(Noob) Time to buy? Help a brother out.

[jesso]

Hey folks,
My credit card is itching.
Just have a couple of questions which maybe some well informed Macnerd can help me out with....
I'm upgrading from a 2007 blackbook 2ghz with 2 gigs of ram. It's served me well, and it's almost enough for my needs. However, lately I've been running a lot of photoshop and illustrator stuff and I've noticed it getting a bit slow. I also DJ with it, and have noticed some slowdown and audio dropouts with ableton live.
I'm very temped by the base 13 inch. My question is, how much of a performance jump will is see? Also, is the 2.66 worth the extra dough? I don't need more than 250gigs HD space.
Alternatively, I can afford an i5, but for what I do, I don't think I need it. Even though the core2duo is outdated tech.
I don't game by the way, but the idea of even being able to run doom 3 excites me somewhat... I'm easily pleased!

Any thoughts before I pull the trigger?

Many thanks and apologies in advance if this post is in the wrong place, it's my first time

 

[Nipz]

Always buy the best you can! Simples

 

[jesso]

Hmmmmm I know what you mean, but I'm what I'm using at the moment is ALMOST good enough for my needs..... and it's 3 years old!
My thinking is that a nice (relatively) cheap base macbook pro should absolutely scream along next to my current macbook.
?????

 

[Nipz]

if you can afford to get a new laptop and think it will benefit you then get the best you can. I dont see any point in buying the 2nd best thing at the prices were talking about!

 

[King Apple]

Hey folks,
My credit card is itching.
Just have a couple of questions which maybe some well informed Macnerd can help me out with....
I'm upgrading from a 2007 blackbook 2ghz with 2 gigs of ram. It's served me well, and it's almost enough for my needs. However, lately I've been running a lot of photoshop and illustrator stuff and I've noticed it getting a bit slow. I also DJ with it, and have noticed some slowdown and audio dropouts with ableton live.
I'm very temped by the base 13 inch. My question is, how much of a performance jump will is see? Also, is the 2.66 worth the extra dough? I don't need more than 250gigs HD space.
Alternatively, I can afford an i5, but for what I do, I don't think I need it. Even though the core2duo is outdated tech.
I don't game by the way, but the idea of even being able to run doom 3 excites me somewhat... I'm easily pleased!

Any thoughts before I pull the trigger?

Many thanks and apologies in advance if this post is in the wrong place, it's my first time

i would get the base 15" i5

 

[silverblack]

This will give you an idea on the speed difference
http://www.marketingtactics.com/Speedmark/

It doesn't have the new models yet, but between the 2.26 and 2.53, you can guess what the 2.4 would be like. But overall, it's not going to be a huge difference. You are better off upgrading the RAM of your blackbook to 4 GB, value-wise.

No, the 2.66 model is not worth the extra money.

 

[FnuGk]

i dont think you will see any difference with the new machines. The only real difference is the gfx and as you dont game that doesnt matter anything.

you might benefit for some more ram though. Just buy a 4gb ram set.

oh and btw doom3 should already run on the white mb so dont pay more for the gfx if you decide to buy new

 

[Wild-Bill]

Go for the base 13". You are coming from the Blackbook, so form-factor wise you will naturally feel more comfortable with it. I think you'll see a decent increase. My sister has the same Blackbook while my brother-in-law has the last-gen 13" MBP. I notice the difference.

But now you get 4 gigs of RAM in the base spec, and one thing OSX does well is utilize RAM.

I think you'll be happy with the upgrade, and so will your wallet.

 

[jesso]

Thanks guys, my black book is maxed out at 2 gigs of ram as far as I know... its the 2ghz version and is quite long in the tooth.
Oh and there's no way my blackbook would run Doom 3! It's pretty feeble when it comes to 3D.
2007 was not a good year for graphics cards in macbooks!
My wife has a 2.53 late 2009 macbook pro with integrated graphics. I'd be very happy if I could get near the same level of performance from the 13 inch macbook pro with the new integrated graphics and 4 gigs of ram.
Your help is very much appreciated in getting my brain to make the right decision about this!

 

[kny3twalker]

keep the blackbook and upgrade the ram to 4 GB. Anything else would be a huge waste of money especially if you are not truly considering the 15" models with the i5.

 

[kny3twalker]

Thanks guys, my black book is maxed out at 2 gigs of ram as far as I know... its the 2ghz version and is quite long in the tooth.

http://www.blackmacbook.com/guides/

http://www.blackmacbook.com/guide/finding-ram-for-the-black-macbook

MacBooks made up until November 2007 can take a maximum of 2GB in 2 x 1GB PC5300 modules. For identification, these MacBooks have a front-side bus speed of 667MHz and a memory speed of 667MHz.

MacBooks made after then but before May 2009 can take a maximum of 4GB in 2 x 2GB PC5300 modules. For identification, these MacBooks have a front-side bus speed of 800MHz or 1066MHz and a memory speed of 667MHz.

MacBooks made after May 2009 but before October 2009 can take a maximum of 4GB in 2 x 2GB PC6400 modules. For identification, these MacBooks have a front-side bus speed of 1066MHz and a memory speed of 800MHz.

MacBooks made after October 2009 can take a maximum of 4GB in 2 x 2GB PC8500 modules. For identification, these MacBooks have a front-side bus speed of 1066MHz and a memory bus speed of 1066MHz. This model comes in the new unibody case and the FireWire port present on all previous models has been dropped.

To tell the difference the best way is to use System Profiler. Front-side bus speed is listed in the Hardware Overview as "Bus Speed", and memory speed can be seen in the Memory section, which gives you the speed of any modules installed

 

[jesso]

Yep mine is definitely the slow old girl with the 667 front side bus... which means upgrading to 4 gigs of ram is not an option.
If my macbook was a bit more recent, I would definitely just do the ram upgrade and probably be happy with the performance.
As it stands, I'm still leaning towards the 13inch base model, as I would expect to see a very noticable speed bump no?

 

[salbiani]

Yep mine is definitely the slow old girl with the 667 front side bus... which means upgrading to 4 gigs of ram is not an option.
If my macbook was a bit more recent, I would definitely just do the ram upgrade and probably be happy with the performance.
As it stands, I'm still leaning towards the 13inch base model, as I would expect to see a very noticable speed bump no?

I thought I remember reading somewhere that you could put 3GB of ram in the old blackbook and see a nice performance increase.

 

[jesso]

Sounds dodgy.....

 

[kny3twalker]

Yep mine is definitely the slow old girl with the 667 front side bus... which means upgrading to 4 gigs of ram is not an option.
If my macbook was a bit more recent, I would definitely just do the ram upgrade and probably be happy with the performance.
As it stands, I'm still leaning towards the 13inch base model, as I would expect to see a very noticable speed bump no?

try it out at the store, but its not that much different.

From the Black Macbook Guides
Finding RAM for the Black MacBook



CPU Chipset: Intel 945GM Maximum Capacity: 3Gb
DIMM Slots: 2 RAM Type: So-Dimm DDR2
RAM Speed: 667MHz PC2-5300 Default Amount: 1Gb

Might be an option?

 

[jesso]

Ok I'm pulling the trigger on the base 13.... last chance to talk me out of it! It just seems like a whole lot of apple for not too much $$$, don't think I can resist. I just hope it's much faster than what I have!

Thanks for all the advice so far.

 

[Wild-Bill]

Nice. I would have done the same thing.

After you get it, PM me and let me know if it was the speed increase you were hoping for, and if it is a noticeable difference for you - since I was the one that recommended you stick w/ the 13" form factor.