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MBP 13" Questions

R

Rhyno37

macrumors regular
Original poster
Jul 23, 2011
130
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I've been flip flopping around some between the 13" Air and 13" Pro, and had a few questions for you Pro users.

I've heard that the Pro is nearing the end of its cycle. Would it be bad to buy one at this point? I need/want a computer now, but don't think I could wait until Q1 of next year...

What do you guys think of the lower resolution on the Pro compared to the Air? (1280x800 vs 1440x900) This is the only thing that really worries me about buying the Pro, is it that big of a deal.

How hard is it to upgrade the Pro yourself? Are there many compatibility issues, or do most parts work well?

And last, how does Lion run on the 13" MBP?
 
Rhyno37 said:
I've been flip flopping around some between the 13" Air and 13" Pro, and had a few questions for you Pro users.

I've heard that the Pro is nearing the end of its cycle. Would it be bad to buy one at this point? I need/want a computer now, but don't think I could wait until Q1 of next year...

What do you guys think of the lower resolution on the Pro compared to the Air? (1280x800 vs 1440x900) This is the only thing that really worries me about buying the Pro, is it that big of a deal.

How hard is it to upgrade the Pro yourself? Are there many compatibility issues, or do most parts work well?

And last, how does Lion run on the 13" MBP?
Click to expand...

No one knows if the MBP is approaching the end of a "cycle," whatever that means. There have been rumors of a new case design, but that's it. Intel's next generation chips, Ivy Bridge, won't be out until late this year/early next year, and it's unlikely the MBP would be changed before Ivy Bridge comes out. Not impossible, but unlikely.

It's a piece of cake to upgrade the user-serviceable parts on a MBP--which are the RAM and HD. Any compatible part will work--no need to spend extra for "Mac Certified," etc., parts.

As far as resolution goes, I prefer the superior color of the MBP to the higher resolution of the MBA. Your mileage may vary. Also note that the Air cannot be upgraded, so if you want to run Parallels or run VMs the MBP is the better choice.

Finally, Lion is OK but seems to be a bit buggy, so I'm holding off for the .1 release.
 
Even though the MBA has a higher resolution screen, the quality is still much, much better on the MBP.

Upgrading any MBP is really easy, especially the RAM and HDD. Optibay is a little more complicated if you want to add a second hard drive in place of the SuperDrive, but even thats not too difficult.

Lion is running on my MBP, without too many bugs or glitches. I think the Lion features outweigh the minor bugs it currently has. One complaint I have is that the battery life is a tad bit worse with Lion than on Snow Leopard. But I'm sure the updates to come will keep that in mind as well.

Personally, I totally recommend the MBP over the MBA. The MBA is a fine computer, but the MBP has more power and practicality that the MBA may not offer in some instances. The MBP is a lot cheaper too, only $999 from Micro Center, which Best Buy will price match for you.

Link:http://www.microcenter.com/single_product_results.phtml?product_id=0358117
 
If I get Best Buy to price match Microcenter, would they still give me the $100 gift card to match Apple?

So do you guys think I'm fine buying it now, or do I need to wait for the next update?
 
Rhyno37 said:
If I get Best Buy to price match Microcenter, would they still give me the $100 gift card to match Apple?
Click to expand...

You can ask, but I think the people that have tried this have been denied. If you ask them to match the Apple education price with the $100 card, it might work. What does it hurt to ask?

Rhyno37 said:
So do you guys think I'm fine buying it now, or do I need to wait for the next update?
Click to expand...

Just get it now.
 
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