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processor speeds, which should i go with?

N

NewEyesOpen

macrumors regular
Original poster
Mar 9, 2009
158
0
West Virginia
i'm between the 2.66 and the 2.8 ghz processors on the 15" macbook pro.

i'm going to be doing school work and music recording on the computer as well as having all my music, podcasts, and surfing the net, email etc.

i'll be upgrading the harddrive myself to a 500 GB 7200 rpm HDD and will be leaving the RAM at 4g because i can't afford to shell out 900$ to max out the ram.
 
I seriously doubt you will notice much difference, if any, between the processor speeds. The new HD and the 4 GB or RAM will serve you well.

Woof, Woof - Dawg
pawprint.gif
 
MacDawg said:
I seriously doubt you will notice much difference, if any, between the processor speeds. The new HD and the 4 GB or RAM will serve you well.

Woof, Woof - Dawg
pawprint.gif
Click to expand...

I've heard that argument as well as the opposite. Do you think the 2.66 will do me well? My thing is that I know what size HD and RAM i want, I just want to settle on a processor speed. It helps me narrow down how much money I need to start saving a month to reach that amount. I probably won't be buying it until the end of the year, hopefully things stay somewhat the same with the MBP's between now and then.
 
For the things you are doing, the 2.66 will be more than enough to handle it
I usually prefer to buy as much computer as I can afford... so if you can afford it, go for the higher processor
But if money is an issue, then don't let that stop you from buying

But honestly, you won't have them side by side comparing
The 2.66 will do everything you want to do

I seriously doubt you will ever say to yourself "I sure wish I had bought that faster processor, it would have made such a difference on this project".

Woof, Woof - Dawg
pawprint.gif
 
im going to disagree with you here macdawg:eek:. its only $250 for the faster CPU and twice the VRAM AND twice the L2 cache. to me its a good deal and is definitely worth it. but of course if you dont have the extra $250 then get the 2.66.
 

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ViciousShadow21 said:
im going to disagree with you here macdawg:eek:. its only $250 for the faster CPU and twice the VRAM AND twice the L2 cache. to me its a good deal and is definitely worth it. but of course if you dont have the extra $250 then get the 2.66.
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As I said... I am always a fan of buying the most computer ;)
And I agree, it is a good deal

But for the things the OP stated he will be doing, I don't think it is going to be a monumental difference

I would invest the $250 on an external drive for Time Machine :)

Woof, Woof - Dawg
pawprint.gif
 
MacDawg said:
As I said... I am always a fan of buying the most computer ;)
And I agree, it is a good deal

But for the things the OP stated he will be doing, I don't think it is going to be a monumental difference

I would invest the $250 on an external drive for Time Machine :)

Woof, Woof - Dawg
pawprint.gif
Click to expand...

true true, well i guess we'll see what the OP decides.

the suspense is killing me!!:p
 
Thanks so much for really getting into this and helping me, guys. I still can't decide. It's gonna be really difficult to swing the $1,849 for the 2.66ghz with my student discount. But, the $2,099 is do able, but might take a couple months extra.

Can either of you guys try and sway me one way or another? I really hate to be an average forumite and take on the role of "tell me what to do" but I really need the help here making the decision, even if it's the decision that is right for only me and is up to me in the end.
 
Honestly... I am a firm believer in a backup strategy

The Forum is littered with threads where folks shelled out $2,000 on a computer but didn't back up their data and lost their kids baby pictures, their music collection, their work project... or in your case, your one of a kind recorded music. If you don't have a backup plan in place, I would definitely consider using the difference in the two machines for a 1 TB WD Firewire 800 MyBook for a Time Machine Backup and a clone of your system.

But that's just me

Woof, Woof - Dawg
pawprint.gif
 
NewEyesOpen said:
Can either of you guys try and sway me one way or another? I really hate to be an average forumite and take on the role of "tell me what to do" but I really need the help here making the decision, even if it's the decision that is right for only me and is up to me in the end.
Click to expand...

well i think that it comes down to what kind of person you are. like me when i bought my macpro i knew that i probably didnt NEED a lot of what i was putting in there but i found some good deals on HDD and RAM so i did it because a. i could afford it and b. i didnt want to let that deal pass me by.

on a more technical aspect are you planning on getting a large external monitor? if so the 512 card will handle that better than the 256. the cache is good for cpu intensive processes. so if you are going to be rendering or encoding its a good idea to upgrade to 6MB.

im sure that like macdawg said the 2.66 will be able to do everything that you want it to but for me $250 is a steal for those upgrades and personally i could not let that go.
 
