macbook pro vs macbook

[chelcito787]

So I am going to buy my first mac for college because my major is graphic design and such. I currently own a mini acer running windows xp, and as weird as this may sound, it runs adobe programs perfectly fine, the screen ratio is a little off, but hooked up to a monitor its fine. And these specs aren't nearly as high as a mac (1.6ghz, 1gb ram). So, I was wondering should I get a macbook pro or a macbook? I'm going for the 13inch of either, and planning to hook it up to a larger monitor when I'm home.

Any ideas, experience or anything?

I know this has been asked and answered several times, I'm just asking to make it more specific and aimed towards my current position (my current laptop). THANKSSSSSS

 

[aberrero]

13" MBP. Better screen. If you can afford a 15" MBP, that would be even better.

 

[Apple OC]

Trust me, this is the only answer you will need ...

You will be in in Love if you get the Pro and may wish you did if you go for the MacBook

I am so glad I went the route I did ... I have worked in the Printing Industry for over 25 years and am taking Graphic Design at College right now (yes I am 40 years old) My MBP is running Adobe CS5 like a prize fighter.

To put this into perspective the Printing Industry and has been totally running on Macintosh ever since Apple was just a seedling.

The MBP is a must for what you are doing.

 

[chelcito787]

13" MBP. Better screen. If you can afford a 15" MBP, that would be even better.

I have just enough for a macbook pro with shipping and tax added, so I can't go any higher (which won't bother me since right now I'm looking at a 10" screen and will have an external monitor)

 

[chelcito787]

Trust me, this is the only answer you will need ...

You will be in in Love if you get the Pro and may wish you did if you go for the MacBook

I am so glad I went the route I did ... I have worked in the Printing Industry for over 25 years and am taking Graphic Design at College right now (yes I am 40 years old) My MBP is running Adobe CS5 like a prize fighter.

To put this into perspective the Printing Industry and has been totally running on Macintosh ever since Apple was just a seedling.

The MBP is a must for what you are doing.

I've heard that a lot of graphic companies and things in that area use mac over windows, and I've also heard that mac is the best route to go for that career, thats why I'm going to switch while i have the available cash.

& i also know that the pro is better than the macbook, i just wasn't sure the differences since the specs are similar, I was actually leaning more towards the pro before I posted this so I guess I got the right idea so far. Just lookin for experienced mac users and experience in that field so THANKS your answer is a big help!

 

[tigress666]

My .02 cents after having a macbook and now getting a pro.

I got the pro this time cause I had a macbook. Some of the reasons I got the pro was stuff my old macbook had they took out of the new one. Some of the reasons I got hte pro was stuff I was not happy about my macbook (mainly the plastic they use cracks eventually and there is really nothing you can do about it. And every single person I knew with a macbook had the same cracks too. Plus I hate the white, a dark color is best for framing the screen. And it stains so easily!). Some reasons I got the pro was stuff they eventually put in the macbook as well (the multi touch trackpad which is way uber awesome over my trackpad on my 2007 macbook that has a button and only supports scrolling motions but nothing else).

Reasons I like the pro over the macbook despite the fact that both should have similar performance (you can upgrade the ram on the macbook to be the same and otherwise tech specs are the same):
1. Case Case Case. Sorry, but for avoiding the plastic alone, I will never go macbook again if I can help it.

2. Firewire port (ok, could have been a third USB port, either way, more ports on the pro than the macbook and yes, there are times I have three things plugged in at once. One of them is my external hard drive which can be USB or firewire so I do get use out of the firewire port).

3. Light up keyboard (it's just nice).

4. Black border around screen (makes the screen look so much better. I don't know if they improved the macbook's screen from when I got a macbook, but the screen on my Pro is much more beautiful and vibrant than my macbook as well)

5. Actually, I went to look up macbook specs, and I'll add this in. You can upgrade the RAM on the macbook to 4 GB to match the standard RAM on the Pro, but my Pro can be upgraded to 8GB, 4 is the max you can get on the macbook (really the 4 megs of RAM along with new graphics card is what gives this computer much of a performance edge over my old computer whose processor is not much slower).

