Which 15.4" SR MBP?

[RealEvil]

Hi,

I am new to Macs - in fact I am typing this on a borrowed MacBook which I love! I am about to purchase a SR MBP but I am slightly confused about which to go for.

My friend is a school teacher, so I am going to use the student/education discount. This makes the 2 prices about £1200 or £1470. So the question is - do you think that the difference in spec is worth the extra £270?

My understanding is that the specs differ in the following ways:

- faster CPU
- More VRAM
- larger HD

Are there any other differences? A few reviews I have read suggest that for games (not that I play many) there is not much difference between the 2 which is a little surprising to me - I thought the faster CPU and VRAM would make a large difference.

I will need to use Windows a lot, hopefully using VMWare Fusion so I am already consdering getting 4GB RAM (£150 extra). I will need to purchase Leopard in October as well... It all adds up!

Anyd finally (sorry for the long post), does anyone here use Vista via bootcamp/virtualised? Does Aero need a lot of VRAM? On my current laptop it sucks up a huge amount of RAM (I have a really old/bad video card which uses shared RAM). Is it possible to restrict Windows to use only the 128MB/256MB VRAM?

 

[Jamiephofe]

Hi there.

I recently ordered a MBP for myself with student discount. For an average user I don't think the performance increased between the 2.2 and 2.4 will be noticeable enough to justify paying the extra cash. My personal option was the 2.2 with an upgrade to the HD to make it a 160gb 7200rpm. I think you will notice the hard drive increase more than the CPU increase.

With student discount the MBP 2.2 with 160gb 7200rpm came to £1233.

As most people will tell you on the forum, it all depends on what you're using the machine for. Seeing as how you don't intend on using the MBP for gaming then the only increase would be the CPU. (if you opted for the better HD)

Even with the upgraded HD on the 2.2, it's still another £200 extra for the 2.4.

 

[thegreatest21]

I'm new to Mac products as well and soon to be purchasing a MBP. But having gone back and forth on both 15.4" models I am going to splash out on the 2.4Ghz model as I game quite a bit and will be doing alot of Maya/3DS Max work in my 2nd year of Uni.

As above it all depends what your using for...just go for what you think will suit your needs best.

 

[RealEvil]

Thanks - but how did you get the SR MBP with 160Gb 7200RPM HD for £1233 inc student discount?

It seems to be a 8% discount, and it works out as £1332 with the HD you specified when i check their site.

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Hi there.

I recently ordered a MBP for myself with student discount. For an average user I don't think the performance increased between the 2.2 and 2.4 will be noticeable enough to justify paying the extra cash. My personal option was the 2.2 with an upgrade to the HD to make it a 160gb 7200rpm. I think you will notice the hard drive increase more than the CPU increase.

With student discount the MBP 2.2 with 160gb 7200rpm came to £1233.

As most people will tell you on the forum, it all depends on what you're using the machine for. Seeing as how you don't intend on using the MBP for gaming then the only increase would be the CPU. (if you opted for the better HD)

Even with the upgraded HD on the 2.2, it's still another £200 extra for the 2.4.

 

[Jamiephofe]

Are you a higher education student?

Degree student discount is higher than college discount. I think the £1332 is the college discount.

Thanks - but how did you get the SR MBP with 160Gb 7200RPM HD for £1233 inc student discount?

It seems to be a 8% discount, and it works out as £1332 with the HD you specified when i check their site.

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