Advice on MacBook Pro Configuration

Breezer

I'm in the market to replace my 4 year old 1.83GHz Core Duo white MacBook (which is still going strong and being given a new home with my mother since her Dell gave up the ghost ).

I've decided on a 15" MacBook Pro and I'm looking to get some opinions on the various configurations.

What want my my computer to do:
- Very basic stuff such as iWork, iTunes, Email, etc.
- Photoshop CS5
- Handbrake
- Probably MakeMKV at some stage in the future
- VMWare Fusion to run XP on rare occasions
- Hold its value as best as possible for 2-3 years

Processors
From what I've read, the i7 isn't really all that much faster than the i5's for everyday tasks, and is only really worth the purchase if you're into gaming and want the 512MB VRAM. I've all but ruled it out, the only thing keeping it as an option is potential resale value, since I'm not sure I'll be keeping this laptop as long as I've kept my current one.

I've also read that there's even less to choose from between the 2.4GHz and 2.53GHz, and that for most people the 2.4 offers the best bang for the buck of the 3.

Bear in mind that with the exception of Handbrake (and I assume MakeMKV) my 1.83GHz Core Duo is still fine for me. Although something that will stop Flash video making my fans go ballistic would be nice - I assume both i5 and i7 would easily cope with that though.

Drives
However, a lot of people are recommending installing 2 SSDs in RAID 0 in the 2.4GHz to really maximise performance. I want to keep my DVD drive there to be honest, and would need at least a 256GB drive in the other bay, which is beyond my budget at the moment.

I'd be looking at the 500GB 7200rpm drive. How big a hit would the 7200 have on battery life vs a 5600? Alternatively, I might get the basic drive from Apple and upgrade myself to save a bit of cash (in that I'd end up with two HDDs instead of one); how hard is it to upgrade the HDD on the unibody models vs the old MacBooks?

Screens
I've used a 13" 1280x800 glossy screen for 4 years, and I've never found it too big a problem. Glare doesn't bother me. Occasionally I've had annoying reflections, but even on a sunny day on the top floor of a building with roof and walls made almost entirely of glass I've managed to use it. That said, there have been times when I've sort of wished I had a matte screen to eliminate the reflections.

But I have seen the glossy screen on the previous-gen MacBook Pros, and there really is no comparison with my screen: they're beautiful, and the reflections are way less of an issue. Are the current gen glossies the same as the previous gen?

My photoshop work is for web design, not for printing, so I'm not too pushed about the accuracy of colours and think I'd prefer the extra vibrancy I'd get in a glossy. Would a matte hold its value better though?

Regarding high res vs standard res, I'm also a bit stuck. I know I want more screen real estate than I currently have, but I'm already upgrading to 15" from 13". Bearing in mind that I'm 23 with 20/20 vision and I'm not worried about fonts being too small, is the high-res a no brainer?

I'm going to try go and look at screens today, hopefully CompuB in Dublin have the different options on display. Anyone know of anywhere that definitely does?

Ok, sorry for the very long post. If anyone's still reading (:p) opinions and experiences are welcome please

J-blk

Breezer wrote: »

Although something that will stop Flash video making my fans go ballistic would be nice - I assume both i5 and i7 would easily cope with that though.

Flash can actually be crap on a Mac regardless of CPU - the latest 10.1 release though provides hardware acceleration using the graphics card on the current crop of Nvidia-packing Macs (ATI not supported yet AFAIK). So you should be fine on that front with any new MacBook, regardless of CPU choice.

I think you're right about CPU and SSDs - the 2.4Ghz is fine and RAID setup with large SSDs is way too expensive to be worth it currently (that said, I use an 80GB Intel X25-M v2 SSD as my primary drive and it is awesome - but I can live with most of my storage over the network or on USB drives so space never becomes an issue).

You might want to go for as much RAM as you can - even 8GB if you can afford it, though it might be better value from the likes of Crucial rather than Apple directly.

