Need some advise for buying a MBP

[Tadros]

Hey, I'm an unemployed college student. Before losing my form of income to go to community college, I've saved enough to go to school twice... something around 12,000. I'll be going to a university afterwards, but loans will have to be taken out for that. Anyway, I'm currently an audio engineer and aspiring to also be a video game journalist. Both career paths have me doing audio/video recording and editing that have become quite intense for my Macbook Pro (2007 Santa Rosa 2.4GHz Core 2 Duo) I'm currently on a 15inch MBP but I'll most likely be forced to buy the 17inch MBP since my external hard drives run from my eSATA port and only the 17inch have that still.

My questions are:

1. is the new Macbook Pro extremely better than my current MBP or is it just a slight change? Is it worth dropping the cash for an upgrade basically.

2. should I be buying a laptop with saved money when I don't have a job? lol I plan on working during the summers and saving that cash as well, but I feel weird being unemployed purchasing a $2700 laptop.

 

[Hellhammer]

1. It is much faster than your current one. Definitely worth it if your current one does not cut it.

2. Do your externals have any other ports than eSATA? Even USB? New MBPs have Thunderbolt and there will most likely be TB to eSATA adapters but there are none yet. Thus, you could get the base 15" MBP and save nearly 1000$ and use the externals via USB while waiting for an adapter.

 

[Tadros]

When I record bands, I usually sit praying that the session doesn't crash from how intense Protools and Logic have become... at least for my MBP. I've had recordings crash even with larger buffer sizes.

Video editing, I do that in iMove which sucks terriblely but I can't afford anything better, we do voiceover work for video game previews, video reviews, etc and my Mac really grinds away to try and keep up with recording the audio AND watching the video. I can't even use Protools for the audio recording so I end up using garageband. It works but it's not ideal, and same deal - it crashes.

And I just realized I put the title as "adviSe" and not "adviCe" - I'm a genius.

 

[Tadros]

So I'll definitely tell the difference between computers? My programs will run better? I can probably use my old MBP to watch videos and the new one to record audio... that'd be nice.

My externals vary. My personal externals are running on both USB and eSATA and I mostly use USB for that. The hard drives I use for my studio are also USB and eSATA but I record sessions directly onto the external hard disk, and USB just can't keep up.

 

[eaf7s]

When I record bands, I usually sit praying that the session doesn't crash from how intense Protools and Logic have become... at least for my MBP. I've had recordings crash even with larger buffer sizes.

Video editing, I do that in iMove which sucks terriblely but I can't afford anything better, we do voiceover work for video game previews, video reviews, etc and my Mac really grinds away to try and keep up with recording the audio AND watching the video. I can't even use Protools for the audio recording so I end up using garageband. It works but it's not ideal, and same deal - it crashes.

And I just realized I put the title as "adviSe" and not "adviCe" - I'm a genius.

You won't have a problem with the new one. Stick 8gb of RAM and at least a 7200rpm HDD if not a SSD in there.

I was running Logic on an '07 and I just got the new one and it's like night and day. I could run Logic and have a skype video call and run heavy analysis in SPSS all at once if I were so inclined lol. And there will be adapters for Thunderbolt before too long so I wouldn't worry about the 17". If you're gonna be lugging it all over campus I would actually advise very much against that.

 

[ddehr026]

If I were you, I probably wouldn't buy a new one at this point. congrats on saving up the money, don't blow it on something like that. You have a mbp now that does the job (slowly, albeit) but still does the job. I would save the money for school and try to not take out more loans than you need. You are not guaranteed a job right out of school, especially undergrad, and you may need money to live on and look for a job. Granted it is a long ways away, but nevertheless.

 

[Hellhammer]

So I'll definitely tell the difference between computers? My programs will run better? I can probably use my old MBP to watch videos and the new one to record audio... that'd be nice.

Since money is an issue, why don't you sell your current MBP? No need to keep two, especially if you don't have a lot use for the old one. New MBPs are lightyears ahead of yours, it should be able to record audio and watch videos simultaneously.

