codeblue2k Posted February 6, 2008 Share Posted February 6, 2008 So I’m finally getting ready to buy my first MAC. I have been a Windows guys since day one and they finally broke my spirit with Vista. I’m looking at the 15" MB Pro's. The 17" seems just a little to big for me to carry around. If i need a big screen then I will just hook it up to my monitor. Anyways, it will be used for normal everyday surfing the internet and email. I will be doing quite a lot of photo editing/management and some personal web development. I have played games in the past, but not much since I got my 360. So would it be worth it for me to go with the 2.4ghz as supposed to the 2.2ghz.That and the hard drive are the only two differences that I can see. Link to comment https://www.insanelymac.com/forum/topic/86168-which-15-macbook-pro-would-you-get/ Share on other sites More sharing options...
Cubric Posted February 6, 2008 Share Posted February 6, 2008 15" probably with the better gfx card ie 256mb. and boost your ram to 4gb. Link to comment https://www.insanelymac.com/forum/topic/86168-which-15-macbook-pro-would-you-get/#findComment-611585 Share on other sites More sharing options...
codeblue2k Posted February 6, 2008 Author Share Posted February 6, 2008 15" probably with the better gfx card ie 256mb. and boost your ram to 4gb. I was definetly going to kick up the ram. Now if I dont play games on it, is kicking up the video memory going to help anything at all? It wont get my any better resolution. Link to comment https://www.insanelymac.com/forum/topic/86168-which-15-macbook-pro-would-you-get/#findComment-611653 Share on other sites More sharing options...
Synaesthesia Posted February 6, 2008 Share Posted February 6, 2008 No, it won't make much difference.No, it won't make much difference. Link to comment https://www.insanelymac.com/forum/topic/86168-which-15-macbook-pro-would-you-get/#findComment-611758 Share on other sites More sharing options...
Berzerker Posted February 9, 2008 Share Posted February 9, 2008 I play games fine on the base $2,000 15" with the 128MB card. You don't need the upgrade. And, don't pay $700 for an upgrade to 4GB. Buy a 2x2GB set off crucial.com for ~$150 or so. Link to comment https://www.insanelymac.com/forum/topic/86168-which-15-macbook-pro-would-you-get/#findComment-615031 Share on other sites More sharing options...
LeopardDragon Posted February 9, 2008 Share Posted February 9, 2008 None right now, it seems they're very likely due an update probably with the new trackpad very soon, so I'd hold off another few weeks. Link to comment https://www.insanelymac.com/forum/topic/86168-which-15-macbook-pro-would-you-get/#findComment-615607 Share on other sites More sharing options...
dsc106 Posted February 14, 2008 Share Posted February 14, 2008 Hold off a few weeks for the MBP update with LED backlit screen, updated trackpad, etc. The only upgrade that I would strongly recommend is the hard drive. A 7200rpm hard drive makes everything much faster... also, more HDD size if you think you will need it or want it at all. The processor probably isn't that big of a deal, actually... but it is also something you cannot upgrade ever, once you've got it, you're stuck with it... RAM - do not get from Apple as already stated. This can easily be installed yourself by buying 3rd party. You will save hundreds of dollars. So, with that money saved, you can get the better HDD and the better processor, and then add in the RAM! The only thing you'd need or want to upgrade the video card for is games. But there's not a whole lot of gaming going on the MAC anyway, and you have a 360, so the only games I can imagine using the mac for would be The Sims, Civilization, Starcraft II when released, etc. and none of those really need an upgraded video card... so I wouldn't bother... Link to comment https://www.insanelymac.com/forum/topic/86168-which-15-macbook-pro-would-you-get/#findComment-623505 Share on other sites More sharing options...
bigboss Posted February 22, 2008 Share Posted February 22, 2008 I think the base Macbook Pro is still a pretty good unit. As it stands, the 8600M GT is a pretty good gaming card when you play at lower resolutions (i.e. WXGA, WXGA+). The difference between the 128mb version and the 256mb versions at lower resolutions is negligible as the real bottleneck is the lack of stream processors and not the available memory. It's true that the 128mb Video Ram may give you a few more stutters than the 256MB version but I don't think it justifies the $500 higher price tag for the 2.4GHz with a 256MB graphics card. It's also worth noting that at low resolutions, the 8600M GT is pretty much on par with the previous generation's 7900GS graphics card as the 256 bit interface on the 7900GS doesn't really present much of an advantage at lower resolutions. However if you plan on connecting this laptop to an external display and gaming, you are better off building a custom PC with an 88xx/98xx series graphics solution as it will be much better suited towards that. As it stands, 2GB of Ram is pretty much the standard on laptops these days and unless you do some RAM intensive tasks you won't see too much of a performance gain on this front. As far as processor goes, the T7500 is a very capable unit and it also has 4MB of Cache vs the 2MB on the T7250. IMO you will not see a ton of a performance improvement from upgrading to the 2.4ghz as you would see in upgrading from the 1.8 or 2 GHz processor. As opposed to spending $500 extra for a slightly larger HD, a measly 200 mhz upgrade, and 40gb of more storage space, you could get yourself an Applecare Protection Plan, A nice notebook bag and sleeve, a bluetooth mouse and a good set of headphones. It's also worth noting that in their first year of purchase, Mac laptops have no appreciable depreciation and you will find its quite easy to sell a $1999 Macbook Pro on Ebay for $1500 at the very least (that too a very conservative estimate). This way if you want to upgrade to a new model without shelling out a whole lot more, you can. Again that's not a course of action I would take but it is an option nonetheless for all you early adopters. Link to comment https://www.insanelymac.com/forum/topic/86168-which-15-macbook-pro-would-you-get/#findComment-637159 Share on other sites More sharing options...
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