MBP mid-2009 problems

[NotMattWong]

I've had my MacBook since 2009 and I've enjoyed not having to pay for any maintenance or extra software. I booted up my MacBook this weekend after being gone for a few days and the screen started flashing different colors and became really grainy. I restarted my laptop 3-4 times with no remedy. After restarting it one more time and consulting with my apple fanboy friend, he told me the graphics card is most likely going out. The screen eventually went back to normal but I'm not sure how long it'll last. My battery has been bad for a few years and could never hold a charge, lasts around 2-4 hours at most on a full charge. Now the battery doesn't charge at all and the laptop dies whenever I unplug it from the charger. I'm wondering if I should wait a few days to see if a new MacBook pro comes out to buy one or if I should take it to Apple to see if they can fix anything. I'm a broke college student and I can't shell out money for the latest and newest $2K+ Retina MacBook pro so I the $1099 MBP non retina seems like a good option. Thanks for any feedback!