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Macbook upgrade question

I

iproductsuser

macrumors 6502a
Original poster
Apr 13, 2012
538
0
I have a late 2008 Macbook pro 2.53 core 2 duo, 4GB RAM, NVIDIA GeForce 9600M GT 512 MB with an upgraded 500GB hard drive.

First off, my question is, roughly what is my MBP worth? I checked a couple sites and it looks like ~$800.

Secondly, i'm looking into possibly upgrading machines to a MBP or MBA depending upon what would best suit me. My most intensive work involves Lightroom 4 photo editing, some iMovie, a little Final Cut Pro and the rest involves email, Microsoft Office, internet etc.

I'm wondering if an i5 or i7 processor in the newer macbooks would provide any benefit or if I am good with my machine. I sometimes experience slowdown while doing a lot of things at once especially while in Lightroom. Suggestions or recommendations?

I'm looking to the experts here as I'm not fully in the loop with the newer quad core processors. Thanks in advance.
 
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Looking at your specs, I think there's probably a significant gain to be had upgrading to a new machine, but it will depend on what computer you go for. A baseline Air is certainly speedy for what it is, but if you want to see a significant performance gain, I'd be looking at the quad-core options available in the MBPs. I can't speak to whether you NEED to upgrade, as only you can know that based on your experience. However, doing so probably wouldn't hurt.

The value you quoted for your computer seems a bit on the high side, but I just sold my 13" MacBook Pro 2011 2.3GHz dual i5 (8GB RAM, 500GB HDD) for about £600, which is about $930. You have that nice graphics card, so who knows. $800 seems about right to me. Who knows what the market will do. eBay can be a funny place sometimes. You'll need to continue your search if you want to get a better idea as to the prices. If you go the auction route, maybe think about listing it for $500 and see where things go.
 
I'd be down for that if I could get $800 for mine. Do you think it would be a significant improvement over mine even though the processor is a 2.2 GHz but is a quad core i7? Overall thoughts?
 
iproductsuser said:
I'd be down for that if I could get $800 for mine. Do you think it would be a significant improvement over mine even though the processor is a 2.2 GHz but is a quad core i7? Overall thoughts?
Click to expand...

With your usage you'll notice a difference in performance straight out the box. When possible, add an SSD and double the RAM and you'll notice an even more significant improvement. Those slowdowns you mentioned should disappear.
 
user418 said:
With your usage you'll notice a difference in performance straight out the box. When possible, add an SSD and double the RAM and you'll notice an even more significant improvement. Those slowdowns you mentioned should disappear.
Click to expand...

If I Doubled my current ram, would I notice a decent improvement?
 
I found a buyer for my MacBook @ $850 so now the question is what should I buy for my usage as described in the OP? I'm torn between a 13" air and a 15" MacBook pro (not retina). I'd like to buy from the apple refurb store. Right now i'm using about 150GB of hard drive space on my Pro so I need at least 200GB or so in my next machine but would a smaller drive used with an external be a viable option if I kept my photos and videos on that? My wife really wants an air. I want something faster but very capable for my usage. Please chime in fellas!
 
iproductsuser said:
I found a buyer for my MacBook @ $850 so now the question is what should I buy for my usage as described in the OP? I'm torn between a 13" air and a 15" MacBook pro (not retina). I'd like to buy from the apple refurb store. Right now i'm using about 150GB of hard drive space on my Pro so I need at least 200GB or so in my next machine but would a smaller drive used with an external be a viable option if I kept my photos and videos on that? My wife really wants an air. I want something faster but very capable for my usage. Please chime in fellas!
Click to expand...

You've already been pointed to the refurbed late 2011 15" MBP...
 
Well, you could get a TB to FW or USB3 adapter and store your media on an external drive that way.

Maybe a 13" with a 256gb drive and an upgrade to 8gb of ram... $1599.

Or, go to 8 gigs of ram ($55 on OWC) and a Crucial M4 512gb SSD for $400. Should speed your system up substantially for everything but very CPU intensive operations, but it sounds like you're primarily using it for general purpose stuff anyway. You might get another year or two out of your current rig.

Take the wife out for a really nice dinner with some of the money you'll save.
 
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