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New MB 2.0 vs 2.4, which one would you choose?

T

tehprince

macrumors newbie
Original poster
Jul 22, 2008
13
0
Once BestBuy gets the MB in stock I plan on purchasing either the 2.0 or 2.4 model. Basically I'm looking for opinions on which one to choose.

I'm going to be using this for work and personal use, at work I will mostly be running Bootcamp with XP or Vista, using Photoshop and Visual Studio 2008. I do web design work and some .NET programming. I never really have to edit a PSD file larger than a meg. For personal use it'll be web browsing, email and some light web design work.

Is it the worth the extra money to get the 2.4 compared to the 2.0? I don't really care about the keyboard back lighting. I guess I'm wondering if the performance gains are worth the $600 price difference.

Any help would be most appreciated.

Thanks
 
Not sure about the image editing requirements, but for personal uses like web browsing, email, watching movies and games, the 2.0 should be more than enough to suffice.

I'm curious about this too. Someone with a good graphics knowledge should shed some light on this matter.
 
400Mhz isn't enough of a difference to justify the price jump which is why they added the bigger hard drive and keyboard backlighting.

Personally, it's not worth it unless you have money to blow.
 
They are identical except for processor speed, keyboard backlighting, and RAM/Hard drive, correct?
 
rugox said:
Not sure about the image editing requirements, but for personal uses like web browsing, email, watching movies and games, the 2.0 should be more than enough to suffice.

I'm curious about this too. Someone with a good graphics knowledge should shed some light on this matter.
Click to expand...

My Photoshop usage would probably be considered fairly light. It's just for website design, no print. I don't really deal with graphics larger than 1024 x 768 resolution, almost always under 1mg in size, actually mostly 300k and below.

I don't do any video editing either and if I do it would be extremely light.

I'm thinking it would be money better spent to max out the RAM if I'm not going to see that big of a difference with the 400mhz increase.
 
akm3 said:
They are identical except for processor speed, keyboard backlighting, and RAM/Hard drive, correct?
Click to expand...

Yes the only differences are the keyboard, HDD, and the extra 400 MHz. The memory is the same in both.
 
I work with Fireworks all day long and don't think you'll see much performance difference between the two. In fact, up until yesterday I was running my entire business from my MB air. It was a little slow, but work well enough.
 
Jelite said:
What spec machine are you using now?
Click to expand...

ThinkPad T60 (2ghz) provided by my work. Only thing changed from original specs is the RAM is upgraded to 2GB.

Lots of people in my office purchase Macs for personal use and bring them into work and use as their work machine. It's nice that my company allows it and doesn't force you to use their hardware.
 
So if that machine is sufficient for all your needs then no need for the extra horsepower right? Unless you want to pony up for the pretty glowing keys.:D
 
I was in the same seat, im going with what my brother told me. "If you are not sure, take the cheapest one". He is right though, i'll most likely lose more money when I sell the 2.4 Ghz one, so buying the cheaper will allow me to switch sooner :)
 
I would recommend you the 2.0ghz. This one over here performs well, but if you wish to use those programs specified, I guess you can max out the RAM. That may be better than 2.4, cause it's not much of a difference.
 
My needs weren't much different then the OP's, other then some light video editing (newb), Garage Band, drawing, and the occassional game of WoW. I bought the 1299 model -- mostly for budget reasons -- and it seems like it will handle anything I throw at it just fine.
 
I do a fair bit of both print and web design, and I'm planning on grabbing the lower end MB. I figure if my old blackbook could handle most of what I threw at it, the new one will be just fine...
 
I really don't think the extra 400 mhz will make much of a difference. The hard drive space might be useful to certain people. The backlight, although not really necessary..is just freakin cool. I would of gotten the 2.4ghz model just for that if I had the money to spare. Had to get the 2.0ghz model though because I was already was spending too much for my own good. :p
 
My main decision factor has to do with using VMware Fusion. I am trying to discern if the small bump in processor speed will be noticeable. I think it makes more sense to save the money and get more RAM. The backlit keyboard is unnecessary as the light from the screen in more than enough to see the keyboard in the dark. Plus probably saves some on battery.

