benefits of new hardware:

[icanboogie]

Oh, I really would like to get my hand on on of those new quadcore17"mbp's! NICE machines!

But the thing is: my old 2008 pre-unibody mbp 2.5 c2d 17 still rocks! All the way!

Question: Where do you guys REALLY get into restrictments, due to old hardware, in you daily tasks?

Because I am not sure about how much I would really benefit from the new generation of macbooks. I still feel my old machine does pretty well with even hard workload like in CS4, iMovie and alike.

So, besides the attraction of novelty and i7-quad horse power: do you experienced any real benefit, and can you name it?!

 

[Prodo123]

Oh, I really would like to get my hand on on of those new quadcore17"mbp's! NICE machines!

But the thing is: my old 2008 pre-unibody mbp 2.5 c2d 17 still rocks! All the way!

Question: Where do you guys REALLY get into restrictments, due to old hardware, in you daily tasks?

Because I am not sure about how much I would really benefit from the new generation of macbooks. I still feel my old machine does pretty well with even hard workload like in CS4, iMovie and alike.

So, besides the attraction of novelty and i7-quad horse power: do you experienced any real benefit, and can you name it?!

What's a restrictment?
If you mean restrictions, the upper limit and the abilities of i7 quad core would be (to put in perspective):
1. 5 1080p videos playing at once on 2 monitors, 1680x1050 and 2560x1600
2. 3 1080p videos and RAW editing at once on 2 monitors
3. 2 1080p simultaneous video encoding from MKV to M4V in 2 hours

The HD 6750 differs greatly. Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2 on medium settings seems to be the limit. Games differ more than raw CPU encoding.

To put in perspective, if you buy a 15"+ 2011 MBP, you're buying a stylish, portable Mac Pro, and then some.

 

[sioannou]

Oh, I really would like to get my hand on on of those new quadcore17"mbp's! NICE machines!

But the thing is: my old 2008 pre-unibody mbp 2.5 c2d 17 still rocks! All the way!

Question: Where do you guys REALLY get into restrictments, due to old hardware, in you daily tasks?

Because I am not sure about how much I would really benefit from the new generation of macbooks. I still feel my old machine does pretty well with even hard workload like in CS4, iMovie and alike.

So, besides the attraction of novelty and i7-quad horse power: do you experienced any real benefit, and can you name it?!

Friend, most people made their purchase based on numbers(better processor,faster ram etc) and not their actual needs , so you don't need digging it further. However I have to admit that some categories of people forced to have the better model like those who play games , or maybe to a heavy video editing. If your mbp satisfies your needs (both visually , and processing power) really I cannot see a reason for upgrading.

 

[Prodo123]

Friend, most people made their purchase based on numbers(better processor,faster ram etc) and not their actual needs , so you don't need digging it further. However I have to admit that some categories of people forced to have the better model like those who play games , or maybe to a heavy video editing. If your mbp satisfies your needs (both visually , and processing power) really I cannot see a reason for upgrading.

+1, though I made my purchase through both need and luck. It just happened to refresh when my old one broke...so...yeah...

But this is completely true. Just because it has Mac Pro horsepower DOES NOT MEAN you need it.
Please tell us what you plan on doing if you buy it.

Also, try running this: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XSGBVzeBUbk as many times simultaneously as possible, and tell us the results.

 

[DustinT]

My criteria for upgrading is when I have to wait for things. If my workload produces more than a little downtime you'll see me start to find the bottle neck and upgrade it.

I've switched back and forth between the older Quad cores and the newer i series and the difference is noticeable in everyday usage. Not huge, but noticeable.

 

[icanboogie]

thanks for your feedback, guys.

I work on Mac since nearly 20 years, and everytime a major upgrade in processing power or else occurred (and I regard the 2011 quadcore upgrade as such), I normally had come to some kind of limitations on the way (like going from8 bit to 16 bit audio, expanding multimedia capabilities, multitasking, dvds, gameplay etc.

But now, I do not sense any of these limitations. So I thought that maybe, one time, tech/hardware developed faster than (at least my normal) usage/software?

Therefore my question, if, besides mere benchmarks, you feel any real benefits from the new machines besides (some? how much?) acceleration?

I ask this while I know that even only the new battery life might be seen as a worthy selling point.

I do not need any new machine because the old one still goes great, but for the first time, I am not toooo jealous on 3year-newer hardware. And that wonders me a bit!

