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2009 vs. 2011 Macbook Pro. Is it really night vs. day Performance?

N

NJRonbo

macrumors 68040
Original poster
Jan 10, 2007
3,286
1,324
I know the answers will be positive...

...but I want to read them for myself.

I have a 2009 17" Macbook Pro.

So much want to buy the 2011 17" i7.

Just thought I would see what the initial
reactions to performance increases was
from those of you who have already upgraded.
 
Well, if you want a more detailed explanation....

Movie Editing.

But I already know an i7 will beat anything that
came before it in encoding.

What I am simply looking for is the moment you
guys first turned on your new Macbook i7 and
started browsing the web. A faster processor will
make a huge difference on that as well.

Just looking for the initial reactions...was it like
"WOW this is much faster!" or "This isn't much faster!"
 
Wait at least another year.
Click to expand...
You aren't the first person to say that.

It's my understanding people were
expecting a lot more out of this year's
models and it didn't happen.

I can wait things out another year if
need be.
 
What more do people possibly want?

We just got

Double the processors on 15" and 17"
LightPeak/Thunderbolt

Next year???
Redesigned case - the current one is the best on the market
Similar specs - they aren't going to 8-core anytime soon
 
Last edited:
NJRonbo said:
Well, if you want a more detailed explanation....

Movie Editing.

But I already know an i7 will beat anything that
came before it in encoding.

What I am simply looking for is the moment you
guys first turned on your new Macbook i7 and
started browsing the web. A faster processor will
make a huge difference on that as well.

Just looking for the initial reactions...was it like
"WOW this is much faster!" or "This isn't much faster!"
Click to expand...

Going from an HDD to an SSD is the only true technology that is instantly noticeable to a non-geek. I can boot Windows 7 in Parallels from clicking the logo to full desktop in 7 seconds with my OCZ Vertex 2 120GB SSD. For anyone who's ever used Parallels, they can tell you that is ridiculously fast.
 
Unless your running your CPU at 90% load or more for most of the day, your not going to notice much difference, if any at all. Even if you do video editing, albeit light video editing, than you probably wont notice to much of a difference. Unless your really doing hours and hours of video editing daily, and need to encode this and that, its probably not a worthwhile upgrade. My cpu rarely goes over 70% load even when Im pushing it as far as I need it to go. I do from time to time do some editing in FCE and iMovie, and for the little bit I do, the upgrade wouldn't really benefit me.
 
James,

Even in overall encoding time you don't think
I will save a good couple of mintues with the
upgrade?

I don't see performance issues video editing
my projects in iMovie on my 2009 MBP, but
the encoding time for High Definition seems
to be the biggest issue.
 
NJRonbo said:
James,

Even in overall encoding time you don't think
I will save a good couple of mintues with the
upgrade?

I don't see performance issues video editing
my projects in iMovie on my 2009 MBP, but
the encoding time for High Definition seems
to be the biggest issue.
Click to expand...

You probably will save a couple minutes for sure. It depends, if thats worth it for you, than by all means upgrade. It wont be night and day performance wise, but for sure there will definitely be a drop in how long it takes to encode the files.

EDIT: I encode sometimes using handbrake, and going from a 2.4ghz Alu MacBook to the MBP I have now was a nice power increase. And Im sure the new quads make quite a difference compared to the last two generations of processors as well, it just really depends if those couple extra minutes REALLY benefit you.
 
I've been pleased at the difference from my 2.4 GHz C2D 13" to my new 2.3 GHz i5 13"--the new one seems noticeably faster, especially in iMovie, iPhoto, etc. I don't know about about night and day, but the difference is quite noticeable.
 
I'm pleased with a 2.53GHz Core 2 Duo to the new base 15", and I edit movies as well.
If I were you I'd wait for another refresh, but that's my opinion. You have to decide if a few less minutes of time waiting is worth the price of the upgrade.
Also, to the person who said this case was currently the best, I agree, however I wish it resisted dents and scratches a tad better.
 
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