New MacBook or refurbed MacBook Pro?

[ghall]

Hey I'm still alive!

Well I'm in the market for a new laptop. My current machine is starting to show its age (4 years of heavy use). I'm looking to spend as little as possible, so I'm looking at either a new MacBook or a refurbished 13" MacBook Pro. I do like to game occasionally, and I use Adobe CS4 for work.

My main concern is durability and portability, I basically carry my laptop wherever I go. Hard disk space isn't an issue since I have a spare 500GB drive that I'll just throw in. I do see that the Pro has a slightly faster CPU though.

Anyway, just looking for some opinions.

 

[feeth]

Mbp at microcenter for $999 if you haver one close. Frys on occasion too.

Hey I'm still alive!

Well I'm in the market for a new laptop. My current machine is starting to show its age (4 years of heavy use). I'm looking to spend as little as possible, so I'm looking at either a new MacBook or a refurbished 13" MacBook Pro. I do like to game occasionally, and I use Adobe CS4 for work.

My main concern is durability and portability, I basically carry my laptop wherever I go. Hard disk space isn't an issue since I have a spare 500GB drive that I'll just throw in. I do see that the Pro has a slightly faster CPU though.

Anyway, just looking for some opinions.

 

[Hellhammer]

What refurb MBP are you looking at? If it's older gen, it has worse GPU and battery. Get at least 4GB RAM so IMO, just get the new 13" MBP

 

[ghall]

What refurb MBP are you looking at? If it's older gen, it has worse GPU and battery. Get at least 4GB RAM so IMO, just get the new 13" MBP

I believe its a previous gen model. It has the GeForce 9400M. How does that compare to the 320M in the MacBook?

Though I would love a brand new MacBook Pro, I really cant afford anything more than $1000.

 

[wordoflife]

The 320M is twice as powerful (I believe) as the 9400GT.
Go with a new Macbook, you'll like it. Better battery life, more hard drive space (opposed to the 2.26ghz MBP), much better graphics. You aren't getting any more ram anyways by opting for the 2.26ghz MBP.

Get the Macbook.

 

[ghall]

The 320M is twice as powerful (I believe) as the 9400GT.
Go with a new Macbook, you'll like it. Better battery life, more hard drive space (opposed to the 2.26ghz MBP), much better graphics. You aren't getting any more ram anyways by opting for the 2.26ghz MBP.

Get the Macbook.

How's the durability? I will be taking this back and forth to work 3 to 5 days a week. I plan on buying a case but I'd still like to know how durable the thing is.

 

[Hellhammer]

I believe its a previous gen model. It has the GeForce 9400M. How does that compare to the 320M in the MacBook?

Though I would love a brand new MacBook Pro, I really cant afford anything more than $1000.

Current gen refurb is only 1019$, that shouldn't be too much? The 4GB of RAM is already worth the extra as it costs 100$.

 

[wordoflife]

How's the durability? I will be taking this back and forth to work 3 to 5 days a week. I plan on buying a case but I'd still like to know how durable the thing is.

They're just fine with durability. It's not going to fall apart if that is what you were thinking. Naturally, it can crack if you drop it, drop something on it, apply a lot of pressure, etc. Personally, I wouldn't buy a case. I thought it would be a good idea for phones, but until I found out they have them for laptops too ... yuck. Only a matter of time before earbuds and TV's come in cases too.

 

[ghall]

They're just fine with durability. It's not going to fall apart if that is what you were thinking. Naturally, it can crack if you drop it, drop something on it, apply a lot of pressure, etc. Personally, I wouldn't buy a case. I thought it would be a good idea for phones, but until I found out they have them for laptops too ... yuck. Only a matter of time before earbuds and TV's come in cases too.

LOL I actually carry my earbuds in a case. I'll probably get a case just for piece of mind (even though I bought one for my current MacBook Pro and it still looks like its been through hell and back)