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Max out 13" 09 MBP or upgrade to 13" MBP 10

A

Aegelward

macrumors 6502a
Original poster
Jul 31, 2005
528
54
UK
Currently i have an 09 13" macbook, with defualt hardware.

At the moment i'm considering upping myself to a 500 gig/7200RPM and 4GB of ram, or would i be better off selling my machine and upgrading to the 2010 model.

I would certainly appreciate the performance benefits of a enhanced GPU, even if the CPU upgrade is minimal.

It would be nice to be able to play SC2 more fluidly and play a few rounds of TF2/L4D or Killing Floor with friends.

What do you think? Upgrading will certainly be cheaper, but i can recoup a lost of the cost of a new MBP by selling my current one.
 
I personally find the 2.26GHz MBP weak. In specs that is. If you have the money, upgrade to a high end 13", or even the 2.4GHz, it will be worth it. GPU, CPU and RAM increase. But if you're going for a hard drive, consider a SSD, it's not awesome in capacity but it will increase performance considerably.

Cheers
 
Tmacfan4321 said:
If you're playing any sort of games, go for the 2010 MBP. Any upgrade that you do to the 2009 MBP won't make it a better laptop for gaming.
Click to expand...

Well, i don't want to upgrade specifically for gaming, but going for the 2010 will yield a nice bonus, in that gaming performance will improve.
 
Have you considered upgrading the Ram and replacing the HDD with a SSD?
The processor difference is minimal between the two generations, so unless the little extra battery life and new graphics, 320m, are a better upgrade for what you do, the SDD will increase performance more.
 
To all the people suggesting a SSD; i want at least 500 gigs of storage, and SSDs of that capacity are way, way out of what i'd want to spend on them.

A high RPM HDD is a better option for me.

The improved GPU would be a bonus, like i said. It's just a tough decision to make.
 
Hisdem said:
I personally find the 2.26GHz MBP weak. In specs that is. If you have the money, upgrade to a high end 13", or even the 2.4GHz, it will be worth it. GPU, CPU and RAM increase. But if you're going for a hard drive, consider a SSD, it's not awesome in capacity but it will increase performance considerably.

Cheers
Click to expand...

High end 13" is a massive waste of money.

My vote is for a 2.4.
 
Personally, I wouldn't upgrade to a 2010 model MBP when you have a 2009 MBP. If you seriously think about it, next year, there'll be the 2011 model and so on.
It'll be a continuous chain of "upgrades."

If I were you,
I would use the "saved" money and buy an SSD, upgrade ram
and possibly, even add a extra internal HD by removing the "lesser" used optical drive.
(That's what I'm doing to my MBP. SSD's are expensive thus I just got a 80gb SSD to store all my files to "boot" the computer. Anything else would be on the 2nd internal HD.)
You can still continue to use the optical drive by installing it in a portable (slim) enclosure or connect with a universal connector.

That's all my opinion though.
If you still feel urged to buy a new MBP then go ahead.
The performance on your modded 09 MBP would be a lot better than the stock 10 MBP though.
 
tonywang.xmpt said:
Personally, I wouldn't upgrade to a 2010 model MBP when you have a 2009 MBP. If you seriously think about it, next year, there'll be the 2011 model and so on.
It'll be a continuous chain of "upgrades."

If I were you,
I would use the "saved" money and buy an SSD, upgrade ram
and possibly, even add a extra internal HD by removing the "lesser" used optical drive.
(That's what I'm doing to my MBP. SSD's are expensive thus I just got a 80gb SSD to store all my files to "boot" the computer. Anything else would be on the 2nd internal HD.)
You can still continue to use the optical drive by installing it in a portable (slim) enclosure or connect with a universal connector.

That's all my opinion though.
If you still feel urged to buy a new MBP then go ahead.
The performance on your modded 09 MBP would be a lot better than the stock 10 MBP though.
Click to expand...

Performance with launching applications and loading OSX? He will experience absolutely no gains in the FPS department.

I'd get the 2010 MBP13 for the 320M alone. The extra 2GB of RAM is just a bonus. The .26GHz, 80GB+ HD space, are nice additions. You also have to factor in the resale value.
 
vant said:
Performance with launching applications and loading OSX? He will experience absolutely no gains in the FPS department.

I'd get the 2010 MBP13 for the 320M alone. The extra 2GB of RAM is just a bonus. The .26GHz, 80GB+ HD space, are nice additions. You also have to factor in the resale value.
Click to expand...

It's not .26ghz, it's .14ghz. Literally nothing and while the 320m is better than the 9400m , it's not worth buying a new computer for. If you are really a gamer, buy a ps3 or xbox360 or build a windows box. This seems just dumb considering the upgrade still uses the same processor ram etc...
Then within six months there will be another upgrade with a new CPU and gpu and likely faster ram.
 
Well, i was just trying to work out which would benefit the most.

A new HDD & RAM would cost roughly £120

But if i sell my current machine, for say, £650(not sure what i can get?), i can have the 2010 model for, effectively £200 (with a discount or refurb), but i'd probably upgrade the HDD anyway..

So, eh.
 
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