Replacing 2008 Macbook Advice: Air or rPro. Want vs Need

I'm considering a new Mac purchase and would like to hear from other board members to gather some more opinions and from those who can point out some things i might not have thought of. Any purchase is not immediate and I know the drill, I would wait for the Haswell line of processors to be released on new Mac products.

First of all I own and use a late 2008 aluminium unibody Macbook. It is a truly brilliant machine, i love it. I think the design looks beautiful and the build quality is flawless. I have owned it nearly five years and I have kept it in great condition and it is barely scratched. In that time it has not gone wrong. The worst thing that has happened is the battery does not last very long now and this restricts the use of it as a mobile device. I have replaced the battery and even this second battery now last about 1 hour 40 minutes when browsing the web and using Word which is what I send the majority of my time doing on this machine as i'm a researcher. If I was to watch a dvd or use handbrake then i'm definitely getting less probably about 1 hour 15 minutes which is not enough to watch a movie or burn a dvd meaning I need a power cord to be able to do these things.

Overtime i have upgraded from 2GB (two 1GB SO-DIMMs) of 1066MHz DDR3 SDRAM to 4GB and now i have the maximum for this machine 8GB (two 4GB sticks from Crucial). I have also upgraded the 250GB 5400-rpm Serial ATA hard disk drive which came with my macbook to a Crucial 256GB SSD. I feel i would never want to go back to a HDD.

For any new machine how much of an upgrade am I going to feel? I already have the 8GB of RAM and a 256 SSD installed. However, my macbook 2008 has a 2.4GHz Intel Core 2 Duo processor. Any replacement is going to have a Haswell processor.

My macbook 2008 has NVIDIA GeForce 9400M graphics processor with 256MB of DDR3 SDRAM shared with main memory. I imagine regardless of which Mac i get as a replacement the graphics are going to be significantly better. I should say I do not game at all so this is not an important factor to me.

I notice that on Apple's newer Macs the ability to upgrade the machines oneself is not possible due to the new engineering design. I understand this is down to how tightly everything is packaged together but it seems to also mean that Apple would like people to buy a new Mac more often in order to get newer technology since one can't upgrade.

I am currently burning all my DVDs to my external hard-drives for storage and apart from using Handbrake to do this I very rarely use the optical disc drive. I made the decision (like many others) several years ago to move away from physical media. I'm creating a lot of space by selling my entire DVD and CD libraries.

The Mac computers I am interested in all have had their optical drive removed as they've been remodelled. I am looking forward to carrying around a lighter Mac.

One thing I wish my current Macbook would do is to hook up to a large screen TV, as far as I know this 2008 model does not allow it to HDMI. Please correct me if i'm wrong.

The display with this model is 1280 by 800 (native). I know the Retina display is a big draw on the Macbook Pro now and from my own speculation i don't think the Air gets the Retina display until 2014 when the Air will likely get a redesign. I guess displays have moved on considerably since 2008 too.

I am currently running OS X 10.8.3 and I've installed all the Big Cat upgrades since getting this Mac. When 10.9 gets released I will install that too. Yet there will be a time when Apple deems my hardware not powerful enough to power their new OS and at that point i'll have no choice but to upgrade. At what point is that likely? 10.10+?

I guess it comes down to Want versus Need, does it not? I still love using this Macbook from 2008 and i've been blessed with a sturdy machine which never goes wrong. But at some point something will go wrong and it will likely not be worth getting it fixed because of its age and cost of replacing.

In short I would like a Mac which is lighter than what I have now. I am very keen for my new Mac to have a far better battery life in order to make it a truly mobile machine which will allow me to work most of the day without being hooked up to a mains power source. The build quality is important and I would want it to last at least as long as i've had this one which is about 5 years.

Any suggestions? Including to stick with what i've got until I truly need to replace. Also let me know how much of an improvement in performance i'm going to feel considering I already have 8GB of RAM and a SSD installed.

Thank you.

Thank you splitpea for your comments. Helpful for sure.

Of course any replacement I am going to get for my Macbook 2008 is going to be an upgrade on what i've been using.

