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Should I make the trade? PLEASE help

6

617media

macrumors member
Original poster
Feb 25, 2010
88
0
I have a black mackbook 2.4ghz 250gb HD etc, It's served me very well, a little slow on the rending for video and stuff but I can always add more RAM. I also have it fully loaded with fully licensed final cut pro, all the CS4s etc.....


ANYWAYS,

my friend who does not care about computers at all and has no skill in selling online etc, shipped me his macbook pro. I asked him for specs and stuff but he never really got around to telling me them nor did I think he knew what I was talking about, he just said it was 'the good one.' His parents got it for him a couple months before and he just wanted cash instead. Whatever floats your boat... anyways, I wasn't trying to rip him off, but all he wanted was $1,000 for it.

So basically I put up my loaded black macbook up for sale along with a free ipod touch and got an offer for $950 for it, so I thought I was getting a much faster 15" brand new macbook pro in trade for my blackmacbook. Awesome right?

Well it comes today and it's the 13 inch one.... it looks beautiful and all still, the LED screen is very nice etc, but I kinda freaked out when I saw that the processor is actually 2.2ghz instead my black macbook's 2.4 WTF???

and also the hard drive is only 160gb as opposed to 250gb on my blackbook......

I know the bus speed is faster, the screen is better, it looks cooler and is thinner, keyboard lights up, the video card is better, it's DDR3 ram, but other than that... I'm like WTF


Can I get some people to weigh in on this situation? What would you do? Is my blackbook really faster than this new macbook pro? Is it worth having to reinstall all my pro applications and transfer all my files. Not to mention half of my files would have to be kept on my external (which isn't working at the moment) since the HD is only 160gb...


I just don't get how a so much older plain black blackbook could be actually more loaded and faster? Or maybe I don't know what I am talking about, and should just make the trade.

THANKS

really no one??
 
do it.

the two computers generally match up evenly as far a speed is concerned, but the Macbook Pro is far superior in other ways.

1. The case design. Sexy, sleek, strong.
2. lighter by 1/2 #
3. Max Ram is 8GB
4. BATTERY life is literally amazing. I have a friend with one and she says she gets 7 hours out of a charge (this all depends on how you use your computer during that time)
5. Screen - LED
6. Keyboard - backlit
7. Sd card slot (i wouldn't personally care much about this but to each their own)
8. Firewire 800

The only place it doesn't match up is in the HDD department. But I say live with the 160 for now and upgrade to whatever you want when you can afford it. Drives are dirt cheap these days.

Slap some more RAM in it. Whats it got now 2GB? Thats a good place to start, but even upping that to 4GB will be a huge improvement.

Take the MBP. It will keep up with the times much beter than your Blackbook would have.
 
I would prefer the Macbook Pro myself.

Btw, refurbished base model 13" macbook pro's are $999 in the refurb store.
 
word thanks for your reply. So you're saying even though the speed for the processor says 2.26 vs 2.4 that they are about equal in overall speed?


And I didn't know you could swap internal hard drives, that would be the decision maker if they are that cheap like you said.

Thanks a lot man, I'd love to hear one or two more opinions as well.
 
GeekBench scores, via the application Mactracker:

MacBook Pro 13" - 3140
2.4 GHz Macbook - 3139

nearly identical. add more RAM to that and you can crush the old numbers.

My 2007 2.2 GHz MBP with stock options gets about a 2880 score

Now that I have 6GB RAM and run Snow Leopard, it gets a score of about 3400.

HDD replacement is easy cheese.

Via Apple:
http://manuals.info.apple.com/en_US/MBPRO_13inch_Mid2009_Hard_Drive_DIY.pdf
 
Go for it

With the Geekbench scores being virtually identical might as well go with the newer tech and the better looks. Do it, imo.

m&c
 
I love how you wrote out a laundry list of benefits, but you still can't decide if it's a good deal. Let me help you out: keep the MacBook Pro.

The ONLY upside to the BlackBook is the processor speed, but the ability to max out the MBP at 8GB of DDR3 RAM and the far superior GPU (think about how Snow Leopard will take advantage of this architecture in the future) make this a no-brainer. The pro is going to future proof you so much better.

I don't count the HD as a benefit because you can replace it with a 500GB, 7200 RPM drive for dirt cheap.
 
Ok heres my 2 cents....

I have a base model MBP myself and the wife has a 2.4ghz earlier aluminum MB.

I have benchmarked the 2 of them and they are exactly equal. Now being that the hers is identical to yours in the internals dept. I would say as far as that goes they are about the same.

If it where me I would ditch the ol plastic monster and get the Pro. For one the Pro is probably still under factory warranty and has the option to purchase Apple Care still left on it. Yours is out of warranty and if it pukes its on you. That reason alone would make me switch. The MBP is also , as stated earlier, capable of more ram and has firewire. You can buy a HD for less than a hundred bucks and switching your software and settings takes maybe an hour tops with migration assistant. I think you'd be a fool to pass up this deal .

If you do decide to pass it up LMK I will be happy to give you a G for the MBP.
 
1000 is to much for a used 1200 MacBook Pro.
850 is ok. for 1000 you get a refurbished with full applecare.
 
$1000 is a fair, but not amazing price for the base model MBP.
Sounds like you have a pretty spiffy computer in that blackbook of yours, why not hold onto it for at least the next MBP update?

The way I see it theres no rush, you are not missing out on some amazing offer.
 
I have a 2008 Blacbook, and bought my wife a 2009 13" MBP. The MBP is a much better laptop IMO. Keep it. You won't have any regrets. However, the black casing is cool.;)
 
IMO it's because initially, the 13" Unibodies were under the Macbook line. They were later renamed to be called MBPs, but this didn't change a thing about the hardware. They were still meant to be cheaper versions of the 15" MBP with crappier specs.

Therefore in a way, both of them are really 'Macbooks'. Blackbooks just happen to be the top of Macbook line, whereas his MBP was probably one of the cheaper ones.
 
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