6. Not really relevant anymore cause I think teh macbook now has it but the multi-gesture trackpad.

Anyways, I know small stuff but it adds up for a much nicer experience (and RAM might be important if you are going to ask a lot out of your computer).

 

[mofunk]

Go with a Refurbish Macbook Pro and save. You can get an 2.53GHz i5 and save $300 off the the student discount. Same warrantee, same specs. Use the money you save and get Apple Care and Tucano Second Skin Sleeve.

I'm running Adobe CS4, Ligthroom3, and two other music editing software on my 2008 Unibody and its pretty fast. I bet it will be faster on the current MBP. But probably not a huge jump. You can go with previous models or current.

http://store.apple.com/us-k12/browse/home/specialdeals/mac/macbook_pro?mco=MTkyMTQ5MjA

 

[chanerz]

I'd get the pro. Much better mac.

 

[chelcito787]

Go with a Refurbish Macbook Pro and save. You can get an 2.53GHz i5 and save $300 off the the student discount. Same warrantee, same specs. Use the money you save and get Apple Care and Tucano Second Skin Sleeve.

I'm running Adobe CS4, Ligthroom3, and two other music editing software on my 2008 Unibody and its pretty fast. I bet it will be faster on the current MBP. But probably not a huge jump. You can go with previous models or current.

http://store.apple.com/us-k12/browse/home/specialdeals/mac/macbook_pro?mco=MTkyMTQ5MjA

I actually was wondering about refurbished models too but I forgot to mention that, do you have a refurbished? Have you or anyone you known had any problems with refurbished models? I heard that apple doesn't like dealing with refurbished models.. I don't want to run into a problem and take weeks to get it fixed.

 

[JCCash]

refurbished MBP

I actually was wondering about refurbished models too but I forgot to mention that, do you have a refurbished? Have you or anyone you known had any problems with refurbished models? I heard that apple doesn't like dealing with refurbished models.. I don't want to run into a problem and take weeks to get it fixed.

I bought a 13" MBP 2.4 for myself new but a 15" refurbished 2.66 for my son and they both rock. My son is happy and the 15" runs Final Cut Pro well and the monitor real estate is better in the long run then the 13". I travel a lot so my 13" MBP works well for me. I bought the 13" using the educational discount and gave the iPod to my daughter. I'll be buying her a MBP next. I can buy Apple Care for my 13" and our 15" refurb. Refurbished is the way to go in my book.

 

[talmy]

I actually was wondering about refurbished models too but I forgot to mention that, do you have a refurbished? Have you or anyone you known had any problems with refurbished models? I heard that apple doesn't like dealing with refurbished models.. I don't want to run into a problem and take weeks to get it fixed.

I've had them dealing with my refurbished Macs at the Genius Bar without hesitation, even one I had just bought which had a discrepancy in its serial number compared to the invoice. I've bought two MacBooks and two Mac minis from the refurbished store. They have been fine.

 

[rjt1000]

Refurbished Macs have exactly the same warranty as new. They are treated exactly the same by Apple. I have had 2 refurbs, the first, an iBook was flawless. The second a MacBook, had issues on arrival, but they immediately replaced it. I would not hesitate to buy refurb.

You should also be eligible for educational pricing, so you will need to compare those prices.

At the moment, the 15" MBP is significantly faster than the 13" MBP, so unless you want the extra portability, given your college major, I would go with the 15". (13" still has the Core2Duo, the 15" has i5 or i7)

Probably the best value for you at the moment would be the low end 15" as refurb.

In any event, don't buy anything until after the Apple media event tomorrow. There could be updates, which might give you other choices, or better prices on the discontinued models.

Good luck with your purchase

 

[AppleGoat]

In September, I went back and forth between these two models, and invested more time deliberating than I should have. First and foremost, before shelling out 1000+ I'd wait to see what is unveiled or intimated on Wednesday. If the 13-inch MBP is not refreshed, which I hope it won't since I just upgraded to it, then here are the merits of each Macbook..

