New generation 15'' MB Pro vs refurb. 17'' MB Pro? (for Graphic/Web Design)

chie_mihara

chie_mihara


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I'm a graphic designer and webdesigner and for the past few days have been going absolutely insane being rent apart by two conflicting needs.

A refurbished 17-inch MacBook pro sells for only $2200-ish, while the new generation 15-inch MacBook Pro is either 2k or 2.5K. (Ultimately, the price is not really what concerns me since they're in the same range, just varying by a couple grand or so)

I need some input from experienced, knowledgeable members who could offer me opinions pushing me to one model over the other.

Why I like the new-generation mb pro:

I'm admittedly brainwashed by the intriguing advertising/marketing that took place for this machine, and everything looks so surreal and beautiful. I'm also admittedly allured by the glass LED screen and promises of longer battery life, and the possibility of multiple graphic design projects being run quicker + more efficiently at the same time (than the 17inch MacBook Pro). [I run multiple hi-res documents in photoshop, multiple pages in dreamweaver, have itunes running the background, multiple firefox windows open [with multiple tabs], you get the point. haha, yes I have ADD but that's a separate issue]

Why I like the 17-inch Macbook Pro:

I had the opportunity of using the 17-inch one for a few days and fell head over heels madly in love. The 17-inch screen was absolutely resplendent, and I was able to work with multiple hi-res projects in photoshops simultaneously w/ ease. I'm sliiiightly leaning toward this model because of the 17-inch screen. Don't you wish they released a new generation 17-inch one as well!?

I'm very torn, and need to make my decision up rather quickly, as I have some important projects coming up and I can't keep nearly breaking my back lugging my boss's 24-inch iMac around to work on these projects at home and over the weekend.

Please throw some feedback/thoughts!

For quick, efficient, heavy-usage graphic design, does the new nvidia mbPro graphics renovation really make a difference ? Or is it something only a gamer would notice?

Thank you so much!
 
CrimsonRequiem

CrimsonRequiem


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Your Mac's Specs
MBP 2.3 Ghz 4GB RAM 860 GB SSD, iMac 3.4 GHz Intel Core i7 32GB RAM, Fusion Drive 1TB
Web based graphic doesn't need a heavy duty GPU like the new one that is offered in the new MBP.

The glossy screen is the thing that bugs me the most because as a graphic designer we need colors to be spot on and glossy doesn't cut it. Unless you want to go back to the "dark ages" with minimal lighting and hoods over the monitor. Which totally kills your eyes.

This is not an option for something that is suppose to be portable.

Either wait it out until they release a matte screen for the new version of the MBP. Or just get the old gen 17" MBP now. I'd go with the older gen but that's just me. ^-^"
 
Discerptor

Discerptor


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Your Mac's Specs
2.6GHz Core i7 15" MacBook Pro - 8GB DDR3 SDRAM - 750GB 7200 RPM HDD - GeForce 650M GT 1GB VRAM
Go with the refurb 17-inch MacBook Pro. You get more screen real estate, you have the option for a matte screen (and also LED-lit, with 1920x1200 resolution), the trackpad has a real button and the nice multitouch gestures, and the CPU is still more powerful than that in the baseline 15-inch MacBook Pro. All this and you get a real DVI port as well as an extra USB port and Firewire 400 port. Plus if you opt for the hi-res 17-inch model with the LED-lit display, you actually get more battery life (5.5 hours as opposed to 5 hours).

The only downside to the refurb 17-inch in my mind is the trouble with the manufacturing process of the NVIDIA Geforce 8600M cards, but I'd imagine that by now that's been taken care of in some way or another. You will not notice a difference between the graphics performance of the two computers unless you're working with 3D rendering. And I suppose the 17-inch model isn't quite as portable as the 15-inch model, but I think either one is a marked improvement over lugging around your boss's iMac.
 
Alexis

Alexis


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Your Mac's Specs
Al iMac 20" 2.4Ghz Intel Core 2 Duo
Well personally, I'd hate to design on a small 17" screen, so 15" would drive me mad.

I'd go for the larger screen every time.
 
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chie_mihara

chie_mihara


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thank you all very much!!!!

thanks for persuading me to the 17inch.

If I had known the advanced graphics/video card on the new generation 15'' wouldn't ultimately make that much of a speed/efficiency difference over the 17'inch, I wouldn't have even hesitated before going w/ the 17.

You're right, ultimately, the larger screen real estate is what is important for graphic/webdesign, not the latest video card.

After I get this, I'll save up to get the 24-inch LED screen so I can work at home with the 24-inch screen, and the 17-inch when I'm on the go.
 

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