choice depending on what exactly you use CS for.
 
I really prefer the black much more. I was never a fan of the iBook white while the black just looks better to me. I agree that for CS stuff you really don't need dedicated graphics so the MB will do you just fine. But I would say get the Blackbook.

Edit: I saw that you did go for the MBP, good move. I find the Pro sexier than the acrylic and the ambient keys are nice too. I think for what you are doing you really won't be dissappointed long run on spending the extra $$. I won't be hard to see where it went.
 
I think the MacBook would be fine for most people, the Pro is really for those who need a total mobile desktop replacement. And between the MacBook models, the standard white would also likely suit most people. I went for the "BlackBook" myself only because I wanted a top-of-the-line MacBook. If you have the cash, then certainly get the black casing and max it out.
 
I would go with a black macbook as well...

Here is why: So much sexier than the white!

(Black is mine; White is girlfriends)
 

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MacBook vs Pro

I run CS3 on my G4 Powerbook 1.67 and it's fine for print design. Any intel Macbook will run circles around that, plus CS3 is optimized for the intels, so speed wise, you'll be fine either way. Which size do you want to tote around? I personally miss my 'iBook' with that smaller footprint for portably. If you use an external monitor for you heavy use, I'd go with the Macbook for the handy size. :D

I have to refresh both my Powermac G5 2G dualie, and my laptop, and can't decide which one do do first!!!! Hmmm....let me look in my wallet!
 
firstapple said:
I would go with a black macbook as well...

Here is why: So much sexier than the white!

(Black is mine; White is girlfriends)
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Yeah, and you'll be carrying around a bunch of tissues everywhere you go to clean off the dozens of fingerprints :) The Black MacBook gets smudges and prints like crazy :) The White MacBook does not :)
 
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