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Need help on Macbook Pro decision :(

R

Redeyemedia

macrumors newbie
Original poster
Feb 28, 2011
4
0
Hi to all :) im new members

This is what i need u guys advises on:

I have a 17 inch mid 2009 macbook pro for about 1 year now, and im pretty please with it. except sometime it would get slow on me, i think ram is a problem ( i ran quite a few apps at the same time and as a designer, Adobe family members like Illus n Photoshop always on sumtime maya for sum 3D now n then ). still over all its been a pleasure :rolleyes:

However not so long ago my friend got back from the state with his Pro 2011, which gave me a frukin stroke on how it handles things that he threw at it :eek:. so after short time working ma ass off, accepting all the design contract i can. I come up 2500$. ok so me happy as ******* was about to go to the stores and get my new beloved then... my very friend that keep yapping how great his machine was over the past weeks said: " i rekon u should keep ur Mid 2009 up it to 8GB ram which would do just great, and use that money for something else like a windows system for gaming n shiet~ (im hardcore gaming also)"

So what should i do? would 8GB ram can give me a sweet bump on performance?

2500K should get not the fastest but well very decent window system that can handle every game out there on high... but at the same time the thunderbolt is just as tempting as it should :apple:

Thanks a bunch guys

p/s: My Macbook pro still have like 2 years of apple care!
 
I would honestly just hold on to your laptop until the next update. It sounds a though you would be better off upgrading ram and harddrive to an ssd-which new ones should release in te coming months. You can brag to your friend that you have 2500 and maybe stick it in some solid stocks to make some more.
 
First off, congratulations! The new 2011 MBP's have been out only a few days, for your friend to have bought and show you one means you pretty much made that $2500 over a couple of days (weekend, no less), am I right? :eek:

I'm also running a mid 2009 MacBook Pro. I'm not one to update too quickly, even when it's tempting. Rememeber that your processor is already much faster than the other components in your notebook. If I were you, I'd wait a bit then buy a OCZ Vertex 2 (or similar SSD) and upgrade to that. Why wait? Well new SandForce drives like the OCZ Vertex 3 are coming out soon, and when they do the old ones should drop in price. I'd recommend the Vertex 3, which is tons faster than the 2, but your notebook has a SATA 2 port at 3gbps. So you won't see any difference between the two.
Definitely go for 8gb RAM. It's about $100 these days, no brainer. Especially if you multitask or run virtual machines.

I wouldn't recommend you to buy a new MacBook so quickly. The only application of those that you mentioned that would see noticeable performance increase from a new CPU would be Maya really. If you work in 3D a lot though, it may be an idea.

Thunderbolt won't see many applications for at least a year. Remember that it's limited to the slowest interface, in this case your HDD. USB3 already is much faster than HDD's, and firewire 800 is pretty much the fastest data transfer you'll see on a MacBook until Thunderbolt and SSD's become mainstream. Thunderbolt is incredibly interesting - but not practical yet. It's the future, but the future isn't quite here yet. Trust me, even if you splurge today, you'll still be waiting to use that Thunderbolt port.

The main difference between your notebook and the new ones is the graphics card, in my opinion. The 6750m is much, much faster than the 9600m GT you and I have (although, gaming benchmarks so far don't appear to be that much better, it's curious). But if you're a hardcore gamer a MacBook won't really cut it. I'm more of a console guy, so for the money I'd suggest that a PS3 would get you more gaming bliss. But I see the appeal of a dedicated gaming rig. Do some research and you can find some great performance pretty cheap. I don't think you'll have to go above say $1500 to get a mean machine, especially if you already own a monitor. I don't know too much about the new generation of graphics cards, but I did some research about a year ago. Check out AMD's 58xx and 6xxx series, they are pretty awesome. At one point I was also considering an nVidia GeForce 460, or 470. I read a bit about the new 560/570, but can't remember too much. Check out AnandTech for tons of info on that stuff. I seem to remember that nVidia had great performers in the $200-$250 range.

Hope this has helped. Honestly, I think you should hold out at least until Ivy Bridge hits the MBP's (late this year, maybe early next year is more likely). The die shrink should result in 20% better performance, and Intel are going for a big leap ahead in their integrated graphics. They should also be even more energy efficient, which means that if Apple doesn't go for a higher clock rate then at least you can expect better battery life and cooler performance (in the temperature sense ;)).
 
