Macbook pro 15" 2.0 or Macbook pro 2.2

Question

HI
I thinking of buying a Macbook pro 15” 2.0 or 2.2 2011
My use of the computer is work and pleasure
For Work i use
Word
Excel sometimes files up to 15 MB.
Mail
Cord
Adobe PDF
Safari
Firefox
Chrome
At Home I use the computer for
Photos.
I take a lot of pictures with my Canon 7D the photos isbetween 8-10 MB each.
I use Iphoto for very small editing.
My Iphoto with 30.000 pitures and .mov files i 205 GB
Video editing
I use Imovie for Video efiting. I a have HD sony Camcorder.
I also rip my childrens DVD’s so the can se them on Apple TV2 and on the go.
Is the graphic card with 256 mb in the macbook pro 2.0 enough?
Do I need too 7200 rpm on the disk for video editing or isit okay with 5400 rpm.
Which suites my needs the Macbook pro 15” 2.0 2011 og theMacbook pro 15” 2.2 2011?
Yours faithfully
Kasper Grufstedt

Answer 1

Is the graphic card with 256 mb in the macbook pro 2.0 enough?
It's "so-so" last years performance not a good 3D or video rendering type of card, scores 18 on Cinebench.
The Radeon 6750M in the 2.2 Ghz scores a very decent 30 on Cinebench.
(the Intel HD 3000 scores a measly 11)
Which suites my needs the Macbook pro 15” 2.0 2011 og theMacbook pro 15” 2.2 2011?
You did mention video editing, and although the processing is all CPU performance, the GPU does make a long run difference as makes your machine seem faster longer. Also you may want to 3D game, then you need the better machine for sure.
So if you replace the machine every three years, then the 2.0 Ghz may do.
If you intend to keep the machine longer than 5 years, then the 2.2 Ghz is your baby.
Another factor is Lion is a hair slower than Snow Leopard so the little extra GPU performance will certainly make up for that.
Also you can place 16GB of RAM in the new 2011 MPB's, even though Apple only give 8GB for now
The price for 16GB is still high, about $900, but it's coming down as the months progress, as soon as It comes with a decent price I plan to upgrade to gain maximum performance.
Although for your use, 4-8GB should be plenty, have Apple do it right away or do it cheaper yourself for $70 at Crucial.
I do recommend the 500GB 7,200 RPM drive for video, it's a lot more responsive. I don't recommend SSD's at all for video, it wears them out too fast. They are better as boot/program drives.
If you can, go ahead and treat yourself to the 17" high res anti-glare, it's a real sweet machine and displays HD video actual size.
Just take really good care of it for a long time to make up for it's higher price tag.