MacBook Pro Choice

[KarmaPolice]

I am moving to a new country and my current laptop is very heavy, and seems to be screwing up a lot lately even though it is only 2 years old. Anyway I am interested in buying my first Mac but can't decide. Should I get the macbook pro with the 256 or 512 ram. Will the difference be that large?

I play computer games occasionally and would like the ability to do so, but I don't need top settings on everything to make me happy. If the the 256 version will play all current games and upcoming ones with smooth fps on some setting I would be happy.

Just out of curiosity, does anyone have a comparison of a Macbook pro spec vs a windows bases laptop spec that is the same so I can see what the actual price difference is. Just wondering how much they charge over the other companies.

Thanks

 

[TheStu]

It is hard to get a fair comparison, even between hardware, but I'll try with a Dell XPS 1530
I configured both systems with
2.4GHz Core 2 Duo
2GB DDR2 SO-DIMMs
250GB 5400 RPM Drives
Wireless N
Bluetooth
LED backlit 1440*900 15.4" screens with webcams (Dell's is higher res cam)
Slot loading DVD burners
256MB 8600m GTs

The MBP comes with 10.5 Leopard as well as iLife

I configured the Dell with Vista Ultimate as well as Adobe Premier Elements and Photoshop Elements, and the upgraded battery.

So, it is not a completely even comparison, the MBP also has GarageBand, but the Dell has full disk encryption through Vista Ultimate. There are other things like that as well.

Final prices...
Dell: $2041
Apple: $2049

Now, I did this without any coupons, or any special deals at all, so your results may vary.

 

[sourceninja]

i just got the 2.5ghz 15inch macbook pro. So far I'm impressed. I'm going to try gaming tonight once I get bootcamp setup.

 

[Illusio]

I would go with the mac. As it can run windows and mac if you have a preference. I use my mac for everything and then boot into XP for gaming. I have the one with 256 RAM and it handles all the games I've put on it with no problems.

 

[Kmax82]

Originally posted by: Dark Jedi
I would go with the mac. As it can run windows and mac if you have a preference. I use my mac for everything and then boot into XP for gaming. I have the one with 256 RAM and it handles all the games I've put on it with no problems.

Ditto here. I was playing some CoD4 in XP the other night, and it ran great.

 

[manly]

The extra VRAM is probably useless, generally speaking.

Just get the 2.4 GHz model and the CTO 7200 rpm hard drive; or better yet, throw in the new Travelstar 7K320 once it's out.

 

[KarmaPolice]

i leave the country by the 14th of june....is there any changes that I should wait for?

 

[slugg]

Strong rumors are pointing to Apple announcing upgrades or redesigns for the MacBook and/or MacBook Pro during the WWDC - June 9th to the 13th. This will probably be too late for you to get a new model, but you could possibly snag an older model from a retail store for a cheaper price. Once Apple announces new products, the products that are being replaced are sold off very quickly.

Again, this is just a rumor, so nobody really knows. My opinion is that there will be some type of change in the MBP. My reasoning is that the MBP chassis is practically the PowerBook G4's chassis (aluminum) which was introduced in something like 2003 (off the top of my head). This makes the design roughly 5 years old - I'd say it's due for a makeover. On top of that, Intel's Montevina platform is due out some time in June, supposedly. The new top of the line iMac has a "Montevina Prototype," as Intel claims. This leads me to believe that Apple has a high priority in Intel's distribution of Montevina platforms - so this is even MORE stuff pointing to a MacBook Pro upgrade. Oh and I expect to see some NVIDIA 9x00 video cards in the MBP.

Again - just a rumor. You interpret it as you see fit

 

[randomlinh]

Originally posted by: TheStu
It is hard to get a fair comparison, even between hardware, but I'll try with a Dell XPS 1530
I configured both systems with
2.4GHz Core 2 Duo
2GB DDR2 SO-DIMMs
250GB 5400 RPM Drives
Wireless N
Bluetooth
LED backlit 1440*900 15.4" screens with webcams (Dell's is higher res cam)
Slot loading DVD burners
256MB 8600m GTs

The MBP comes with 10.5 Leopard as well as iLife

I configured the Dell with Vista Ultimate as well as Adobe Premier Elements and Photoshop Elements, and the upgraded battery.

So, it is not a completely even comparison, the MBP also has GarageBand, but the Dell has full disk encryption through Vista Ultimate. There are other things like that as well.

Final prices...
Dell: $2041
Apple: $2049

Now, I did this without any coupons, or any special deals at all, so your results may vary.

I don't believe the adobe products are fair additions to the dell.. they are a bit better than the mac iLife suite. Picasa is a far better match to iPhoto IMO. And that's free. iMovie.. that has no competition, so it's a plus on the apple side.

 

[sourceninja]

I decided to get mine, even if they upgrade the macbook pro I'm still VERY happy with mine. However, we decided to wait on my wifes because she wants a macbook, and the plastic is not very appealing. We are hoping the upgrade the macbooks to be inline with the imacs and macbook pros.

 

[AnthroAndStargate]

I have the new 15" mbp 256mb base model. It runs TF2 on max settings perfect and in OS X it runs WoW on max settings with max FPS.


The reason I didnt get he 512 model is I read on note book forums that there is a bottleneck in the graphics card that makes 512 moot - apaprently it cant even use the extra 256.

if your a student get the Apple Developer Network deal and save 400

 

[TheStu]

Originally posted by: randomlinh

Originally posted by: TheStu
It is hard to get a fair comparison, even between hardware, but I'll try with a Dell XPS 1530
I configured both systems with
2.4GHz Core 2 Duo
2GB DDR2 SO-DIMMs
250GB 5400 RPM Drives
Wireless N
Bluetooth
LED backlit 1440*900 15.4" screens with webcams (Dell's is higher res cam)
Slot loading DVD burners
256MB 8600m GTs

The MBP comes with 10.5 Leopard as well as iLife

I configured the Dell with Vista Ultimate as well as Adobe Premier Elements and Photoshop Elements, and the upgraded battery.

So, it is not a completely even comparison, the MBP also has GarageBand, but the Dell has full disk encryption through Vista Ultimate. There are other things like that as well.

Final prices...
Dell: $2041
Apple: $2049

Now, I did this without any coupons, or any special deals at all, so your results may vary.

I don't believe the adobe products are fair additions to the dell.. they are a bit better than the mac iLife suite. Picasa is a far better match to iPhoto IMO. And that's free. iMovie.. that has no competition, so it's a plus on the apple side.

Well, that is probably true, and Picasa is quite good, I use it on my Windows desktop. iMovie, iDVD, and Garageband are all Mac only, so those are pluses too

 

[Kmax82]

Yea, I haven't found anything really as easy to use as iMovie, iDVD, and Garageband. So I think that it is justified to include the Adobe products. You're trying to emulate as close of an equal comparison, and really the only option are those Adobe products on Windows. You have Windows Movie Maker, but it's pretty awful, last time I used it.