whether to buy a MB or MBP????

[Ell2Cool]

Hi guys,

i have been saving up to buy a macbook for ages but now dont know whether to get a macbook or the pro.

since the new macbook got released, i held off buying it in hope that the processor speed would even get slightly bumped (i have a 6 year old laptop that has a 2.4GHz processer, even though the macbook processor would beat the crap outta my old laptop i cant help but feel that im buying a new laptop but its got the same clock speed and would somehow not be worth the purchase) and since then ive now saved enough to buy a macbook pro.

i went into the apple store a while back and only realised then that the macbook screen is possibly a bit too small for me.

basically im one of these guys that would buy the latest and greatest there is at the time so that would mean me buying the 2.93ghz 4GB RAM macbook pro 15" and wham a 500GB HDD in (cant justify the price of an SSD).

im going off to uni next year so im hoping i would be able to get the discount, cant remember if its further or higher education but right now i would only be able to show them a screenshot of my acceptance on a webpage from UCAS (uni selectance service in the UK) would this be enough?
i guess if that didnt work i would also have a college discount to fall back on as i technically still am enrolled at a part time college. even if that fails i also work part time for the NHS so i could at a last resort atleast get 6% off through the NHS. i would be doing work on it but nothing that would need the processor that i am hoping to get in the pro but i would intend to game on it a bit so i would def make use of the 9600GT

i guess in my mind i have already made my mind up that i would prefer the pro to the macbook but its still about £700 just for an extra 2" and 530mhz.

i dont think i would get it until SL came out anyway. ive just paid a minimum of £1200 for a laptop, im not gonna pay another £129 to get a new OS just a couple of months away

part of the reason i would also love to get the pro would be to shut up my friend who thinks he's the sh*t with his £400 dell. he says dont get a mac as its way too priced but i tell him id happily pay the extra so that i dont have to use windows and he doesnt like it when i tell him its only a matter of time before his dell overheats and dies


so guys what do you think i should do?

many thanks.


PS this will be my first mac, cant wait!

 

[ditzy]

I can see that you want the MBP and if you can afford it, you should get what you want.
However the macbook sounds like it would meet your needs just fine. Plus a 2.4Ghz pentium 4 would have absolutely nothing on a 2.4 Core 2 Duo. If you aren't comparing like with like clock speeds are kind of meaningless.

 

[L0s7man]

If you don't play games, get yourself:

(i) *Baseline* Macbook with 4GB ram
(ii) 24" Dell LCD (the good one)
(iii) 1TB external, network attached HDD
(iv) Apple bluetooth keyboard

You'll get an amazing setup, with HUGE screen and you'll be able to take your computer with you everywhere.

Sure, 15.4" is still considered portable, but It's tad big to carry around all the time.

And if you'll have any money left, ditch the HDD in MB (get enclosure and use it as extrernal hdd) and get yourself Intel SSD ;-)

 

[techound1]

(i) *Baseline* Macbook with 4GB ram
(ii) 24" Dell LCD (the good one)
(iii) 1TB external, network attached HDD
(iv) Apple bluetooth keyboard

That's a nice idea - real estate when you need it, portability when you need it.

 

[Ell2Cool]

does sound like a good idea but i would need the higher GFX card as i would make use of it.

guess i just answered my own question. thanks guys!