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MBP 13" 2.7 i7 or 15" 2.0 i7 help

D

DarthDarko

macrumors newbie
Original poster
Jul 27, 2008
17
0
Long time lurker... need some help

Have a bit of a problem... I am trying to move from a Dell XPS M1730 Core 2 Duo 2.2 Ghz, 4Gb Ram and RAID drive to a MBP.

I may lose some performance due to the lack of RAID but am wondering what people would advise. I perform the occasional video encode i.e. avi to DVD authoring and a little photoshoping, I dont play games on the system.
My main points are:
The GFX card between the two systems, do I need it?
Hi-Res display yes or no?

I love the size of the 13"...

Thoughts? :confused:
 
DarthDarko said:
Long time lurker... need some help

Have a bit of a problem... I am trying to move from a Dell XPS M1730 Core 2 Duo 2.2 Ghz, 4Gb Ram and RAID drive to a MBP.

I may lose some performance due to the lack of RAID but am wondering what people would advise. I perform the occasional video encode i.e. avi to DVD authoring and a little photoshoping, I dont play games on the system.
My main points are:
The GFX card between the two systems, do I need it?
Hi-Res display yes or no?

I love the size of the 13"...

Thoughts? :confused:
Click to expand...

i have used both i bought a 13" i5 and had a hinge issue so i returned it and opted for the base 15"

the graphics card helps other things than games but you would not need it. the 13" has integrated

hi-res is opinion i did not get it and i think the display looks gorgeous it is all preference though i would go to a store and look at a hi-res vs regular. the 13" has no hi-res option.

for video encoding and processor intensive tasks the 15" will be better as it is a quad core. either machine is an upgrade in terms of specs for you but a standard hdd will def. feel slower than your RAID setup. But you can always opt for an SSD and do an optibay conversion.

My vote is for the 15" as i like the extra screen size and im a big guy so i dont mind the size.
 
ZombieZakk said:
i have used both i bought a 13" i5 and had a hinge issue so i returned it and opted for the base 15"

the graphics card helps other things than games but you would not need it. the 13" has integrated

hi-res is opinion i did not get it and i think the display looks gorgeous it is all preference though i would go to a store and look at a hi-res vs regular. the 13" has no hi-res option.

for video encoding and processor intensive tasks the 15" will be better as it is a quad core. either machine is an upgrade in terms of specs for you but a standard hdd will def. feel slower than your RAID setup. But you can always opt for an SSD and do an optibay conversion.

My vote is for the 15" as i like the extra screen size and im a big guy so i dont mind the size.
Click to expand...

Thanks for the super quick reply.. I have just found this thread which is making it a little more confusing https://forums.macrumors.com/threads/1142884/ .. I have been to a Apple store and seen the diff the hi res looks slightly crisper and the icons a little smaller, so a question I have is... if I purchase the dvi or vga out adaptor would I be able to output at 1080p or i?
 
DarthDarko said:
Thanks for the super quick reply.. I have just found this thread which is making it a little more confusing https://forums.macrumors.com/threads/1142884/ .. I have been to a Apple store and seen the diff the hi res looks slightly crisper and the icons a little smaller, so a question I have is... if I purchase the dvi or vga out adaptor would I be able to output at 1080p or i?
Click to expand...

I output mine fine at 1080p.
 
DarthDarko said:
Thanks for the super quick reply.. I have just found this thread which is making it a little more confusing https://forums.macrumors.com/threads/1142884/ .. I have been to a Apple store and seen the diff the hi res looks slightly crisper and the icons a little smaller, so a question I have is... if I purchase the dvi or vga out adaptor would I be able to output at 1080p or i?
Click to expand...

yea your going to want dvi for best results but yea you can do 1080p output fine as the reslution is only affecting the panel not the hardware driving it.

but again the hi-res is preference it wont affect how it runs its just if you prefer it i am fine with the standard screen but other people hate it. maybe next time i will go hi-res.
 
Incase you didn't know the 13" i7 is a dual core and the 15" i7 is a quad core. Just in case that makes a difference to you and you didn't know this. Power wise you probably won't notice much difference between the base 13 i5 and the top end 13 i7 for the price difference.
 
Have just been reading that in the 13 inch mbp the i7 turbo function is turned off while using bootcamp? Is this just something particular to the 13" or do all the I series CPU have this?
 
I was all sorted for a 13 inch purchase till... I see Apple have borked the turbo function while running bootcamp or the such.. Suppose it's not that much of a difference. Perhaps I will go 15 inch after all?
 
Between those two, get the 15". Otherwise, I and many other people would say get the i5 13"--the $300 difference is not justified by the minor updates in the 13" i7.
 
I would suggest you getting the 13 inch i7 over the entry level 15 inch
I have the high-end 15" and I use the HD 3000 most of the time and it works so well, battery life is awesome @6-7hours most of the time.
Unless you really want that extra powers or the anti-glare screen, then going to 15 inch is fine, but the 13 inch is definitely more portable.
Hope it helps
:apple:
 
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