Macbook Pro 2.4 or 2.53

I'll buy a new laptop for use some architecture work and graphic design. For some program, ie. Photoshop , Sketchup , 3D Program (3dsmax-bootcamp or Maya-Mac OSX). Base on 9600GT for display adaptor. Which CPU is better for rendering?

Macbook - Intel P8600 w/2.4 Ghz. 3MB Cache L2 Cache and Macbook 2.53 T9400 w/2.53 Ghz. 6 MB L2 Cache. Both are same on FSB 1066 mhz.

I've already heard that fast CPU can perform a short time for rendering. In this case P8600 and T9400 , A little bit different for clock speed. But L2 Cache are not same. 3MB and 6MB.

To save my budget. Is it worth for T9400? Or P8600 is enough. How to choose CPU? L2Cache can help on rendering??? Apple offer Macbook 2.4 and 2.53. For me, DDR3 Ram can be add later and I already have my Notebook HDD.

Please give me some advise. Thanks.

 

you lost 256mb video ram too between the two model?

 

get a ssd later- will speed up+ RAM once prices go down- same applies to ssd's you'll see in 2009.. as Intel and Samsung will battle to win the market

 

I just picked up the 2.4 GHZ version last night and I'm exchanging it today. I purchased mine for gaming and photoshop stuff. I previously owned a 17 inch mbpro and I'd swear it was faster than this one. My old one was was a core duo 2.16 with 2gigs of ram and 5400 rpm HD and I didn't get the same lag(little clock next to the cursor) while the computer is deciding what to do next. I considered upgrading the ram to 4 gigs on this one but I've read about issues with 3rd party ram and apple wants 150 bucks to upgrade. I hope having more memory, larger cache, twice the video memory, bigger hard drive will make me feel better about spending 2300 bucks on a 15 inch laptop.

 

It's only to vary from program to program as to whether you'll see much of a bump beyond what the clock speed difference gives you.

Considering the RAM by itself is worth $130ish, you're basically paying $370ish for double the video RAM (really a more reasonable amount for today's games), and one speed grade faster CPU. It's...I don't know, not great, and not a total rip off either.

 

I was just in the same predicament as you are: pondering about cache, MHz, memory, hard drive, video ram... I tried to check out from 1st hand experience from local apple stores but none of them has 2.53 Macbook Pro on displayed. A demo 2.4 machine was ...hmm.. 'fast but not that lightning fast'. My requirement are to do Photoshoping, some OpenGL programming, and serious development (Database, Java and even Windows), hi-def movies watching, but no gaming.

I had been searching the website like crazy for all possible performance experience and benchmarks. Somes said you can't feel it while some says you may feel like 5% and there were debates about it. The benchmark numbers says they're no more than 5%-10% difference in a few situations. The problem is, all the benchmark were done on the ready-shipped apple models, but how about if we add 2GB more to the 2.4 model and faster hard drive? Too bad, no benchmarks did that.

So, what I can derive from the webboards and benchmarks are:
1) Since there were widely controversies between the people who have been using each model, it means their performance difference is not easily seen by human eyes.
2) If the 2.4 gets the score mark as 10, the 2.53 may have 11 (max 10% faster in some applications), do u think the 1 mark difference is important? IMHO, it's not like the apps that run on 2.53, won't run on 2.4.

After checking out with a couple of my friends, who're using the 2.4 and upgraded RAM, the system become much faster and more responsive. So I ran some detail cost analysis and I decided to go with 2.4 and upgraded the RAM (unfortunately, I need more RAM now rather than 6 months later, and it was just like $8/month cheaper to wait for RAM while we have to tolerate using an underpowered laptop)

But I can tell you, if you spread the cost over a few years, the $$$ difference are slim and you can't go wrong with either one. It depends on your spending budget.

Good luck choosing one! I'm waiting for my machine now.

 

Ljay, I'm curious, once you have already exchanged it, how do find the difference between the two? Could you share your experience with everyone here?

 

I think the speed difference is noticeable immediately...mouse clicks are now instantaneous. The apple store did give me a hard time about exchanging it...they wanted to charge me a 10% re-stocking fee, which they waived after talking to two managers, so choose wisely. I am happy with 2.53 GHZ version. I do think that the 2.4GHZ version would be very close with 4 gigs. of ram and a 7200 RPM hard drive

 

There's no way you can tell the difference from a one speed grade faster CPU just from doing general desktop things. I mean you'd need to time CPU intensive things or run benchmarks to see any difference.

If there is a difference, it has to be from something else-only half the RAM or the like.

 

if you plan to keep it for a while, get the 2.53 one. if you just plan to use it for a year, or on a budget, get the 2.4.

personally i get the top of the range one. it saves you buyer remorse too! if you buy the 2.4 one, you will wonder what you're missing out on.