Which MacBook Pro to buy?
Hello!
Should I get the lower-end MacBook Pro (2.4Ghz, 256vram) and upgrade to 4GB RAM and 200 GB @7200 (as opposed to 5400) , or would I be better served by the mid-end MacBook Pro as is?
Excluding cost, which of these two systems would serve me better (read: which has the better performance)?
Thank you so much!
Should I get the lower-end MacBook Pro (2.4Ghz, 256vram) and upgrade to 4GB RAM and 200 GB @7200 (as opposed to 5400) , or would I be better served by the mid-end MacBook Pro as is?
Excluding cost, which of these two systems would serve me better (read: which has the better performance)?
Thank you so much!
Comments
If you do not need a computer right now, you should wait a bit to see how Apple updates the MacBook Pro. While I cannot give you an exact date as to when the update will occur, my guess is by the end of September. If you are new to the Mac world you should check out buyersguide.macrumors.com before you make purchases. Their suggestions are based on a product's update history.
To answer your question, I would get the 15" 2.5GHz model simply because it has twice the graphics memory of the low-end model. My iBook (4200 r.p.m.) is the only laptop I have ever owned so I cannot tell you whether a 7200 r.p.m. will give you noticeable performance over a 5400 r.p.m. drive. RAM is where things get sticky because both slots are used. You can pay Apple $200.00 to upgrade your MacBook Pro to 4GB RAM and be done with it, or you can get 4GB RAM from a third party for less. You can get 4GB RAM from Other World Computing (http://macsales.com/) for $92.99 to $121.99 saving you $78.01 to $107.01, but you will have to do the work yourself.
Even though everything is a rumor until Apple releases the newest model, I think there are enough possibilities for big jumps in technology (DisplayPort, Blu-ray, FireWire1600/3200, OpenCL) that you should wait to see what gets released.
Excluding cost, which of these two systems would serve me better (read: which has the better performance)?
It's fairly obvious that the middle model ( the 2.5ghz model) will be marginally faster. May be in the 5% range. Whether that's worth an additional $500 or not depends on the user I guess.
Like another poster mentioned. I would wait for the next update. Its widely speculated to be coming soon.