Hi guys first time Mac buyer, im going to buy the 13" MBP tomorrow since my school is running a no a tax day on apple products. I was wondering if the upgraded CPU is really worth the $300 or not. Ill be doing the basic college stuff, along with maybe some video editing, and some photoshop. I'll also be doing access and ARCGIS work on it in windows.
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Which 13" to get
- Thread starter Bucknut
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No, definitely not worth the extra money. it's about $200 overpriced IMO. The slightly faster processor won't be noticeable.
Honestly, for this cycle, it is not worth it. Apple didn't do a good job of setting apart the the low end and high end 13" models this time around. Get yourself a 80gb Intel SSD if you're so inclined on wanting to spend $300 for a faster machine. The SSD will give a MUCH higher performance increase.
Bearing in mind that the differences are:
a.) Faster CPU
b.) Larger HD
You can look at the argument as follows:
How much space do you intend to use on your HD? Do you think having that extra 70gb would be nice? If you were to make that decision down the line you would be looking at a labor charge as well as the cost of the new drive and the cost of data migration (providing you don't plan on doing the work yourself). That drive would probably run you around $120ish in a shop, $90ish in labor. $50ish in data transfer fees.
Now, to gain that with a faster processor (an upgrade you can NEVER DO at a later date) for $300 is well worth it, if you think you'll want extra space.
If you're unsure, don't blow money on it. Buy an external HD later.
a.) Faster CPU
b.) Larger HD
You can look at the argument as follows:
How much space do you intend to use on your HD? Do you think having that extra 70gb would be nice? If you were to make that decision down the line you would be looking at a labor charge as well as the cost of the new drive and the cost of data migration (providing you don't plan on doing the work yourself). That drive would probably run you around $120ish in a shop, $90ish in labor. $50ish in data transfer fees.
Now, to gain that with a faster processor (an upgrade you can NEVER DO at a later date) for $300 is well worth it, if you think you'll want extra space.
If you're unsure, don't blow money on it. Buy an external HD later.
Just like with the previous generation, the low-end 13" is the sweet spot. It's even more the case this time around since both models have 4GB of RAM. Save your money for an upgrade that matters, such as an SSD.
Get the low end. Use your student discount. Keep it in excellent shape so that you can sell it for almost as much as you paid for it before the next update which will not be c2d. Do not hold onto this one when the next update comes.
Sound advice, but imo, the resale value on these machines is going to tank when compared to the resale of other MBP models. The C2D is already old, and will be that much older when you decide to sell. Still, it's not a bad machine at the moment, so snag it with your discount and enjoy!
Don't bother with the faster processor. I have essentially what is now the lower end 13" MBP, and it is way more than enough for what I need it for as a college student (this includes Autodesk Inventor in bootcamp, which is a pretty hardware intensive piece of software). The faster one is just a spec increase, and that small of a jump will not be noticeable, especially for essay writing and web surfing, which is most of what college consists of.
You shouldn't need more HD space than 250 either. I am still trying to figure out what to do with more than half of mine, and if you actually do run out, get an external, they are cheap, you can partition them for backup and storage, and you don't have to take your computer apart.
As far as the next update goes, unless you are doing something really processor intensive (heavy video/photo/audio editing, etc.) there really is no need. You will be spending several hundred dollars on specs that you won't see anything from. Mine is already two generations old, but it serves me well, and I plan on keeping it until it dies.
I apologize for the length, but I wanted to be thorough.
You shouldn't need more HD space than 250 either. I am still trying to figure out what to do with more than half of mine, and if you actually do run out, get an external, they are cheap, you can partition them for backup and storage, and you don't have to take your computer apart.
As far as the next update goes, unless you are doing something really processor intensive (heavy video/photo/audio editing, etc.) there really is no need. You will be spending several hundred dollars on specs that you won't see anything from. Mine is already two generations old, but it serves me well, and I plan on keeping it until it dies.
I apologize for the length, but I wanted to be thorough.
wow apple loves you(above)
thread starter get the base model
the cpu bump is $250 too much and the harddrive price difference is at most $10
get a nice ssd with the $300
It actually costs that much? Wow...That drive would be 70$ or so online, plus 7$ for the tools, and 15$ for an enclosure. That means, according to your estimate, getting the upgrade done in a shop would cost like 170$ more!
Larger hard drives can be slightly faster, all else being equal, because the data is more dense so the heads don't have to travel as far. But I doubt you'd see a noticeable improvement going from 250 to 320- maybe from 250 to 500, though.
Save the 300
Get an Intel Gen2 80gb SSD
pop the stock drive in an enclosure.
Case closed, and you would be a VERY happy camper.
Get an Intel Gen2 80gb SSD
pop the stock drive in an enclosure.
Case closed, and you would be a VERY happy camper.