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MBP buying advice needed!

greygray

greygray

macrumors 68000
Original poster
Oct 22, 2009
1,848
1
Hey guys, I'm planning to upgrade my '09 13" MBP to a newer model this year. I know of rumors of a 'completely redesigned MBP' this year, but I'll be getting it separately upon its release. As such, I'm in a dilemma of choosing between these 2 MBP configurations:

1) 15" MBP with a 2.2GHZ i7, upgraded hi-Res Antiglare screen, 8GB RAM, 500GB Serial ATA Drive @ 5400 rpm.

2) 15" MBP with a 2.2GHZ i7, upgraded hi-Res Antiglare screen, 4GB RAM, 750GB Serial ATA Drive @ 7200 rpm.

Which configuration would produce faster processing results in everyday tasks like photo/video editing, Safari, iTunes, etc?

Thanks in advance!
 
upgrade the ram yourself for ~$40 and get the better hard-drive.

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greygray said:
And for all other activities? Will the increased RAM or 7500rpm configuration produce faster results?
Click to expand...

bootup and first time opening of apps will be faster with the better hard drive. Photo-editing or doing anything intensive will benefit from more ram.
 
So you guys recommend the faster hard disk over the 8GB RAM? I can buy my own RAM and do the upgrading on my own... But will the faster hard disk result in noisier operations for the MBP or consequently, affect battery life?
 
I second all the suggestions for the faster drive. I'm addicted to SSD's, but I had a 15in 2.5 MBP for about 24 hours on Friday, and with the 7200rpm drive it was rather surprising. It's not nearly SSD fast, but it's a leap above the stock 5400rpm.

8GB of RAM is nice, but for what Apple's charging for 8GB, you can get 16GB on your own, or 8GB from Newegg and the upgraded drive from Apple, and still have ~$110 leftover :).
 
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Just buy the cheaper one and upgrade the ram yourself. Apple will rip you off
 
If it were me I'd purchase a minimal configuration and do the upgrades myself. 8 or 16 gig of memory and an SSD provide a very pleasant ROI, and the aftermarket is much more reasonably priced that similar parts from Apple.
 
Remember, RAM is easier to replace than a hard drive.

$40, as mentioned, for 8GB. Or ~$130 for 16GB.

If you want to replace a drive, you have to go through a lengthy process of duplicating your drive.
 
Buy the base model, then get an 8GB kit and install it yourself. If you're feeling flush then put the RAM saving towards the anti-glare screen. ;-)
 
By the cheaper antiglare model and upgrade it yourself. You'll save $$ and get the advantages of more ram and storage
 
SDAVE said:
Remember, RAM is easier to replace than a hard drive.

$40, as mentioned, for 8GB. Or ~$130 for 16GB.

If you want to replace a drive, you have to go through a lengthy process of duplicating your drive.
Click to expand...

That said, the HD duplication and replacement process is actually pretty easy. I've done both, and while the RAM is definitely quicker (say 15minutes vs. 10-12 hours where you don't actually have to be there), the HD upgrade process is not terribly difficult.
 
Hey guys, many thanks for all who've contributed their opinions and advice! :)
I'll be buying the 15" 4GHz model, with an upgraded 750GB 7500rpm hard drive along with the high-res anti-glare option! Looking forward to the jump from an 09 13" MBP!
 
SDAVE said:
Remember, RAM is easier to replace than a hard drive.

$40, as mentioned, for 8GB. Or ~$130 for 16GB.

If you want to replace a drive, you have to go through a lengthy process of duplicating your drive.
Click to expand...

Replacing a harddrive yourself on a MBP is just as easy as replacing the RAM yourself. You obviously have never done either. Anyone can replace the harddrive and RAM simultaneously in 15 minutes. And you can reinstall the OS with the OS disks on a new drive very easily. Since he's buying new, he won't have to worry about a bunch of extra garbage on the drive, so cloning the drive isn't needed.

To the OP, it's always better to install RAM and harddrives yourself, rather than spending way, way to much having Apple do it. They charge almost double what the parts cost from sites like newegg.com.
 
