hi! i will soon be shopping for my first Mac system this coming graduation. i'm thinking on getting a: Macbook 13" 2.4gHz but with upgraded RAM of 4gb or Macbook Pro 15" 2.4gHz with stock 2gb RAM (costs 1,699 as a refurb unit) my interest are browsing the web, downloading torrents (huge torrents), watching movies (i love .mkv films), rare gaming(like COD, warcraft), i'm a tech geek, and my ultimate hobby is Photography (i own a dSLR and edit photos at pixel level). so which among the two would you recommend in my case? kindly spend a second in voting, better yet respond to the thread for comments, reactions and suggestions. thank you guys!
by the way, since i will be graduating and will soon be migrating to US, this will be my main notebook so i want to make most out of my money.. with the MacBook, i might still be able to buy an external HDD. but my photographic greed screams "MacBook Pro!!!" hehe!
If you do not game much both models have identical performance. If that will be your main computer and will be doing photography then get the bigger Macbook Pro because it has a higher quality screen. But take note that the Macbook Pro can be heavy and may be a pain to carry around if you bring your notebook to take notes in class. An alternative setup is to get a Macbook and a nice good quality 20 inch external screen where you can hook up your Macbook so that you can get more screen area (very important if you want to edit photos) and better picture quality then any laptop screen.
your poll lacks one more candidate: Unibody MacBook 15" 2.53gHz 320gb 4gb RAM NVIDIA GeForce 9400M + 9600M GT with 512MB if you get this one, you'll be futureproof for a couple more years! two words: No Regrets!
well sir in that case, i go for the Unibody MacBook 13" 2.4gHz 250gb 4gb RAM. if you're not a gamer, this would do just fine! 4gb RAM is all you need.. just like having four steeds at your command! hehe! not too heavy, not too light.. just right! good luck sir! hope you find a great deal!
Your poll is wrongly constructed. Your original question asked for a choice between the MB and the MBP, and yet the MBP doesn't appear at all. You'll get flawed results here.
@soloworx: Yup looks like he forgot to add the word Pro on the 15" option. I'd go for MBP since you like to PP your shots. Bigger screen and better graphics.
maybe the 2nd choice was just lacking the word " Pro." besides, wala naman pong 15" Macbook right? i guess it's just common sense to realize that the 2nd choice is referring to the MBP.
Is this HS or College graduation? If you're now going to go to professional work, the MBP but if you just lug it around and edit stuff, then MB it is, just tweak the settings of the screen.
Given your circumstance i'd go with the MBP for the reason of practicality - you said you wanted to get the most out of your money and that this will be your primary computer in the States. It has two video cards, enough power to make a great primary computer, and juice to do a job that may arise in the future. To me lugging around the 15" and the 13" is the same given that they're both almost the same weight and they're both .93" thick. On the plus side if you save enough money in the US and wait for RAM prices to go down you can still end up with a machine with 4GB ram in the future. Can't go wrong with the Pro IMHO
since i'am a MB13' unibody user here.. i recommend the macbook 13' unibody.. i have nothing to say about the 15inch unibody.. hands down to MBP! hehe!
Its rather the foot print that is the problem not exactly the weight. My gf recently got a unibody Macbook and the small form factor is really nice for slipping in and out of bags and taking it around. Compared to my good old Macbook Pro which really is like a lunch tray As for the video card. The only advantage you can get with faster video cards is if you game a lot or edit movies. Otherwise for the tasks the OP does like Photography both 2.4 Ghz models have similar performance. As for future-proofing. Its pretty much impossible to future proof laptops of any sort because in a year from now when the new mobile chips from intel comes out even the fastest clocked laptops will be overshadowed by the new mobile Core i7's performance. Just take what you need now and enjoy it, its not going to magically become slower when the new laptops come anyway.
is the screen of the MacBook 13" really bad compared to the Pro? especially for photographers who are sensitive to colors. i've seen them both @ Trinoma i didn't notice much difference since i just tried them for less than 5 mins. hehe! @rdy0329 College sir, finishing up BSN degree.
The screen is decent but if you are serious with your photography you should get an external monitor anyway. I have friend who is a professional photographer for a big magazine and he uses a old first generation plastic macbook for the portability and large 24 inch monitors if he want to do color proofing and serious photoshop work.
I Agree on this one. It's really hard to future proof any electronic gadget, even the higher end of the line. Most notebooks bought nowadays would last you a minimum of 3-4 years ( depends on how much you crave for the latest ones ). A thing to consider, since this will be your main notebook: lack of firewire port on the unibody macbook. If you think you'll not gonna use a HDV/DV camera (I think most video cams(AVCHD cams) nowadays are using USB ) and most of your external peripherals are all in USB interface, go for the unibody macbook. But if you got the extras and you think you'll still gonna use a firewire peripheral, go for the pro. Still consider how often you'll gonna use the firewire port. Consider the price difference to hassle ratio, hehehe... Just get what you need and what your budget can afford, you can't go wrong on either of the two. Off: One way I do in order not to crave for the newer and faster ones is not to try them, even on a store. This is maybe the reason why I felt no slow down on it. 5 years in service and still counting. I even use this notebook to transfer HD videos from my HDV cam. Yes, the lack of firewire port on the unibody macbook is the reason why I can't dispose my previous notebook.
I would actually suggest to the OP to wait till you get to the US and buy the laptop that you end up choosing. After looking at the apple store, you'd end up saving quite a lot of $$$. Just my 2c.
Actually there are also taxes to consider it's not much different, but for the sake of lugging it, I suggest buying it there too. I had my first mac since January 2006 pa, I still seem to think it can handle my work, a little slow on other things but I haven't upgraded anything yet and I have no plans of selling it. I will wait til' 2010 to get a new NB so that I can quench my thirst as Mr. Asyong said. Find a laptop that will suit you so that it won't disappoint you. I still prefer MB though, it's portable but doesn't waste processing power and won't hurt your back. a perfect mix of MBA and MBP with just a little downgraded screen. It's an issue for photographers because it will affect the final color outcome of the product since MB has less quality LCD screen. But as they have said, even if you were to buy a laptop, you will need a bigger monitor sooner or later.
