[eternalfrost]

im looking at getting a mac laptop for school. it will be used mostly for basic 'office' type stuff and some light-weight photo work maby. I also like to play the ocassional game.

I really like the macbook design, but am a little hesitant about getting something with such a seemingly small screen. what do you MB owners think about the screen size? if only they made a 15in MB that would be perfect!

also, game performance wise, would the MB with 2GB ram and the 64mb "gpu" be semi-comparable to the MBP with 128MB GPU and 512mb ram?

I would really like the extra screen size but the major price hike for very similar machines under the hood is turning me off. if i just take the extra few hundred savings from the MB and max out the ram with a 3rd party and maby a desktop monitor?


with student discounts etc:

MB 2Ghz - 512mb - 80GB + 2GB 3rd party ram = $1379

MBP 2Ghz - 512mb - 80GB = $1889

$510 difference. any suggestions for a nice flatpanel monitor that would be compatible for this price or lower?

[Cadaver]

For the most part, the machines are identical speed-wise for raw processing power and memory bandwidth. And you can always upgrade the MacBook's internal hard drive to a faster unit if you need (no 7200 rpm option from Apple)

Graphics performance, however, is a different story. The MacBook's integrated graphics can't even dream of keeping up with the MBP's Radeon X1600 GPU (even the 128MB version).

For the occasional game, the MacBook will be OK if you turn the eye-candy down and play at a low resolution. On the otherhand, the MacBook Pro w/ 128MB VRAM will handle all modern games (Mac and PC games with Boot Camp) at high resolution with most of the eye-candy turned up. The 256MB version (the 2.16GHz machine) will do even better, as it has more room for textures.

If you feel like you'll need an external monitor if you buy the MacBook, just buy the MacBook Pro and skip the external monitor.

Just to confuse things, the MacBook does have the advantage of size - if you're taking your machine to class, the MacBook will likely be easier to carry than its bigger brother.

What ever you buy, you'll be happiest with at least 1GB RAM in either machine.

[eternalfrost]

thanks for the speedy reply.

just curious, does do integrated graphics balence directly with the ram? for example with 2GB ram and 64mb shared gpu the same performance wise as one with 1.936GB ram and 64mb dedicated gpu etc?

does the MBP gpu make any noticable difference in non-gaming situations, such as photo, music and movie editing? and if so how much

[mduell]

Originally Posted by eternalfrost

thanks for the speedy reply.

just curious, does do integrated graphics balence directly with the ram? for example with 2GB ram and 64mb shared gpu the same performance wise as one with 1.936GB ram and 64mb dedicated gpu etc?

does the MBP gpu make any noticable difference in non-gaming situations, such as photo, music and movie editing? and if so how much

No, not really. The GPU is still GMA950, which is slow compared to most of the discrete GPUs out there. System memory, even at 667Mhz, is still slower than most VRAM. If you're not playing games or running some other GPU-intense apps (like Motion), you'll be fine with the MacBook.

Depends on the app. In Motion it will make a huge difference, but in Logic it will make no difference.

$450ish gets you a 20" widescreen from Dell (same panel as Apple).

I wouldn't stay at 512MB in the MBP... running even a few apps gets painful with how much memory OSX uses.