Sidebar Sidebar
Become a MacRumors Supporter for $50/year with no ads, ability to filter front page stories, and private forums.

Help! New To Mac! What Option?

U

ukmac23

macrumors newbie
Original poster
Oct 18, 2008
9
0
Hi I'm buying a new Mac soon to do CAD and other PCB things or school, CS4, Sims 2 etc. Whick option is best for me? I was going to wait until Nehalem to get a Mac and stick with my PC but I cant its soooooo slow!
Apple - Macbook Pro 15-Inch 2.53GHz
4GB Memory
320GB Hard Drive
NVIDIA GeForce 9400M + 9600M GT with 512MB
£1,485.00
Apple Remote £12.76
Apple - iWork '08 £46.00

SubTotal £1,543.76
FREE Del £0.00
VAT @ 17.5% £270.16

Grand Total
£1,813.92

Apple - Macbook Pro 15-Inch 2.53GHz £1,485.00
2.8GHz Intel Core 2 Duo £175.00
4GB Memory
320GB Hard Drive
NVIDIA GeForce 9400M + 9600M GT with 512MB
Apple Remote £12.76
Apple - iWork '08 £46.00

SubTotal £1,718.76
FREE Del £0.00
VAT @ 17.5% £300.78

Grand Total
£2,019.54

Apple - MacBook 13-Inch 2.4GHz (Aluminium) £975.00
Apple - iWork '08 £46.00
Apple - Remote £12.76

SubTotal £1,033.76
FREE Del £0.00
VAT @ 17.5% £180.91

Grand Total
£1,214.67

Apple - Macbook Pro 15-Inch 2.4GHz £1,189.00
Apple Remote £12.76
Apple - iWork '08 £46.00

SubTotal £1,247.76
FREE Del £0.00
VAT @ 17.5% £218.36

Grand Total
£1,466.12

Or a top end MB and a 24" LED Display plus iWork and a remote.

Thanks
 
If you're going to be doing heavy graphics stuff, you're going to need/want the MacBook Pro.
 
The Macbook Pro display is better than the Macbook, so if that is important to you, best go with the MBP. Also if GFX speed is important, go with the MBP too.

iWork will come pre-installed, so save your money and try it for free for a month before forking out for a licence.

You can buy 2 Apple remotes from eBay for the price of 1 from Apple themselves.

Also memory is cheaper from eBay as well, but it won't be covered under warranty if you go down that route.

Get as much hard disk space and memory as you can afford. You can never have too much.

Get Applecare - especially for a laptop. You'll regret it afterwards, but you can always buy this before the year warranty is up.
 
ukmac23 said:
Hi I'm buying a new Mac soon to do CAD and other PCB things or school, CS4, Sims 2 etc. Whick option is best for me? I was going to wait until Nehalem to get a Mac and stick with my PC but I cant its soooooo slow!
Apple - Macbook Pro 15-Inch 2.53GHz
4GB Memory
320GB Hard Drive
NVIDIA GeForce 9400M + 9600M GT with 512MB
£1,485.00
Apple Remote £12.76
Apple - iWork '08 £46.00

SubTotal £1,543.76
FREE Del £0.00
VAT @ 17.5% £270.16

Grand Total
£1,813.92

Apple - Macbook Pro 15-Inch 2.53GHz £1,485.00
2.8GHz Intel Core 2 Duo £175.00
4GB Memory
320GB Hard Drive
NVIDIA GeForce 9400M + 9600M GT with 512MB
Apple Remote £12.76
Apple - iWork '08 £46.00

SubTotal £1,718.76
FREE Del £0.00
VAT @ 17.5% £300.78

Grand Total
£2,019.54

Apple - MacBook 13-Inch 2.4GHz (Aluminium) £975.00
Apple - iWork '08 £46.00
Apple - Remote £12.76

SubTotal £1,033.76
FREE Del £0.00
VAT @ 17.5% £180.91

Grand Total
£1,214.67

Apple - Macbook Pro 15-Inch 2.4GHz £1,189.00
Apple Remote £12.76
Apple - iWork '08 £46.00

SubTotal £1,247.76
FREE Del £0.00
VAT @ 17.5% £218.36

Grand Total
£1,466.12

Or a top end MB and a 24" LED Display plus iWork and a remote.

Thanks
Click to expand...

I though that auto cad was never made for a mac.
How come why not?
 
Are you a student? Those prices you were quoting don't look like you're getting an education discount on them. Even if you're not at Uni but at school and 18 or over, you can also get a discount, just that it's not as big.

If you are going to be doing lots of CAD modelling and rendering, I would be looking at the Pro. I am an architecture student and have just ordered a new 2.53GHz Pro, for the bigger screen and also for the better performance with the programs that I use.

Do you have a budget or an upper spending limit? There's an £800 difference between the high-end and low-end options that you posted.
 
I use software just for windows from my school. I think Ill use VMware Fusion as I want to run the softwrae while still using Mac CS4 and iWork etc.
 
yanny13 said:
Are you a student? Those prices you were quoting don't look like you're getting an education discount on them. Even if you're not at Uni but at school and 18 or over, you can also get a discount, just that it's not as big.

If you are going to be doing lots of CAD modelling and rendering, I would be looking at the Pro. I am an architecture student and have just ordered a new 2.53GHz Pro, for the bigger screen and also for the better performance with the programs that I use.

Do you have a budget or an upper spending limit? There's an £800 difference between the high-end and low-end options that you posted.
Click to expand...

Im not buying my parents are. Well I was wondering over the 2.53GHz as it is great, dont know about the 2.8GHz upgrade. What do you think?
 
ukmac23 said:
Im not buying my parents are. Well I was wondering over the 2.53GHz as it is great, dont know about the 2.8GHz upgrade. What do you think?
Click to expand...

Unless your doing serious nunber crunching (video encoding or 3D rendering) then it's a waste of money IMO.
 
RemarkabLee said:
Unless your doing serious nunber crunching (video encoding or 3D rendering) then it's a waste of money IMO.
Click to expand...

Probally not - 2.53GHz looks great. Whats the real differnce between the 2.4GHz and 2.53GHz GPU?
 
I think the 2.4GHz will be okay. is it? plus you said your selling for nehalem then that should be okay plus you can save.
thanks
 
ukmac23 said:
Hi I'm buying a new Mac soon to do CAD and other PCB things or school, CS4, Sims 2 etc. Whick option is best for me? I was going to wait until Nehalem to get a Mac and stick with my PC but I cant its soooooo slow!
Click to expand...

For CAD and stuff, have you considered a Thinkpad?
 
Su

SketchUp really doesn't need a lot of power to run (im currently running on a 2.1 singlecore centrino), but if you want to render your images in Podium og Kerkythea it might be a god idea with more speed. CS4 will also have GPU acceleration for rendering, but I have no idea on how this will vary from 256 to 512 mb.
 
Don't add iWork to your order when configuring the laptop. Instead configure the laptop then browse the store to add it and it'll only be £35. Crazy why its more expensive on the configuration page.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Register on MacRumors! This sidebar will go away, and you'll see fewer ads.
Top Bottom
Back