Please help me choose - Macbook Pro 13" 2.4 Ghz, 2.6 Ghz or 15" 2.4Ghz

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Hi,

I am planning to purchase my first MACBOOK. My usage is mainly for browsing, music, movies and occational gaming. I have been using a PC till now and want to make a shift to MAC.

On my research on MACs I find that MBP 15" knocks 13" down with resolution and graphics. But 13" also has Nvidia GeForce 320M. Do I really need higher graphics for my use? Over 15" and 13", 13" is looks sleak and easily portable and i do travel quite a lot.

Secondly among 13" MBPs, the second model has 2.66GHz processor speed. How much is this difference going to affect the performance and is it worth the extra $300. Kindly help me choose a MPB for me.

Thanks a lot ..

Cheers.
 
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Your Mac's Specs
MBP mid 2009 - 2.8 ghz 4 GB Ram, 500 gb HDD ; iPhone 3G 16GB White , iPhone 4 32GB Black,
I will tell you what I tell everyone who asks the "which processor" should I get question, if you can afford it then go for the biggest one, while you might not feel the need for it now in the future you will be kicking yourself for not getting it.

As for portability, yes of course the 13" feels more portable than the 15" which is probably also why it is highly popular with college kids, however if you plan on doing anything with video or Photoshop then the screen size might end up being a problem, also if you want to play graphic intensive games then the 15" is really the way to go.

I suggest you go to an Apple store and compare the two screens, then make the decision.

Best of luck, and let us know what you finally decide.
 
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Thanks for your reply.

I have seen 15" MBPs and feel they are slightly on the heavier side.

Coming to 13", Processor wise, 2.6 Ghz is worth the $300 is what you are saying right. I am hoping that there would be considerable difference in the speed. I also found a RAM upgrade to 8GB 1066MHz DDR3 in the 13" MBPs. Should I go for that too or is 4GB Good enough?

Thanks again :)
 
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Your Mac's Specs
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Will you see a huge difference between the two, with the tasks you are mentioning probably not, however like I said if you will need to encode a video, or convert it, then you will definitely see the difference. And once more it is better to get the fastest processor you can afford, because you can't change the processor in the future without having to buy a whole new laptop!

About the RAM, it really depends on the price, for the tasks you mentioned it should be more than enough with the 4GB, remember you can always add more RAM in the future if you feel that it is needed.
 
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I almost never think the huge jump in price for the best processor is ever worth it, unless you're a crazy power user. I think you'd hardly notice a difference.
 
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Your Mac's Specs
C2D 2.26 | 500GB Seagate Momentus | 2GB 1066 (soon to be 8)
Faster processors only show an improvement in synthetic benchmarks. You won't notice a real world difference between 2.0 and 2.4ghz dual cores for just browsing the web, email, youtube, etc. The only time a processor would make a difference is if you get an i5 vs. a core 2 duo.

As far as RAM goes, 90% of users will never use over 3gb in their day to day activities.

A SSD is the best possible upgrade you could do. Increases boot time, app loading, saving and writing files etc.
 
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you can always drop an SSD in a MPB later -- once the price/gb comes down and the reliability over time is better known. I think SSDs right now are still too early in the lifecycle.

In terms of paying for upgrades, I agree that buying as much processor as you can afford probably adds a bit more to the useful life of the laptop even if the difference in speed today for most tasks is not that obvious. You can easily add RAM and replace HDD later. Prices on SSDs should continue to drop dramatically over the next 12 months.
 
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Thanks u all for your replies..

it was really helpful.. i think i will narrow down to i5 basic model as the processor speed is really good there and its almost perfect and i need not change anything for atleast 4-5 years..


Will let you know what i get in my hand :)
 

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