MBP 13" (Biggest Selling Points In Order - at least to me)

- slightly better screen with black bezel
- aluminum chassis
- 2 gigs more of RAM
- firewire port
- SD card slot
- backlit keyboard
- more attractive (subjective)

Macbook 13"


- For the 200 dollars you save by choosing the white Macbook, you could invest in 8GB of Ram or an SSD, and have a noticeably faster computer. (Contrary to what another poster had said, the Macbook, is in fact, upgradeable to 8 GB, like its MBP sibling.)

That's essentially it for the Macbook, but that lone reason makes the cheaper Macbook a commendable choice. It is a unibody too, so I wouldn't worry about cracking. I personally went with the Macbook Pro, the screen with allegedly better color gamut sold me on the MBP.

 

[kingsal]

So I am going to buy my first mac for college

I think you get more bang for your buck with MBP, but the MB will do just fine.

 

[dukebound85]

My .02 cents after having a macbook and now getting a pro.

I got the pro this time cause I had a macbook. Some of the reasons I got the pro was stuff my old macbook had they took out of the new one. Some of the reasons I got hte pro was stuff I was not happy about my macbook (mainly the plastic they use cracks eventually and there is really nothing you can do about it. And every single person I knew with a macbook had the same cracks too. Plus I hate the white, a dark color is best for framing the screen. And it stains so easily!). Some reasons I got the pro was stuff they eventually put in the macbook as well (the multi touch trackpad which is way uber awesome over my trackpad on my 2007 macbook that has a button and only supports scrolling motions but nothing else).

Reasons I like the pro over the macbook despite the fact that both should have similar performance (you can upgrade the ram on the macbook to be the same and otherwise tech specs are the same):
1. Case Case Case. Sorry, but for avoiding the plastic alone, I will never go macbook again if I can help it.

The aluminum case dents way too easily. As one who has a 15in mbp and a mb, I like the plastic durability

2. Firewire port (ok, could have been a third USB port, either way, more ports on the pro than the macbook and yes, there are times I have three things plugged in at once. One of them is my external hard drive which can be USB or firewire so I do get use out of the firewire port).

That is a plus though in all my years, never once made use of FW

3. Light up keyboard (it's just nice).

I agree

4. Black border around screen (makes the screen look so much better. I don't know if they improved the macbook's screen from when I got a macbook, but the screen on my Pro is much more beautiful and vibrant than my macbook as well)

I can't tell a difference. Maybe I have bad eyes or don't know what to look for

5. Actually, I went to look up macbook specs, and I'll add this in. You can upgrade the RAM on the macbook to 4 GB to match the standard RAM on the Pro, but my Pro can be upgraded to 8GB, 4 is the max you can get on the macbook (really the 4 megs of RAM along with new graphics card is what gives this computer much of a performance edge over my old computer whose processor is not much slower).

Actually, you can upgrade a mb to 8 gigs

 

[tigress666]

- For the 200 dollars you save by choosing the white Macbook, you could invest in 8GB of Ram or an SSD, and have a noticeably faster computer. (Contrary to what another poster had said, the Macbook, is in fact, upgradeable to 8 GB, like its MBP sibling.)

Um, at least according to Apple's site, you cannot upgrade the macbook to 8 gb (they only claim upgradeable to 4 GB).

Not saying that maybe apple lied (I know they claim my 2007 macbook can only get 2 and I"ve heard it can actually get 3 GB).

 

[dukebound85]

Um, at least according to Apple's site, you cannot upgrade the macbook to 8 gb (they only claim upgradeable to 4 GB).

Not saying that maybe apple lied (I know they claim my 2007 macbook can only get 2 and I"ve heard it can actually get 3 GB).

you can indeed upgrade to 8 in a mb

 

[tigress666]

The aluminum case dents way too easily. As one who has a 15in mbp and a mb, I like the plastic durability

At least you can prevent that. You cannot prevent the plastic from cracking, it will crack no matter how nice you are to it. Go look on ebay and see how many keyboards for the white macbook are cracked (and how many use the fact they aren't cracked as selling points). Shoot, even the back of my macbook has cracks. And personally, everyone I knew with this macbook has cracks in the keybaord (friend of mine the keyboard broke so APple replaced it and the new top case cracked as well).

