Hi, I am planning on buying a 15" Macbook Pro. However I can't decide whether to buy the core i5 2.4GHZ with SSD drive or the core i7 2.66GHZ with default hard drive. (I'm going for glossy screen and default resolution). My main use will be music production, video editing, browsing, some gaming on bootcamp Windows 7.Any help?
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Which Macbook Pro Options?
- Thread starter d4rklamp
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Unless you need every speed bump for professional reasons there is no need to get the Corei7. The difference is too small to be noticed. For whatever the 2,4Ghz is too slow the 2,66 is too and only a desktop Lynnfield Quad Core helps.
The difference in SSD speed you can feel in general performance. It doesn't help with maximum Performance though. The really demanding jobs (games, encoding) don't run faster just the less demanding jobs (opening a program, copying files on the same drive) is a lot faster. An SSD is a nice to have upgrade but it doesn't enable you too do anything you couldn't before. I still think it is too expensive for what it is worth. IMO it still needs to come down in price, especially since I cannot deal with a drive smaller than 256GB and I don't want to put in a superdrive bay hdd.
I would always get the AG screen. Yes some people say they don't care about glare, but if you use it indoors at a reasonable brightness and watch
hulu or some movie or pictures, all stuff that can be darker and has dark backgrounds, I think the reflections are annoying. An AG screen is simply perfect in any condition and well worth the money. Also I wouldn't buy anything but HR.
The difference in SSD speed you can feel in general performance. It doesn't help with maximum Performance though. The really demanding jobs (games, encoding) don't run faster just the less demanding jobs (opening a program, copying files on the same drive) is a lot faster. An SSD is a nice to have upgrade but it doesn't enable you too do anything you couldn't before. I still think it is too expensive for what it is worth. IMO it still needs to come down in price, especially since I cannot deal with a drive smaller than 256GB and I don't want to put in a superdrive bay hdd.
I would always get the AG screen. Yes some people say they don't care about glare, but if you use it indoors at a reasonable brightness and watch
hulu or some movie or pictures, all stuff that can be darker and has dark backgrounds, I think the reflections are annoying. An AG screen is simply perfect in any condition and well worth the money. Also I wouldn't buy anything but HR.
Thanks for replying. I forgot to mention about the graphics card also. The core i5 has the 256mb and core i7 has the 512mb. I don't mind buying the core i5 but the graphics card is annoying me. I don't know whether I'm going to need the extra memory later. I'm planning to use this Macbook Pro for at least 5 years.
But, my main focus is speed. I want it to be fast. I don't think the SSD capacity will be a problem to me. So, can someone give some advice?
But, my main focus is speed. I want it to be fast. I don't think the SSD capacity will be a problem to me. So, can someone give some advice?
This I agree with and is the reason I went with a i7. Have heard the arguments that the 330M isn't powerful enough to make proper use of 512MB, still call it irrational but I felt the need for it and knew I'd have buyers remorse otherwise. It was something that bugged me on my previous 2.4GHz MBP with a 256MB 9600M.
The i5 2.4GHz is a capable enough chip, the i7 is about 10% faster. Felt it was worth it in the end and as gaz2 says concentrate on what you won't be able to upgrade. SSDs will come down in price and can always be added later.
As for the screen, I have the standard res glossy and love it. Never have issues with reflections and do feel that some of the complaining about it is OTT.
Dude, the video card is what is annoying you? I have been editing broadcast HD television on a dual G5 2.0 with the stock POS video card (64MB). Just because you THINK you need something, doesn't make it so.
**** I am building an extra offline edit system for interns out of a mac mini. FCP doesn't utilize hardware the way you think it does. Get the i5, max it out with RAM and get the antiglare... done in one.
**** I am building an extra offline edit system for interns out of a mac mini. FCP doesn't utilize hardware the way you think it does. Get the i5, max it out with RAM and get the antiglare... done in one.
As a rule get the best you can afford, but I think a lot of people aren't realizing that all the current mac models are really powerful compared to the machines available a couple years ago. Even the base 13 is as powerful as the first gen mac pro. The fact that all macs come stock with 4 gigs of ram is huge! I didn't even have that much in my mac pro back then. For music production and light video editing the 13 is more than you need. So just get whatever you want, for the tasks you will be doing they will ALL work great!
I'm going to use Maya and Final Cut Express 4 as my video editing. I can't go for the 13" as I find the screen size too small for me. The 15" is the right one. Can anyone give some information about the 330M not so capable chip? Otherwise I'm going for the core i7.
Im editing with FCE on this 15" i5 and no problems, I'm not a gamer so I don't really need the extra video RAM of the i7...