Purchasing a macbook pro, unsure of model.

I am buying this macbook pro for college, going to make it last 4 years probably (at least 3).

I will be using this mainly for papers / projects (as a computer engineering student - possibly a doulbe major in electrical). Aside from school, i will be playing wow and SC2 (I need to be able to run this at low - medium settings, preferably medium, but low works)

With these two aspects in mind (age + the games i play). What macbook pro would you suggest from the 13 or 15 line?

I know the stats on each setup, and i will be upgrading the hard drive (not sure to what, at the VERY least a 7200 RPM harddrive.. maybe a hybrid drive on the higher in models and a ssd on the lower end.) My budget is relatively high (2300+). - Macbook primarily because of build quality. (i will be learning the OS)

Also, will i notice a perference increase from hyperthreading?

 

Honestly from what you described; performance-wise both the MBP 13" and 15" will handle it fine. However, you might want to look into the 15" since you'll probably want that extra screen-estate for papers.

If that's not a big deal, then I'd actually prefer the 13" in your situation because the extra battery life and portability are awesome.

 

I agree with Celibate, get a 15 inch Macbook Pro, the resolution will definatly help when typing papers. As for your performance question, you'll see a very insignificant increase with hyperthreading i cores as supposed to the previous intel core 2 duo they used. I believe there was a review who did a couple benchmarks and noticed about an 8-12 percent increase in performance. If you get a new macbook pro 15 inch it'll definatly be able to run WOW and SC2 at high to maximum settings.

 

For college and your uses definitely a MBP13 IMO. The MBP15 is bigger, heavier with worse battery life (still impressive but worse) - those are the things you want to avoid at college.

The problem with college, which I guess some people handle differently is that usually you need to work in different places (lectures, library, study groups, at home) which means a lot of travel. I can honestly say that my 15 incher has spent most of its time on my desk at home, and when im in the library or lecture I never see anyone (except a minimal amount of exceptions) with any laptop above 13 inch (this is even considered on the large side). This is because transporting a 15 inch laptop is a mission, even if the weight is only slightly more the footprint of the computer is a lot larger which makes the different between comfortable fitting into a bag or just casually under ur arm or in ur hands (this might seem minimal, but I have noticed that due to the larger footprint the MBP15 perceived weight is higher when lifted with on hand because the laptop extends further away from you, torque i believe is the english word for it, anyone that read physics knows what im talking about).

Screen real estate is not needed or helping when typing papers, people type papers on netbook with 10 inch screens and get equally or better grades than I do on a 15 inch screen. I have the MBP13 and the MBP15, I was positively surprised how little I mind the switch down to a 13 inch screen - this was ofcourse my PERSONAL experience. Plus, expose is a gold nugget, and if you need more screen real estate at home then buy an external display with the price difference? I mean, honestly if you are in such desperate need of a big screen then a jump from 13 to 15 inches is not gonna make a monumental difference...

I play SC2 on the MBP13 fine on medium with low shaders, doesnt win a beauty contest but runs at a solid 30fps (capped it through the variables.txt) and looks nice. I also play WoW with no problem on decent quality, cant remember the exact settings but it is definitely above medium.

The advice I can give u is that u need to sit down and really pinpoint the exact needs you have for your laptop. Dont get swept away by the sweet lure of higher specs which u will never use or as mentioned above me only translates into a 8-12% increase in power. If you want to carry ur computer around a lot to ur lectures and use it to take notes, then 13 inch is gonna make it a lot more convenient and easier. And, without saying if power is the key -> MBP15.

 

I don't know I think people are underestimating the power increase. The MBP 15 has a 330m vs the 320m, but a 330m is a dedicated chip and most dedicated chips are significantly better for gaming.

Also at least when installed in Mac OSX, don't expect to run SC2 on ultra with a base end MBP 15. You can run most things on high, shaders on medium though, reflections off, and textures on medium and get about 30 FPS on average.

One thing though is I think the MBP 13 (base) is like $1099 with a student discount. You said your budget is $2300. You can just get the base end MBP 13 and buy a gaming laptop/desktop. A gaming desktop for $1200 should run SC2 on Ultra, a gaming laptop can probably run it from high-ultra. A gaming desktop can be upgraded easily to last a while. If you build your own computer it should be even cheaper obviously to get the same results. That way you don't have to compromise any where really. From what I know of desktops you don't need to worry about build quality as much as laptops so somebody like Dell should be fine, its not like you really need a great case if it sits there. For a gaming laptop (if you go this route) look at MSI GX640-260 US.

I just mentioned that because your budget is so high. With a high budget that means you get the best of two worlds, a super portable computer and a gaming power station that cranks out everything. Even if you dropped $2300 on a MBP 15 you would not get even close to the performance of a desktop/the portability of the MBP 13.

 

I guess my questions really boil down to the GPU and CPU (i know the portability difference of using a 15" compared to a 13" macbook pro).

But i guess my question is the mbp 13 gpu vs the mbp15 gpu (256 mb vs 512 mb) and the cpu comparisons. (and is the price worth it, espcially this part because i could easily put in a nice SSD if i bought a baseline mbp 13). And will i see a major performance increase with the CPU? Hyperthreading seems nice, although i haven't really done much research.

The idea of building my own desktop and using it to run games on max settings has been thrown out.. simply because of will be living in a dorm room and i don't wish to have two computers.