That is a plus though in all my years, never once made use of FW

Well, I bought my backup hard drive when I had the 2007 macbook that also had firewire. Since I already had my USB ports used on other things (keyboard when in desktop mode + iphone/ipod USB cord) I chose one that had firewire so I could use the third port (it happens to also support USB). So just the fact I had that option was better than just the 2 USB ports of the macbook has now.

I can't tell a difference. Maybe I have bad eyes or don't know what to look for

I notice. It's like framing a picture, you want to use the right color. But in the case of a screen, colors change often so you want a neutral color. Plus, a dark color makes colors just pop more. I never can understand the trend every now and then to turn all electronics including TVs silver .. invariabley they go back to black.

Actually, you can upgrade a mb to 8 gigs

Well, as I said above, I was going by Apple's specifications. Though I admit I could be wrong as I know Apple also claims my 2007 macbook can only use 2 GB RAM (I don't know why but what I hear is that it can do 3 GB but not 4 for some reason).

 

[ljonesj]

actually a macbook can go to 8 but its not supported by apple were 4 were as the macbook pro is supported to its 8

 

[dukebound85]

At least you can prevent that. You cannot prevent the plastic from cracking, it will crack no matter how nice you are to it. Go look on ebay and see how many keyboards for the white macbook are cracked (and how many use the fact they aren't cracked as selling points). Shoot, even the back of my macbook has cracks. And personally, everyone I knew with this macbook has cracks in the keybaord (friend of mine the keyboard broke so APple replaced it and the new top case cracked as well).

Very true

Well, I bought my backup hard drive when I had the 2007 macbook that also had firewire. Since I already had my USB ports used on other things (keyboard when in desktop mode + iphone/ipod USB cord) I chose one that had firewire so I could use the third port (it happens to also support USB). So just the fact I had that option was better than just the 2 USB ports of the macbook has now.

I agree. I would use FW if I had a peripheral to make use of it!

I notice. It's like framing a picture, you want to use the right color. But in the case of a screen, colors change often so you want a neutral color. Plus, a dark color makes colors just pop more. I never can understand the trend every now and then to turn all electronics including TVs silver .. invariabley they go back to black.

I do like the black frame on the mbp for that very reason. But as far as screen quality, they are both decent imo but realize there are many who have better eyes than I


Also why I don't get why people are waiting for white iphones lol. I love the dark border

Well, as I said above, I was going by Apple's specifications. Though I admit I could be wrong as I know Apple also claims my 2007 macbook can only use 2 GB RAM (I don't know why but what I hear is that it can do 3 GB but not 4 for some reason).

I really don't know why they do that tbh. Why not allow for the upgrade to 8 via them and profit from it? I suppose it is to make people think it can't take 8 and push them to the pro. I'm really not sure

 

[AppleGoat]

When ever you have a question about expansion, refer to everymac.com

 

[chelcito787]

In September, I went back and forth between these two models, and invested more time deliberating than I should have.

I've been doing the same thing since August, lol.. just waiting on my refund check then I'm going to finally go for it.

 

[chelcito787]

does anyone know how the financing option works at the apple store ? And how easy is it to get approved ? I have legit funds coming in Nov 9th (was expecting Oct 19th but the school is holding it until then because I'm a first year borrower). I don't have credit but my mom has decent.. would she be approved?

 

[TJones]

does anyone know how the financing option works at the apple store ? And how easy is it to get approved ? I have legit funds coming in Nov 9th (was expecting Oct 19th but the school is holding it until then because I'm a first year borrower). I don't have credit but my mom has decent.. would she be approved?

Make sure you tell them that you're an African Prince looking to get funds into the US.

 

[chelcito787]

Make sure you tell them that you're an African Prince looking to get funds into the US.

What? Really? I'm being serious.. I'm not from Africa and my funds are coming from a refund check from a student loan, and I cant be an african prince i'm a female and my social security number is from OHIO lol