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Keep the Black MacBook with upgrades or get a new MacBook Pro?

C

CSCONTO1

macrumors newbie
Original poster
Mar 20, 2014
12
0
Hey everyone,

I have a Late-2007 Black Macbook, and I was wondering lately whether or not I should keep it and upgrade some things (HD, already maxed at 4GB RAM) or if I should retire it and save for a new MacBook Pro. If I were to keep the machine I would probably buy a 256 GB SSD for it, enable trim under Lion, and maybe replace the superdrive as it has become finicky with not ejecting completely. I love the thing to death, but I am unsure as to whether it will be supported much longer. If I were to get the new MacBook Pro, it would be the Ivy Bridge late 2012 non-retina, since I can buy the base version of that and upgrade it later (unfortunately all other MacBooks are non-upgradable ram wise) if need be. Can anyone help me with this decision?
 
Intell

Intell

macrumors P6
Jan 24, 2010
18,955
509
Inside
While a SSD will perk it right up, its limit of Lion does hold it back. It may only have less than a year of updates before it becomes wholly obsolete.
 
fig

fig

macrumors 6502a
Jun 13, 2012
916
84
Austin, TX
If you can afford the upgrade there's really no comparison.

The SSD will help, but the new MBP is going to be FAR faster than a 7 year old machine.
 
C

CSCONTO1

macrumors newbie
Original poster
Mar 20, 2014
12
0
Yeah, I figured that a machine that is seven years old already probably won't be on the support list for long. I really like the regular MacBook Pro, but I am wondering if it could do things such as Minecraft and Photoshop decently despite the Intel HD 4000 Graphics. If not, then I may just end up going for a 13" MacBook Air 128GB with an i7 and 8gb of ram. So the decision is now between these two machines... Can anyone speak from experience of such a decision?

Thanks.
 
M

MTL18

macrumors regular
Jan 25, 2013
205
72
Hi.

What are you using it for? For me, I don't put newer software on my MacBook so the grandfathered software is okay.

The SSD would improve speed, and I believe you can go to 6GB of ram. If your goal is to maintain the status quo, I don't see a problem.

Edit: Saw your later post. Intel HD works fine for photoshop, the software hasn't evolved enough to make this useless. There's two things I'd really consider:

1) How much new software will you add?

2) How slow is it? Your computer is SATA, so there won't be the same kind of gains from an SSD that a 2008 (SATA 2.0) would have...
 
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C

CSCONTO1

macrumors newbie
Original poster
Mar 20, 2014
12
0
Thanks for the replies! The machine is fast, and it runs lion pretty decently. I used to run Snow Leopard, but I hate not getting updates and such. Plus, lion looks much prettier! My machine is maxed out to 4GB of RAM, because that is the limit for these Mid-2007 MacBooks (and besides, only 3.5 GB is really used but the 4GB helps with 128-bit addressing and such). As an edit to my earlier comments, I now have decided not to buy a new MacBook if I decide not to get a SSD for my current one, but I have instead decided that I would instead purchase the last Unibody 7,1 MacBook, since they have a (sort of) dedicated graphics chip (nvidia 320m) and I want to be able to run some games like MC decently. So now these are my choices, and I will need some more insight from others on this. Please help! Thanks!

PS- I know the machine only has SATA I capabilities, but I have heard that SSD's can ecstatically change the machine's speed. Again, I don't know much about this and would love to hear from someone about it :).

EDIT (Sorry for long post!): I mainly add iLife '11, iWork 09', and sometimes CS6 Master Suite.
 
fig

fig

macrumors 6502a
Jun 13, 2012
916
84
Austin, TX
Just installed a Samsung 840 EVO SSD in my late 2008 Aluminum MacBook and I'm getting about 210MB/s write speeds and 240MB/s read speeds.

It's definitely a whole lot snappier than it was before, though I probably could've gone with a slower drive like a Crucial M500 and gotten about the same performance.
 
Lucky736

Lucky736

macrumors 6502a
Jan 18, 2004
995
662
US
Actually the Santa Rosa and Penryn models address all of the memory, the earlier Core 2 models would use 3.3 of 4GB, and the Core Duo model could only goto 2GB. BTW the Santa Rosa and Penryn models can "unofficially" support 6GB. If you're not in a rush snag the SSD and buy yourself some time. We are due for some changes in form from Apple on the portables and you may find not much of an immediate advantage to buying something new as opposed to freshing yours up. The SSD will make a HUGE difference.
 
C

CSCONTO1

macrumors newbie
Original poster
Mar 20, 2014
12
0
In reply to lucky and others

Thanks for the reply lucky!

