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Which mbp 13" to buy now? 2010 or 2011?

E

ericguqin

macrumors newbie
Original poster
May 10, 2011
1
0
I'm sure many will say go 2011 for the stronger i5 CPU. That's also what I though at the beginning. But I also saw tons of bad reviews against the 2011 mbp 13" because of the intel HD3000 graphics card.

I'm a computer graphics and animation engineer and use desktop to handle most of my works. So I dont need mbp 15 or 17 as a desktop replacement.
But I still need a portable mac laptop for two main reasons:

(1) never use mac os before. want to play with it and hopefully develop some iphone applications.

(2) Temporarily deal with my work when I have to stay outside. I mostly use 2D & 3D graphics related stuffs like Maya, Renderman, OpenGL, OpenCL, C++, Python, and Photoshop. I also play some games occasionally like Starcraft 2 or Mass effect. Of course, I'm aware of the the performance will not be good but as long as it's not too slow. Actually what I care more is the compatibility and stability. If the new GPU can not run my work at all, then what the use of the extra CPU power for me?

Now the price for the new 2011 mbp 13" with 2.3GHz and 2010 mbp 13" with 2.66 GHz are almost the same. So my question is either better CPU or better GPU. I just wonder which one might better fits my needs?

Any comments? thanks!
 
get the 2010... save money that way, and it's still pretty powerful, may not be as fast as the i5 but it's still more than enough for your needs.
 
I wouldn't say that the GPU in the 2010 is better than the Intel based one in the 2011. The CPU is much faster though in the 2011, the camera is better, and it comes with Thunderbolt. Go with the 2011 as it's only $999 if you buy it from a local Microcenter or can try your luck in the refurb section.
 
I know a few apple employees that still code on iMac g4's so the coding isn't really a big deal there. Big step with the thunderbolt on the 2011's so I would say it's a gamble as to whether or not you think it's going to "catch on"
 
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