Macbook Pro or No?

November 20, 2010 12:16 PM

I'm thinking about buying a used 13-inch aluminum Macbook (2008) or 13-inch Macbook Pro (2009+) on eBay. On paper, their specs seem quite similar. Any important differences I should know about?

I'll be using the laptop for basic web surfing, Office, music, and occasional movies. Nothing heavy duty. Thanks in advance!

posted by puritycontrol to Computers & Internet (7 answers total)

What are the differences between the memory and video adapter?
posted by Blazecock Pileon at 12:24 PM on November 20, 2010

Best answer: Firewire on the MBP 2009, not on the Mac Book.

MBP supports up to 8GB RAM, Mac Book supports up to 4.

Video card is way better on the MBP. Mac Book is an Intel integrated.
posted by tomierna at 12:26 PM on November 20, 2010

FYI: both the 13" aluminium MacBook and the 13" MacBook Pro (of any stripe) all have Intel integrated graphics. Only the 15" and 17" MacBook Pros have dedicated graphics (the last few have had both for battery life reasons, but that's not really relevant here). The main difference is really FireWire — can you live without it?
posted by jaffacakerhubarb at 12:57 PM on November 20, 2010

Best answer: I have the 2008, and one of my best friends has the 2009. Basically, from what we can tell, all they did was change the name to the pro and added an SD slot.
posted by General Malaise at 1:19 PM on November 20, 2010

Best answer: The 13" aluminum Unibody MacBook does not have integrated Intel graphics. It has an nvidia 9400M. Not the best graphics card, but it beats the pants off of anything Intel makes.
posted by jedicus at 1:20 PM on November 20, 2010

Response by poster: No major surprises. Thanks for the feedback, gang.
posted by puritycontrol at 11:13 AM on November 21, 2010

Best answer: Apple started using a better display when they transitioned the 13" to a "pro" model. Better color reproduction and much better viewable angle.
posted by crosbyh at 10:20 AM on November 23, 2010