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Stock i7 or Pimped out i5?

H

Hard-Hat-Mac

macrumors regular
Original poster
May 18, 2007
198
1
Philly Burbs
Simple question. I have $2500 to spend with accessories for work.

Should I go with a faster HD 7200 RPM and High-Res Screen, but lower i5 processor 2.53

or

The stock i7 2.66 processor without the upgraded speed of the hd or high-res display?

Your thoughts are appreciated.

HHM:apple:
 
IMHO, it all boils down to how badly you want the HR screen. You can always replace the HD at a later date... but you can't do the same with the processor.
 
I agree with colin idler.
Spend money and get the stuff that you can't easily replace later. The items that fall under this category:

1.CPU (Get the i7 2.66)
2.High Res Monitor (can't change later)

**** like RAM & Hard Drive speed (7200 vs 5400) are simple stuff that you can change easily later and most definitley for cheaper than apple.

hope that helps. Enjoy your purchase, and don't look back. Trust me you will love the new MBP with whatever you get, it's a great machine.
 
everyone else is hitting the nail on the head. i'm about to get an i7, and i am definitely going to feel that pinch from the new hdd and hi-res, but it will be bada** in a couple years when i save up for a ssd. :)
 
If you can, definitely go for the i7 with the high res. Then upgrade the HD later on. That's what I'm doing. Sure I might not need all the power of the i7 for most of the stuff I need to do, but I wanted the best I could afford, and when I do need this much power, it's ready to use. :D
 
I'm not really interested in anything bigger than 13 inches, but if I HAD to pick... well that hi-res screen is amazing, and the differences in the macbook line are really very little.
 
IMHO, the only upgrades that are worth anything are more RAM and bigger/faster HD, so go ahead and get the i7 and later on get some cheap prices for those upgrades. Hi-res screen makes everything too small...not a big fan of that.
 
Thanks for all your thoughts! I went with the i7 HR screen. I tried to talk my boss into a SSD but he said it was just too expensive for the capacity. I'm happy with this choice as this will be my work machine for probably the next 4 years or so.

Thanks again!
 
SSD buy now

For a year or two, you might be able to get away with a 64GB or 80GB SSD then upgrade to a 'proper' one when they come down in price. It's what I'm doing. With care, I've got 23GB free on by 80GB drive.

Hard-Hat-Mac said:
Thanks for all your thoughts! I went with the i7 HR screen. I tried to talk my boss into a SSD but he said it was just too expensive for the capacity. I'm happy with this choice as this will be my work machine for probably the next 4 years or so.

Thanks again!
Click to expand...
 
i got the stock standard i7. i love it. i haven't noticed a problem without the hi-res screen (my last lappy was hi-res).

i know u can't afford it right now, but i put in an ssd and it is so super fast!!!!
 
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