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MBP 13" Low or High end

W

wovnorway

macrumors newbie
Original poster
Mar 1, 2011
2
0
Hi,
im buying the new MBP 13", but im wondering if I should get the low or high end. I will mostly use the computer for internet, itunes, adobe illustrator and for making apps.

So which MBP 13" should I get?
 
the low end is still miles ahead of last years models. Buy the low end and use the extra money on either an SSD or some more RAM.
 
You'll barely notice the difference in processing power between both models, and they both use the same ****** graphic card.

Go for the low-end.
 
Contrary to all answers here, I got the high end. The difference was 270 after student discount. Any decent SSD was going to cost a lot more than that. This way I got the 500 GB and faster processor. True it doesn't matter much now, but I tend to change computers every three years or so. Towards the end of the three years, I always appreciate I got the higher end. Software gets increasingly CPU intensive, and even though now, the low end is lightyears ahead, it won't be in a year or so. I will eventually add another 4GB to the memory. So there you have it. That's my two cents.
 
entilda said:
Contrary to all answers here, I got the high end. The difference was 270 after student discount. Any decent SSD was going to cost a lot more than that. This way I got the 500 GB and faster processor. True it doesn't matter much now, but I tend to change computers every three years or so. Towards the end of the three years, I always appreciate I got the higher end. Software gets increasingly CPU intensive, and even though now, the low end is lightyears ahead, it won't be in a year or so. I will eventually add another 4GB to the memory. So there you have it. That's my two cents.
Click to expand...
+1
If you are not going to change your notebook in two or three years , get the high end 13.
 
Neither. ;)

In all seriousness tho, low-end. If you do semi-heavy work, get a Base 15" or higher if you're able to.
 
Just to add that in this case, it's a more significant jump than say last year which was simply 2.4 to 2.66. Here it's a 2.3 to 2.7 jump, more cache, and higher turbo boosting as well. Benchmarks show some pretty good differences =) ANyway good luck on your choice, I would go i7.
 
Got the exact same question...

Can't decide between low-end and high-and 13"

Is there a noticeable difference when it comes to playing WoW or Starcraft 2?
Would say this is the hardest thing I'll do with the mb.
 
Cèv said:
Got the exact same question...

Can't decide between low-end and high-and 13"

Is there a noticeable difference when it comes to playing WoW or Starcraft 2?
Would say this is the hardest thing I'll do with the mb.
Click to expand...

You may notice some increase in fps in both those games as I noticed within OSX that the CPU really helped those games keep up a constant frame rate on the i7. I'm sure the i5 could hang well too.
 
Thanks for the answers. Think I will go for the low end, and use the extra money for more RAM and SSD
 
When you look at what is being offered in the 13's, you gotta step up to the 15’s for any heavy lifting. That seems to be their marketing approach and it's working. :eek:
 
I went with the high end 13" MBP mainly due to the fact that our other MBP is still running great 3 years later and the $$'s difference after my company EPP made it a no brainer. I've had it for 2 days now and i dont even think about the cost difference, I just wished Apple went a little extra with the screen resolution and maybe lose some of the size & weight. If you play the numbers game, the site with the speed difference is here:

http://www.macworld.com/article/157893/2011/02/2011macbookpro_benchmarks.html

You can see in some bendmark test the high end 13" is close to the quad core 17" but in CoD4 the rating is less than a 13" MBA.

Most important is to enjoy it!!:)
 
I will go with the low end! In italy there is a difference of 300 euros (416$) between the low and high end that in my opinion doesn't worth!
I will buy later a new SSD!!!
 
What i want to know is if there is a significant difference in heat and fan noise between the high and low end.
 
Cèv said:
can someone confirm that?
Click to expand...

I thought it was the opposite, alot of people with the 13in i5 said their macbooks were loud. I was also reading that it might have something to do with the harddrive.

I would like to see if someone who as an ssd in their 13in have any noise problems.
 
If the low end had been what I thought it was to be, the Core i3, then I would have gone better. However an Intel Core i5 with Turbo Boost is pretty much mid-line to higher end for most PC companies so Apple's low end MBP at it's asking price isn't all that bad of a machine.

You should be able to do all you want fairly well. As for Core i3, my PC laptop is a pretty good machine and fits my needs so a MBP with Core i5 and a dedicated graphics chip should be very good.
 
Last edited:
As above, go for the low end and spend the extra on a Vortex 3 or something when it comes out, no more noise and a damn sight faster!
 
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