Penryn MBP: Video/graphics production (L2 cache, VRAM, etc)

[applepeel]

Hi, all. First time poster (longtime lurker).

After happy experiences with both an iBook and a MacBook, I'm ready to embrace the MacBook Pro. I'll be purchasing either the "base" (2.4GHz) or "middle" (2.5GHz/2.6GHz) 15-inch model depending on the advice I receive here.

Basically, I'm hoping for some insight (speculative or certain!) into the performance of said models as relates to video editing/production and basic graphics work. I'm especially curious about whether the amount of L2 cache (3MB vs 6MB) has any significant effect on encoding/rendering times (if I understand correctly, encoding/rendering is mainly reliant on CPU performance -- and L2 cache is a feature of the CPU?). Also, if I'm doing simple graphics work (not 3D) in Motion or After Effects, will there be any appreciable difference in performance between 256MB and 512MB VRAM? I've read elsewhere that the extra VRAM is more or less negligible because the NVIDIA GeForce 8600M GT can't fully address it -- is this true?

Thank you!

 

[cherry su]

L2 cache is important to cpu performance since the cpu doesn't have to get stuff from the RAM all the time.

VRAM is good for display spanning expecially if you're running a 30" ACD.

All in all, the high end MBP is a better value since the lower model's performance can be matched by a refurbished (cheaper!) last gen MBP

 

[rmarinheira]

Not even the 2.4 refurb would match the 2.4 penryn !

So, all in all it's a lot of money to pay for marginal increase of performance!

The VRAM increase is minimal, so would be the L2 cache!

If you wouldn't care about money, you can even go for the 2.6!

If you want a smart choice, the low-end would be the one, since even the low-end MBP have enough performance! Even with the "old" one it was like this!

Ok, you'll notice something if you have a 2.5 side by side with 2.4, but... does it worth the extra money?