Old 2.66 vs New 2.66

[daneoni]

My classic is getting it's 4th repair (dead pixeled display) and I'm starting to have those 'sell it and be rid of...' thoughts. Even though i dislike the unibody design. I can get the old 2.66 MBP and the new 2.66 for the same price.

The question then becomes which is better/technically provides the better resale value. The new one has the new display/batt but also loses expresscard and 3mb L2 cache whilst the old has double the L2 cache, express card slot and removable battery

In terms of my usage both will suit me fine so that's a non issue.

Which would you pick

 

[Hellhammer]

New one, if the price is same. Newer machines have always higher resale value and its RAM is expandable to 8GB.

 

[fokket]

My classic is getting it's 4th repair (dead pixeled display) and I'm starting to have those 'sell it and be rid of...' thoughts. Even though i dislike the unibody design. I can get the old 2.66 MBP and the new 2.66 for the same price.

The question then becomes which is better/technically provides the better resale value. The new one has the new display/batt but also loses expresscard and 3mb L2 cache whilst the old has double the L2 cache, express card slot and removable battery

In terms of my usage both will suit me fine so that's a non issue.

Which would you pick

If resale value wasn't the issue, I'd have gone for older 2.66, remember, it also has 512MB VRAM

 

[daneoni]

If resale value wasn't the issue, I'd have gone for older 2.66, remember, it also has 512MB VRAM

True say...I actually forgot about that. Looks like majority are saying new one

 

[guerrillamac]

Old matte ftw

Regarding usability, the glossy screen is often difficult to view. Thus I'd go with the older version with a matte screen.

Regarding resale, the newer one will remain valuable longer.

 

[the2j]

Both are sweet machines, but the old model has an express card, 512 vram, expandable to 8gig of ram, removable battery, and 6mb L2 cache.

 

[cube]

The terrible update made me future-proof by buying a new prev gen 2.66 15" MBP

 

[daneoni]

Both are sweet machines, but the old model has an express card, 512 vram, expandable to 8gig of ram, removable battery, and 6mb L2 cache.

The terrible update made me future-proof by buying a new prev gen 2.66 15" MBP

If i may ask which LCD panel do you two have. 9C84 or 9C85 and what do you think of it

 

[cube]

If i may ask which LCD panel do you two have. 9C84 or 9C85 and what do you think of it

The shops were out of all prev gen. I only ordered it online today.

 

[eXan]

Regarding usability, the glossy screen is often difficult to view. Thus I'd go with the older version with a matte screen.

Regarding resale, the newer one will remain valuable longer.

umm... both are unibodies, so no matte.

 

[daneoni]

The shops were out of all prev gen. I only ordered it online today.

Ah...of course

umm... both are unibodies, so no matte.

Yeah i wasn't sure either i think he means i should keep my Classic

On another note another caveat of the new models:1.5Gbit/s SATA bus speed as opposed to 3.0Gbit/s in the previous model. Translation: High-end SSDs will be 'held back'

 

[geoffreak]

I'm going to hold on to my MBP (early 2008) for awhile longer. It still is working great for me (knocks on wood) and has only needed a replacement battery so far (covered by AppleCare). I'm hoping that Apple will cave and put matte on the 15" like the 17" on the next generation of MBP, otherwise I may just hold off until later.

 

[michael.lauden]

Both are sweet machines, but the old model has an express card, 512 vram, expandable to 8gig of ram, removable battery, and 6mb L2 cache.

IMO the only cool thing about the express card is the add on where you can use multiple external monitors. but if card readers are really that important to you, you can get one that most likely will support more types

 

[daneoni]

I'm going to hold on to my MBP (early 2008) for awhile longer. It still is working great for me (knocks on wood) and has only needed a replacement battery so far (covered by AppleCare). I'm hoping that Apple will cave and put matte on the 15" like the 17" on the next generation of MBP, otherwise I may just hold off until later.

i'd like to do the same but i've had to have 5 parts replaced and i just got my replacement display back and it sucks. Its an LG 9C81 whose colours are very washed out and it looks like a CCFL screen from 2003. The previous Samsung was a much better screen

I've already booked another appt to complain. This will probably be the 6th part replacement in less than 6 months. Unacceptable. I bought the machine to use it not visit the Genius bar

 

[the2j]

If i may ask which LCD panel do you two have. 9C84 or 9C85 and what do you think of it

I have the 9c85 and I feel much better about it than I did with my 2.53 15" with the 9c84. Boy I am glad my other computer died and the upgraded me.