My externals vary. My personal externals are running on both USB and eSATA and I mostly use USB for that. The hard drives I use for my studio are also USB and eSATA but I record sessions directly onto the external hard disk, and USB just can't keep up.

Have you tried USB? It just sounds like waste of money to spend nearly 1000$ more to get the ExpressCard slot. You could consider SpyderHUB which converts eSATA to FireWire 800 and FW800 should be sufficient for your recordings (over twice as fast as USB).

 

[Tadros]

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I had used USB hard drives for a few year and it got to the point where my software would give error messages that the disc couldn't keep up. I haven't seen that error message since switching to eSATA.

I would love to use a FireWire 800 drive, but my audio interface connects to my computer through FireWire 400, since the new macbook pros don't have FireWire 400 I'll have to get a 400 to 800 convertor.

 

[Tadros]

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I can see what you mean about no guarantee in a job, but I'm going to have to take loans out no matter what when I head to a university. There's no way I'll be able to afford $10,000 a year. $20,000 is a lot of money, but even if I worked at mcdonalds for a year - I'd make around $20,000. So the job thing isn't an issue for me. I understand the economy sucks, and getting a job straight out of school is unlikely - that's why I'm trying to get my name out there using YouTube and blogs, but my videos are sucking and so time consuming with this old MBP.

 

[Tadros]

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I can see what you mean about no guarantee in a job, but I'm going to have to take loans out no matter what when I head to a university. There's no way I'll be able to afford $10,000 a year. $20,000 is a lot of money, but even if I worked at mcdonalds for a year - I'd make around $20,000. So the job thing isn't an issue for me. I understand the economy sucks, and getting a job straight out of school is unlikely - that's why I'm trying to get my name out there using YouTube and blogs, but my videos are sucking and so time consuming with this old MBP.

Reason why I said "$20,000" is cause I'll only have two years of school to get my BA after getting my AA from the community college.

 

[DustinT]

Get the 15" and new externals that work with it. Then, sell all your old hardware and you'll save a ton of money.

 

[Tadros]

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Bump

 

[HBOC]

Here is my take and "advice", if you want to call it that.

I came from a "Classic" early 08' MBP (not to much different than yours) to a new Quad 2.2 and it is night and day difference faster.

If you are going to be using this to further your career or to make a living (as you have stated), don't look at this as just another purchase. It could be viewed as an investment, but perhaps not to the extent that an education is, but who knows. Design people (whether that be photography, motion graphics, audio engineers, media, etc) would view this as a wise purchase as they depend on their computers to produce results, so to speak.

If you buy one, get the best that you can or are comfortable with. If you buy a new one, I would sell yours ASAP; meaning sell while it is working. I looked on eBay to see what these are going for and there is one with a bid at $500, which eBay might be a better bet as most people on CL are probably looking for newer ones. Atleast you can get an idea of what people are still buying these for.

 

[adnoh]

The new ones are much faster than the old ones. If you need s new laptop then buy one otherwise if money is tight then wait till you really can afford it.

 

[Tadros]

Ok, so I'm stuck getting the 17inch - which I don't mind cause if I were to get the 15inch it'd be the higher end one which is a couple hundred dollar difference. I have one question though, should I be getting the 2.2 ghz or 2.3? That's not much of a difference being that it's only .1 higher right? Or am I missing something here?

 

[Tadros]

Just an update. Purchased a new 17inch MBP for about $2800 including the 8gb ram upgrade i bought from OWC. It's a dream! I then sold my 2007 15 inch MBP for $800. So new MBP for $2000! IT'S AMAZING. I kind of feel weird for not going with the 2.3ghz but meh, this is doing its job perfectly so far. Thanks for the help guys!

 

[anonymouse99]

Just an update. Purchased a new 17inch MBP for about $2800 including the 8gb ram upgrade i bought from OWC. It's a dream! I then sold my 2007 15 inch MBP for $800. So new MBP for $2000! IT'S AMAZING. I kind of feel weird for not going with the 2.3ghz but meh, this is doing its job perfectly so far. Thanks for the help guys!

Since you're computer savvy, maybe you could work part time at your school's computing center and save money to cover this purchase. Good luck Enjoy your laptop.