New or old MacBook Pro - decisions, decisions...

Wifes old Compaq v2000 went belly up. Bought her a 13" white Macbook as a replacement.

Now I have Mac envy.

Been looking at the 13/15" Macbooks/MBP. Having trouble deciding on which to get.
I was all set to get a refurb 13" aluminum macbook from a local store (Microcenter), but they didn't have it ready yet, it is still in service.
So, started looking at 15's. They have a refurb 15 that is the "old" model. 2.4G, 250GB, 2GB, etc.
They also have the "new" 15in - 2.4 2.53Ghz, 4GB, 250GB, etc.

The pro of the new one is obviously battery life, little faster, 8GB max RAM, etc. But the old one has the dedicated video card, SATAII (vice SATAI?) and is about 170$ cheaper.

Any thoughts/help with my decision? Or should I drop down a level and look at a 13"?

FWIW, I have a T61p with a 15" 1920x1080 screen that I'm probably going to regret getting rid of

 

FYI,sata problem was fixed.

What thasks are you going to do on it?

 

I saw something about the fix, but thought that just allowed the use of SATAII devices, just doesn't up the speeds to SATAII. (Not that I'll be hitting that limit anyway...)

I bought the T61p so I could do development, but got a graphics card in case I wanted to play games/graphics intensive tasks (hence the high resolution/screen real estate). But so far, I mostly use it for email/websurfing. I run Ubuntu on there 99% of the time.

I still want to do development on the MB(P) and will probably run a virtual machine or two on there to support that. I also bought a Mac Mini (it didn't satisfy my cravings, haha), so communicating/sharing with that might be easier with a MB.

 

I see...if you are going to run multiple VM instances,it might be good to get faster CPU.

 

Yeah, I just looked (just got home) and this t61 has a T8300 (2.4Ghz). This one is still pretty darn snappy (I think I put 4GB ram in here...). I usually only run 1 VM at a time (i.e. Windows w/in Ubuntu).

So the 2.53 GHz 13" MBP looks a lot more attractive...just wish the resolution was a little higher. Otherwise the local place has a 15" MBP with a 2.53Ghz and 4GB/250GB for just a little more (1499 vs 1529 refurb)...

Bleh, gonna head to the apple store and play with them a bit.

 

Compared the 13s and 15s at the apple store. Just not sure I could deal with a 13"...

so went to Microcenter and picked up an open box 15.4 'new' model. 2.53Ghz, etc. Opened up the box and the corner has a pretty decent ding in it - on the monitor/lid upper right corner. Also, the side of the laptop that has the ethernet port is 'bent' - it looks like someone had a cable in there and then somehow yanked it up. I guess aluminum does bend/is flexible, but it also looks likes this one took a decent beating.

So I'm gonna return it. They have the old 2.4GHz model, but I really like the idea of the long battery life with the new one. So I might just order online, or maybe keep an eye on the apple refurb site and see if any pop up.

Pretty bummed as i thought i had scored a great deal!

 

Personally, if somehow budget allows it, I would go with the new mid-range 15. It's got awesome battery life and a dedicated GPU when you need it. Also after closely comparing the new MBPs, I have to give a slight edge to the 15, in terms of display quality, over the 13. For any media work on the go you'll also find the 15 is much more useable than the 13 - that's just my opinion though.

Another thing to consider; I have two 15 uMBPs and the battery cover is so flimsy and bends so easily that they have both developed an uneven seam between the edge of the battery cover and the bottom of the case - making it slightly uneven and pops up in 2 places - Very annoying. The new MBPs fix that with the single-piece back cover.

Speaking of budget, do know anyone enrolled in a college/university? If so, get them to get it for you discounted plus a free iPod touch.

 

ATC, unfortuantely I don't...still pretty new to the area. Wife might be going back to school in the fall, but I need one now!

Interesting about the cover...

I do really like the 15". Just wasn't quite ready to pay full price, so thought this open box special was the trick...guess not. So now I'm back on the fence between a 13 and a 15...*sigh*

 

Get the old model with a flimsy cover take it to the apple store and maybe they will replace it for you with the newer version of the MBP

 

haha, good thought.

They had another open box 15" MBP that I originally avoided because the HDD had been replaced (Western Digital 250GB vs OEM 250GB). But I took the dented one back and looked at this one and it was pristine. So decided to swap it out for that.

So now I'm a proud owner of a mostly new 15" MBP. Really glad as I don't think the 13" would have worked for me, even though the portability factor would have been nice (might pick up a netbook in the future for that).

Thanks for the help and/or listening to my thought process.

 

Maybe I missed it, but if you're willing to look at a refurb Apple's website has some. You might take a look there and you'd get the warranty to boot. Just a thought...

 

gms,

That's what really prompted this thread. I had been scouring apple.com's refurb page and checking the stock at a local store. Microcenter (local store) had two of the old 15" MBPs with the 9600GT. It was really down to one of those, or a new 13/15".

In the end I decided I wanted the new model and extended battery life over greater video performance (I rarely game on my laptops).