MBP Opinion

[afuturestrader]

In your view is the newest, base MBP worth an extra $300 over buying (new) the last generation MBP? (2.2GHz with a 120GB hard drive)

The pertinant differences seem to be
a) the CPU - 2.4GHz Peryn vs. 2.2GHz non-Peryn
b) the hard drive - 200GB vs. 120GB
c) graphic card memory - 256MB vs. 128MB

The speed of the CPU would be the biggest consideration for my uses. Is there a noticable difference between the two for general office work?

Secondly -

Is a matte or glossy screen generally considered preferable for general office work? (word docs, email, web surf, IM etc.)

Thanks in advance

 

[trip1ex]

AS usual you won't notice the speed difference in daily work. I didn't notice the speed difference between my 1.83ghz core duo imac and a 2.2 ghz core 2duo laptop in daily work. The reality is we have way more than enough power to surf and do email and OFfice in our machines today. The bottlenecks there are internet bandwidth and hard drive speeds.

IT's a tough choice and a personal one, but I would say you'd be fine with the older model because you had to ask this question in the first place. If you needed the extra video ram then you'd probably know that already. Same with the extra hd space. Same with the slightly faster cpu.

 

[PDE]

In your view is the newest, base MBP worth an extra $300 over buying (new) the last generation MBP? (2.2GHz with a 120GB hard drive)

The pertinant differences seem to be
a) the CPU - 2.4GHz Peryn vs. 2.2GHz non-Peryn
b) the hard drive - 200GB vs. 120GB
c) graphic card memory - 256MB vs. 128MB

The speed of the CPU would be the biggest consideration for my uses. Is there a noticable difference between the two for general office work?

Secondly -

Is a matte or glossy screen generally considered preferable for general office work? (word docs, email, web surf, IM etc.)

Thanks in advance

I think you'll be fine with the older one too. However, there are a few differences to consider besides the more obvious ones you've mentioned:

- Less heat. I think the new penryn-based MBPs generate a lot less heat. This is the first MBP I've been happy having on my lap for extended use.

- Better battery life. I haven't measured, but it seems to last forever and certainly at least 30 minutes longer than my previous MBP SR.

- Multitouch. This is more about future potential than about usage right now. I personally think Apple messed up the functionality in the current MBP by not revising the trackpad to a larger size. As it is, it's note very nice to use compared to the macbook air which has a much larger pad.

Tell us what you decide!