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    Which macbook pro should I get?

    Discussion in 'Apple and Mac OS X' started by Dangling, Feb 5, 2012.

  1. Dangling

    Dangling Newbie

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    Hi everyone! I am planning to get a mb pro in the next week or so. I would like to use it for casual gaming(league of legends) and some basic video encoding. I have been looking online and I think that the mp pro 13 inch would be right for me. And my question is should I get the basic 2.4ghz or 2.8ghz? Would there be a noticeable difference between the two?

    Btw, this would be my first mb and I plan to upgrade the harddrive to a sdd later bymself. Also, does the macbook pro get very hot when playing games or doing video encoding?

    Thank you for your help!
     
  2. Ryan

    Ryan NBR Moderator

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    Macbook Pros tend to get hot when playing games or stressing the CPU.

    With heat, the i7 tends to heat up a lot. I've only used the i7 Airs and they heated up relatively easily, but I do not know for certain what MBP 13"s are capable of.
     
  3. kornchild2002

    kornchild2002 Notebook Deity

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    I would not pay for the i7 MBP. I purchased one and, if I were to do it again, I would have just gone with the i5 version and out the extra cash into additional RAM and an SSD upgrade (aftermarket, not from Apple). The i7 really is a great performer even for a dual-core CPU but so is the i5. I had a friend who purchased the i5 version of the 13" MBP and, before I installed an SSD drive in mine, I could not notice a difference between the two. Mine could do perform video encoding tasks a little quicker (by a few minutes, nothing major) but it was nothing to get up in arms over.

    In general, MBAs and MBPs tend to heat up more than most other notebooks. That has to do with their ventilation design (air pretty much just flows in and out from the display hinge) and the fact that aluminum conducts heat, it doesn't insulate it. The unit will heat up more when the CPU/IGP is being over locked. I can tell you that my i7 MBP did heat up to higher temperatures on the keyboard and bottom especially when it was over clocking.
     
  4. Wolfpup

    Wolfpup Notebook Prophet

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    No. It wouldn't.

    For the former, you basically NEED the 15" Macbook Pro. For the latter, it'll double your speed, which isn't a bad thing.

    The cooling's not the greatest.
     
  5. Lieto

    Lieto Notebook Deity

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    basic 13 model should be plenty for your needs. However i am not sure if it would be pleasant to do said encoding and lol on 13 inch screen. If its your primary notebook i d try to grab basic 15 incher.

    p.s. hello to fellow lol player btw )) Can tell you from my own experience that i never hear vents while playing lol and it doesnt get hotter at all. Its quite a basic game.
     
  6. doh123

    doh123 Without ME its just AWESO

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    better to get the 2.4 and save the extra cash to get a SSD.