Planning to get a new MacBook Pro tonight, recommendations?

[Perineum]

Originally Posted by Cadence

Although SSD's are definitely getting cheaper, I still can't justify one for a laptop, I got one for my desktop and love it, definitely notice a difference even when I jumped from my WD Raptor drive to the OCZ Vertex2 SSD.

Interesting. I'd consider a SSD for a notebook / laptop long before I would for a desktop.

SSD's help offset a portable machines "slowness" and also help to save battery life.

[Cadence]

When I say "I can't justify one for a laptop" it's because I feel that I am 100% going to BootCamp W7 onto it, and with my old MacBook I think I had 320GB and up to this day, I've had to keep deleting files on both sides.

I definitely agree with you on the "slowness and battery life" point of an SSD, that and if you happen to drop your laptop there's less chance of damaging information, so even if everything else is gone you still have your files lol!

Originally Posted by SKYMTL

Yes she did. I have a friend who has already been through two as well. First one had a yellow tinge to the screen while the other kept stuttering.

As for the aluminum, sure it dissipates heat faster but that heat has to go somewhere; in this case, onto your lap.

hmm I guess AppleCare might be worth paying the extra few hundred bucks for?
Apparently even though the MacBook Pro runs really hot, it isn't the hottest running laptop out there lol

[Neolithium_Wpg]

I googled a few comparisons, seems that on previous gen SSDs (IE Vertex 2 era) the average difference had the SSDs' using around 0.5W less than the 1TB scorpio blue drives. Seems quite a few moved to higher capacity 7200RPM 2.5in drives now as well, so I'm assuming there will be a slightly higher consumption on those particular models as well. But if you were constantly deleting/moving files from 320GB, I suspect you'll be better served by a mechanical drive until SSD's drop in price again.

[Cadence]

Yep, I discovered that last night when I was looking up HDD prices on NCIX.
It's funny though, my friend was arguing that I could get and enclosure and HDD and build one on my own for cheaper.
But I remember a few years ago I tried pricing this out on my own and it cost more I think.
However there are the external HDD's on NCIX from WD right now 1TB going for $114.99 2.5" and a chunkier 3.5" 2TB for $129.99 while there are no WD Black's for sale on NCIX and the Blue 1TB's are about $144.

I think an external HDD would be useful for me to move back and forth from Windows and Mac OSX as well as storage for CAD drawings, Sound files, Video files, etc.

[Neolithium_Wpg]

I've been very partial to usb powered portable HDD's. Since I'm down to 128GB of space now, I have a nice 1TB that doesn't need external power and has a buttload of movies, music, files, ebooks etc on it. Works great for travelling with this little laptop, should still do wonders for a MBP.

[Cadence]

Entering this post as I'm check out this new MacBook Pro.
Specs:
Core i7 2.2GHZ
4GB DDR3 SDRAM
750GB @ 5400 RPM
Intel 3000 + ATI 6750M 1GB
15" LED-backlit

So far so good. Got it with a 4-year warranty because anything can happen at school lol!
Thanks for all your help guys.

[Wurmer]

Good call, as far as SSD there are certainly nice for increased speed but I find them a little short on space. On those that do offer some decent space (512GB or 480Gb) are insanely priced. For your usage a high capacity HHD mechanical drive is the way to go. Multimedia stuff is known to need a good amount of space.