Buying Advice - Which 15" Refurb is Best?

Hey everyone, I know you get a ton of these Q's...but I'm in a bind and have to make a decision this weekend. I have already ordered the first of the two comp's listed (glossy), but a friend of mine brought his 15" Anti-Glare over last night and I'm having second thoughts...

My MBP use: Large photoshop projects, final cut pro editing, and X-Plane (which can be extremely taxing on the system, also XP 10 is coming out this winter which will be very heavy lifting). So make no mistake, any increase in CPU/GPU performance will be used.

The two machines:

1.) $1359 (purchased, in transit)
Refurbished MacBook Pro 2.0GHz quad-core Intel i7
Originally released February 2011
15.4-inch (diagonal) LED-backlit GLOSSY
4GB (2 x 2GB) of 1333MHz DDR3 SDRAM
500GB Serial ATA @ 5400 rpm
8x double-layer SuperDrive (DVD±R DL/DVD±RW/CD-RW)
Intel HD Graphics 3000 and AMD Radeon HD 6490M

2.) $1829
Refurbished MacBook Pro 2.2GHz quad-core Intel i7
Originally released February 2011
15.4-inch (diagonal) LED-backlit Hi-Res ANTIGLARE
4GB (2 x 2GB) of 1333MHz DDR3 SDRAM
750GB Serial ATA @ 5400 rpm
8x double-layer SuperDrive (DVD±R DL/DVD±RW/CD-RW)
Intel HD Graphics 3000 and AMD Radeon HD 6750M


Between the faster processor, much better GPU and anti-glare display, do you guys think it's worth the extra $500?

One last consideration, RadTech makes an anti-glare film ($30) that I could potentially apply to a glossy display if needed.

thanks in advance, any opinions will be very much appreciated.

Yes...this is a difficult decision. And with the graphics/video requirements you have...the better the graphics hardware the better!

First we should really compare "Apples to Apples". The first computer listed has a non-hi-res glossy display...and the 2nd computer has a hi-res anti-glare display (which costs $150 more).

So instead of comparing $1359 to $1829 ($470 difference)...we really should be comparing $1359 to $1679 ($320 difference)...plus the more expensive MBP has the 750gig HD vs. a 500gig.

The reason why I mention this is...your requirements seem to mostly revolve around having the best graphics hardware...but the extra cost of the bigger HD & the anti-glare display sort of "cloud" the cost issue.

In any case...why not consider one of these two for $1699:

Refurbished MacBook Pro 2.2GHz quad-core Intel i7 - Apple Store (U.S.)
Refurbished MacBook Pro 2.2GHz quad-core Intel i7 - Apple Store (U.S.)

The first one has a 500gig HD...but is 7200rpm. The second one has a 750 HD...but is the slower 5400rpm.

HTH,

- Nick

Great, thank you Nick.

Yeah that's a good point, I'll look at those other machines...

What are the disadvantages of the 5400rpm drive? i.e. In what situations would I notice a difference in speed?

kitvan said:

What are the disadvantages of the 5400rpm drive? i.e. In what situations would I notice a difference in speed?

Click to expand...

You may or may not actually see/notice a difference between 5400rpm & 7200rpm. Some folks notice it & some folks don't. But where you may notice speed differences are whenever the HD is being accessed or written to:

- possibly faster "cold" startups
- possibly faster loading of applications
- possibly faster saving of large or very large files (photos & videos)

The hard drive in a laptop can always be upgraded later...so if you decide to choose one of the two computers I linked...neither one would be a "bad" choice...since they cost the same & the only diff. is the size/speed of the HD (which could be upgraded later).

HTH,

- Nick