New to Mac, Old MBP. Advise?

[Ansah]

Hi,

Long time PC, first time Mac etc...

I purchased what was advertised as a 15" MacBook Pro 2.16 Core 2 Duo from late 2006 on eBay, but got a first generation 2.00 Core Duo (upgraded to 320GB HD and 2GB memory) instead. I already asked for and received a partial refund, so it's too late to do anything about that, and it's a spiffy little machine for what it is.

Here's the thing: I bought this because I do PC tutorials and repairs on a small scale, and since more and more people are using Apple I deemed that it was high time I became Mac literate too, and I really only wanted something to learn how the OS X universe functions...

... BUT, I can't do Lion on less than a C2D, and in truth I'm starting to like the MacBook Pro a lot, and wish I had something a little newer and faster. I don't have much money. So I would appreciate experienced opinions on:

1) Will the a1150 running Snow Leopard have at least a 2 or 3 year life of being "reasonably" current? How long until I'm hopelessly out of the loop?

2) What's the oldest, least expensive MBP model you would use for, say, audio or video encoding?

3) Or should I try to resell my 1st generation Intel MBP for approximately what I paid, and get something from 2007-2009? What's its real relevance and value?

In the PC world I have a really good sense of what a machine is good for just by reading the specs, but can't yet do this in Apple World. Obviously, if I had the bucks for an i7 or something I'd be fine, but I'm looking at the cheapest "mainstream" option, and don't know what "mainstream" means.

And BTW, I know the Mac Mini is a great cost-efficient option, but really dig the MBP and need something portable, so I'm sticking with it.

Thanks in advance for any knowledgeable opinions or thoughts.

 

[wrinkster22]

perhaps a refurfurbished macbook for 849 CAN
http://store.apple.com/us/product/FC516LL/A?mco=MTg0NzA2MTY

or a refurbished air for 699
out of stock

 

[alust2013]

it should do well enough for a couple years I would think

 

[rubirock]

I have the same 15" mbp1,1 and I do like it, but for your purposes, i think you should sell it and get one with at least a C2D and the multitouch trackpad to get you more current (gesturing/lion/etc). If you will be doing a/v editing, i think your big hang up will be maxing out at 2GB of ram.

My mbp1,1 and black macbook1,1 (both early 2006 w/2ghz CoreDuos and 2GB or ram) both feel quite a bit less "modern" than my 2009 mbp, though both are perfectly funtional without the ability to upgrade from 10.6.8 to 10.7.x.

 

[Ansah]

My mbp1,1 and black macbook1,1 (both early 2006 w/2ghz CoreDuos and 2GB or ram) both feel quite a bit less "modern" than my 2009 mbp, though both are perfectly funtional without the ability to upgrade from 10.6.8 to 10.7.x.

Thanks for all of the answers. Yeah, I know exactly what you mean by "modern" in this sense, although mainly in PC terms. The a1150 has a sort of "Pentium 4" feel about it, even though the response times for everyday home/office type stuff is perfectly acceptable.

And in some ways the MBP completely blows away anything you'd get from a similar Windows computer circa 2006. Wifi connectivity, for instance, is virtually instantaneous on startup... The Apple software has a response that sort of lets you know that all of the components "know" each other and are used to interacting with each other.

 

[mofunk]

2. you need atleast 2GHz Processor and atleast 4GB RAM to run video editing. It takes up a lot of processing when you go to rendering.

I have an old Powerbook 1.25Ghz and it talks longer to do video because I only have 512MB RAM. Even with my MBP its takes anywhere from 20min- up when rendering. I would look for a MBP that has atleast 4GB RAM and a fast processor.

I'm using a 2008 model which is the 2nd Gen of the unibody MBP. You can find a 13in for around $700-800 and 15in for around $1100-1200. Or cheaper.