2.16GHz vs. 2.33GHz

I am planning on purchasing a MBP through my school's computer store. I am thinking of getting the 2.16GHz MBP and then upgrading it to 2gb of ram for $89 (I know I could do this myself for cheaper, but i would rather have a pro do it just in case). Doing this instead of purchasing the higher 15" version is much cheaper, but do you guys think the difference between 2.16GHz and 2.33GHz is great enough for me to purchase the more expensive version? Thanks for the help.

 

It really just depends if you want the extra vram or not.

 

No definitely not. That is a very small increase in speed, and it's not something you will notice in every day tasks and even gaming. Now if your doing benchmarks and heavy encoding, then you might see a decent increase. But definitely not enough to merit the extra money.

The 2.16 is more than enough, even for power users

 

The other thing that's better with the 2,33GHz version is that it has 2x Vram (256 MB instead of 128 MB), and will boost gaming perfomance. However, the price is high and it's not really worth it unless you absolutely need it. Best wishes onn your new laptop (which is quite awesome).

 

I think you're doing the right thing. It's not worth the $$$, and I think you'll see better performance for your REGULAR daily tasks with the RAM upgrade.

 

oh, and yeah, $89 is a lot! Honestly, it's not that hard. I did it on my HP ZT3000 in less than 10 minutes a year ago, and before that the only time I had unscrewed a computer was my old desktop to clean the fan.

It's easy, just make sure you ground yourself.

 

The difference between the 2.16 and the 2.33 is that the 2.33 has 2 GB of RAM [2.16 has 1GB] and 256 MB 128bit of VRAM [2.16 has 128 MB 64bit ]. A $500 difference. This is a comparison between base models not configurable.

 

Wrong. The 128MB X1600 in the MBP is 128 bit as well, which is why the performance hit is not as bad compared to other 128MB x1600s.

 

Has it always been 128bit? I recall reading that the 128MB version of the MBP was 64bit when I was searching for a good price on a MBP back in January.

 

The current $2499 MBP is not worth the price premium.

A 1 GB stick of ram is like $60.

Of course all this will prolly be moot in a few weeks.

 

Yes. Yes it has.

 

The more recent MBPs have a slightly faster X1600, so maybe that's where the confusion comes from?