What's diff bt macbook & macbook pro? $944 vs $1,400 - 2.26ghz vs 2.56ghz

I was just about to buy the 13" macbook pro 2.53GHZ with 4GB ram, 256GB HD space for $1,400
MacMall.com - MacBook Pro

then I just saw the regular macbook 13" 2.26GHZ with 4GB and 256 HD for $944
The New MacBook, completely redesigned, better in every way.

Do you know if there is much difference if any between the macbook/macbook pro? How much difference would it be between the 2.26GHZ and a 2.53GHZ? Is that a lot?
For use with Canon 5d, Lighroom 2/3, and CS3
$450 seems like quite a big difference for .25GHZ, although I have no idea how much a small amount of GHZ can effect speed...or maybe it is more dependent on memory than GHZ for my applications.

Thanks again for the help!
Matt

Take a look at this comparison chart from the Apple website.

Hi

There isn’t much between them at all. You won’t notice the speed difference unless you were doing heavy video editing, then the Pro would probably render 5 to 10 seconds quicker than the Macbook, but for the sake of that is it really worth it? By all means if you need those extra few seconds then get the best you can afford, but I think if time is that valuable then you should be looking at the absolute biggest spec you can comfortably get and be looking at the bigger 15” or 17” specs.

One thing though….the White Macbook is only 2GB RAM, therefore you would want to upgrade that to 4GB which is around $60, so you will need to add this on to the $944 (don’t buy the RAM from Apple if you want to save money, get it from somewhere like crucial.com).

There are other minor differences, like the Pro model having a backlit keyboard, SD card reader, Firewire 800 port and also an apparent 60% better color saturation, but I can’t tell the difference to be honest!). Also the Pro is aluminium, so its personal preference on what you need/prefer, rather than which one is faster, because if that is all that mattered to you, I would say the White Macbook is more than capable of performing well for your needs.

Hope this helps,

Andy

If you'll be using it for working with photographs, then I would highly recommend you get the Pro model just for its far superior screen.

The touch pad us the best on the market, the keybord lighted when the light is to low and more

I would highly recommend you get the Pro model just for its far superior screen

Click to expand...

I wouldn't personally class the Pro as having a far superior screen, they aren't that different at all if you look at the new white macbooks, both have glossy LED and unless you're a serious graphic designer, I doubt they would be noticeably apart. Anyone who is that heavily into graphic work should probably stay away from glossy anyway and go for Matte, due to visual inaccuracy.

They have the same track pad too, although yes, there is no backlit keyboard.

thx for the info guys! It will mainly be for editing raw files and huge batch processing from the canon 5d 13MP camera and maybe bigger ones soon with a new camera.
Not too concerned with the screen as most of my editing will be done on a hooked in MOnitor; but while on the road I guess I will be editing on the laptop screen. Is the new macbook virtually the same screen as the macbook pro then?
I think the new macbook also comes with 4gb ram for $944...thought I saw that.
Since there is a new macbook upgrade; you think that there will be a new pro in the works as well?
thx

‘Virtually’ is probably the right word. Yes they have indeed upgraded the new macbook to almost the same standard with a glossy LED, it used to be non glossy LCD and there was quite a noticeable difference. The pro is supposed to have a 60% greater color saturation, this sounds like a lot and you would think it would be clear as day to tell the difference, but honestly….I can’t. Perhaps get yourself down to the local apple store and see for yourself, put them side by side for an accurate comparison.

The macbook has only 2GB RAM for $944 (click the link you provided) but it can easily be upgraded. Something to probably note is you can upgrade the pro models to 8GB and the macbook is only 4GB, but that’s enough for what you’re doing and will be for quite some time.

Apple don’t give out any info on new releases, so at the moment there are rumors of a Pro refresh, this is quite likely to happen due to the 2 models in question being so similar and the pro not really being a ‘pro’ without a bump on specs. It will probably just be a slight processor boost and 4GB RAM as the base option. There is also rumor of core processors going into the line up too, but again, it’s only rumors and this might not happen until 2010. If you need a new mac now then go out and buy one as the refresh probably won’t warrant a delay on your desire or need to have it. My guess would be November/December for the refresh to happen though.

Good luck with your purchase!