Is it time to upgrade my 2009 15" MBP?

[Lax1085]

Hi, i have a base 2009 15" mbp 2.53 ghz, 4gb ram. Im happy with this macbook but was looking to possibly getting a 2012 13" mba. The reason behind the macbook air is portability want to easily take this laptop to class and take notes,etc because carrying the 15" is quite heavy. Also, i do want usb 3.0 and the new intel cores since im kinda behind on that, the speed is appealing to me as well thanks to the SSD.

Im a Computer Science major so far we have been some small programming, nothing big and its on a server where compiling take place. I web browse a lot, watch a lot of HD video, email, iPhoto, iMovie, xcode. No gaming on PC's for me, or heavy on editing software. so CPU performance isnt a big deal for me but i do like to have the latest tech.

Should i upgrade my MBP and get a possibly quad-core 15" or stick with this mbp and get a 2012 mba as a companion. Storage isnt an issue as i have a NAS.

i do have an iPad 3rd gen, should i just use that instead of getting an air.


thanks

 

[chaleyer]

If portability is the primary reason, then yes, the MBA will be great.
I have a mid-2009 15" MBP and recently bumped it to 8Gb, chucked out the Superdrive, moved the HDD to the opti-bay and installed a Crucial M4 256Gb SSD. A HUGE difference that will keep this baby going for another year or two.
Mine just goes home > Office > prospect sites > home, so not too heavy for the very big performance boost when running multiple VMware images.

 

[yensteel]

I think that the latest Macbook Air will be perfect for you.

Upgrading to a newer 15" macbook pro won't be worth it because it would be the same computer except with better specifications and better connectivity. You will gain in areas which are less important (Since you are fine with your current computer's speed) but you lose out on getting a computer that's more portable. Plus, you can save money.

Performance wise you will see no loss in speed. both the CPU and the graphics chip are slightly faster than the 2009 Macbook Pro's parts (according to geekbench and notebookcheck.net), so you are still upgrading in that area.

You can consider a middle ground with the 13" macbook pro or the 15" Retina Macbook Pro but they don't seem to fit your needs.