Refurb Early 2011 2.0 vs Mid 2012 2.3 Refurb

[sculley]

I'm looking at replacing my 2007 MBP with a newer model as a stop gap to hold me over until the Retinas have more storage for the price and are perhaps a little more affordable. I'm considering one of the above-mentioned models, but thought I would put this out there to get some additional advice.

The difference in price between these two 15" MBPs is only $300 ($1229 vs $1529), but I'm wondering if it is worth it. The money I save may go towards a Thunderbolt Display, and or an SSD/HDD setup. I currently am using a 750GB 7200 rpm HDD and will likely swap out the stock drive for either that or a dual drive setup.

My biggest performance concerns are running Logic Pro and using the external TB monitor. USB 3 isn't a big deal for me.

Thank you for your thoughts.

 

[TRAV9614]

I myself was in the same situation due to my budget and I opted for the 2012 model for a few reasons.

1. The graphics card on the 2011 model you are looking at is nowhere near as good as the one in the 2012 model. The vram is less 2011 VRAM=256 2012 VRAM=512 and the card on the 2012 is much faster.

2. The 2012 has USB 3

3. The 2012 model also has a upgraded CPU.

The 2011 model you are looking at is close to 2 years old where as the 2012 model is about 6 months old. I personally don't like to buy tech that is that old but it is up to you, but if you are looking to save some money you should go for this model.

http://store.apple.com/us/product/FD318LL/A/refurbished-macbook-pro-22ghz-quad-core-intel-i7

This model is better than the early 2011 model because it has a better graphics card and and slightly better CPU.

Hope I helped.

 

[Spink10]

For $300 - go with the 2012 - would need to be $400+ to change my mind. IMHO

Graphics on the 2.0 is lame - compared to the other 2011's and 2012

 

[NewishMacGuy]

I also just bought a holdover cMBP-15 until the next retina comes with Haswell, 802.11ac, and more reasonably priced storage options.

I went with the 2011 base model and agree with the comments above suggesting that the price difference you're looking at would probably not be enough for me to choose the 2011 model for the savings. But i also wouldn't have spent $1500 on a 2012 when the rMBP-15 is 1999 on the educational discount and can be had for as little as $1750 or so if you shop around and/or are willing to consider lightly used. I bought my 2011 cMBP-15 2.0 for $900 a couple of months ago including 8GB RAM and a retail copy of Win7.

That said, unless you're gaming or need USB 3 for something right now, there's virtually no difference. The 2011 runs my ATD just fine with either the HD3000 or the AMD, and I even game a little as well.

If you do plan to upgrade to the rMBP within the next year to 18 months, then it's really just a matter of which one is cheapest to the anticipated depreciation curve.

 

[sculley]

Okay. Thanks for the input. I'm not interested in the rMBP at this point because it has nowhere near the amount of storage I want (for the price), and I'm not interested in adding external drives to the setup. I still don't know what I'm going to do yet, but I'm leaning towards the 2012 and I'll have to decide soon, as it takes about 20 minutes for the screen to warm up and start working properly on my 2007 MBP. I've been using a clothes peg clipped to the edge of the display bezel to get it to work for about a year now.

 

[SDAVE]

I have the 2011 MBP and it's definitely a beastly machine. Especially once you put in an SSD and up the ram to 16GB. The CPU difference between 2011 vs 2012 is about 10-25%. GPU is faster on newer gen but is good enough for a lot of things.

So my suggestion: Save your money and get a 2011 and purchase a 256GB SSD and put your HDD in the Optibay (Adapter is around $20) and purchase 16GB of RAM.

You can resell this machine easily in the future and purchase a newer generation rMBP once you're comfortable enough. It seems that you already want to save some money by going the refurb route vs. a brand new one, so money is an issue for you (isn't it for all of us?).

However, you will not have USB 3.0...but, you can get a Thunderbolt to USB 3.0 adapter if you really need it. If you put your HDD in the optibay you will probably not use an external that much anyway, but for that you have FW800 and USB 2.0 (or the TB > USB3.0 route), or a Thunderbolt external drive

As far as Refurbs go, try to get the hi-res screen (either glossy or matte. I have the hi-res matte and love it).

 

[sculley]

You're reminding me as to why I wanted to buy the 2011 in the first place. Grrr.

I have the 2011 MBP and it's definitely a beastly machine. Especially once you put in an SSD and up the ram to 16GB. The CPU difference between 2011 vs 2012 is about 10-25%. GPU is faster on newer gen but is good enough for a lot of things.

So my suggestion: Save your money and get a 2011 and purchase a 256GB SSD and put your HDD in the Optibay (Adapter is around $20) and purchase 16GB of RAM.

You can resell this machine easily in the future and purchase a newer generation rMBP once you're comfortable enough. It seems that you already want to save some money by going the refurb route vs. a brand new one, so money is an issue for you (isn't it for all of us?).

