Macbook Pro Comparison Advice

alienanxiety

Hi. I recently inherited TWO macbook pros and I am looking for some advice on which of these is superior. I can keep one, and give one away to my cousin.

Macbook Pro (Feb 2008)
17" Matte Display 1680 x 1050
2.5 GHz Intel Core 2 Duo
4 GB 667 MHz DDR2 SDRAM
6MB L2 Cache
Bus Speed 800 MHz
250 GB HD
512 MB VRAM
NVIDIA GeForce 8600M GT
Mac OS X Snow Leopard


Macbook Pro Unibody (Sept 2009)
15" Glossy Display 1440 x 900
2.66 GHz Intel Core 2 Duo
4 GB 1066 MHz DDR3 SDRAM
3MB L2 Cache
Bus Speed 1.07 GHz
250 GB HD @ 5400 rpm
256 MB VRAM
NVIDIA GeForce 9400M
Mac OS X Snow Leopard

Any advice?

fyrefly

Who GAVE you two MacBooks? And recent-ish ones! That's insane!

Anyway, I think the performance for day-to-day stuff is gonna be similar on those two machines. It comes down to two things: IMHO:

Glossy vs. Matte Screen and Portability.

Depends on what you value most. If you value protability most - then keep the 15" and give the 17" away. 15" is 5.4lbs and 17" is 6.8lbs. That's a sizeable difference, especially if you take your laptop with you a lot (I say this as someone who has his laptop with him 24/7 pretty much - hence why I own a MacBook Air ).

BUT... the caveat is the Glossy Screen on the 15" Unibody. Glossy vs. Matte is a huge debate for some people. See if you can stand the glossy screen first and foremost, imho.

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alienanxiety

they belonged to my brother, who recently passed away.

it's funny you mentioned those main issues, they are the same for me. i find the 17" to be a tank. I prefer the matte screen, but the glossy does appear brighter. the matte is easier to look at, but seems very dull and muddy.

I think I might go with the 15" seeing as the RAM can be upped to 8 GB at some point.

Devon

Id keep the 17", that larger screen will pay off over time.

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i-rui

just incase you were unaware the 17" should be able to support 6gb of ram (a 2gb & 4gb chip... although 4gb chips are fairly expensive).

It's a tough choice between the 2. The gloss screen on the unibody is just a bit too much foe me, but otherwise it's a fantastic machine.

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GlassOnion

I think there was a problem with the NVIDIA GeForce 8600M GT on many MBP 2008 machines so I'd keep the unibody who's more "up to date" anyway.

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JustAMacUser

Honestly the 17" is the better system from a sheer performance perspective. Bus and CPU clock speeds are a bit slower; however, it has a larger L2 cache and, the big difference, the GPU is better and has twice the memory.

Of course, the 17" has a huge footprint. It's like carrying a portable desktop. If you're planning to commute with it a lot and don't need extra power, go for the 15" (otherwise stick with the 17").

One more thing, the 17" will likely have a higher re-sale value down the road.

chas_m

Which is EXACTLY why he should sell it and keep the 15".

The 17" will still sell well NOW. Three years from now? Not so much.

OTOH, the 15" will probably feel a bit long in the tooth in three years, but will probably retain a reasonable amount of value, particularly if you buy applecare for it ... with the money you got from selling the 17"!. Heck the way prices are going, you will have enough left over to set aside and just BUY the next replacement machine!

PS. I extend my condolences on your loss.

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GenevaS

Um, I believe he said the one he doesn't keep is to go to his cousin.

I didn't expect to like the glossy screen, but I had to use it and I like it. The matt looks dull and washed out to me now. But a lot of my computer work is with photos, where the colors look so much better on glossy.

rgray

I wouldn't focus too much on the glossy screen issue - like the last poster I was concerned when I bought my MBA but IMHO it is a non-issue.

My advice would be to keep the newer one, the 15", especially as it has the better video 'card'. By averages it will last you longer. You can still extend the Applecare to the full 3 years if not done already (you can check that here).

I find the 17"s to be a bit a monster unless you particularly need the screen real estate.

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