03-08-2008, 11:50 AM

I'm looking at getting a new MBP 15" (my first) and am wondering if the 2.6 GHz upgrade (from 2.4 GHz) is really worth the $680 price hike. I am looking for respectable performance speed but at this point don't have any really heavy applications to run, just a lot of general purpose use. I plan on getting the 7200 rpm drive speed option. Also, from what I hear, after market RAM is a good idea over Apple's pricey stuff. Does after market RAM void any warranty as an after market HDD does...or does it? Thanks.

03-08-2008, 12:14 PM

It sounds like you don't need the extra .2GHz. I'm not familiar with the model, but maybe it also has a better graphics card, etc? (ie. you are getting more than the .2 GHz bump in processor speed). If not, ask yourself this: Do you need or just want the top of the line computer.

03-08-2008, 03:28 PM

No way worth it. You be better spending the money upgrading to the 7200 rpm hard drive or the 17 inch mbp as this now comes with a 2.5 ghz cpu. So you would have a bigger screen and slightly faster processor.

Small speed increases in the cpu won't make any noticable difference in performance.

03-08-2008, 03:29 PM

by the way, I bought a 2.4 ghz mac book pro in october and it always felt slightly sluggish compared with my 2.4ghz imac, i recently upgraded my hard disk to a 7200rpm model and its made all the difference.

03-08-2008, 03:36 PM

I've always found that when buying computers, the usual sweet spot (price-to-value) is not going to be with the top-of-the-line model. I too suggest going with a slightly slower processor, and spending money on RAM and the faster HD.

03-08-2008, 06:31 PM

Thanks for the posts. You've helped. I think for my purposes the 2.4 with 200@7200rpm will be best. Thanks.

03-09-2008, 05:51 PM

Changes in the cache size have a huge effect. You should at least get the 2.5Ghz model as it has twice the cache as the 2.4 model. I agree that there isn't much difference between the 2.5 and 2.6 models.