Macbook upgrade question.

[onmi]

I currently have a mint condition Mid-2010 Macbook Pro 15. I am planning on hooking it up to my HDTV via a mini-displayport to HDMI adapter&cable.

My question is: would it be worth upgrading the current 5400rpm hard drive with a 128GB SSD and upgrading the 4GB 1067 stock ram to 8GB 1067, or buy a new 2012 model mac? My current model scored a 5078 geekbench score on 32bit and 5714 score on 64bit.

I plan on playing mostly Starcraft II, Diablo III and doing computer programming. Thanks everyone.

 

[user418]

I say upgrade the hard drive and memory. There are lots of posts on MR where users noticed vast improvements on older MBP's with an upgrade. A "mint condition" 2010 is not that out of date. Perhaps you've got your sights set on the new models set for release in the near future?

 

[onmi]

I have seen a couple reports and posts about older macbooks getting faster. I was either thinking upgrading to 128GB SSD and 8GB ram on my mid 2010 macbook pro 15" or get a 2012 mac mini to hook up to my HDTV in the case that the SSD and ram upgrade isn't worth it.

 

[Free Ale]

I currently have a mint condition Mid-2010 Macbook Pro 15. I am planning on hooking it up to my HDTV via a mini-displayport to HDMI adapter&cable.

My question is: would it be worth upgrading the current 5400rpm hard drive with a 128GB SSD and upgrading the 4GB 1067 stock ram to 8GB 1067, or buy a new 2012 model mac? My current model scored a 5078 geekbench score on 32bit and 5714 score on 64bit.

I plan on playing mostly Starcraft II, Diablo III and doing computer programming. Thanks everyone.

If buying a new MBP is completely available, why not wait till after the refresh and decide? If the update is not tempting enough for you to buy a new laptop, then upgrade your current computer and enjoy the speed improvements

 

[onmi]

If buying a new MBP is completely available, why not wait till after the refresh and decide? If the update is not tempting enough for you to buy a new laptop, then upgrade your current computer and enjoy the speed improvements

Im not gonna buy a new laptop, the farthest my budget would allow would be a 2012 mac mini. or save some money and just get the HD and ram upgrade

 

[user418]

I currently have a mint condition Mid-2010 Macbook Pro 15. I am planning on hooking it up to my HDTV via a mini-displayport to HDMI adapter&cable.

My question is: would it be worth upgrading the current 5400rpm hard drive with a 128GB SSD and upgrading the 4GB 1067 stock ram to 8GB 1067, or buy a new 2012 model mac? My current model scored a 5078 geekbench score on 32bit and 5714 score on 64bit.

I plan on playing mostly Starcraft II, Diablo III and doing computer programming. Thanks everyone.

Mac Mini - $799

http://store.apple.com/us/browse/home/shop_mac/family/mac_mini/select

Samsung 830 128 GB - $159

http://www.bhphotovideo.com/c/search?Ntt=Samsung+830&N=0&InitialSearch=yes

OWC 8 GB Kit - $50

http://eshop.macsales.com/item/Other World Computing/8566DDR3S8GP/

Figured you'd go with the Mini with the better graphics card based on your post. Just some food for thought.

 

[onmi]

Mac Mini - $799

http://store.apple.com/us/browse/home/shop_mac/family/mac_mini/select

Samsung 830 128 GB - $159

http://www.bhphotovideo.com/c/search?Ntt=Samsung+830&N=0&InitialSearch=yes

OWC 8 GB Kit - $50

http://eshop.macsales.com/item/Other World Computing/8566DDR3S8GP/

Figured you'd go with the Mini with the better graphics card based on your post. Just some food for thought.

Yeah, thats what kinda draws me over to the mini. If I would buy one, I'd most likely get the i7 non server mini with the better graphics. If the new generation mini is quad core i5 and i7 with at least 2.4ghz, I'd want that instead... I believe my Macbook pro mid 2010 is dual core i5 @2.4ghz.

 

[Dangerous Theory]

Bottlenecks in gaming are usually GPU, CPU, or sometimes RAM, not hard drive speeds. Programming will need very little resources.

Chck page outs to see if you need to upgrade RAM. If you want this upgrade because gaming performance isn't as good as you'd like, then you have no choice but to get a new mac.

 

[snaky69]

I currently have a mint condition Mid-2010 Macbook Pro 15. I am planning on hooking it up to my HDTV via a mini-displayport to HDMI adapter&cable.

My question is: would it be worth upgrading the current 5400rpm hard drive with a 128GB SSD and upgrading the 4GB 1067 stock ram to 8GB 1067, or buy a new 2012 model mac? My current model scored a 5078 geekbench score on 32bit and 5714 score on 64bit.

I plan on playing mostly Starcraft II, Diablo III and doing computer programming. Thanks everyone.

Neither of these upgrades will do anything for you gaming wise apart from loading times. The 2010 machine is still plenty capable and is perfectly able to run both SC2 and Diablo III, heck I run diablo III on my 2008 non-unibody MBP!

 

[roofz]

upgrade the ram

you'll get a little improvement from this (like ~5 extra FPS)

 

[onmi]

Well, looks like I'll upgrade the SSD and RAM since my student budget sucks. Thanks all.