MBP 2012 which model?

[wiehazy]

Hey guys,
i really need your help in a descision with the new mbp 2012 models.

the story: 2 weeks ago i bought the retina macbook but wasnt happy with it. the problem, i bought it at a reseller so i didnt get my money back! 2200 bucks!
he offered me to take another article (which i want) with the same price...

now im constantly thinking about what to do! i want the mbp 2012 yeah, but which one?
the 1790$ with 4gig, 2,3 quadcore, 500gb hdd and 512 vram or the 2200 with 8gig, 2,6 quadcore, 750 gb hdd and 1024 vram...
i would build in a ssd anyways and upgrade the ram to 8gb by myself (because its cheap)...

with that money whats to be left, i would take the ipad 3...
so what do you think, are 512 more vram and 0,3 ghz on the quadcore the 500$ worth it?

small model of the 2012 and an ipad?
big one of the 2012?

hope you understand my point! thanks

 

[nitromac]

If you're going to be gaming/3d modeling with lots of textures, then the extra 512mb of VRAM are worth it. As for the rest of the upgrades (cpu, ram, hdd), they aren't worth it if you're upgrading the RAM and HDD yourself. The extra .3GHz don't make a noticeable difference.

Personally I'd take the "small" (cheaper) 2012 MBP and an iPad, in your case.

 

[ibd]

I agree. Just ask yourself "Will I want to play new games in 2 years?". By then, 512MB will be outdated, 1GB may still be fine for lower settings.

Otherwise, the cheaper alternative sounds very legitimate.

 

[wiehazy]

the thing is im not a gamer, but i regulary use 3D Applications... not every day, but, you know a few times in month! i hate descisions

 

[clyde2801]

Anandtech, in his review of the baseline 2012 cMBP (15") said the 512 mb card should be fine (for now) for whatever you throw at the built in screen, but suggested the upgraded card for extensive work on external monitors.

 

[wiehazy]

clyde, sry but could you explain again what you mean with external display!? im not that into the tech parts of all that... i often use my external 24inch display! is that using much vram?

 

[nitromac]

clyde, sry but could you explain again what you mean with external display!? im not that into the tech parts of all that... i often use my external 24inch display! is that using much vram?

If you're plugging in your 24in display into your macbook, then it uses more VRAM as it has to display two independent screens instead of one.

I use an external display with my MBP all the time (512MB of vram), but I usually use it for netflix/typing papers. I don't see a performance drop of any kind.