I will be upgrading my laptop soon and am looking for some opinions. I have a 15'' 2.5ghz Core2 Duo with 4GB of RAM and 512 VRAM from 2008. I'm deciding bewteen a base 13'' model to tide me over for a year while I wait for the 2013 refresh OR getting the maxed out 15'' non retina model for about $2300. I play some games like Starcraft 2 and Diablo 3 as well as lots of iPhoto and iTunes. Would the 13'' even be much of an upgrade? I really want the 15'' model because I can get the hi-res anti glare and obviously better specs but not sure I wanna spend $1000 more at the moment.
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upgrading from 2008 MBP....13'' or 15''?
- Thread starter jgw1283
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Honestly, I'd get the 13" model, I just don't like the added bulk and size of the 15" models. My first Apple laptop was the 12" PowerBook, I wish they still made something that size.
The HD4000 graphics in the new 13" MBP is actually a big improvement over your 8600GT(if you have an early 2008 model) and a good bump up from your 9600GT(if you have a late 2008 model).
the HD4000 is an improvement from my early 2008 model even though it doesn't have dedicated video ram?
also, do you guys think Apple will take away the superdrive from all 2013 models? call me crazy but I still use it quite a bit, partly the reason I don't want a retina MBP
also, do you guys think Apple will take away the superdrive from all 2013 models? call me crazy but I still use it quite a bit, partly the reason I don't want a retina MBP
Yes. Not tremendous but faster and cooler, yes. On par with a desktop 9600 GSO. Roughly.
I had the early 2008 MBP 15 inch which I really liked. I've almost updated to the non-retina 2012 MBP 15 inch because I prefer anti-glare. What prevented me from getting it was that the classic MBP 15 inch is quite a bit larger and heavier than the early 2008 model (don't know exact numbers, but something like 1cm in length and depth). It feels so bulky to me. MBP retina wasn't an option for me (at least this year) because it's a first generation product and because I'm using the optical drive quite a bit.
So I went with the 2012 MBP 13 inch. It was not as expensive as the classic MBP or the retina MBP. I really like that it's portable and the power is more then enough for me. I've ordered it with an SSD - this thing is so fast
But sometimes I'm annoyed by the glare of the display and I miss the larger screen on occasion. For serious work I'm using an external display.
So I went with the 2012 MBP 13 inch. It was not as expensive as the classic MBP or the retina MBP. I really like that it's portable and the power is more then enough for me. I've ordered it with an SSD - this thing is so fast
But sometimes I'm annoyed by the glare of the display and I miss the larger screen on occasion. For serious work I'm using an external display.Your early 2008 model has the 8600GT, which by the way is notorious for failing.
I think Apple will kill the Superdrive on all models eventually, but I don't think they'll do it next year.
I was going to suggest that you look into upgrading the RAM and install a SSD in your current MBP, but then I remembered that it has the 8600GT.
The 13" MBP is a great unit, if I had the extra cash I'd be buying one to upgrade my mid-2009 13".
That's true. My late 2011 does handle Creative Suite far better than my desktop with Geforce 7300 256MB RAM - I know it's an old GPU, but still it's amazing that integrated graphics makes circles around it