 

[Prodo123]

thanks for your feedback, guys.

I work on Mac since nearly 20 years, and everytime a major upgrade in processing power or else occurred (and I regard the 2011 quadcore upgrade as such), I normally had come to some kind of limitations on the way (like going from8 bit to 16 bit audio, expanding multimedia capabilities, multitasking, dvds, gameplay etc.

But now, I do not sense any of these limitations. So I thought that maybe, one time, tech/hardware developed faster than (at least my normal) usage/software?

Therefore my question, if, besides mere benchmarks, you feel any real benefits from the new machines besides (some? how much?) acceleration?

I ask this while I know that even only the new battery life might be seen as a worthy selling point.

I do not need any new machine because the old one still goes great, but for the first time, I am not toooo jealous on 3year-newer hardware. And that wonders me a bit!

Like I said before, it all depends on what you do. So...what DO you do?

Gamer: Upgrade
Professional Movie Editor: Upgrade
Professional Music Producer: Upgrade
Programmer: Upgrade
Professional Photographer: Upgrade
Casual Photoshop User: Consider carefully
Heavy iMovie user: Consider carefully
Heavy Multimedia consumer: Upgrade
Casual/Heavy Music Editor: Consider carefully
Casual iMovie user: Do not upgrade
Casual Photoshop/iPhoto user: Do not upgrade
Casual Multimedia consumer: DO NOT UPGRADE

 

[icanboogie]

Gamer: Upgrade
Professional Movie Editor: Upgrade
Professional Music Producer: Upgrade
Programmer: Upgrade
Professional Photographer: Upgrade
Casual Photoshop User: Consider carefully
Heavy iMovie user: Consider carefully
Heavy Multimedia consumer: Upgrade
Casual/Heavy Music Editor: Consider carefully
Casual iMovie user: Do not upgrade
Casual Photoshop/iPhoto user: Do not upgrade
Casual Multimedia consumer: DO NOT UPGRADE

Good list, thanks!
I assume I will consider carefully!

Although I do professional stuff with it too (PS, ID, Destiller), the spinning ball hardly bothers me for now. Even extensive Garageband-projects work great. I assume I need to get into HD Video Editing to get to the limits....

Oh, and I didn't know that programming is so intense!

 

[dagamer34]

Good list, thanks!
I assume I will consider carefully!

Although I do professional stuff with it too (PS, ID, Destiller), the spinning ball hardly bothers me for now. Even extensive Garageband-projects work great. I assume I need to get into HD Video Editing to get to the limits....

Oh, and I didn't know that programming is so intense!

It's all about compile times.

 

[Prodo123]

Good list, thanks!
I assume I will consider carefully!

Although I do professional stuff with it too (PS, ID, Destiller), the spinning ball hardly bothers me for now. Even extensive Garageband-projects work great. I assume I need to get into HD Video Editing to get to the limits....

Oh, and I didn't know that programming is so intense!

It's all about compile times.

It depends on what your definition of professional stuff is. If you make 1080p, 4+ minute shorts in FCP then it's professional. If you make 480p YouTube videos in iMovie, that's casual.
Here, by professional Photoshopping I mean RAW editing on a regular basis. If you are morphing Mr. T and Yoda together, then it's casual.
GarageBand is casual. If you edit 8-track lossless WAV recordings and edit out kinks in Logic, Steinberg Cubase, etc. then it's professional.

Also, programming nowadays is a tough job. More and more complex programs must be made, such as game development. Also, you need a platform to test those programs on, and having a powerful machine like the 17" MBP is going to help a lot.
Yes, compile times matter too

 

[icanboogie]

Alright, according to these standards I am totally on the casual side.
(But hey, I earn money with it!

I tried the Big Buck Bunny on 1080p youtube test, I can play two files (not fullscreen) simultaneously, more will cause stutter...

I guess I am fine with my old mbp. Still like it a lot.

 

[mac00l]

Alright, according to these standards I am totally on the casual side.
(But hey, I earn money with it!

I tried the Big Buck Bunny on 1080p youtube test, I can play two files (not fullscreen) simultaneously, more will cause stutter...

I guess I am fine with my old mbp. Still like it a lot.

With your test I played 4 files simultaneously without a problem. And I'm using a baseline 13" 2011MBP with HD 3000 IGP.

But you are fine, people should only upgrade when the machines they are using are unable, or run needed software too slow.