2.26 ghz vs 2.53 ghz?

Hello I'm buying a macbook pro 13 inch for college

I have a asus g50vt a1 running windows 7 for games and windows programs I need (this will sit in my dorm because battery life isn't to good cause it's a gaming laptop and because it's bulky)

I need the macbook to be portable and fast
I wont be doing anything like gaming intensive but I'm not sure what is better
my asus has 2.52 ghz and Im not sure about 2.26 ghz

Here are my choices

1
# 2.26GHz Intel Core 2 Duo
# 4GB 1066MHz DDR3 SDRAM - 2x2GB
# 320GB Serial ATA Drive @ 5400 rpm
# SuperDrive 8x (DVD±R DL/DVD±RW/CD-RW)
# None
# Backlit Keyboard (English) / User's Guide
# iWork '09 preinstalled
$1,448.00

2
# 2.53GHz Intel Core 2 Duo
# 4GB 1066MHz DDR3 SDRAM - 2x2GB
# 320GB Serial ATA Drive @ 5400 rpm
# SuperDrive 8x (DVD±R DL/DVD±RW/CD-RW)
# None
# Backlit Keyboard (English) / User's Guide
# iWork '09 preinstalled
$1,598.00

 

You mean just a MB? MBP is 15" and 17". You won't notice a difference with the faster CPU, so save your money.

 

So $150.00 for an extra 270mhz , remember you cannot change the processor on a mac as it is soldered to the motherboard so the extra price might be worth it.

 

The difference in speed is minimal. Even if you are loading the CPU 100%, you might save a few seconds here and there but IMO $150 is too much for that gain.

 

MBP now includes 13" models.

And if you are not going to be doing any intensive Video Editing or Picture Editing then you should stick with the 2.26.

 

Interesting, thanks for the update. Guess I'm a little outdated on my MBP knowledge ^^

 

yea its not like im going to be editning movies

I might do some editing but it won't be crazy

 

option 1...however,don't get upgrades from apple, buy them yourself-will save a lot of money

 

With the 13" MBP now coming with Backlit Keyboard as a standard feature, I personally would go with the first option, which is the 2.26GHz one. Good luck.

 

just curious, will there be new macbook by next february?

 

It was stated above that CPUs are soldered in for Macs, so DIY upgrades aren't possible for a CPU.

Most likely yes. Technology keeps moving forwards. Every few months there will be something newer but then you can wait forever. If you need it now, buy it now.

 

well i just was wondering because i dont need it till college si i will wait

 

not new, it will probably get a speed bump.

I never said "CPU upgrade"

 

Well if the Nehalem Mobile Chips come out Q4, we might see them in the Early 2010 models.

 

A faster hard drive or SSD will make a more more noticeable increase in performance than the CPU.

 

2.53 ALL THE WAY!!! That is the one to get. You'll appreciate the extra speed when the time for it comes. I promise.

 

i think the 2.53.

 

According to passmark, their is a approx 10% difference between the 2 processors.

 

yes but will this show when Im using the mac for the first time?

I mean It's not like I'm gaming on this laptop, I have my asus g50vt a1 for that

I am not making like feature length movies either, I may be editing and making some youtube videos but that's at the most it

I also may be making some graphical and 3d animations, will the 2.26 be able to handle that?

 

For your tasks, I doubt you will notice much (if any) difference hence why you should save your money. As other users have pointed out, upgrading your HDD to a SSD will give you a significant difference which is a lot more noticeable than any CPU upgrade you could do.

 

ill think about it....can I bring my macbook to apple later on and upgrade to a ssd?

 

You can upgrade to a SSD yourself it is very easy and does not void your warranty. There are even directions on how to do it in the instruction booklet(Everything Mac) when you buy your laptop.

 

i am highly considering getting a macbook pro 13" to replace my studio xps 1340 which i plan to sell, my question is.. should i get the 4gb through apple or just get the 2gb model and upgrade the ram myself? im going to get the 2.26ghz laptop thru bestbuy with my educational discount and their warranty for accidental damage, there is a few hundred dollar price point different between the 2.26 and 2.53 because of the ram and hd difference but cant a 250-500gb drive be-had for cheap? could i just pull apart one of my 250gb usb passport drives and use that hd? im new to macs so i dont know how all of this works..

also if i should do the ram myself where should i buy 4gb of ram from, and what name brand? i checked ebay for ram and all their ram is no-name ram, soemone who has done a 4gb upgrade i would appericate your input

 

Macs are very similar internally to PCs. For a few hundred dollars, I'd save it and upgrade it myself. Any memory that has lifetime warranty is good. Just make sure you know what type of memory you can use. I'm not sure 100% with Macs, but it will should either be DDR2-667 SO-DIMMs (older models) or DDR3-1066 SO-DIMMs (newer models).

 

Newegg.com is good for ram, also crucial.com is useful. 4gig DDR3 is $30-40, $70 for high end but you won't need that in a macbook.

 

So then I made the correct choice when I bought the 2.26 psor and a ssd, right? Do you think it needs a ram upgrade?

 

well 4gigs of ram will speed it up a little but not anything like the ssd is doing for it

Well I can almost buy the 2.26 default model 160 gig hdd, and then I will probably upgrade to 4 gigs of ram and an ssd a little later on, I was going to upgrade it right from their website but that costs more and I want to buy a macbook before school starts because once that starts I can't focus on making money more: study study study (but i want teh help from a macbook )

EDIT: haha if you are in high school or college you get a 100 dollar discount YEAS

 

Yes, I just made good use of that discount myself

 

buy the 2.26ghz and stick in 4gb of ram.

 

yep what i decided to do was by the minimum bas 2.26 ghz model and later on upgrade to an ssd and 4 gb of Ram once I can afford it

 

Good choice. if you have $45, that's one of the cheapest ddr3 mac ram i have seen to date.

http://forum.notebookreview.com/showthread.php?t=399780