Pick the Perfect Mac Laptop

October 20, 2009 11:52 AM

Which Mac laptop should I buy? Needs and specs inside.

So I need a new laptop, and serendipity is on my side, as the Apple store has just updated! Well and good. Which model should I get, though, that's the question.

I am replacing this:

Model Name: MacBook Pro 15"
Model Identifier: MacBookPro1,1
Processor Name: Intel Core Duo
Processor Speed: 1.83 GHz
Number Of Processors: 1
Total Number Of Cores: 2
L2 Cache (per processor): 2 MB
Memory: 512 MB
Bus Speed: 667 MHz

What I use it for: blogging, word processing, some photoshop creation (illustrations for the blog, mostly), saving pics from the digital camera, social media, lots and lots of email, light gaming of the Flo's Diner and Tower Defense variety.

What I liked: speed, powerhouse of a laptop.
What I didn't like: heavy, bulky, heats up fast.

I'm thinking that I could go down to the 13", but are the new 15" versions significantly lighter than my version?

Is the Macbook Air a bad buy (meaning not cost-effective) because of the one-piece construction? In other words, does pretty much any repair mean the whole thing has to be taken apart, thus costing more in the end?

Is it significantly slower or less powerful than the Macbook Pro that I would notice it with my modest needs?

I DO want Apple Care, right?

Thanks in advance, hive mind!

posted by misha to technology (19 answers total)

15" is good, the Air is underpowered/overpriced compared to the Pro, you should get Apple Care.
posted by the_ancient_mariner at 11:55 AM on October 20, 2009

I notice the slowness with the MBA compared to the MB Pro and I don't do much with it. It's the perfect laptop for what I need it for [slinging around in a backpack with a larger machine at home] so it's fine but as far as bang for buck, yeah you'll notice it. [I've got the 1.6 G/2 G RAM deal and I don't do anything more intensive than photoshop and the occasional little movie].

AppleCare is, to my mind, a must with any laptop. I've seen dealers selling legit copies [as in I bought them and I used them] on ebay for a fraction of the cost getting it when you buy the machine.
posted by jessamyn at 11:57 AM on October 20, 2009 [1 favorite]

I used to have the 15". I thought it was heavy and bulky. Last year I got the 13" macbook (white) and I loved it.

If I will to buy a new laptop today. I will get the 13" unibody(aluminium). It feels solid!
posted by jchaw at 11:59 AM on October 20, 2009 [1 favorite]

I don't think there's been a significant reduction in weight for the new 15" MBPs, I think a 13" Macbook would suit you fine unless you really appreciate the 15" screen.

You can find the weight of each model here. It appears that the 13" is only 1 pound lighter than the 15", so maybe it's not even worth the sacrifice.

Personally, my 15" MBP (pre-unibody, 2.2 GHz) is perfect because it's my only computer, so I like the 15" screen for watching videos, etc. I felt the extra bulk was worth it. You might feel that a 13" screen is too small after these years getting accustomed to your current MBP.

And yes, applecare, definitely.
posted by dnesan at 12:01 PM on October 20, 2009 [2 favorites]

The 13" is great in combo with an external display for desktop use. I agree that the brute solidity of the aluminum models is worth the price premium.

4GB of 1066 DDR3 laptop memory is $80 so I'd go with the slower MBP and upgrade the memory from eg: newegg.

You can buy AppleCare anytime in the first year so go ahead and wait on that.
posted by mokuba at 12:08 PM on October 20, 2009 [1 favorite]

I have a 13" unibody MBP and it's the perfect size, in my opinion. Somehow, the screen is only slightly smaller than the 15" HP laptop I use for work. I don't use Photoshop on it, but I do play WoW, and I haven't had any issues with the screen being too small.

When I was trying to decide which one to buy, I took the advice of not paying Apple to upgrade either RAM or hard drive. Both are user-upgradable and it's very easy with the unibody construction. You just pop off the bottom plate. So, I bought the lowest level one, and immediately upped the RAM and put in a bigger drive.
posted by cabingirl at 12:10 PM on October 20, 2009 [2 favorites]

I own a 15" MBP, but I just bought a 13" MB aluminum unibody for my sister, and I have to agree with jchaw- that's a nice, solid-feeling laptop. I'll probably get the smaller version when it comes time to replace mine.

