old macbook pro 17?

[nicorojas]

So, I need some help making a decision. I need to replace my loyal powerbook 15 that has been with me the last 4 years, because it can't cope with the load imposed on him by multitracking recordings in cubase with some plugins (as soons as I put reverb and compression on the tracks, it begins to suffer).

I'm being offered the last of the silver macbook pros 17", 2,6 GHz, 4 Gb RAM, 200 HDD 7200 rpm, nVidia 8600 512 Mb. It is exactly one year old (the guy has the invoice) at $1.200.000 Chilean pesos (USD$2.180 aprox.).

I love the keyboard in those macbooks as it is the same as in my powerbook. I have a MacBook Air so I tried the chiclet keyboard, but although I'm getting used to it, I still prefer the old one.

The new MacBook 17 in Chile is $1.800.000 (USD$3.250 aprox, including taxes). For the price of the old 17 I'm being offered, I could get the base MacBook Pro 15" with nVidia 9400.

Is the nVidia 8600 so bad?
What do you think?

 

[Hellhammer]

Yes, 8600M GT is very bad. I would avoid it like plague. nVidia admitted that all 8600M GT GPUs are defective so sooner than later it'll die. Apple made the warranty of 8600M GT models longer though due the failure rates (it's 3 years now without AppleCare), but I would still avoid it.

 

[techound1]

If you really, really need the larger screen, grab a cheap(er than apple) dell and use it as a second monitor, rather than hassle with a high probability of a warranty repair on video card on the 17" er.