sobershea
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Build or Buy a MacBook Pro? - 2008/08/10 14:26
I am going to make the switch from Windows to Mac and I know very little about Macs - though I have been reading/researching a lot online. I can get a MBP 17" at Bestbuy.com or I can "build" it at the Apple site. If you can bear with a few questions from a total newby I would greatly appreciate input from people who already use Macs. I am a bit geeky about my PCs but I don't know how things translate in a Mac world.
Question #1 is, how is the fan noise? This is really important to me. I currently have a Gateway with a very noisy/active fan. I can't play a simple game of Solitaire without the fan powering on/off frequently and I find the noise annoying. I did read that the MBPs run hot and not to leave them on your lap but I use a Targus Chill Pad so that won't be a problem. But a noisy fan could be a deal breaker. I don't do a lot of gaming - some though. And I do use Photoshop.
Question 2 is, the MBP at BestBuy is 5400rpm (250gb). If I "build" the Mac at the Apple site I could then get 7200rpm (200gb). Will the added speed keep the MBP cooler or will it make it run hotter, thus making the fan cycle on/off? The trade-off is 50gb on the hard drive...???
Question 3, The graphics card is NVIDIA GeForce 8600M GT graphics with 512MB GDDR3 SDRAM. Does anyone know if this is discrete memory?
Question 4, the display is 17" widescreen TFT-LCD display with 1680 x 1050 resolution. If I build the Mac I have a choice of high resolution for $100. At the Apple site they don't even mention "TFT-LCD". The Apple site also doesn't mention the max resolution for the "high resolution". What is TTF? Does anyone have the high resolution? Is it worth it?
Question 5, I can get an additional 2mb memory for $200 if I build it online. Is it worth it or is memory simple enough to add later? The BIG issue here is that the salesman said the MBP is so "efficient" that I won't even know that I have less memory. True?
I really appreciate any help.
Thanks!!
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