Advice: Keep or buy?

[Harlowgold1]

Hi friends!
I have a two and half year old Macbook Pro 15" which is in pristine condition. The specs are as follows: Model Name:
Model Identifier: MacBookPro5,1
Processor Name: Intel Core 2 Duo
Processor Speed: 2.53 GHz
Number of Processors: 1
Total Number of Cores: 2
L2 Cache: 6 MB
Memory: 4 GB
Bus Speed: 1.07 GHz

It is so heavy for me to lug around that I was thinking of buying a new top-of-the line 13" Macbook Pro. I use it primarily for office applications but I also use iMovie and Photoshop for small projects. Will the change be worth in convenience of mobility? Thank so much Jennifer

 

[P0stalTek]

Hi friends!
I have a two and half year old Macbook Pro 15" which is in pristine condition. The specs are as follows: Model Name:
Model Identifier: MacBookPro5,1
Processor Name: Intel Core 2 Duo
Processor Speed: 2.53 GHz
Number of Processors: 1
Total Number of Cores: 2
L2 Cache: 6 MB
Memory: 4 GB
Bus Speed: 1.07 GHz

It is so heavy for me to lug around that I was thinking of buying a new top-of-the line 13" Macbook Pro. I use it primarily for office applications but I also use iMovie and Photoshop for small projects. Will the change be worth in convenience of mobility? Thank so much Jennifer

Did you mean "top-of-the-line 13" MacBook Air"? I assume so since this is the MBA forum. If that's what you are looking at for more portability reasons, I can tell you with certainty, you will not be disappointed.

Somewhere I have a pic of my new MBA 13" sitting on top of my old Toshiba "mid-sized" 15.6 laptop. It's night and day.

 

[P0stalTek]

Found them

 

[Harlowgold1]

Well you have me sold on the portability part! However, what about specs-wise. Am I moving to a slower system? Thanks

 

[KPOM]

Well you have me sold on the portability part! However, what about specs-wise. Am I moving to a slower system? Thanks

No. Even the Core i5 in the base 13" MacBook Air will be faster than the 2.53GHz Core 2 Duo in your 2009 Pro. Plus, the flash storage is significantly faster than the hard drive in your Pro. Applications will load almost instantly, and your computer will reboot in under 20 seconds.

The only things that might be slower are games, if you frequently boot your Pro into the 9600GT discrete GPU. If you use the Pro's default integrated 9400m graphics, then the Air will be faster on graphics, too. If you don't know what I'm talking about, then you are using the slower 9400m graphics, and will notice better performance with the Air.

The new Airs can handle iMovie and Photoshop easily.

 

[lukekarts]

Pretty much as said so far, the MBA 13' Ultimate (i5, or i7 $100 option) will far outperform your MBP in every task, be that processing images, loading up, accessing files, converting files, copying pictures/videos. And the difference will be quite significant - 1.5 - 2x as fast on processing images etc.

The only difference, will be graphically, in games, where the 9600 the Pro is better than the integrated Intel processor. If you don't play any games then there is no real advantage held by the MBP.

 

[Harlowgold1]

You guys are wonderful! Thanks so much! Jenny

 

[P0stalTek]

The Air is fast..

That's all I can say. I've thrown everything and the kitchen sink at it, up to and including games (Eve Online), running Windows 7 Ultimate on a virtual machine (Parallels), watching flash video, and even playing flash games.

I've never used the MBP that you have, but I can say that without a doubt, it feels way faster than I expected when I first looked into "ultraportables". Coming from a PC, I thought that meant "netbook", which was never fast enough for me, and even felt sluggish at menial tasks. I couldn't have been more wrong. the MBA is NOT a netbook, and does not suffer from it's perpetually slow demeanor.

Buy it, you'll never regret it

(coming from a PC tech with 11 years in the business)

 

[accessoriesguy]

I also have a 15in 5,1 mac
and want to do the same, the biggest thing is that you will have a smaller screen. Lower graphics power (not that you would need it for what you will be doing)

Overall it would be lighter, quicker, and longer battery life with the 13"; so as long as the new screen size does not bother you, you will be very happy.

Your mac is worth around 1200-1400. Ive seen them go as low as 1000 and possibly as high as 1600.

I enjoy watching movies on my bigger mac, and honestly, I just want whats new and looking to spend money. I'll wait for the pro's refresh.

 

[markrivers]

Go for it!

In addition to what the others have already mentioned, go for the Air, or wait for the next 13inch MacBook Pro. They will have their turn of refresh Soon.

It will be a great help if you will list most of the programs that you're using, anything along the lines of aperture? Final cut Pro?
If not, then you won't likely see huge difference downgrading to an AIR.

And by the way, I upgraded from a 2008 15 inch MBP and I welcome a lighter laptop any given day.