Well I have a Fall 2008 uMBP. 15 incher, 2.4GHz. I've modded to have a 7200RPM 500GB hard drive and 4GB of DDR 3 RAM. I WILL sell this on eBay tomorrow for whatever I can get for it (hopefully $1000) and pick up the new 15incher. HOPEFULLY, the 15's will have i7 QM CPU's. If not, there's a Sony Vaio sitting in my shopping cart with all the specs I could want AND for a cheaper price.
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How often do you upgrade/replace your macbook pro or laptop?
- Thread starter Eggtastic
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Every 2 years - learned that from experience
I am ready to do my third refresh on a 2-year cycle. I have found that much beyond 2 years, you start running into issues.
I have only one computer, my MBP, and I use it for work (Photoshop, Illustrator, etc) and play (Aperture with large Raw files; low-end video editing). It gets used about 8 to 10 hours a day, and after 2 years, its pretty well beat up!! I calculate well over 6,000 hours of use, and so even with the high end 17" that I have grown to like, that works out to be around $0.60 an hour...
This last time I purchased a refurb 17" rather than the new 15" I got back in '06, and that worked out OK. Its battery just burst, and I got a replacement, and it has gone through a period of instability, which may be a predictor of imminent hardware failure. I'm not worried - backed up in the cloud via ZumoDrive - but ready to trade up.
I geekbenched mine, and it came in around 3500 - so if the leak at 5260 is right and they put in the i7 I am about to experience a significant boost in speed! I have been in the apple store a few times, and noodled around with the large files in Aperture that they have on the current crop of MBPs, and it is super fast - no endless beach balling when you clone or repair. You could say that upgrading my camera this past year, and so nearly doubling the size of the Raw files, is making this upgrade very timely.
So I hope for tomorrow, but am ready to wait a few more weeks also...
I am ready to do my third refresh on a 2-year cycle. I have found that much beyond 2 years, you start running into issues.
I have only one computer, my MBP, and I use it for work (Photoshop, Illustrator, etc) and play (Aperture with large Raw files; low-end video editing). It gets used about 8 to 10 hours a day, and after 2 years, its pretty well beat up!! I calculate well over 6,000 hours of use, and so even with the high end 17" that I have grown to like, that works out to be around $0.60 an hour...
This last time I purchased a refurb 17" rather than the new 15" I got back in '06, and that worked out OK. Its battery just burst, and I got a replacement, and it has gone through a period of instability, which may be a predictor of imminent hardware failure. I'm not worried - backed up in the cloud via ZumoDrive - but ready to trade up.
I geekbenched mine, and it came in around 3500 - so if the leak at 5260 is right and they put in the i7 I am about to experience a significant boost in speed! I have been in the apple store a few times, and noodled around with the large files in Aperture that they have on the current crop of MBPs, and it is super fast - no endless beach balling when you clone or repair. You could say that upgrading my camera this past year, and so nearly doubling the size of the Raw files, is making this upgrade very timely.
So I hope for tomorrow, but am ready to wait a few more weeks also...
Here's the link : https://www.macrumors.com/2010/02/0...book-pro-61-benchmarked-supplies-constrained/
mine has a score of 3200... about 50% increase should be noticeable.
Thx. my plan was to upgrade every 3 years, in 2011 for me, but this is tempting. BUT 2011 could bring USB 3 and Blu-Ray and maybe a proper Quad Core.
not sure about bluray but Sandy Bridge (quad core 32 nm) and USB 3 for sure... Your MBP is still a great one for one more year for sure, be strong
My upgrade cycle is 6 to 12 years. An anticipated purchase later this year is expected to last 10 years from the date of installation. My regular production machine is more than 6 years old. It doesn't crash, it's quite fast for what I do with it, and when I compared it to one of the new $4,000 Mac Pros in the store, there wasn't much difference in overall speed. Then when I added in the downtime to install patches and deal with software incompatibilities on OS X 10.6, it wasn't worth throwing away the old machine.
I can guess that by next year, all of the Intel Macs available now will be made obsolete anyway, so there's no reason to rush the purchase of a new computer. Of course, maybe if the Mac Pros weren't so pricey, I would be more inclined to buy earlier. That, or if Apple would please fix the MacBook Pro so that it can accept hot-swappable batteries and won't break when exposed to moisture or extreme temperatures, I would definitely be inclined to buy a MacBook Pro now, regardless of the potential obsolescence of the Core 2 Duo CPU later.
There is one major issue that I can't get around when looking at laptops for work, and that is the 810F standard. Dell figured it out, so what's taking Apple so long? If Apple has the resources to make the MacBook Air, it has the resources to make an 810F-compliant laptop.
I can guess that by next year, all of the Intel Macs available now will be made obsolete anyway, so there's no reason to rush the purchase of a new computer. Of course, maybe if the Mac Pros weren't so pricey, I would be more inclined to buy earlier. That, or if Apple would please fix the MacBook Pro so that it can accept hot-swappable batteries and won't break when exposed to moisture or extreme temperatures, I would definitely be inclined to buy a MacBook Pro now, regardless of the potential obsolescence of the Core 2 Duo CPU later.
There is one major issue that I can't get around when looking at laptops for work, and that is the 810F standard. Dell figured it out, so what's taking Apple so long? If Apple has the resources to make the MacBook Air, it has the resources to make an 810F-compliant laptop.
Yearly usually. I usually sell my model for a current version because my warranty is almost up and instead of paying for applecare, I rather use the money towards a new machine. Usually it ends up being close to a wash. (I get lucky selling it I guess. I also take care of them so they're usually almost mint)
However, this latest 15" mbp has been my favorite and if I didn't want to upgrade to a 17" matte, I'd probably keep it. This is also the only machine I ever purchased applecare on as well. Well, not exactly this one. Apple had to replace it with a brand new current gen because my last one was a lemon after way too many repairs. Go figure, the ONE time I buy applecare, my mbp breaks over and over before it finally dies.
