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phantomo · Oct 19, 2008, 11:44 AM

Wanted to upgrade my wife's 1GHz PowerBook 12" and waited for the new gen of MB/MBP.

Now that the new ones are out, I think the new MacBooks are overpriced especially in this economy. Looking at the refurbished units from Apple Store (Hong Kong), they are selling the last generation 2.4GHz with 2GB RAM, 200GB HD at US$250 less than the new MB.

Because the new ones are just out, I couldn't find anything regarding performance between the two machines. It is just hard to know how fast the FSB and memory subsystem increase in real usage. Which one will be faster generally? We will use this machine mostly for HD video editing, photos library and such.

Should I go for the new MacBook or save myself US$250 by going for the MBP instead? Any comments are welcome.

Thanks for your advice.

kylef · Oct 19, 2008, 01:18 PM

I was in the same situation you were - and I opted for the 2.4GHz MacBook. A notebook should be portable and I think 15.4" is just pushing it and no more. Think of the MacBook as the Ferrari F430 Scuderia and the MacBook Pro as the Ferrari F430. They're essentially the same, but once is nimbler and lighter but has the same (if not more) power.

It all depends on your budget, and how you look at things. I'm honestly not sure how the 9400M performs yet, but if you don't need firewire then I wouldn't rule out the MacBook.

Maflynn · Oct 19, 2008, 01:19 PM

Well if you think they're over priced, then get the refurb unit. Many people have enjoyed going that route.

Personally, I'm going the new route, that advantages of the new units far out weigh the small savings you'll see in the refurb prices - imho.

iREZ · Oct 19, 2008, 01:32 PM

i'm typing this on my refurb 2.4mbp with matte screen. imo, the screen alone is worth picking up a mbp refurb over a new mb. as for footprint and portability, this would've held true back in the 12" ibook/powerbook days, but the 13" is a lot larger than the 12" and the footprint alone is almost as big as a 15"...not to mention the mb only weighs one pound less than the previous mbp (.9lbs to be correct).

phantomo · Nov 16, 2008, 12:03 PM

Thanks guy, I've finally decided on the refurb 2.4. Other than the matte screen, I think another best thing is cheap upgrade to 4GB of RAM. I also upgraded the HD to 320GB myself for cheap. So far so good.

jaydon34 · Nov 16, 2008, 02:14 PM

Good choice, I actually purchased the new MB and have been contemplating going to a last Gen MBP. Being that my notebook stays docked portability is not an issue. I really fell in love with the new design and that swayed my original decision. Now that the brand new factor has wore off and rationality has set it. I released that I could have purchase a better MBP than a newer MB. Life lessoned learned new is not always better.

Big Mac · Nov 16, 2008, 03:01 PM

Yup, definitely refurb 2.4. They're a steal right now. I feel compelled to purchase a number of them. If you didn't read my other posts on the subject, I just got mine and it came looking and performing brand new - you wouldn't be able to distinguish it from a new one in any way.