What strikes me is that whatever Mac laptop i buy next is being designed to not last as long as my current macbook has. I've almost had my macbook for 5 years and with the build quality and reliability it could last for more years, i'm certain. Yes, i've done upgrades for it and that is what bothers me about the (new) designs for the Air and rPro models. They are being engineered in such a way as to not be upgradeable and therefore have a shorter shelf life. Am i wrong? This means Apple wants us to buy their computers more often using each one for less time than before, no?

Ideally i'd like a model which doesn't exist yet: the Retina Air, i know it could come soon but in my opinion not before mid-late 2014 (largely because Apple doesn't want to cannibalise its rPro profits).

For mobility I might look at getting a ipad mini (maybe waiting until the Retina model comes out) and then buying a mac mini which I can (at the moment) upgrade. That might solve my issues.

Any further thoughts?

BeckyG said:

Regarding your TV hook-up question, I bought a mini-HDMI to HDMI adapter at the Apple store, and a HDMI cable (from Best Buy if I remember correctly). We hook the two together and plug the cable into our TV (it's a Samsung) and there are a few settings to adjust but then it works perfectly!

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Hi BeckyG, i'm not quite sure i understand your words on the adapter, possibly a typo? The Macbook 2008 doesn't have a HDMI out. Do you mean mini display port to HDMI? Would this also carry audio?

Since you have a 2008 Macbook, i'm interested in hearing why you went for an iMac, do you not need the mobility and from a performance aspect what do you find the biggest differences?

If you considered another macbook as a replacement what would you have gone for and why?

troy14 said:

Not on the older 2008 models

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So how would I hook up my Macbook 2008 to a HDTV via HDMI? Or is it not possible? I've read somewhere I need external speakers? That sounds like an epic fail.

I am on my second battery with this macbook (my first replacement battery) I found even with a new battery that the charge only lasted around three hours rather than the five you suggest. Perhaps I wasn't draining the battery which many people say you need to do and was relying too much on being hooked up to the mains?

I could go for another battery at $129 it is a lot cheaper than buying a new Mac and as i've got 8GB Ram and a 256SSD i'm not certain i'm going to see a massive performance increase for my needs.

Woodcrest64 said:

Hey addictive, I would look into getting Apple to replace your battery. Its more money obviously but the aftermarket ones aren't as good from my experience. A friend of mine ordered one off of a notebook battery website and he gets 2 to 3 hours with it where his Apple battery got him 5 hours. I believe the battery replacement from Apple is between $150 to $200.

If you get that you could hold out for another 2 years especially considering you have an SSD and 8GB of memory in your current machine.

Just my 2 cents

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troy14 said:

I'm surprised you lasted so long with that MacBook "pro"... the display on that thing really, really sucks. I would just upgrade to a retina MacBook Pro and enjoy a fantastic computer

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I don't mind the display I have but then I don't know what i'm missing. I suppose if I started using a Retina display then I wouldn't be able to go back to what I have now.

Thanks blesscheese. It is becoming clearer to me now and its interesting to see how the votes on the poll at the top of the page have changed since i first posted. The majority of voters now believe I should keep my macbook 2008 until it works no more. I guess despite WANTing a shiny new Macbook (Air or Rpro) I don't really NEED a new one. The fact I have 8GB RAM, and a 256GB SSD in my 2008 macbook suggests I just will not see massive performance improvements. The only two key areas I can't improve upon with my current model are increased portability (which I would love, no more optical drive and a lighter weight) and a better display.

So I guess I'll be waiting for to release a new Macbook Air with 16GB RAM and 512GB SSD and a Retina display with superior battery life. I guess this dreamed up model won't be coming for another 13 months or so at the very least

blesscheese said:

Here's my opinion:

If you already have 8GB RAM, and a 256GB SSD in your MacBook, then you aren't going to notice a huge difference in performance between your current MacBook and any of the newer replacements your are thinking of.

Yes, all the benchmarks will be better/faster, etc, but subjectively...your own interactions with it? You won't really notice any difference, esp. if the majority of what you do is browse the web and use Word.

Your laptop is 5 years old, and you will replace it sometime. Again, based on the 8GB RAM and 256GB SSD, anything less in the new laptop will be a disappointment.

