2008 MacBook Pro to 2013 MacBook Pro?

[mkstewartesq@co]

I know this may sound like a silly question, but it is an honest one:

I have a late 2008 15-inch MacBook Pro, the first unibody. 2.53 ghz Core 2 Duo. 4mb RAM. I have used it mainly for general computing, along with music production in Logic and photo editing in iPhoto and Aperture.

So I'm trying to decide whether to pony up the 2002 – plus dollars to upgrade this five-year-old machine, or to wait. The machine hasn't experienced truly serious slowdowns but has gotten a bit slower in certain functions. Mavericks has helped bring a bit of the speed back.

My question (the silly one perhaps): given that uses I put my computer to, will the speed increase in a 2013 MacBook Pro be truly significant and noticeable for me, or just "somewhat better"? Just trying to decide whether I should put the money into the upgrade now and keep that computer for another five years, or continue the way IM and keep waiting?

Thanks,
Mike

 

[exigentsky]

I envy your patience.

 

[Ryan1524]

Mid-2007 here.

Can't wait to jump from Geekbench score of 2000 to 13000.


If you use it for any of those cpu-hungry production functions, don't wait. Just do it. We've waited long enough. I know I waited even longer than you did, and continued to use Lightroom and Photoshop, but every time I did, I know that I'm wasting my time.

On the other hand, if you can tolerate your computer for another year, do what I did. Put an SSD in there. It bought me enough performance to wait for Haswell when I almost bought the Ivy Bridge rMBP. I time my upgrades with Intel's cycles to maximize the gains.

 

[mkstewartesq@co]

I envy your patience.

LOL.

Mid-2007 here.

On the other hand, if you can tolerate your computer for another year, do what I did. Put an SSD in there. It bought me enough performance to wait for Haswell when I almost bought the Ivy Bridge rMBP. I time my upgrades with Intel's cycles to maximize the gains.

Ryan:

I thought that was a fantastic idea, and so I went out and got a Samsung EVO 840 SSD and installed it. The difference is amazing - no more beachballs, sluggish app opening, etc. Of course, nothing can change the fact that I'm working with a 5+ year-old CPU, but the SSD really breathed life into the machine with respect to the apps I currently use. So thanks for that.

Yeah, I agree we've waited long enough to upgrade, but if I can hold off on a $2,500 purchase for another year, I'm happy.

M