Mac.World said:
Replacing a harddrive yourself on a MBP is just as easy as replacing the RAM yourself. You obviously have never done either. Anyone can replace the harddrive and RAM simultaneously in 15 minutes. And you can reinstall the OS with the OS disks on a new drive very easily. Since he's buying new, he won't have to worry about a bunch of extra garbage on the drive, so cloning the drive isn't needed.

To the OP, it's always better to install RAM and harddrives yourself, rather than spending way, way to much having Apple do it. They charge almost double what the parts cost from sites like newegg.com.
Click to expand...

Thanks for clarifying my history regarding computers. Yes, I've never replaced a hard drive...matter of fact, all those years of building custom PC's 5 years ago for over 10 years never accounted for anything either (Let's just say I know more about computers than you do.

My point was that for the average user, RAM replacement takes 5 minutes on an MBP. HD replacement will take a bit longer, you just have to dupe your main drive to a new one in an external enclosure (quickest).

A 750GB 7200RPM and 4GB RAM is a better choice because you can just pop in 2 x SODIMM's (8GB) and be done with it. Apple charges way more for RAM than it does for hard drives.
 
SDAVE said:
Thanks for clarifying my history regarding computers. Yes, I've never replaced a hard drive...matter of fact, all those years of building custom PC's 5 years ago for over 10 years never accounted for anything either (Let's just say I know more about computers than you do.

My point was that for the average user, RAM replacement takes 5 minutes on an MBP. HD replacement will take a bit longer, you just have to dupe your main drive to a new one in an external enclosure (quickest).

A 750GB 7200RPM and 4GB RAM is a better choice because you can just pop in 2 x SODIMM's (8GB) and be done with it. Apple charges way more for RAM than it does for hard drives.
Click to expand...
Damn, wonder what all that computer work I did on a 286 was back in 84? Or those Sun's in the 90’s? And working on Windoze PC's is one thing. Working on MacBook Pro's is quite another. And based on your comments, as noob as they were, it's unlikely you have done much work on Mac's. Replacing the RAM on the MBP requires the same amount of work as replacing the harddrive. Both combined won't take even the most novice of people more than 15 minutes. It may take you a bit longer though. Hell, I've got two harddrives in my MBP and I can replace both of them and the RAM in about that time. Optical drives are dead tech and unneeded imo, but gotta love ssd's.

And you don't need an external enclosure in this case. Pop in a brand new drive and load the OS. That's what he's getting with a new computer anyway! Carbon copy cloner and the like aren't needed here. Is this a difficult concept for you to comprehend? Like he's gonna go out and buy an external case to copy a stock drive from Apple. Stupid to even bring that up.

And Apple charges more for both drives and RAM than anyone should ever pay for! And the drives they use are crap. I'll skip Hitachi thanks!
 
Last edited:
Mac.World said:
Replacing a harddrive yourself on a MBP is just as easy as replacing the RAM yourself. You obviously have never done either. Anyone can replace the harddrive and RAM simultaneously in 15 minutes. And you can reinstall the OS with the OS disks on a new drive very easily. Since he's buying new, he won't have to worry about a bunch of extra garbage on the drive, so cloning the drive isn't needed.

To the OP, it's always better to install RAM and harddrives yourself, rather than spending way, way to much having Apple do it. They charge almost double what the parts cost from sites like newegg.com.
Click to expand...

With regards to swapping out the hard drive, does the computer come with the OS disks in the box? I was under the impression they had stopped doing that a little while ago.
 
gtgrad95 said:
With regards to swapping out the hard drive, does the computer come with the OS disks in the box? I was under the impression they had stopped doing that a little while ago.
Click to expand...

yes they did stop giving the disc


if you bought Lion from the app store you can find tutorials on making your own bootable dvd to re-install

what i did was used carbon copy cloner to backup my old hard drive to an external, carbon copy cloner has options to make the backup bootable

than i put in the new hard drive, booted off the external (formatted the new internal) and did the reverse use the external to restore to the newly installed internal
 
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