One reason why I may buy the rMBP is...my aging eyesight. I love my MBA 1200x800 resolution. The new MBA has 1440x900, which is looks cramped (to me) on a 13" screen. The rMBP basically gives you a 1200x800 resolution (with 2x the pixels), which is a lot easier on my eyes. But I love the portability of the MBA...

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designs216 said:

Hey OP, I say hold out. I've got an '09 w/ upgraded RAM and SSD as well. Though tempted by the Air, I've resisted and elected to run this one into the ground.

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I am leaning more and more to keeping the Macbook from 2008 but this evening I was in the store in London's Regent Street and had a play around with the new Macbook Pro Retina and wow, I was totally blown away by that machine. It seems like they have even improved on the design and style of the Macbook Unibody - everything about it seemed wonderful, well balanced, good selection of ports and a tremendous screen. However, despite all these improvements I did feel it was a little heavy. So i moved on to look at the Macbook Airs and even though it probably would never be a purchase for me the 11 inch air is just ridiculous, beautiful and just so so light.

I am getting more and more taken by the ipad minis and think this would be most suitable for me for my web browsing when i am on the move or wanting increased portability. I'll wait for the Retina version whenever it gets released, this year or next year.

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Woodcrest64 said:

As for the HDMI and sound if its the late 2008 Macbook then you have a display port which will put sound out over HDMI. If its the early 2008 model then you will need a separate audio cable along with the HDMI.

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If I don't make a new Macbook purchase I will want to enable hooking this 2008 model up to a HDTV. Therefore would I be correct in thinking I need Mini Displayport (male v1.1) + USB (male 2.0) to HDMI (female v1.3b)? Is this the product to buy? Please advise as I'd quite like to make the purchase. Thanks in advance.

metanoiac said:

Considering your hardware and use situation, I think you would be able to work with your current machine for at least one more year. Your's is even in better shape than mine because of the SSD. I would closely observe how the update on the MBA looks like, and if it is not to your absolute liking, I would wait.......

When you buy, and I am sure you already came to the same conclusion, you probably want to max out the specs, especially on the RAM side. Being able to upgrade the RAM was a life saver (not for me, but for my MacBook), and like you I tend to use my stuff for a long time. The extra money up front comes easily back over the years of extra use.

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Thank you metanoiac. I'm amazed you are still getting by with your original battery, bravo. I will be buying my second replacement (third battery) for this Macbook soon.

I agree my macbook from 2008 should be able to get me through one more year or work and play and another OS X update before decides that maybe this computer can't handle their newer OS?

I guess i've never thought about how the upgrades i've performed have saved me money and time over the years. This is a pleasing thought and yet i've always sub-consciously known this because of the improved performance from maxing out the RAM and adding a SSD. Yet of course as other posters have stated earlier in this discussion that my upgrades to the 2008 model have hamstrung me in my attempts to buy a new Macbook because I won't see vast performance increases.

metanoiac said:

And an upgrade now or in a year will be still rewarding because of better performance of the CPU and graphics. Plus design and handling rewards, as both rMBP and MBA are (much) lighter.

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Exactly and this is what I have come to realise. After much thought and helpful input from board members. This Macbook will continue to run and run and that is great.

The upgrades I have put in place have allowed the life span of this Macbook to go well into the future and not have to buy a replacement whether I like this or not. It has saved me money but it is really the reason stopping me from buying a new macbook which would be a better, lighter computer.

If there isn't a macbook out there that I absolutely must have then it makes sense to keep using my current model. The question which gets asked over and over in the Buying Tips and Advice forum is "should I buy?" And the answer is almost always the same - buy it if you need it now. The simple answer is my macbook is functioning perfectly well and therefore I don't need a new macbook.

The macbook I would like to buy isn't on the market at the moment. It would be a 13 inch Macbook Air with Retina, at least 512SSD and 16GBRAM. This should future proof it for a number of years allowing me to keep the macbook for a long time like I have this current one. I see that Apple has now moved into an engineering phase where their laptops are not user upgradeable. They are still letting users upgrade the desktops but not the laptops.

Of course if the Haswell macbook Airs get a Retina screen then I'm going to have to make a decision earlier than i currently plan. I'll more likely have to check back in on this post in the summer of 2014 when release another set of new products. Perhaps at that point I'll actually be in need of a new Macbook. A lot can happen in a year.