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Solved: 2.4 i5 vs 2.53 i5 | Worth the price difference?

sn0warmy

sn0warmy

macrumors 6502a
Original poster
Mar 26, 2009
630
75
Denver, CO
Thanks for the input everyone. I picked up the 2.4GHz Core i5 today and installed my 80GB SSD. This thing is blazing fast! :D


...
I'm picking up a new MBP this weekend and I'm torn on whether the 2.53 i5 is worth the $200 price difference over the 2.4 i5 for my needs.

The increased hard drive size in the mid-level MBP is not a factor to me because I'll be swapping my Intel X25-M SSD drive into whichever one I purchase.

MBPcomparison.png


Aside from the hard drives and (minor) CPU speed differences, they seem identical. And the most cpu taxing software I will run are Photoshop and Illustrator CS5.

Should I splurge? Or would I just be paying for .13GHz of processing power that I won't use?
 
You won't notice the difference between the two processors, just get the 2.4 ghz and swap the harddisk :D
 
Nah, you wouldn't see a difference with that. Heavy audio/video editing is where you would see a difference, which would be pretty small even then. Go for the base, especially if you are going to put in your SSD. You will see a lot more out of your SSD than you would the slightly faster processor.
 
Definitely do what I did and get the 15.4in 2.4 i5 and do a HDD upgrade yourself, it is not worth the $200 extra for the mid-level ! I spent $150 on the base to get the AG & HR screen.
 
I don't see myself doing any intensive video or audio editing. I already know the SSD will make a huge difference on its own as it did in my 1st gen. uMBP.

I hadn't even considered the hi-res option. It looks like I'll be spending the extra money on that instead of the 2.53 i5.

Thanks for the input!!
 
I too wrestled with this same dilemma and I ended up going with the base i5...
I couldn't be happier with my choice...I didn't go with the HiRes as my eyes aren't that great and the 1440x900 is perfectly fine for me...
Very fast MBP and just a dream to use...:D
 
Go with the 2.4 and save your money to upgrade other components.
 
sn0warmy said:
I don't see myself doing any intensive video or audio editing. I already know the SSD will make a huge difference on its own as it did in my 1st gen. uMBP.

I hadn't even considered the hi-res option. It looks like I'll be spending the extra money on that instead of the 2.53 i5.

Thanks for the input!!
Click to expand...

Just FYI, you said you will be picking one up so i interpret that to mean you are going to a physical apple store, and not all apple stores stock 15" display options apart from the standard res glossy. if you are going to an apple store, call them ahead to see if they stock the screen you want...congrats on your planned purchase :)
 
If you're playing in the educational discount game, the 2.53 model is actually worth it, IMO. It gives you a bigger "credit" for the HDD and an extra $50 discount. For example, if you configure both machines with a 128Gb SSD and the hi-res glossy, the price is only $49 difference, a reasonable price to pay for a ~7% clock speed boost.

Of course, if you're doing just stock configurations, go with the base because the mid-range doesn't give you anything worth $200.
 
Ronnoco said:
I too wrestled with this same dilemma and I ended up going with the base i5...
I couldn't be happier with my choice...I didn't go with the HiRes as my eyes aren't that great and the 1440x900 is perfectly fine for me...
Very fast MBP and just a dream to use...:D
Click to expand...

Same here.

I was planning on getting the 17" i7. The more I looked at it and thought about it, I came to the conclusion that my eyes might have some issues with the very high resolution of the 17"; I couldn't see myself pinching and expanding window content all day long or running at a lower resolution. The standard res of the 15" looked fine to me and was better than what I was coming from.

I also realized my needs didn't really warrant an i7. Initially, I didn't care, but the price differential was fairly significant. So, I had moved off of the 17" and eliminated the i7, so now it was just deciding between the 2.53 and 2.4. As others have said, I didn't think it was worth $200.

I got the 15" 2.4 standard-res and just upgraded it to a Momentus XT 500 gig drive. Worked out great for me.

LT
 
tombilske said:
Just FYI, you said you will be picking one up so i interpret that to mean you are going to a physical apple store, and not all apple stores stock 15" display options apart from the standard res glossy. if you are going to an apple store, call them ahead to see if they stock the screen you want...congrats on your planned purchase :)
Click to expand...

Good thinking. I have 3 Apple stores within 15 minutes of me. I'll make sure one of them has the 2.4GHz Hi-Res.

I hadn't considered the student discount either. I might just have to get my little sister to head in there with me. I'll give her the free iPod Touch for her troubles.:)
 
what the … …

so having read the above posts that seem to say there's next to no difference between 2.4 and 2.53 i5 processors, it begs the question as to why Apple bother running an additional iteration when they could've just had either one or the other and vary the size/type of HDD + the 2.66 i7 combination.

2 lines of 15" plus 1x 17"

ergo, there must be a significant difference in performance between the 2 - or am I missing something here? :rolleyes:
 
halledise said:
so having read the above posts that seem to say there's next to no difference between 2.4 and 2.53 i5 processors, it begs the question as to why Apple bother running an additional iteration when they could've just had either one or the other and vary the size/type of HDD + the 2.66 i7 combination.

2 lines of 15" plus 1x 17"

ergo, there must be a significant difference in performance between the 2 - or am I missing something here? :rolleyes:
Click to expand...

$
 
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