Yeah I knew that this model could only take up to 4GB and only utilizing 3.3GB when in Mac OS X. My machine is a pre-santa rosa being that it is a mid-2007 model (it is a merom I believe?). So there is no possible way for upgrade there. However after hearing the snappiness an SSD might bring to my MacBook I probably won't upgrade to a new machine and just go for a SSD until they refresh the portable line again, like lucky stated. This thing is still quite strong on Lion, so I will probably keep it considering how awesome it is! So my questions are answered in short.

Also, is there a fix for iWork 09' not opening Office Word documents, as I have had this problem recently and it is really bugging me. Thanks!
 
Lucky736

Lucky736

macrumors 6502a
Jan 18, 2004
995
662
US
CSCONTO1 said:
Thanks for the reply lucky!

Yeah I knew that this model could only take up to 4GB and only utilizing 3.3GB when in Mac OS X. My machine is a pre-santa rosa being that it is a mid-2007 model (it is a merom I believe?). So there is no possible way for upgrade there. However after hearing the snappiness an SSD might bring to my MacBook I probably won't upgrade to a new machine and just go for a SSD until they refresh the portable line again, like lucky stated. This thing is still quite strong on Lion, so I will probably keep it considering how awesome it is! So my questions are answered in short.

Also, is there a fix for iWork 09' not opening Office Word documents, as I have had this problem recently and it is really bugging me. Thanks!
Click to expand...

You might want to know too:

https://twitter.com/MLforAll/status/439425906256650240/photo/1

It'd be a good idea to get that SSD since it looks like your GMA 950 is going to be fully supported in 10.9 and this may extend the life of the machine even more for you. :D
 
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adam9c1

adam9c1

macrumors 68000
May 2, 2012
1,874
311
Chicagoland
I have the early 2008 model and went through several hard drives, biggest boost was from WD blue to WD black, and after that to SSD.

Give it a shot, if you don't like the speed return the drive.
 
T

tekameleon

macrumors newbie
Apr 5, 2014
8
0
Alberta, Canada
For comparison, here's a couple of benchmarks that I ran before/after installing a SSD in my late-2007 MB. (320GB 5,400 HDD vs 240GB SSD)

2j2uqrt.jpg
 
l.a.rossmann

l.a.rossmann

macrumors 65816
May 15, 2009
1,096
372
Brooklyn
I can't suggest investing anything into an A1181.

Your inverter cable or CCFL backlight will probably die weeks after you spend on upgrades for it. We're at a point where Android tablets are almost faster than that machine.
 
Lucky736

Lucky736

macrumors 6502a
Jan 18, 2004
995
662
US
If anyone is interested in a 4GB stick of RAM as well let me know. This will work in the Santa Rosa and Penryn models and when coupled with a 2GB stick will allow for 6GB total RAM. Going to be removing mine since I am relegating mine to as extra machine for a bit. These sticks are not only a pain to find but usually pretty pricey. :eek:

Congrats on the great #'s as well!

And as far as the above poster and the inverter cable comment, any machines that are of this vintage can have that. It is a 25 minute fix and a 5-6 dollar part. I just did one on a friend's machine. The LVDS is actually what sees much more wear and is the cause of most people's backlight issues. There are many small cables that make it up and are FAR more likely to fail than the backlight itself. Based on the amount of machines I have touched or serviced over the years it is about 40-1 but usually people replace both, unnecessarily, and get the repair over with.

Anyway, congrats again on the #'s. VERY nice.
 
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C

CSCONTO1

macrumors newbie
Original poster
Mar 20, 2014
12
0
Final Edit

Well after a considerable amount of thought I have finally decided that it may be a better idea at this point to buy a Late 2008 MacBook Pro 15" (non-unibody) and have something future proof (for now...) or just buy a ThinkPad T420 off eBay. I want to do some gaming, so I need a machine that has dedicated graphics, but can also be somewhat portable. Thanks for the replies and comments everyone!
 
fig

fig

macrumors 6502a
Jun 13, 2012
916
84
Austin, TX
CSCONTO1 said:
Well after a considerable amount of thought I have finally decided that it may be a better idea at this point to buy a Late 2008 MacBook Pro 15" (non-unibody) and have something future proof (for now...) or just buy a ThinkPad T420 off eBay. I want to do some gaming, so I need a machine that has dedicated graphics, but can also be somewhat portable. Thanks for the replies and comments everyone!
Click to expand...

I don't know that you're going to see that much of a performance difference with only a slightly newer model. I'd probably at least go for a 2010 with the i5 chip for a more significant speed increase.
 
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