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Probably buying new MBP, am I crazy?

A

arachn1d

macrumors member
Original poster
Jun 7, 2006
67
0
I still have the last 2009 model. My MBP is about 6 months old. My job is full-time web-development so it makes sense to always have the cream of the crop.

My usual cycle is just to buy a new stock MBP every 8 months. This way I never have to buy apple care as well.

This is the first time I've been considering upgrading the HD because of SSD. I also have another incentive now: more memory and higher resolution.

If I buy a new MBP it would be the i5 or i7 with 8 gigs of memory and 256 SSD. It'll cost me about 3 grand.

I could sell the MBP I have now for $1,300.

Am I crazy or should I do it?

The thing I'm worried about is I won't be able to sell my more expensive MBP when the time comes around when I want to upgrade again (probably within a year or two).
 
Yes, you are completely insane. Call the white padded van and get yourself admitted immediately.

Do you have any tax advantages to upgrading so frequently? Is it a business write off?

Do you really need the extra resolution (for instance, would it be better to buy an external monitor)?

Are you completely unable to do your work on your current laptop because it runs slower than frozen treacle on a winters day?

Otherwise I think you're just wasting money that would be better spent elsewhere, such as saving it to upgrade on a more normal cycle (most businesses don't upgrade hardware for roughly 3 years).

At the end of the day, you'll justify the purchase whether you want it or need it, so who cares about our opinion? :p
 
i think you're fooling yourself.

you don't need the new new new new, you just want it.
and are trying to find a reason to believe you need it rather than need it.

just keep the one you have now.
2,000 is a lot of money.
 
Do it! Just did the same and proud of it! I was pleasantly surprised how much MBP hold their value. I sold my 2008 top of the line 15" model for $1500 two weeks ago.
You should sell yours without a problem as long as you make a lot of buzz and fuss about it. Good luck! I bet 2010 wont be a disappointment.:)
 
Just upgrade your existing model. To upgrade to the latest model for web development would be a complete waste of money.
 
What kind of we development are you doing that even the base Macbook Pro can't handle? If you are dealing with Flash, might as well get a PC :p. To answer your question: yes, you are crazy!
 
miles01110 said:
Web development requires upgrading once a year? :confused:
Click to expand...

I am not your average developer. I run very intensive servers in the background that require the latest hardware; not to mention all the virtualization I do.

vbman213 said:
Apparently text editors are very demanding these days...
Click to expand...

Same as above.

plasticphyte said:
Yes, you are completely insane. Call the white padded van and get yourself admitted immediately.

Do you have any tax advantages to upgrading so frequently? Is it a business write off?

Do you really need the extra resolution (for instance, would it be better to buy an external monitor)?

Are you completely unable to do your work on your current laptop because it runs slower than frozen treacle on a winters day?

Otherwise I think you're just wasting money that would be better spent elsewhere, such as saving it to upgrade on a more normal cycle (most businesses don't upgrade hardware for roughly 3 years).

At the end of the day, you'll justify the purchase whether you want it or need it, so who cares about our opinion? :p
Click to expand...

It is a business write off. Of course.

I would like the extra resolution. The more the better.

I already have an external monitor.

I definitely notice slowness during my development and the faster the computer the less slow it is, and it adds up.

The real upgrade here is the SSD. I think that would be night and day. Of course I could just get a SSD in my current MBP but double the memory would be great too.

How much better is the i5/i7 over the C2D?

Look at what I'm upgrading:

CPU, Resolution, HD, and Memory.

How is that not worth it?

How much faster is the CPU % wise?
My memory would double.
My HD speed would be incredible in terms of difference if I use a SSD (and believe me, I use my HDD a lot. I run into swapping issues with the load on my MBP when working)

kockgunner said:
What kind of we development are you doing that even the base Macbook Pro can't handle? If you are dealing with Flash, might as well get a PC :p. To answer your question: yes, you are crazy!
Click to expand...

Answered above.
 
LOL totally agree with the other posters, I'm a web developer but my machine is so overkill for its not funny. You can easily do web dev work on a pentium 4.

