Macbook Pro Debacle

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dutnguye

2[H]4U
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Nov 3, 2005
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So here is the story, i have the macbook Pro 17" 2010 Model, it's the core i7 2.66, 8gb ram, 1920x1200 resolution and it's matte screen.
I have a really good deal on the latest 15" 2011 model with quad core 2.0ghz, 8gb ram, but the resolution is only 1440x900 and it's glossy screen.

Now i prefer the matte over the glossy and the high resolution of the 17" over the 15", however the sandy bridge quad is tempting. In a perfect world, i can just buy the new 17" with quad and be done with it. However, i can only pick one of the 2 above. What should i do, is the 15" warrant an upgrade over my current 17"

Any input would be great
 
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I would say it's only worth it if you use your mbp in a cpu-intensive manner a lot. Otherwise in your day to day activities the screen will make more of a difference than the speed of the cpu. My vote is stick with what you have unless the new cpu will drastically increase your workflow (assuming you have any workflow to speak of).
 
I'd stick with the 17"

Screen/Resolution over CPU Power and your current i7 aint a slouch either.
Screen is something you pretty much look at all day
 
thanks guy, the 17" is great, i guess i'm just fascinate with the newer quad because it's newer, but Jasox82 is right, i do look at the screen all day and it would be better to stick with the 17
 
Good call. My 2011 15" MBP has the hi-res 1680x1050 screen. I'd never go back to the 1440x900 and I think you'd hate it after having your 1920x1200 screen.
 
Yeah, the screen resolution is a deal breaker. You have to look at that screen every moment your on the computer. You'll hate it.
 
I had the 15" and was initially turned off by the 1440x900, but then I just hooked it up to an external display. Problem solved :)
 
dutnguye said:
thanks guy, the 17" is great, i guess i'm just fascinate with the newer quad because it's newer, but Jasox82 is right, i do look at the screen all day and it would be better to stick with the 17
Click to expand...

But but ..I said that first :)
 
Also, the unit with a 2.0GHz processor is mated to a much slower Radeon 6490 with only 256mb VRAM. You need to go up to the 2.2GHz to get the 1gb Radeon 6750.
 
Upgrade the 15" to the matte 1680x1050 display, best of both worlds.

The 2011 models are very good if you need a performance boost. Barefeats has quite a few benchmarks up, the Sandy Bridge CPU and AMD GPU are a surprising upgrade over models from only a year before. I generally keep my desktop and laptops for 2-3 years, but this year's spec bump was the rare case where an upgrade after only a year made sense to me.

Of course, if you don't need the boost for encoding or games or whatever then don't sweat it. :)
 
The MacBook Pro's have had a spec bump, so if you're still planning on buying it's probably a good time. The base 15" now has a 2.2GHz quad-core i7 and 6750M 512MB graphics. I'd go for the newer machine if you're going to make use of the CPU or GPU but keep in mind this unit might be hotter (and quite possibly louder) than yours since it's got a more powerful CPU and GPU.
 
Debacle? Well, personally, I would stick with the 17 inch model since others have said, the screen is what you have to look at all the day long. Sounds like you may have just been bitten by the upgrade bug, happens to all of us from time to time. :D
 
Serpico said:
Upgrade the 15" to the matte 1680x1050 display, best of both worlds.

The 2011 models are very good if you need a performance boost. Barefeats has quite a few benchmarks up, the Sandy Bridge CPU and AMD GPU are a surprising upgrade over models from only a year before. I generally keep my desktop and laptops for 2-3 years, but this year's spec bump was the rare case where an upgrade after only a year made sense to me.

Of course, if you don't need the boost for encoding or games or whatever then don't sweat it. :)
Click to expand...

thats what i did!

except im on the nv gt330 chip =(
 
The new base 15" is a good buy. I wonder if next year's update will bring higher rez screens and SSD as standard features.

I wish the gfx would have been configured this way since the last big update. I'd have liked to have that 6770, but I may have opted for the base 15" with a 6750 to save $$$.
 
I have a 15" 1440x900 and it is no too bad to work with, but you would be going from a high res screen and downgrading. Don't do it, you'll hate it.

That said, get VERY used to expose, and gestures, and it can make the screen seem much larger, and makes great use of the smaller screen real estate, and I'd imagine its even better on a high res screen. Mine doesn't have the multitouch pad, so I use hot corners, which work well for very fast activation of expose. I push the 24" iMacs in the design lab out of the way so I can use my personal laptop, because with the way I set it up, I am MUCH faster working on designs even on the smaller screen.
And when I say "very used to", I mean I can make people sick watching me with how fast windows fly around and on and off the screen as I throw my mouse to the corners the second the thought hits me to look at the desktop, or drag something from one program to another, etc.

Getting a solid work flow and getting used to doing it will help your productivity much more than a boost in proccessing power.
Hell, mines a C2Duo lol
 
I actually prefer glossy screens (i think they look better and actually increase readability when there's a lot of glare) and don't mind the lower resolution at all since it makes text more readable.

But I'm still gonna say stick with your 2.6ghz mbp. The 2 extra cores you get with the sandy bridge i7 don't do a whole lot when it comes to probably 90% of your computing tasks. (pulled that figure out of my ass) However, 2.6ghz to 2.0 ghz is a huge drop and "turbo boost" doesn't really seem to do anything. I have the 2.2ghz sandy bridge i7 and it feels sluggish compared to my 2.8ghz core 2 duo e7200. I'm annoyed by how much faster my friend's older dual core macbook pro feels.
 
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