12-28-2011, 10:35 PM

I am about to buy a new macbook. I have owned 3 previously including the one that i'm using now...

I don't know enough to make an intelligent decision so i'm hoping you can help me

These are the options i'm considering

Basic Macbook Pro (with or without ram upgrade to 8 gig)

Upgraded Macbook pro with i7 and 750gig drive

Macbook Air with upgraded processor


So now, the question is, which of these is the best bang for my buck?

My budget is 1700-1800... my main uses are as follows

General browsing, Netflix watching, general video use

I appreciate durability but SPEED MATTERS to me. I hate it when my computer lags opening and closing things... drives me nuts

SO... is the i7 upgrade worth the cost, is the 8gb ram worth the extra $200 and will i notice the difference, and is the portability of air worth the sacrifice of the storage space and lower processor clock

i know that's a lot of questions, but i hope you folks can help

THANK!

12-28-2011, 10:52 PM

I would buy the basic MBP and upgrade the hard drive and memory myself. Both are easy upgrades and much less costly doing it yourself than ordering it from Apple. As far as the i5 versus the i7, you won't notice the difference.

If you choose the MBA, keep in mind that the memory can not be upgraded and installing a larger SSD later on can be very costly.

12-28-2011, 11:04 PM

i won't be doing any buying and installing of my own. Whatever i get will be FROM MAC... ram, HDD, SSD... whatever i get is going to be mac installed, so i need to know what the best decision is

price is not important to me so long as i don't go over about 1750 total

12-29-2011, 11:10 AM

Originally Posted by BePrepared

i won't be doing any buying and installing of my own. Whatever i get will be FROM MAC... ram, HDD, SSD... whatever i get is going to be mac installed, so i need to know what the best decision is

price is not important to me so long as i don't go over about 1750 total

Well If you want the best bang for your buck buying RAM and a larger HDD from apple is a huge waste of money. Installation is incredibly easy and you don't have to pay Apple's extremely unreasonable prices. And for just web browsing and watching videos 4gb RAM should be plenty. I do that sort of thing on my 2006 Core Duo MacBook with 2gb RAM with minimal lag, so 4gb + an i5 processor will be fine IMO. As for HDD space, how much do you use now? Just get what you need, if you find that 500gb is too small you can get 1tb for about $100 if you know where to look.

12-29-2011, 11:39 AM

okay, so it looks like my choices are

1: the upgraded i7 processor Macbook pro
2: the i7 Macbook Air...

is the difference in speed between these to substantial?

the extra 500gigs to HD space seems to be a big deal, but i usually don't go over 175 gigs used so it's probably a non-issue

12-30-2011, 02:34 PM

Of course, my MBA loads and boots much faster than my MBP because of the 256 gig SSD. If you push 200 gig you may want a larger drive which would steer you to the MBP.

Get the fastest processor you can afford and a screen size that is comfortable for your vision and use. As many have noted, adding more memory later is a no brainer and will save you a lot of money but Apple does that well for you when you order and if that is more comfortable for you, let them do it.

12-31-2011, 05:05 PM

If i were you i would get the base macbook pro, from what you have listed it will be more than adequate for you needs and will have power to spare if you need it down the line.

12-31-2011, 05:57 PM

MBP cause you can install an SSD if you so choose down the line. Plus you can't upgrade the RAM in the MBA.