Problems choosing a MacBook Pro

Hi guys
I live in Denmark. I'm looking for a new laptop, and this time it's going to be a Mac I think. Mostly because I want strong CPU, long-lasting battery and Logic for making music. I'm also going to bring it to school and back every day for my studies. The only games I'm going to play is CS 1.6 and dota, which it should be able to run.

Looking at this link I've been offered the first of the 15", the 2.0 GHz including Apple Care and Office for $2340 in all, used only for 3 weeks (new price for MBP + AC + Office = $3450)

What I'm wondering is, shouldn't I maybe just spend the extra money on a brand new 2.2 GHz 15" (new price $3280) or less money on a brand new 2.7 GHz 13" ($2245) which seems a lot more powerful? Only it hasn't got as good a graphic-card or as big a screen. It's a shame with the screen size of course, since my overview would be worse, BUT the laptop would be more mobile of course.

What's your personal oppinion/what would you have done?
Hope you can/will help. Thanks

 

I would go with the used 15'' if it is in good condition and from a trusted source. If it has the higher resolution screen even better. It seems like a good bargain.

A new 13'' Macbook Pro can do all the things you want but the 15'' being quad core is a lot more powerful when it comes to music editing. For gaming the 15'' will be better too but you wont notice the difference with those old games.

So it depends what you want, more power (15) or more portability (13). I would be much more happy with the 15 since it is still very portable.

 

Fantastic! I'll buy the second-hand one then. But you're sure it's not better saving up the $940 for the better 15"? Only, this wouldn't have Apple Care and Office of course

 

Just know that the 2.7GHz Core i7 processor in the 13" MBP is dual-core while all the Core i7 processors in the 15" and 17" MBPs are quad-core (at least for the early 2011 models, all of the Core i7 processors in last year's MBPs were dual-core only). The 13" MBP does not have a quad-core option.

Even then, there hasn't been anything that my 13" MBP (which has the Core i7) hasn't been able to handle whether it is a 40 track Garageband recording, 1080p video editing, or playing some older titles on high settings at the native resolution (Bioshock). I also think that you have to go out of your way to slow the Core i5 or Core i7 processors in a 13" MBP as there aren't many programs out there that take full advantage of a quad-core CPU. Video editing (higher than 1080p), photo editing (using some ungodly resolution), and high end games are about it when it comes to fully using a quad-core CPU. Even the dual-core Core i7 manages to outperform the quad-core version when it comes to a large portion of tasks.

Go with whatever model you want. That 2GHz 15" seems like a good deal (at least for your country, it is way too expensive here in the U.S.) so long as it is running the quad-core Core i7 processor.

I went with the Core i7 13" MBP simply because I knew that I might play one or two games on it (I have an Xbox 360, PS3, 3DS, and iPad for portable gaming), I didn't need a quad-core processor, it is more portable than the 15" version (despite what many people claim, the weight and size differences may seem small but they were all the difference in the world to me), and I use it at home hooked up to an external display. Even then, the 13.3" display was already a lot larger than my 10" 16X9 netbook and it is actually bigger than the 1024X768 14" display on my Toshiba tablet.

 

Like I said (and kornchild too), both laptops can do everything you want. The used 15'' just has more reserves in case you ever want to do more demanding tasks or play newer games. I see no point for you to wait and save up for a new macbook pro.

If the used Macbook Pro 15'' is in good condition it is the best deal you can get for a very good machine. You said it is 3 weeks old so I assume it is the 2011 model. If you want to save up more money, I would invest in buying a SSD at some later stage. You would benefit more from it than the CPU upgrade in the higher end Macbook Pro 15.