However, you will not have USB 3.0...but, you can get a Thunderbolt to USB 3.0 adapter if you really need it. If you put your HDD in the optibay you will probably not use an external that much anyway, but for that you have FW800 and USB 2.0 (or the TB > USB3.0 route), or a Thunderbolt external drive

As far as Refurbs go, try to get the hi-res screen (either glossy or matte. I have the hi-res matte and love it).

 

[SDAVE]

Do it, you won't be disappointed. Save your money and use it right

You'll get an rMBP when the next generation comes out, no worries.

Ivy Bridge is not the biggest jump from Sandy Bridge.

However, from your 2007 MBP, once you get the 2011 and do the updates I specified, you will be amazed.

I use this setup as a desktop replacement and it's (no joke) almost as fast as my 2008 Mac Pro (feels like it too).

 

[FuNGi]

I have the 2011 MBP and it's definitely a beastly machine. Especially once you put in an SSD and up the ram to 16GB. The CPU difference between 2011 vs 2012 is about 10-25%. GPU is faster on newer gen but is good enough for a lot of things.

So my suggestion: Save your money and get a 2011 and purchase a 256GB SSD and put your HDD in the Optibay (Adapter is around $20) and purchase 16GB of RAM.

You can resell this machine easily in the future and purchase a newer generation rMBP once you're comfortable enough. It seems that you already want to save some money by going the refurb route vs. a brand new one, so money is an issue for you (isn't it for all of us?).

However, you will not have USB 3.0...but, you can get a Thunderbolt to USB 3.0 adapter if you really need it. If you put your HDD in the optibay you will probably not use an external that much anyway, but for that you have FW800 and USB 2.0 (or the TB > USB3.0 route), or a Thunderbolt external drive

As far as Refurbs go, try to get the hi-res screen (either glossy or matte. I have the hi-res matte and love it).

+1 on this. However, I'd skip the optibay option and put in a SSD in the HDD bay only. Also, definately get the high-res option.

 

[sculley]

Finding the antiglare hi-res option at the lower price point is a little harder than just the base model. I'm not sure I've even seen it come up all that often. I think it's around $1400. Also, I'm not totally sold on the his res display because I played with one in store and it seemed a little finicky. Small buttons etc. I'd like the antiglare for sure. Anyone have any idea what the 2011 refurb 2.0 model with the hi-res antiglare option goes for?

 

[sculley]

I found an older price list that shows a $120 premium for the hi-res 2.0, so I guess it would be $1349 if it ever shows up in the store.

 

[SDAVE]

Finding the antiglare hi-res option at the lower price point is a little harder than just the base model. I'm not sure I've even seen it come up all that often. I think it's around $1400. Also, I'm not totally sold on the his res display because I played with one in store and it seemed a little finicky. Small buttons etc. I'd like the antiglare for sure. Anyone have any idea what the 2011 refurb 2.0 model with the hi-res antiglare option goes for?

How's it finicky?

1680x1050 vs 1440x900

I've had both and prefer the hi-res. Probably because I do a lot of work in Adobe software and have good (slowly failing) eyes

 

[sculley]

Because everything is smaller, specifically buttons. There seemed to be a little more cursor control required, but perhaps that would pass with time. Not having the hi-res antiglare isn't a deal-breaker, because my intention hasn't ever been to keep this machine for more than a couple of years. Trying to find the hi-res machines at the lower price point that I've been aiming for is also much harder. The cheapest one available right now is $1659. I'll see if I can hit the Apple Store and try it out again, but that was my feeling when I was playing with it. A friend that has one agreed with my observations.

How's it finicky?

1680x1050 vs 1440x900

I've had both and prefer the hi-res. Probably because I do a lot of work in Adobe software and have good (slowly failing) eyes

 

[TRAV9614]

Anyone have any idea what the 2011 refurb 2.0 model with the hi-res antiglare option goes for?

Here is a link where you can see all of the refurb options avalable. I didn't see the model you are looking for with the anti glare screen.

http://www.refurb.me/us/

 

[FuNGi]

^Use refurb.me to send you a notification for when the one you want comes in... you can get a 2.2Ghz hi-res anti-glare for $1439.

 

[TRAV9614]

^Use refurb.me to send you a notification for when the one you want comes in... you can get a 2.2Ghz hi-res anti-glare for $1439.

At the $1439 price point it makes more sense to just spend the extra $90 and go for the 2012 base model.

 

[FuNGi]

At the $1439 price point it makes more sense to just spend the extra $90 and go for the 2012 base model.

Except it's not high-res and is basically the same processor speed. It would depend on your need for a slightly faster graphics and USB3. Depends on your priorities...

 

[sculley]

Thanks

Thanks for all your help guys. I scored the 2012 15" 2.3 MBP with the antiglare screen for $1599 late this morning. I just happened to check at a time when this model had been posted. I bought it right away. According to refurb.me it appears that it was the ONLY model available to Canada/US (which seem to share refurb stock for Macs - I'm in Canada). The refurb.me email notifcation came in 20 minutes after I bought it, so it isn't so great a service when you're looking for the rarer refurbs. Thanks again! Now I can STOP THINKING about this and get back to work.