Get the applecare.
posted by Pragmatica at 12:11 PM on October 20, 2009 [1 favorite]

You would get a huge performance improvement from your existing laptop if you bought more memory for it. Just sayin'
posted by qxntpqbbbqxl at 12:20 PM on October 20, 2009

Note they just (today) announced new unibody MacBooks (not pro) which may suit your needs fine and more economically
posted by bitdamaged at 12:23 PM on October 20, 2009 [1 favorite]

Apple announced new MacBooks today. the new 13" @999.00 has a new case, battery, led backlit screen, etc.
posted by Gungho at 12:23 PM on October 20, 2009 [1 favorite]

cabingirl have they changed something that makes replacing the HD easier on the MBP? My first generation MBP took some serious surgery to change the HD out - I did it but it wasn't for the faint of heart.

BTW they're saying one of the best performance things you can do for a MBP is go with a solid state hard drive. Amazingly fast to use, but its costly.
posted by bitdamaged at 12:25 PM on October 20, 2009

My current laptop has more problems than memory ones. The trackpad is causing me problems and since it was a gift from my spouse, we don't have Applecare on it. Also, the Demon Cat popped off one of my keys and one was already missing (not a big deal, just a hassle). I have a Time Capsule but not Leopard, Snow or otherwise, so no automatic backups with Time Machine...anyway, I'm ready for a new one.
posted by misha at 1:25 PM on October 20, 2009

I would avoid the Air as it is intended more as a secondary computer rather than a stand-alone machine and there has been some speculation that Apple is going to wind down their support for it as the other laptops become smaller and lighter.
posted by TedW at 1:54 PM on October 20, 2009

i bought the 13" MacBook, 2.2GHz processor speed, and then maxed out the memory, bringing it up to 4GB. I bought the memory from an outside provider and installed myself to keep the cost down (the mac genius helping me actually recommended this, although i think it interferes with the terms of applecare). but it has worked like a dream. i can open 20-30 jpgs in photoshop almost instantly.
posted by nanhey at 5:17 PM on October 20, 2009 [2 favorites]

Wow, how did the demon cat manage that?
posted by Maias at 5:36 PM on October 20, 2009

The ways of the Demon Cat are hard for mere mortals to fathom.

Seriously, my son was carrying the Demon Cat past me as I was sitting using the laptop. The Demon Cat, instinctively rebelling against the dreaded imprisonment of my son's grip (which was keeping him from knocking over the glass of water on my bureau he had been trying to reach in the first place), reached out a (naturally un-declawed) paw in a desperate, "No, don't take me away!" gesture, somehow hooked a claw under the key, and latched onto it. Meanwhile, younger son, oblivious, continued walking away, thus allowing ingenious Demon Cat to prise the key from the keyboard, sending it shooting across the room, where Emergency Backup Fluffy Confused Kitty pounced on the key and attempted to attack the strange new toy (or possibly eat it) before I rescued it.

Unruffled Mature Kitty of Dignity then proceeded to sit on the keyboard, no doubt to protect it from further assaults.

My life. You can't make this stuff up.
posted by misha at 6:03 PM on October 20, 2009 [4 favorites]

cabingirl have they changed something that makes replacing the HD easier on the MBP?

OMG yes. With the unibody version, you just take off the bottom plate and there's the hard drive and the ram slots. No parts removal required. I had an iBook G4 before this and I never swapped out the drive because I was afraid I'd lose a screw or something.

If you need to do this be sure to have the right size screwdrivers. The hard drive pegs take a Torx bit that I had to hunt down at Home Depot.
posted by cabingirl at 6:22 PM on October 20, 2009

bitdamaged: It's much, much easier to replace the hard drive in a unibody Macbook Pro than in the previous generation. Apple considers hard drives in the unibody models user-serviceable; not so in the previous ones.
posted by raf at 7:12 PM on October 20, 2009

Okay, I am looking at the new unibody 13 inch Macbook, with Applecare, and upgrading the memory 4G. I think that has everything I need in the size I want it.

Thanks, everyone!
posted by misha at 7:42 AM on October 21, 2009 [1 favorite]