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doctuh

macrumors newbie
Original poster
Oct 15, 2011
2
0
Wife has a 2006 white macbook in which I've maxed ram at 2GB and installed my old 2009 MBP 320GB hard disk. I managed to get snow leopard on there but obviously no further upgrades for that chip architecture.

I have a mid-2009 MBP w/ dGPU which I've maxed ram at 8GB and installed a hybrid ~500GB disk.

Wife really could use a new machine. She isn't one to get excited by new tech and her uses are limited to web, light photo work, and video clipping all of which the 2009 MBP handle with ease. I was considering getting her a 13 MBA or a 13 rMBP but I realized for her they would be no different than using our existing MBP and we may be better off with a new 15 MBP.

I love my MBP and my use cases don't really NEED an upgrade but I'd hate for us to both be closer to the same upgrade cycle and the 15" upgrade, while not insignificant in price, is a lot less than upgrading 2 machines down the line when I'm certain she would be perfectly happy with using the 2009 MBP for years. Anyone dealt with a similar situation or care to opine?
 

Voca

macrumors member
Nov 3, 2013
46
1
Atlanta, GA
Wife has a 2006 white macbook in which I've maxed ram at 2GB and installed my old 2009 MBP 320GB hard disk. I managed to get snow leopard on there but obviously no further upgrades for that chip architecture.

I have a mid-2009 MBP w/ dGPU which I've maxed ram at 8GB and installed a hybrid ~500GB disk.

Wife really could use a new machine. She isn't one to get excited by new tech and her uses are limited to web, light photo work, and video clipping all of which the 2009 MBP handle with ease. I was considering getting her a 13 MBA or a 13 rMBP but I realized for her they would be no different than using our existing MBP and we may be better off with a new 15 MBP.

I love my MBP and my use cases don't really NEED an upgrade but I'd hate for us to both be closer to the same upgrade cycle and the 15" upgrade, while not insignificant in price, is a lot less than upgrading 2 machines down the line when I'm certain she would be perfectly happy with using the 2009 MBP for years. Anyone dealt with a similar situation or care to opine?

I gave my wife my early 2009 MBP 2.26 C2D 8gb ram and i use a 2011 MBP 2.3 i5 16GB ram. Sooner or later, her current setup wont be enough anymore to keep up to date with simple updates and day to day programs. Some other support will be dropped in the long run.
(For example: iMac G5 PPC wont run Netflix....needs an Intel or similar CPU)
 

NewishMacGuy

macrumors 6502a
Aug 2, 2007
636
0
Sounds like you only need 1 upgrade for now and the foreseeable future. Give her yours and go Sandy/Ivy Bridge, or even Haswell if you feel like splurging.

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