Seeking MBP Advice...

Like most people here, I'm considering buying a MacBook Pro. Mostly what I'll be using this mostly for school work, but since I'm a media arts major that means quite a bit of Photoshop and eventually movie editing.

I was considering the cheapest MBP, the 13" with the 2.26ghz processor. I have a 20" external monitor that I'll likely use when I'm at home, and the smaller MacBook will provide nice mobility to class.

But.. to me the extra money for the increased processor and memory seems like a rip-off. So will the faster processor benefit me greatly with my tasks? If I buy the cheaper model and increase it to 4GB RAM, will that provide a significant difference?

Or will a 13" even provide what I need? I realize the lower-priced 15" has the same specs as the higher-priced 13".

Sorry if it seems I'm jumping from place to place. Right now I'm a Windows guy with a 15" Dell XPS M1530 that I'm honestly getting sick of because I've had so many problems with it, and I've played with the iMacs in my classrooms and I like OS X.

So any advice would be helpful, thanks.

 

First of all, it is MBP, not MPB
I think that 13 inch macbook pro will fit, but I would connect with external monitor to increase my productivity.
I think that intel 2.26 Core 2 Duo will serve your need if you just like photoshop.
Editing movies is slow, even in my case, which is 2.66 Intel Core 2 Duo, 4G memory, 320G HD

 

Arggh. This is why I shouldn't post when tired. >.<

Thanks

 

I would think a faster HDD would help with movie editing? If so, you'd have to replace it on any of those choices (aside from a Mac Air w/ SSD) I would think.

I think the low end 13" is probably a good choice, provided you are willing to connect to an extra monitor (otherwise, w/o a monitor, I would go 15. I just made this decision and for me, it was 15 or bust).

Someone made a good point in another thread - by the time the 2.26GHz is 'too slow', so is a 2.5. On the plus side, you could probably sell the macbook in a year or two if it doesn't meet your needs and recoup a good amount of its value.

 

Video editing is based on cpu speed, although the difference between any mobile core 2 at two cores is not that much, only the quads are significantly faster. If your worried about the money, go with referb or used mac you can possibly get more performance if you buy a non-unibody, but in your case I wouldn't pay any more for the minimal gains.

 

I have found that there's a significant boost between my old and new MBPs. (2.4Ghz vs. 2.53Ghz) But then again the chipset is faster on the new one (FSB) as well as the RAM (DDR3).

On the same chipset speed and amount of RAM, the speed difference could be unnoticeable.

If portability is a major factor in your decision, I'd say go for the 13".

OS X handles resources very differently than Windows, you'll have a fast computer on your hand no matter what you choose.

 

If you are going to be doing any type of HD video and photo editing then any extra amount of the extra CPU clock speed will be useful. Albeit, going from 2GB - 4GB of ram will be better if you had to choose between the two.

 

The 13 inch MBP is not a great machine for video and picture editing. It has a low resolution screen, a very small stock hard drive, relatively low stock RAM, and a mediocre processor. You can upgrade the hard drive and RAM yourself, but for a $1200 machine Apple really should have included at least industry-average components.

If the XPS m1530 is serving you fine, I'd wait a year before purchasing a Mac. Next year's model will have the next generation processor, chipset, GPU, and hopefully a higher resolution screen, which is essential for picture editing.

 

Using your logic, we should wait and wait because there are always update coming

 

Now is a good time to buy Macbooks, since they've just recently been upgraded. With Apple, it is usually better to buy the most expensive stock model you can afford. However, I am sure that the base 13" MBP, or even the white 13" Macbook, will be enough to serve your studying requirements.

 

That is some bad logic to go buy since when the next one comes out, you will wait for the following one. I say buy it now and get the 2.53ghz for editing. With an external monitor productivity should be as good as the base 15".

 

I plan to upgrade the RAM and possibly the HD at some point, and as I mentioned I have an external monitor so resolution isn't a problem. So that just leaves the processor.

For heavy use, my lab provides plenty of computers, however I'd like to be fairly independent.

 

Umm the Core 2 has been out for 3 years and the 9400m for two generations. Other than the battery, June was a very light refresh. The next generation Macs will have Nehalem processors and a new GPU. If you don't need a computer now it's worth the wait.

 

You are aware that Core 2 is only a name, similar to Pentium, that is being used by Intel to brand their products? The Core 2 range of CPUs have been constantly improving, and Apple are using some of the latest core Core 2 Duo CPUs in their Macbooks. Your statement makes it sound as if the Pentium 4 was outdated in 2005 since the Pentium name had already been in use for a decade at that time.

Furthermore, although the nVidia 9400m has been around for quite a while, it is still nVidia's best integrated GPU offering, and still trounces anything Intel has to offer. So although the June refresh didn't offer much improvement in terms of the GPU, Apple are still using the best technologies to date.

 

The Core 2 is based on the Core microarchitecture, which has been out for almost 4 years now. Core i3/i5 is based on the new Nehalem microarchitecture AND runs at 32nm, meaning that it will have better performance at the same clock rate (vs Core 2s) AND have much higher clock rates.

Pentium 3, Pentium 4, and "Pentium dual core" are based on completely different technologies. Core 2s have gone through improvements in its lifetime, but they are all built on the same microarchitecture. To put things in perspective, one of the first Core 2s released, the q6600, when overclocked still blows out current generation Core 2 Extremes. So no the name that Intel gives these processors has nothing to do with anything, but the underlying technology does.

nVidia has already stated that they will build their next integrated chipset around a 45nm GPU, so you can expect large performance increases over the 9400m; Just look at the benchmark of their new mobile GPU line that was released a few weeks ago.