How do you think this macbook will compare to my MacBook Pro which is 2 gens old (2.2ghz model from late '07). My understanding is the penryn chips in the macbook and newer platform should show advantages over the MBP I currently have. Thoughts?
 
I think the 2.4 is underrated. If you study the benchmarks there's no denying that the performance leap between them is significant. Like dinaluvsApple said, sure it's only 0.4GHz but that's a lot when talking about multiple cores. But it's not like you're gonna have trouble running fairly heavy programs on the 2.0 anyway.

That's the thing I miss the most from PC; the joy of overclocking :3
 
I think it all comes down to how much money you have. I would say that it is not worth getting the 2.4ghz model if it is going to put you in a bind. If cash isn't a problem...get the 2.4ghz then.
 
dhy8386 said:
My main decision factor has to do with using VMware Fusion. I am trying to discern if the small bump in processor speed will be noticeable. I think it makes more sense to save the money and get more RAM. The backlit keyboard is unnecessary as the light from the screen in more than enough to see the keyboard in the dark. Plus probably saves some on battery.

How do you think this macbook will compare to my MacBook Pro which is 2 gens old (2.2ghz model from late '07). My understanding is the penryn chips in the macbook and newer platform should show advantages over the MBP I currently have. Thoughts?
Click to expand...

Is memory the bottleneck when it comes to Fusion as opposed to raw processor speed? The 2.0Ghz is what is within my budget right now, but I want to make sure I'll be happy with this machine for several years. I was going to start with 2GB RAM and then probably upgrade next year when the 1066Mhz chips and the SSD drives are much cheaper.
 
Ryffie said:
I think the 2.4 is underrated. If you study the benchmarks there's no denying that the performance leap between them is significant. Like dinaluvsApple said, sure it's only 0.4GHz but that's a lot when talking about multiple cores. But it's not like you're gonna have trouble running fairly heavy programs on the 2.0 anyway.

That's the thing I miss the most from PC; the joy of overclocking :3
Click to expand...

Indeed the benchmarks show a big difference between the two models and that makes me doubt... 2.0 GHz or 2.4 GHz

Choices, choices, choices.

Maybe the upcoming Snow Leopard could be a reason to go with the 2.4 GHz?
 
I went for the 2.4 anyway even though the price difference may not be worth the difference in the HDD, backlit keys, and the .4 speed boost.

I was waiting for the new release and had been looking to get the black book before then. So it was $100 more than I had planned to spend.
 
Well, I want a machine that is able to last for years. Currently I am in college and am 20 years old (International student + part time job to get some $$ for expenses) and want my new machine to last me through college and into at least 1 or 2 years of work. Also, the beauty of multicores and Snow Leopard on the horizon has made me choose the 2.4GHz model (which I should be getting by months end).

Talking about a Core 2 Duo processor means the difference between the 2.4GHz and the 2.0GHz is actually 800MHz (think about it as 2 processors, then the difference is actually 400MHz x 2 processors). 800MHz is quite alot of crunching power. Also I think about Snow Leo and its praises in multicore support which in theory should make OS X much *much* faster when you consider multiple cores and that extra 800MHz.

Now previous reasons aside, my other reasons for that 2.4GHz goodness is the Backlit keyboard which I crave (my current HP dv1660se is hell to work with at night.). Also the fact of having a bigger HDD draws my attention even more (320GB 5400rpm FTW!!).

Price wise, well, I got the cash for the 2.0GHz right now. Luckily my mom has approved of a loan for $500. (Yes, mom and dad expect me to buy my own stuff, and be *very* independent now.)

Its going to be my Christmas & Birthday gift all at the same time. Well, those are more reason to choose the 2.4GHz model.
 
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