Although, i guess i should play around with the idea of two computers.

@ Svarto - Torque is the proper word and yes it would feel quite a bit heavier.

@ xfiregrunt - I thought the 320m was a dedicated?

Google just answered this question for me ....

http://www.appleinsider.com/article...ially_for_apples_new_13_inch_macbook_pro.html

With the performance increase of the 330m, i might buy the lower end one and ignore the i7 (not 100% sure). - I have a friend who runs wow on the last generation macbook pro and he can play on low settings... (mainly concerned about sc2 - but it is more casual.)

 

no the 320m found in the MBP is an IGP there is a 320 which is not but Apple does not use this GPU

 

The 320m is an integrated chip (look it up on notebook check).

So if you play games you will se a good performance boost. One thing though the difference between the 15 and 13 is decently significant if you play games, but the difference between the core i7 and core i5 MBP 15 is probably 4-5 frames. You can probably run it on high textures in SC2, but everything else would be the different. So if you get the i5 you can probably easily afford a SSD from Amazon and install it yourself. I think with a student discount, free ipod touch and printer, the base MBP 15 is $1700. So you still have $600.

I mean if you went two computers (desktop) from what I know of college it would only be a pain twice a year, when you move out of your dorm and into your dorm, but I am instate so it might be different.

Its really up to you though, like I said though buying a desktop and a laptop is a pain twice a year and 0 compromise throughout the year. Two laptops is a little more annoying (and more of a waste). The difference with a desktop is say when the SC2 expansions come out in 2 years, with a desktop you pay $150 for a card upgrade and your running it on ultra at 1080p. With a laptop you can't do that. I do say though I don't really know why people say the MBP 15 is a pain, I know people who carry a 12 pound alienware m15x to class every day. If it fits in my backpack I don't really care how big it is aside from weight.

But its really up to you. I like running my games on high settings, some people don't. I bought a MBP 15 for iOS programming, and I think it is a great computer. I can't stand a 13" screen, some people can. You need to figure out whether you can stand it, to me its just way too small. I guess its "only two inches". but its bigger in percentage.

 

Wow! Thanks for the info on frame rate (I guess I could have answered this myself, I recently upgraded my desktops gpu from a 128mb to 512mb and say a very minimal increase in graphics.

If you don't remember, the i5 has a 256 and the i7 has a 512... I think ill be fine with 256 and the lower end i5.

 

Yeah I forgot to mention, the only reason the i5 version runs it at medium textures with most other stuff on high, is it has 256mb, and Starcraft 2 just says 128mb for low, 256mb for medium, 512mb for high, and 1gb for ultra. Those are obviously just guidelines but you can see it. Aside from textures everything should be the exact same. How much VRAM you have is less important then the class of card. A GTS360m will destroy a GT 330m even if someone for some reason put 2gb of VRAM in a GT330m (it probably doesn't even support that). The type of VRAM is also important. GDRR5 is way better then GDRR3.

As far as processor, from what I know going from i3 to i5 is worth it. Going from i5 to i7 is generally worth it if you want a quadcore, but dual core i7 is not worth $300.

A solid state drive is probably the thing that will speed up a computer the most for standard users (web browsing/most programs/etc) graphics/processor generally only help in rendering and gaming.

Overall though SC2 is really a low requiring game ~ most good desktops from 2 years ago run it on Ultra. Plus although there is a huge leap from low to medium, from medium to high is 20%, and from high to ultra is like 5% to 10%.

I think the i5 is great plus it doensn't get as hot as the i7.

 

Yes, I agree on sc2 the jump from low to medium is outstanding (litterally a noticeable difference). I'm curious as to how the 320m chip (on mbp 13) runs sc2. (I don't want low tbh.)

I would like to go with the 13 but obvious performance factors are a turn off. However I could easily fit a 256 gb ssd in. (Going 160 I think).

Edit:

What kind of battery life change will i see between the 13 and the 15? (is the 10 hours vs 8-9 hours a viable number to go off)?

 

I think the 13 inch MBP can run it on medium, but I think the frame rates get lower in big battles.

The 15 inch can run it on medium-high and even in OSX I get stable frame rates in a 4 v 4 game. Some crazy custom might be a problem. In Windows I've heard you can run it in all high with a stable frame rate on the 15".

I think the Apple numbers are a viable go off. Obviously those numbers are without discrete GPU.

 

the performance in windows is a *lot* better than in os x, unfortunately. it breaks my heart.

also, i have mouse acceleration issues in starcraft 2 in os x... it makes it basically unplayable. there is a weird negative acceleration curve that gets forced in sc2 in osx, you can google it and read about it.

 

As a fellow computer engineering/science student who is almost done with school, you won't be gaming much during the school year once you start with your degree related courses unless you are smart/just good at it.

If you want one machine, I'd suggest the 15" base. You can upgrade the hard drive and ram yourself if you need it. Plus, from reviews and videos, it's a decent gaming machine for your needs if you dual boot with Windows though. I don't know which school you're going to, but if your hardware classes/labs use software, then you would want that 15" size. Well, that's just my opinion.

As someone else suggested, you could just buy the 13" macbook pro and buy another gaming desktop/laptop with the budget you have.

 

That is exactly what i did; however, i spent $300 on an SSD. Do you think i shouldn't have? and should i have just stuck with the normal RPM hard drive?