mb Vs mbp

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Level 2

255 points

mb Vs mbp

Apart from the video card and slightly faster processor what’s the difference in capabilities of a Mac book VS the pro?
Also is there a way to up the memory allocated to the video card in the Mac book??
64mb seems a bit low especially if you have 2gig of ram

eMac 1.42, Mac OS X (10.4.8), want a black book

Posted on Nov 9, 2006 11:15 AM

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Answer 1

Nick A

Level 4

1,526 points

Nov 9, 2006 11:28 AM in response to paton

I'm not going to get into all the details, but basically the pro has a bigger screen and firewire 800 and the express card. And of course, the dedicated video.

No the MacBook's video cannot be changed, and that is the only real bottleneck to the machine. However, if you don't do intensive video it's not an issue. But if you do, get the pro.

However, I use Aperture and play Sims 2 and Civ 4 w/o issue on my MacBook. The key is maxxing out the RAM to 2GB for best performance.

Nick

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Answer 2

JoeyR

Level 6

8,305 points

Nov 9, 2006 11:22 AM in response to paton

No way to up the memory with the MacBook unfortunately. Also, the Pro has an Express card slot and can now handle up to 3GB of RAM.... the Pro also has that nice lighted keyboard.

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Answer 3

paton Author

Level 2

255 points

Nov 9, 2006 11:32 AM in response to paton

i have the same amount of graphic memory in ma eMac and sometimes it slows down alot if i have alot of apps open ((close the ones im not using would prob help but im lazy )) i will mainly use music apps on ma blackbook if i get one the digital output will be superb for this will i be able to encode in surround with it??

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Answer 4

Nov 9, 2006 12:02 PM in response to paton

Based on intel sites, the intel gma 950 able to allocated up to 224 mb of shared memory for the purpose as needed.

And on apple article also said it will dinamically use more than 64 mb as needed.

So if you have 2 Gb matched ram, I think the graphic chipset can allocated more than 64 mb easily than if you have 512 mb that even for mac os X is just almost not good enough.

Good Luck.

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Answer 5

paton Author

Level 2

255 points

Nov 9, 2006 12:24 PM in response to paton

strange that they say it has 64mb and not up to 224mb then!!!

Now that the blackbook ships with 1gig ram is the apple upgrade to 2gig worth it as the upgrade from 512mb to 2gig was over priced by apple??
also the HDD id rather have the speed than the amount so the 160gig over the slower 200gig would help a blackbook run faster!!? i have read that the speed of new 5200rpm HDD is as good as the 7200 at the mo??

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Answer 6

Nov 9, 2006 12:29 PM in response to paton

It was the based configuration or minimum that sets to 64 and cannot be lowered to 32 for instance....

the rpm is one factor, the hd cache is the other factor (not as significant as rpm).

IT still worth to invest the memory to the fullest if you want to use it for a long term (for future OS and application might asking more memory requirement), but if you are the person that will buy another model as soon as it comes, or not a heavy user, then upgrading the memory from 1 GB to 2 GB is not really necesarry for you.

Good Luck.

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Answer 7

Nov 9, 2006 12:48 PM in response to paton

I own a 1.83 Macbook and a 2Ghz Macbook Pro both with 2 Gig of RAM and I have to say the Pro slaughters the Macbook in most tasks. It feels snappier gives an infinately better picture through my monitor, tears through vid encoding, iTunes ripping and so on. However the price gap is vast if it wasnt for video work I would have no need for it and the Macbook glossy screen is so beautiful (which BTO from Apple you can have on the Pro) I hate going from it to my Cinema Display everything looks blurred by comparison.

Usual Mac buying advice applies, buy the best Mac you can afford at the time either way your getting a nice machine

Good luck

Gareth

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