As for the high res screen, maybe consider an external monitor for those times you need the extra desktop space? Two monitors > one anyway. Though I hate the company's laptops, DELL monitors are excellent value and you get a lot of monitor for your money... Even though they are nowhere near as drool-worthy as Apple monitors, they are way cheaper and typically have a lot more in terms of available connections, USB ports, card readers, etc.

Hugh_C

I bought a refurb 17" glossy last year and put the difference in price between that and a new one towards a 24" LCD (amazing). Glossy screen is grand, hasn't bugged me yet, there again I work in a dim enough room.

I'm not sure that laptops retain much value in the 2nd hand market, so I wouldn't let that be a decider if I were you.

Oh yeah, the only reason I went for the 17" was for the slot.

Breezer

They certainly used to hold their value pretty well.

I'm leaning towards 2.4GHz i5, purchase a better hard drive elsewhere, and high-res glossy screen. The gloss on the MacBook never really bothered me. From researching around the web, those complaining seem to be people who are constantly working outside in gloriously sunny conditions. I, on the other hand, live in Ireland

Has anyone any experience with the high-res screen so? I imagine it'd be great for Photoshop with lots of tool panels, but what's it like for day to day web browsing etc.?

Breezer

Just bought it. In the end I went for the 15" 2.4 GHz i5 with the high-res matte screen and all other options as standard. Delivery by 13th-14th September - boo! But new laptop!!! Yay!!!!

What swung it for me as regards the screen was a trip to the Apple Store in Belfast. They didn't have a 15" matte model on display but they did have it in the 17", right next to a 15" glossy (albeit standard res). I spent a good while looking at photos on both, at different angles, and they seemed to stand out more on the matte. Then I loaded up the 1080p Avatar trailer from YouTube (lightning fast connection up there BTW), which I thought would be good for vivid colours, and did the same. TBH it looked fantastic on both screens.

What was less fantastic was the reflection on the glossy from the backlit advertising-hoarding type display behind me. And the fact that when I looked at the matte for a while, then immediately looked at the glossy, I actually had to refocus my eyes to see what was on screen rather than my own reflection. I was wrong in my post above: these glossy displays are far more distracting than the one used on my 1st-gen MacBook.

So matte all the way! I got an 8 GB iPod Touch too for €29 after rebate (student offer), which I'll hopefully offload to make up the extra cash I spent on the screen (I'm an Android man ). If it doesn't look like shifting within 14 days it can go back to Apple and no harm done

Elessar

Good man. I bought a 15" 2.4Ghz Corei5 MBP myself when they were released this year (glossy). It's a very nice machine. The i5 is indeed the best bang for buck, considering it's the same processor as the i7 just not clocked as high and a slightly lower L2 cache (which makes no difference to 99% of people). You have to laugh reading the Macrumors forums about people buying the i7 thinking it's so much better than the "base model".

I would have liked the extra VRAM but I'm finding the 256mb plenty for gaming (Source engine games run fantastically). For everything else I use my Xbox!

I bought a 120GB Vertex SSD and this thing screams now. I would highly recommend it. It also makes the machine completely silent, I couldn't believe how much noise the regular HDD made in comparison.

In all it's a great machine. I had a Core2Duo model and while I much preferred the older design to this one, nothing seems to tax the i5 processor at all anymore! It's great.

Talisman

Breezer wrote: »

So matte all the way! I got an 8 GB iPod Touch too for €29 after rebate (student offer), which I'll hopefully offload to make up the extra cash I spent on the screen (I'm an Android man ). If it doesn't look like shifting within 14 days it can go back to Apple and no harm done

I'll give you €30 for the ipod touch - new model will be out on Wednesday so it may not be worth €15 then.

Breezer

Talisman wrote: »

I'll give you €30 for the ipod touch - new model will be out on Wednesday so it may not be worth €15 then.

Lol, I'm well aware of that. Still should fetch slightly higher than that though I reckon. For some reason people seem to like these awful iOS gizmos