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Yeah go for the 8gb of RAM and see how that improves things. If you still think it feels slow (you shouldn't), the resale value of your current machine should improve with the upgraded ram anyway!
signature_silverapple.jpg
 
Yeah I agree, keep your current machine, bump the ram and get an SSD too. I see no use getting rid of a perfectly good machine when it still works fine with warranty still left on it. And if, after you upgrade the ram and SSD, it still doesn't perform as expected, then you can justify buying an '11 MBP.
 
StefSSU said:
First off, congratulations! The new 2011 MBP's have been out only a few days, for your friend to have bought and show you one means you pretty much made that $2500 over a couple of days (weekend, no less), am I right? :eek:

I'm also running a mid 2009 MacBook Pro. I'm not one to update too quickly, even when it's tempting. Rememeber that your processor is already much faster than the other components in your notebook. If I were you, I'd wait a bit then buy a OCZ Vertex 2 (or similar SSD) and upgrade to that. Why wait? Well new SandForce drives like the OCZ Vertex 3 are coming out soon, and when they do the old ones should drop in price. I'd recommend the Vertex 3, which is tons faster than the 2, but your notebook has a SATA 2 port at 3gbps. So you won't see any difference between the two.
Definitely go for 8gb RAM. It's about $100 these days, no brainer. Especially if you multitask or run virtual machines.

I wouldn't recommend you to buy a new MacBook so quickly. The only application of those that you mentioned that would see noticeable performance increase from a new CPU would be Maya really. If you work in 3D a lot though, it may be an idea.

Thunderbolt won't see many applications for at least a year. Remember that it's limited to the slowest interface, in this case your HDD. USB3 already is much faster than HDD's, and firewire 800 is pretty much the fastest data transfer you'll see on a MacBook until Thunderbolt and SSD's become mainstream. Thunderbolt is incredibly interesting - but not practical yet. It's the future, but the future isn't quite here yet. Trust me, even if you splurge today, you'll still be waiting to use that Thunderbolt port.

The main difference between your notebook and the new ones is the graphics card, in my opinion. The 6750m is much, much faster than the 9600m GT you and I have (although, gaming benchmarks so far don't appear to be that much better, it's curious). But if you're a hardcore gamer a MacBook won't really cut it. I'm more of a console guy, so for the money I'd suggest that a PS3 would get you more gaming bliss. But I see the appeal of a dedicated gaming rig. Do some research and you can find some great performance pretty cheap. I don't think you'll have to go above say $1500 to get a mean machine, especially if you already own a monitor. I don't know too much about the new generation of graphics cards, but I did some research about a year ago. Check out AMD's 58xx and 6xxx series, they are pretty awesome. At one point I was also considering an nVidia GeForce 460, or 470. I read a bit about the new 560/570, but can't remember too much. Check out AnandTech for tons of info on that stuff. I seem to remember that nVidia had great performers in the $200-$250 range.

Hope this has helped. Honestly, I think you should hold out at least until Ivy Bridge hits the MBP's (late this year, maybe early next year is more likely). The die shrink should result in 20% better performance, and Intel are going for a big leap ahead in their integrated graphics. They should also be even more energy efficient, which means that if Apple doesn't go for a higher clock rate then at least you can expect better battery life and cooler performance (in the temperature sense ;)).
Click to expand...

Thanks every1 :D specialy stef.

Really cut that to the point. I went to day and get the 8GB kit, Illus work great now. No more laggy when dragging heavy images around the design board :D tomorrow im going for the SSD but jesee... these sneaky bast*** are expensive. i hope it really make my pro go faster. :eek:

Again Thanks alot guys. I dont feel like wasting my money as bad as yesterday :mad:
 
1 more question as the topic flow which SSD should i get? these are the two available at the closest shop to mine both are very brand :eek:

Corsair Force Series™ F240 Solid-State Hard Drive 240GB

Crucial RealSSD C300 2.5-inch SATA 6GB/s 256GB

Thes Corsair cos 100$ more than the Crucial even tho its smaller in storage and speed are slower as well :confused:
 
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