However, this latest 15" mbp has been my favorite and if I didn't want to upgrade to a 17" matte, I'd probably keep it. This is also the only machine I ever purchased applecare on as well. Well, not exactly this one. Apple had to replace it with a brand new current gen because my last one was a lemon after way too many repairs. Go figure, the ONE time I buy applecare, my mbp breaks over and over before it finally dies.
My ibook finally died in November at 4 years old. I replaced it with an aluminum unibody macbook refurb. Ideally I'd like to be on a 3 year cycle, I think
not sure about bluray but Sandy Bridge (quad core 32 nm) and USB 3 for sure... Your MBP is still a great one for one more year for sure, be strong
I'm trying man. I'm trying.
I just have to remember what I mainly use my uMBP for. It's mostly for my general computing purposes (iTunes, iPhoto for my general non-DSLR photos, mail, iCal, and MS Office). The heavy lifting for converting DVD's to H.264, DSLR photo editing (via LR2 and PS-CS4), and gaming is done on my Windows 7 rig with an i7 Quad Core CPU and more RAM that will ever be used by one man.
More MBP specs is awesome, but I'm sure for what I do, it won't matter much. I actually would like to see how long mine will go before I actually NEED to a new notebook. Especially if all it's use for is general computing like Facebook. LOL.
I upgrade when I have the money to. Seeing as I'm a poor, recent college grad, even more recently married... that's not happening any time soon
I have a 15" Sept 2006 2.16 Duo Core (single).
Never got Apple Care. Still running strong. Although my monitor flickers on occasion. Hard Drive has 3 gig of avail space. I must say, it's held up through some hard drops, falls, college classes, spills and still looks great. Never scratched it, minor dent near the power supply.
Only complaint really is the second battery i bought for it, now doesn't hold a charge. My power cord looks like hell (it's my second) - also is coming loose from the square box part. It runs CS4 Master Collection pretty well. No real Final Cut Pro issues either. just slow. Mainly used the machine for surfing, photoshop, itunes. It's been my only computer as well. He's been a good friend. Not sure what i'll do with him when i upgrade.
Never got Apple Care. Still running strong. Although my monitor flickers on occasion. Hard Drive has 3 gig of avail space. I must say, it's held up through some hard drops, falls, college classes, spills and still looks great. Never scratched it, minor dent near the power supply.
Only complaint really is the second battery i bought for it, now doesn't hold a charge. My power cord looks like hell (it's my second) - also is coming loose from the square box part. It runs CS4 Master Collection pretty well. No real Final Cut Pro issues either. just slow. Mainly used the machine for surfing, photoshop, itunes. It's been my only computer as well. He's been a good friend. Not sure what i'll do with him when i upgrade.
I'd say about 2 years as there is no significant change worth the money in less than a 2 year period(But this again differs from person to person). I have an umbp 09 model so I doubt tomorrow's upgrades will pack something extraordinary in comparison to what I already have. If they release a umbp with a nice processor and 1GB dedicated vram, I'd actually consider it
Never owned a Macbook (I'm anticipating these new ones quite a bit). But I'm still running my 2004 Power Mac G5 (complete with 1 whole gig of RAM!).
Like a previous poster said, mine's still running like a champ as well, except for being outdated. I'd upgrade the RAM and HDs and what not to save money, but it's a PowerPC Mac, and sadly, it's just about time I get something new.
I'm thinking a new MBP will become my primary computer for the next year or two, and a new Mac Pro down the line. Like I said, this one still runs extremely well.
Like a previous poster said, mine's still running like a champ as well, except for being outdated. I'd upgrade the RAM and HDs and what not to save money, but it's a PowerPC Mac, and sadly, it's just about time I get something new.
I'm thinking a new MBP will become my primary computer for the next year or two, and a new Mac Pro down the line. Like I said, this one still runs extremely well.
I'm still a student, so I won't have the money to upgrade that often. I'm probably only planning to upgrade it after 3 or 4 years, which would be after Sandy Bridge comes out. However if I had no money at all to upgrade it I might even still stick with this model for a longer time.
If I were working and had a stable income though, I'd probably upgrade it every 2 years.
If I were working and had a stable income though, I'd probably upgrade it every 2 years.
I was just thinking of buying a i7 desktop for heavy duty instead of buying the new MBP... depends if it has a good graphic card enough... we'll know soon
Powerbook 2300 --> 1996?
iBook 300Mhz --> Mid 2000?
Powerbook 12" G4 1.33Ghz --> June 2004 Died (free replacement)
Powerbook 12" G4 1.5Ghz --> December 2005
MacbookPro 2.2Ghz --> July 2007
Gonna get a new one this summer!
Earlier I always had a desktop, because laptops wasn't up to doing any heavy tasks. Nowadays I rather change laptop more often than getting more desktops, unless apple introduces some neat netbook I can buy and have alongside an iMac
iBook 300Mhz --> Mid 2000?
Powerbook 12" G4 1.33Ghz --> June 2004 Died (free replacement)
Powerbook 12" G4 1.5Ghz --> December 2005
MacbookPro 2.2Ghz --> July 2007
Gonna get a new one this summer!
Earlier I always had a desktop, because laptops wasn't up to doing any heavy tasks. Nowadays I rather change laptop more often than getting more desktops, unless apple introduces some neat netbook I can buy and have alongside an iMac
Yours sounds EXACTLY like mine hahah.. Though I still have some issues with the dvd player.
I mean the whole mobile market is what is in now.