 

[the2j]

IMO the only cool thing about the express card is the add on where you can use multiple external monitors. but if card readers are really that important to you, you can get one that most likely will support more types

I use my express card slot for a sd reader and esata card (awesome !)

 

[daneoni]

The expresscard slot seems to be more versatile compared to an SD slot which only does one thing...accept SDHC/SD Cards

 

[MilesParker]

As I mentioned on another thread, I just made this decision as I bought (knowingly) the last rev 2.66 two days before WWDC. I could have returned for the new one (though I might have had to pay a restocking fee) or kept the "old" one, both for a $500+ credit.

In my eye's the extra 6MB cache and extra 256MB Video Ram far outweighs the new battery and improved screen so I stuck with the "old" one. Those can make a much bigger difference for certain tasks than raw processor speed. I don't care at all about the card slots.

So I'd say it comes down to performance v. features. If you don't care about the new features I can't see why you wouldn't go for the end-of-life 2.66.

Why worry about resale value, btw? My first gen Intel I just ran into the ground a few months ago. I just can't see selling a laptop in the three years that it would actually be worth anything. Its not like these things are investments.

 

[buckeye17]

I'm not sure but I think the old 2.66 Ghz, being the T9550 chip, uses more power and generates more heat than the newer 2.66, the P8800.

 

[daneoni]

on paper yes...but very negligible. Apple is only using the P series cheap because they're cheaper not better. The T series cheap is still a superior processor

 

[andrew upstairs]

I'd rather have the express card slot and the new battery.

 

[PinkyMacGodess]

With the old one you are already paying the depreciated price but since the new one is at the same cost it adds confusion to the decision. I'd say get the old one though because it may appreciate in value, especially if there are issues with the new ones plus the old one is slightly more flexible having the express card slot and all...

BUT are the bus speeds the same?

On the SD card slot. My experience has been mixed and I've had some diasterous results from them. I had an HP notebook that actually cooked several SD cards. They would get so hot they literally melted. I gave that up pretty quick. Having an SD slot is a 'real estate filler'. They could have put more USB ports in the damn things and made me very happy rather than an SD slot...

 

[PinkyMacGodess]

Why worry about resale value, btw? My first gen Intel I just ran into the ground a few months ago. I just can't see selling a laptop in the three years that it would actually be worth anything. Its not like these things are investments.

Yes exactly. I've acquired quite a few notebooks over the years. Usually when I get done with them they aren't any good except as toys for the early elementary school age nephews. One is running around with my Palm 505. He thinks it's a Star Trek communicator or something... I don't have a charger for it anymore and he loves the thing. Thinks I'm his bestest relative EVER...

 

[eXan]

Why worry about resale value, btw? My first gen Intel I just ran into the ground a few months ago. I just can't see selling a laptop in the three years that it would actually be worth anything. Its not like these things are investments.

Macs depreciate slower than PCs. When I'm done with my Macs I sell them and for a pretty good price. For example I've sold my 17" iMac G5 from 2005 (bought it for 1950$) just a few months ago for ~400$ - thats for a 4-year-old PPC machine in the Intel era.

Also, I've been scouting around for how much old MacBooks sell for and found out I can easily sell my late 2006 MacBook Core 2 Duo for ~950-1000$ (bought it for ~1900$). This is a 2.5-year-old laptop.

If that isn't worth anything, I wonder what is?

 

[daneoni]

With the old one you are already paying the depreciated price but since the new one is at the same cost it adds confusion to the decision. I'd say get the old one though because it may appreciate in value, especially if there are issues with the new ones plus the old one is slightly more flexible having the express card slot and all...

BUT are the bus speeds the same?

On the SD card slot. My experience has been mixed and I've had some diasterous results from them. I had an HP notebook that actually cooked several SD cards. They would get so hot they literally melted. I gave that up pretty quick. Having an SD slot is a 'real estate filler'. They could have put more USB ports in the damn things and made me very happy rather than an SD slot...

SATA bus speeds differ (old one has 3.0Gb as opposed to the 1.5) but FSB speeds are the same