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Mac Book vs. Mac Book Pro

P

Petary791

Feb 20, 2005
4,074
8
36
Michigan, USA
#1
How much more do you really get with a Mac Book Pro? Is it worth the extra $$$? Graduation is coming soon and I'm getting a laptop, so these are my options. Things i'll be doing with it is:

-Writing papers of course
-Surfing the internet
-Handling lots and lots of music (which is held on a TB external harddrive, so internal space is not an issue.)
-Recording 1 or 2 people (I have an M-Audio 2 input interface)
-Bootlegging my band's shows probably in Garage Band
-Uploading videos I shoot on YouTube

So, do you think these things warrant getting a Pro? Is it worth the extra money for the fact that I won't need to upgrade as soon? Thanks for the advice.
 
#4
Not worth the extra.

I've got a pro, but work payed for it :-) The main win is the graphics card which is way better in the pro, but for most stuff the MacBook is fine.The other win with the pro is that the case is tougher (and looks cooler).

I actually prefer the smaller screen of the MacBook - less to carry around, and you can hook to to a big monitor when you're home.

+1 on maxing the RAM
 
#8
If you have to ask, then the Pro isn't for you :D

I'm sure you'll be happy with the MB, and adding the RAM yourself is easy - remove the battery, unscrew the metal flap protecting the RAM and HDD, and swap the modules, you're done. And unlike with most laptops, you can swap the HDD just as easily, so there's no need to opt for a larger HDD either.
 
#9
Tsal said:
If you have to ask, then the Pro isn't for you :D

I'm sure you'll be happy with the MB, and adding the RAM yourself is easy - remove the battery, unscrew the metal flap protecting the RAM and HDD, and swap the modules, you're done. And unlike with most laptops, you can swap the HDD just as easily, so there's no need to opt for a larger HDD either.
Click to expand...

HD better be easy to change, I have to replace mine.

lowsound
 
#12
>Is it really that neccessary to have 4 GB of RAM?
No, but it helps. 4BG is about $100 to upgrade from non-apple sources.
You can add the extra later. I've only got 2GB in mine, and it's fine, but I do plan to upgrade.


>And is there a really big difference between 2.4 GHz and 2.5 GHz?
.1 of a GHz - you do the maths. All things being equal (which they rarely are - bus speed is more importat) you're talking about a 4% speed increase.

Ian
 
#17
The MBP is worth it over the regular MacBook if:

a) You will be using it primarily without an external monitor - there's way more screen real estate on those bigger MBP screens (especially the 17").

b) For serious audio recording. Having the FireWire 800 interface really makes a difference for high-end audio interfaces and fast external HDs (the one on the regular MacBook is only a FW400 which is scarcely faster than USB 2.0).

c) For gaming - the MBP has a great graphics card, but the regular MacBook only has fairly bog-standard integrated graphics. You'll probably do most of your gaming in Windows mode with Boot Camp, though.

And I thoroughly recommend a 4GB RAM upgrade - Macs fly with that much RAM! :D
 
#18
Just bought mine to replace my dying Windows box...that I built 5 years ago. They are a real trip coming from Winblows land. Having to get used to a whole new animal...

That said, I am planning to get the 4GB memory for the swap this weekend. Other than that, I have a 120GB HD, 2.2GHz Intel Proc, and the stock 1GB RAM. It still runs circles around any Winblows machine I have piloted! :D
 

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