ViciousShadow21 said:
well i think that it comes down to what kind of person you are. like me when i bought my macpro i knew that i probably didnt NEED a lot of what i was putting in there but i found some good deals on HDD and RAM so i did it because a. i could afford it and b. i didnt want to let that deal pass me by.

on a more technical aspect are you planning on getting a large external monitor? if so the 512 card will handle that better than the 256. the cache is good for cpu intensive processes. so if you are going to be rendering or encoding its a good idea to upgrade to 6MB.

im sure that like macdawg said the 2.66 will be able to do everything that you want it to but for me $250 is a steal for those upgrades and personally i could not let that go.
Click to expand...

I won't be getting a monitor. I want, in a couple of years, to get a decent MacPro set up with a 24 or 30" monitor to do more recording on, after I get my feet wet with this system.

for 250$, that is a good deal on the upgrades, but I do want to get some sort of a back up for my information in case something is to happen to it.
 
MacDawg said:
Now you've gone and done it! :)
You have changed the rules!

Adding an external monitor was not a part of the original equation or the OP's stated usage

I really think the OP can't go wrong either way

Just back up your data!!

Woof, Woof - Dawg
pawprint.gif
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It is definitely something I want to do. I've always planned to buy an external hard drive and I'm just now doing my research on Time Machine and what it entails.
 
haha sorry macdawg it just dawned on me cause i was writing about it in another thread.

as for backing up you data, he's right, DO IT!! time machine has saved me on multiple occasions. but for me you can find a 1TB drive pretty cheap. dont buy the one from apple they are ridiculously over priced!!
 
MacDawg said:
Ha, Ha... but on this one, I recommend the Firewire! :)

Woof, Woof - Dawg
pawprint.gif
Click to expand...

i've always heard that FW is better for timemachine but i cant figure out why that is? maybe you could enlighten me. i mean i have been told that by many ppl but never given a good reason why haha.

personally i think FW is more stable but i've never had a problem with USB drives.
 
ViciousShadow21 said:
i've always heard that FW is better for timemachine but i cant figure out why that is? maybe you could enlighten me. i mean i have been told that by many ppl but never given a good reason why haha.

personally i think FW is more stable but i've never had a problem with USB drives.
Click to expand...

For me, FW 800 has be more stable, and far faster than USB 2.0
I can't say it is "better" for Time Machine
I can only say that for me it was the right choice... even for the extra money

Woof, Woof - Dawg
pawprint.gif
 
oh i see!!! willing to spend the extra money for that but not for the computer upgrades haha:p

to the OP, you asked us to sway you; i have said everything that i can think of short calling you an idiot if you dont do what i say:p but unfortunately i think it comes down to do you have the extra $250 to spend and if those upgrades are worth spending that on. but also remember its kind of a cool problem to have. i mean you trying to decide btw some pretty awesome pieces of technology. do some soul searching and im sure the answer will come to you haha.

good luck man and let us know what you decide.
 
ViciousShadow21 said:
im going to disagree with you here macdawg:eek:. its only $250 for the faster CPU and twice the VRAM AND twice the L2 cache. to me its a good deal and is definitely worth it. but of course if you dont have the extra $250 then get the 2.66.
Click to expand...

Agreed, and when I bought my MBP back in october last year, I used the same logic. At that time, it was the 2.53 model but I got a faster cpu, more ram, L2 cache, larger hard drive. Unlike the ram and HD you cannot get a faster cpu, larger vram or L2 cache after the fact so I believe that model as well as the 2.8 strikes a great balance of price vs. performance.
 
Music recording, the 7200 HDD is a no brainer

Far as processor speed having an affect, what DAW are you gonna be using? How many channels are you gonna be recording?

Also what kind of school work are you gonna be doing? Just MS Office? Or using CAD software / Photoshop / etc?

The answers tell you how much juice you're gonna want out of your laptop.

I do music recording too but I'm only a hobbyist who makes beats. The reason I upped the CPU clock speed on my BTO (other than the fact I had the money to blow) was because I also use the comp to run data processing algorithms that take days to finish. The faster clock speed translates to hours saved.
 
Liquorpuki said:
Music recording, the 7200 HDD is a no brainer

Far as processor speed having an affect, what DAW are you gonna be using? How many channels are you gonna be recording?

Also what kind of school work are you gonna be doing? Just MS Office? Or using CAD software / Photoshop / etc?

The answers tell you how much juice you're gonna want out of your laptop.

I do music recording too but I'm only a hobbyist who makes beats. The reason I upped the CPU clock speed on my BTO (other than the fact I had the money to blow) was because I also use the comp to run data processing algorithms that take days to finish. The faster clock speed translates to hours saved.
Click to expand...

As far as a DAW goes I'll be using something small like a Tascam US-144.

I'll be using GarageBand for now until I get fairly decent with recording and upgrade to Logic on my next system. I'll be running 3-5 tracks at once sometimes. (Drums/drum loops, bass, guitar, guitar, etc)

Just MS office for school work.


Does that help?
 
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