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New MBP or Old MBP?

23027

23027

macrumors member
Original poster
May 10, 2007
58
0
White Rock, South Surrey, Canada
Hey guys I was wondering..

I have the option to buy the last generation high end Macbook Pro (2.33ghz 15inch) for 2100 CAD, or the new MBP Generation low end model (2.2ghz, 15inch) for 2100 Cad as well.. The only real difference between them is the video card.. I know the newer model's is better, but will it run games (mainly Half-Life 2 series.. Source games) smoother than the x1600's? I only ask this because the low end model new MBP has 128mb v-ram, and the older one has 256mb v-ram.

I also like the LED screen on the newer one.. Better battery life and is good for the environment =]

Without that in consideration though, which one would be better for gaming? Or are they equal?
 
i would absolutely get the new one, the led screen alone should be enough, but the better battery like and faster SR chipset seals the deal
 
Are you going to be running the games under bootcamp?

Apparently the nvidia card's turbocache feature is pretty good so even the 128mb version performs pretty well.
 
rickvanr said:
Compare that with this.
Click to expand...

I tried but I can't because it doesen't have the 15" 2.33 to comapare to on the web site you showed me or the other one. I would use the 17" in place of the 15" 2.33 one but the 15" 2.33 model's gpu's are underclocked so it's inacurrate to use the 17" to compare to. I'm looking to compare:

15" 2.33ghz/x1600 256mb

to the

15" 2.2ghz/8600M GT 128mb.
 
The New One Is True 64-bit Motherboard Allowing Full 4GB RAM Total

23027 said:
Hey guys I was wondering..

I have the option to buy the last generation high end Macbook Pro (2.33ghz 15inch) for 2100 CAD, or the new MBP Generation low end model (2.2ghz, 15inch) for 2100 Cad as well.. The only real difference between them is the video card.. I know the newer model's is better, but will it run games (mainly Half-Life 2 series.. Source games) smoother than the x1600's? I only ask this because the low end model new MBP has 128mb v-ram, and the older one has 256mb v-ram.

I also like the LED screen on the newer one.. Better battery life and is good for the environment =]

Without that in consideration though, which one would be better for gaming? Or are they equal?
Click to expand...
They are not equal at all. The new one lets you put in TWO 2GB sticks for a total of 4GB for only about $200 extra. Moreover, the new one is a TRUE 64-bit motherboard which will reap you benefits once Leopard is on board.
 
Ok well I guess that pretty well seals the deal.. I know that the NVidia GPU's are better than the old ATI ones, and having the LED screens added with up to 4 gigs of ram makes me feel pretty confident about occasional Source gaming.

Thanks =D
 
Ok well I started thinking again.. And no one really answered my question..

What is the comparison to playing Half-Life 2 or Day of Defeat: Source/Counter-Strike Source between the two laptopts, in terms of frames per second?

15" 2.33ghz/x1600 256mb

to the

15" 2.2ghz/8600M GT 128mb
 
i think using the two barefeats links to compare the 17" 2.33 ghz c2d and the 15" 2.2 ghz sr c2d laptops is a good comparison. it won't be far off from the results you're looking for, and it does look as though the 8600m beats the x1600 (despite the difference in vram). my vote is to go for the 2.2 ghz sr c2d. it has a better video card, has an led backlit display, and it's newer. i don't think there's anything the 2.33 ghz could offer that would shame the 2.2 ghz model. good luck.
 
siurpeeman said:
i think using the two barefeats links to compare the 17" 2.33 ghz c2d and the 15" 2.2 ghz sr c2d laptops is a good comparison. it won't be far off from the results you're looking for, and it does look as though the 8600m beats the x1600 (despite the difference in vram). my vote is to go for the 2.2 ghz sr c2d. it has a better video card, has an led backlit display, and it's newer. i don't think there's anything the 2.33 ghz could offer that would shame the 2.2 ghz model. good luck.
Click to expand...

Point taken. Danke!
 
Ok I read something that was talking about v-ram and how it can effect your game play's fps count by the textures.. I never really thought about that before, but i'm thinking having the x1600 with 256mb would be smoother than the 8600M GT with 128mb for Half-Life (Source) games, because of the amounts of textures and stuff..

Would anyone care to elaborate this? Personal experience would be great..
 
Well, if it were me I would go with the SR MBP. The question that reaches my mind is do you NEED the computer next week? If I had the money I would wait a month or so, with all the screen and overheating problems with these beauties you may see a few in the refurbished pile to pick from. Just keep your eyes open.
 
Speaking of 64 bit stuff, will I still be able to do 64 bit computing with my C2D 2.33 when leopard comes along?
 
Sir Hobos said:
Well, if it were me I would go with the SR MBP. The question that reaches my mind is do you NEED the computer next week? If I had the money I would wait a month or so, with all the screen and overheating problems with these beauties you may see a few in the refurbished pile to pick from. Just keep your eyes open.
Click to expand...

how soon do you think these will be in the refurb store and how much will they go for?
 
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