Sidebar Sidebar
Become a MacRumors Supporter for $50/year with no ads, ability to filter front page stories, and private forums.

Old chips holding me back from getting 13" Macbook Pro

C

cosrocket

Suspended
Original poster
Jul 7, 2008
141
9
Am I crazy? I have a Dell 13" laptop and I'd like to replace it with a 13" Macbook Pro, but the fact that Apple still chooses to use the old chips is holding me back. I don't get why they are not using the new "i3 and i5 processors. Now to tell the truth I'm sure the processors would be fine for what I'm going to do with it, it's just a mental block that all the PC's I see are using the newer chips and Apple isn't.

Would this stop you from getting one or am I making a big deal out of nothing? Also, approximately when will the 13" Macbook Pro be updated, any guesses?
 
Apple chose killer graphics and battery life instead of better CPU. i3 would have been the only choice for Apple and they aren't much better than C2D because they lack Turbo. I wouldn't expect an update before late this year, possibly early next year.
 
They kept the C2D's because of 10 hour battery life. And because of legal patent issues with intel you HAVE to use the Intel HD graphics with a core iX chip. And it sucks. It's not an issue With the 15" and 17" because they also have a dedicated card.

Just buy it now. Its likely that you wont use the extra power of an i3 anyway if you're only wanting the 13".

And not all PCs are using core I's. Dell still use pentium dual core In many of their notebooks. Heck, I think they even use celeron single cores in some.
 
cosrocket said:
Am I crazy? I have a Dell 13" laptop and I'd like to replace it with a 13" Macbook Pro, but the fact that Apple still chooses to use the old chips is holding me back. I don't get why they are not using the new "i3 and i5 processors. Now to tell the truth I'm sure the processors would be fine for what I'm going to do with it, it's just a mental block that all the PC's I see are using the newer chips and Apple isn't.

Would this stop you from getting one or am I making a big deal out of nothing? Also, approximately when will the 13" Macbook Pro be updated, any guesses?
Click to expand...

While you're waiting for "the next big thing" the rest of us will be enjoying the current MBP.

13" MBP won't be updated until spring-summer 2011. Good luck with your wait.

JohnG
 
stefan1975 said:
the 320M?
Click to expand...

It's significantly faster than Intel IGP would have been. I said this in one thread but I'll repeat myself: You can pick two of the following; Graphics, processor and/or battery life.

If you choose GPU and battery, the CPU will suffer (C2D+320M in this case). If you choose CPU and GPU, the battery will suck (iX+discrete graphics). If you choose CPU and battery, the GPU will be a bottleneck (iX+IGP)
 
well there are a few 13" laptops that have an i5 and dedicated graphics, and claim to ahve decent battery ..... although most often it's a 310, which isn't much faster then the 320m.
 
I had the same problem as you and was heistant about getting the c2d so I made a thread about it. Lots of people convinced me that in most everyday tasks due to the i3 having a lower clock speed than the c2d means c2d > i3 in terms of speed when running day to day stuff.

Have a read through it - https://forums.macrumors.com/threads/972613/
 
It's funny to read threads like this.

We have an i7 15" MBP and I also just returned a Sony Z, (the spec whore it is/was) ... my 13" MBP keeps up with all of them for the tasks I do which includes light photo and video editing.

I should note my 13" MBP runs Windows7 BETTER than my 2010 Sony Z did :eek: but it doesn't score as high in the Windows stat's.

My point? Forget about chasing spec's, settle on a notebook you like.
 
stefan1975 said:
the 320M?
Click to expand...

I won't be using graphics on my laptop, but I'm very surprised at the performance. It totally kills the Radeon HD4650 I put in one of my computers last year - and that's a desktop card.

GPU-Z.jpg
 
Also the i3 Mobile Chips aren't really that much better. One of the claims about i5 is better battery management and the MBP easily has the best battery out there.
 
its a tough call thats for sure, but with 10 hours of battery life and the undoubtable reliability of the processor i would not put to much worry into it =D
 
You also have to account for the fact that OSX is just generally much snappier than windows. c2d isn't exactly a slouch and in all honesty unless you are doing some major number crunching the difference between c2d and i3 (no hyper threading or turbo boosting) will not be large. And if you are crunching numbers you should be getting something with a i5 or even i7 quad.

I've been using my girlfriend's 13" and performance speed is actually almost comparable to my old i7 quad with SSD and 8 gigs of ram laptop. (in daily use and minor editing)
 
One word: Trackpad

MBP's Multitouch Trackpad is the best notebook/laptop trackpad hands down.
 
The C2D held me back for a little while, but ultimately I gave in and have no regrets. The only CPU intensive things I really do is gaming and the 320m is amazing for being integrated. Seriously, doesn't feel like it. SCII runs awesome.

I mean would I even notice a difference if I was using an i3 right now? I don't think so.. not for my daily tasks. My SSD is a better investment than that. Not to mention the 320m would probably not be available for a 13" i3, but rather IntelHD graphics? eewwww
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Register on MacRumors! This sidebar will go away, and you'll see fewer ads.
Top Bottom
Back