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upgraded 13 vs 15 basline

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FreshDiamonds

macrumors newbie
Original poster
Jun 27, 2010
7
0
Hi, long time reader of macrumors and the forums but just recently decided to get an account.

im going to buy a macbook pro in the near future for when i go to college and i was wondering if a baseline 13inch macbook pro with 8 gigs of ram and an SSD would be comparable to the speed in the baseline 15 inch macbook. any ideas how much of a bottleneck the core2duo would be?

thank you
 
thats true, but i can never "buy" the mobility of the 13 inch. so if i could coax the 13 inch to run on par or better then the 15 inch, it would be something to definitely consider.
 
You really cannot compare the faster load times with an ssd to the faster processor of an i5. Each improves performance differently. And 8gb ram will not really improve performance unless you have demanding applications requiring it.
If you want the 13", get it and get a third party ssd like the intels. This would be a great computer.
My next upgrade will be a ssd; how soon is another question though.
 
The processor will in no way be a bottleneck, unless you are, say editing HD video, and then there might be a bit of a difference. Maybe the GPU could prevent the highest settings on games (although the 330 isn't anything awe-inspiring either), but unless you are giving your machine a very, very heavy workout, you won't see a very appreciable difference. There is also little difference between the 2.4 and 2.66 C2D. Remember that fast processor != fast computer. If you really want some speed, buy yourself an SSD.
 
It all comes down to use.
Lightweight use with surfing, text processing and such a C2D with SSD will be faster.

If you do work that requires CPU crunching the i5 will be heaps faster.

I had a 2.2GHz C2D and the speed difference with surfing and office use I can't really tell much difference, but in Photoshop, video rendering, running virtual machines and gaming the i5 is anywhere from 25-50% faster.

My specs had comparable HDs (320GB WD vs 320GB Hitachi), same RAM (4 GB in both) and 8600m vs 330m (the 330m is about 30% faster).

RAM prices are going down a lot now and the price for 8GB (2x4GB) has gone down about 40% the last few months. 8GB should not be necessary unless you do work with pics that are like 1GB ++ in photoshop (only use where I find 4 GB to be limiting).
 
im going into Chemical Engineering (spefically into Nanotechnology) so im not entirely sure how much rendering or processing i am going to have to do. I dont have to get the laptop until the beginning of August so i still have time to decide.

you guys confirmed my belief that the i5 might not be worth the extra cost and i think i would be better off just putting a SSD in the 13". i wonder if SSD prices will drop within the next month or two but i highly doubt it.

Hopefully the GPU is good enough to run games like SC2, ill have to go check out some benchmarks.

thanks for all the replies!
 
FreshDiamonds said:
im going into Chemical Engineering (spefically into Nanotechnology) so im not entirely sure how much rendering or processing i am going to have to do. I dont have to get the laptop until the beginning of August so i still have time to decide.

you guys confirmed my belief that the i5 might not be worth the extra cost and i think i would be better off just putting a SSD in the 13". i wonder if SSD prices will drop within the next month or two but i highly doubt it.

Hopefully the GPU is good enough to run games like SC2, ill have to go check out some benchmarks.

thanks for all the replies!
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I did ChemE undergrad. Processing wise, you may do some heavy lifting depending on specific curriculums but you will likely be doing that on department/university desktop computers during class. You need to be able to run Matlab/Simulink and the C2D in the 13" should be fine for homeworks.

If we really needed heavy lifting we SSH'd into clusters and ran calculations there. Any old computer can handle an SSH tunnel...
 
I first got the 13in mbp and decided to take it back and get the 15in i5, and its just as mobile as the 13 in my opinion. Whether its on your lap, on your desk or carrying it around the difference between two in terms of size and weight is minuscule. I say get the base 15 and install a ssd.
 
CarsonJones said:
I first got the 13in mbp and decided to take it back and get the 15in i5, and its just as mobile as the 13 in my opinion. Whether its on your lap, on your desk or carrying it around the difference between two in terms of size and weight is minuscule. I say get the base 15 and install a ssd.
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whats the return policy like? whats the time frame your given? yea im torn because i hate spending money on something i know is outdated like the c2d, but itll always be that way in the tech world i guess. so i just got a jump in eventuallly
 
Apple has a 14 day return policy, however if its opened then there is a 10% restocking fee. Sometimes its waived, but that all depends on the store and the rep that is helping you. Id say the chances of it getting waived due to you wanting a unit that costs several hundred more are pretty good. But just prepare yourself when you crack that box open that it could possibly cost you 10% if you want something else. If one store wants to charge you for wanting to upgrade try another, my fee was waived when i tried a different store.
 
FreshDiamonds said:
yea im torn because i hate spending money on something i know is outdated like the c2d, but itll always be that way in the tech world i guess. so i just got a jump in eventuallly
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hmm personally i believe that you should go the i5 15", it will last longer and the 15" is still very portable given the right backpack :) ive had my 15" MBP for nearly 4 years now, i maxed out everything when i got it. if i had gotten the lower specc'd machine i dont think i could stand using it!

FreshDiamonds said:
whats the return policy like? whats the time frame your given?

CarsonJones said:
Apple has a 15 day return policy,
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its 14 days actually :p they are normally very good though if you are nice
 
i dont necessarily know if 14 days will be enough to give me a feel for the computer. i guess i would just have to deal with the time im given.

ill probably put off buying the SSD till later though. i just did a little bit of research and it seems that intels next generation of SSD's will be coming later this year which hopefully means a drop in price per gig.:)
 
FreshDiamonds said:
i dont necessarily know if 14 days will be enough to give me a feel for the computer. i guess i would just have to deal with the time im given.
Click to expand...
its long enough, but it isnt - if that makes sense lol..


ill probably put off buying the SSD till later though. i just did a little bit of research and it seems that intels next generation of SSD's will be coming later this year which hopefully means a drop in price per gig.:)
Click to expand...
probably a good idea, dont expect too much of a drop though.
 
ah yes 14 days. But yeah usually if you are nice and cool when approaching the situation they are as well. Id spend some time at the apple store looking over both. The 13in is definitely nice and capable, however I just felt the screen size was a bit to small for myself.
 
yea ive spent the last two days at a bestbuy looking at both the 13 and 15. The only problem with the 15 inch mbp is that i wont be able to get a SSD for it whereas if i get the 13 inch i have more money to splurge thus giving me the liberty to install a SSD. ohh the choices
 
i think im just going to end up getting the baseline 13" and wait for the third generation of Intel's SSDs to come out and hopefully that should drop the price of the second generation ones....if they are still being manufactured at that point! :apple:
 
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