Which Macbook Pro?

[Brydo666]

I'm looking to buy a new Macbook Pro hopefully sometime this week and was in the Apple store having a look around at what is available.

A good friend may be able to put me in touch with a student meaning 15% off ... I have around £1,500 to spend and I done some looking into it.

So for my range I can get a 15" Macbook Pro with 2.66 Ghz Core 2 Duo, 4GB RAM, 320GB HDD (5.4K) and a Wireless Mighty Mouse.

However for the 17" Macbook Pro with the same specification and without the Wireless Mighty Mouse I am looking at is £156 more.

Is it worth the £156 more? I know the screen resolution is slightly higher and it has longer battery life (Though it'll be plugged in 90% of the time anyways).

Or for the same price I can get the top spec iMac 24" ... but the portable would look less out of place as it would be sitting in my living room.

The only other thing was the fact the Apple website says 'NVIDIA GeForce 9400M + 9600M GT with 512MB' for the higher spec 15" and 17" ... What does that mean? Is the 9400M integrated and 9600M GT the dedicated?

Thanks in advance.

[blaggard]

Seriously the Macbook pro is a peach but if you don't need the higher spec (800mg firewire etc) get the 24inch iMac, it won't look out of place and it will give you a hard on!!

[TIN CAN]

Seriously the Macbook pro is a peach but if you don't need the higher spec (800mg firewire etc) get the 24inch iMac, it won't look out of place and it will give you a hard on!!

As above mate, Imac 24 inch all the way it seriously does give you a hard on lol. When i unwrapped mine i was over the fooking moon.....

[Brydo666]

I may need to take a look at that then, one problem is very little space on the shallow desk ... my current laptop (Dell XPS M1730) only just fits on and I currently have a 24" display sitting next to that for the Xbox 360.

My Desk on Flickr - Photo Sharing!

[blaggard]

Move the 360 off the desk and the 24 inch iMac will look wonderful on the left there!!

[ZX7R]

Has the iMac got a VGA in? I guess that's what Chris needs for his 360? Same problem here and I'm looking at an iMac too. I guess I'll just have to have the two monitors on my desk and use the extra one as an extended desktop for the iMac

[TIN CAN]

Imac have vga out not in so you can't connect a xbox360 however people have done so by buying extra kit, google the set up and people talk about eye tv and other stuff too

[Brydo666]

Hmm... done a little bit of research and it seems like the Xbox 360 will lose a little bit of its quality that way - which isn't the best.

I think its between the 15" Macbook Pro and the 24" iMac - just need to make a decision on which one now.

[TIN CAN]

Well personally unless you want a portable macbook i would go with the Imac everytime. The size and quality of the whole system is unreal. I would only really go macbook pro if i wanted a poweful but portable solution too. Do you need portability?

I have an Imac and a macbook. Why not get your education discount through your mate and look at the Imac and macbook too? Best of both worlds lol.

[Brydo666]

Haha - baby on the way and not allowed to spend 'Over the odds' on a new laptop!

I don't need portability at all, so thats one positive to the iMac.

How hot does the iMac run and how does it consume power compared to the Macbook? It'll be running a fair bit for torrents and stuff so thats one of the only real differences.

I'd doubt it runs anywhere near as hot as the current Dell I have, it's unreal.

[TIN CAN]

Haha - baby on the way and not allowed to spend 'Over the odds' on a new laptop!

I don't need portability at all, so thats one positive to the iMac.

How hot does the iMac run and how does it consume power compared to the Macbook? It'll be running a fair bit for torrents and stuff so thats one of the only real differences.

I'd doubt it runs anywhere near as hot as the current Dell I have, it's unreal.

My Imac does not run hot at all. In fact even noise from it is mimimal, i mean i can't even hear it running. As for power consumption 280w at full bore which is a lot but you will never get it that high. I think the average is around 100w under normal use which is quite good.

Spec: http://www.apple.com/uk/imac/specs.html#specs

[TIN CAN]

macbook pro i have no hands on experience but stats below:

http://support.apple.com/kb/HT2836

[Brydo666]

Excellent, thanks.

The iMac looks not too shabby at all.

[gazza341]

i was a mac newb and went for a 13" macbook 4 years ago.

today it is still going strong, the only things i have changed are the memory (i upped it to 2gb immediately) and then the hard drive, just for more storage.

i love it to bits still today and was glad i went for the macbook as the 13" screen means the size of the overall macbook makes it more practical and portable

regards

gazza

[Brydo666]

Now writing from a nice new iMac 24".

Can't fault it at all, runs amazing and the display is outstanding.

I went for the lower range one, Core 2 Duo 2.66 Ghz & 4GB Ram - has the smaller 640GB hard drive but couldn't justify paying the extra for the higher range.

[TIN CAN]

Nice one fella now check out the mac section about best software etc ..........
You will love it mate for a long time to come!!

[FourRings]

A good friend may be able to put me in touch with a student meaning 15% off ...

So when are you taking me for a pint then? 15% of that kinda cash is a fair few beers mate!

[Brydo666]

So when are you taking me for a pint then? 15% of that kinda cash is a fair few beers mate!

Anytime your free bud, I'm always game for a beer.

Still can't believe the whole deal with the numeric keypad thing... bit lame but I'll buy it if I feel I need it - the shortened ones actually not too bad.

[listuk]

I would suggest the following with regards to costs:

- make sure you get the higher education discount (for Uni students), not the standard education discount - you will get a 3 year warranty with the higher education discount
- make sure you go through quidco - they might refuse now but i was able to get it on top of the education discount
- if you can wait till Sep/Oct to take advantage of the free ipod offer. plus you might get a free printer
- signup for an American express with the 5% cashback for a further discounts

[blaggard]

Post number 15, he bought an iMac??