*Edit, just read your reason. So you're running the intensive servers... on your MBP?

I upgrade cause I'm an enthusiast and I do a lot of random photoshop / video encoding work on the side for personal use :cool:
 
arachn1d said:
I still have the last 2009 model. My MBP is about 6 months old. My job is full-time web-development so it makes sense to always have the cream of the crop.

My usual cycle is just to buy a new stock MBP every 8 months. This way I never have to buy apple care as well.

This is the first time I've been considering upgrading the HD because of SSD. I also have another incentive now: more memory and higher resolution.

If I buy a new MBP it would be the i5 or i7 with 8 gigs of memory and 256 SSD. It'll cost me about 3 grand.

I could sell the MBP I have now for $1,300.

Am I crazy or should I do it?

The thing I'm worried about is I won't be able to sell my more expensive MBP when the time comes around when I want to upgrade again (probably within a year or two).
Click to expand...

LOL You're crazy..... You don't have to have the cream of the crop for web development! Stick with what you have and update when the software requires it. "You're killing Me Smalls"
 
"My HD speed would be incredible in terms of difference if I use a SSD (and believe me, I use my HDD a lot. I run into swapping issues with the load on my MBP when working)"



Answered above.[/QUOTE]

Also, if you were an intensive web developer, you wouldn't be using your personal "HDD" you would be using the main server storage to store.
Come on man, who do you think you're lying to?
 
I would go for a SSD upgrade and forget anything else. That is going to cost you less money and you are going to obtain almost the same result:)
 
OP came here looking for validation because deep down s/he knows that the upgrade isn't justified by anything other than lust. If s/he really needed the upgrade for the stated reasons, why come here begging for approval? :)

Edit: Not to mention if OP's upgrade cycle really is 8 months, WTF just wait 2 more! This is pure lust baby.
 
arachn1d said:
I still have the last 2009 model. My MBP is about 6 months old. My job is full-time web-development so it makes sense to always have the cream of the crop.

My usual cycle is just to buy a new stock MBP every 8 months. This way I never have to buy apple care as well.

This is the first time I've been considering upgrading the HD because of SSD. I also have another incentive now: more memory and higher resolution.

If I buy a new MBP it would be the i5 or i7 with 8 gigs of memory and 256 SSD. It'll cost me about 3 grand.

I could sell the MBP I have now for $1,300.

Am I crazy or should I do it?

The thing I'm worried about is I won't be able to sell my more expensive MBP when the time comes around when I want to upgrade again (probably within a year or two).
Click to expand...

Well, dammit, I'm in the process of making the same decision as you.

Currently have an '09 C2D 2.8, 4gb ram, 512vram 15" MBP I like the machine no problems, can even control the graphics card;)

But, I want to order the new i7 15" MBP and with 256ssd, 8gb ram. Do I need it? No. Do I want it? Yes :)

It's a business expense we need more deductions so for that reason it's a wise purchase.

I'd probably of ordered already, what's holding me back is what I've read about some peoples concerns with the graphics cards not switching, heat, fan noise and battery life...

For those who have upgraded from a recent model are you happy with your purchase.
 
if you're that intense, buy a real desktop then. The speed increase of desktop hardware over laptops is pretty large..
 
OP, buy the best you can get. I code like 50 times faster on a quad core i7! It's worth it!



disclaimer: that was ironic
 
Well, I'll ignore most of you that probably have no idea the situation I'm describing. My macbook pro is **** slow when I'm developing and that's all you need to really know. The specifics are truly beyond you, and I don't deserve you trying to pinhole my situation without you knowing the technicalities.

The truly deciding factor that I'm trying to figure out right now is how much faster is the i5/i7 over the C2D 2.53 GHz?

Sure, I can just buy a SSD for $500, that means I need to spend at least $500 for an upgrade right now.

However, if I can double my memory and increase my CPU power it's worth it to me to spend more money.

The money isn't the issue here. I can spend as much money on tech as I want. The issue here is whether the upgrade is beneficial enough.

If the only thing noticeable is the SSD upgrade then I can just do that. However if the CPU is truly that much better over the previous, then I'll happily pay more to have that as well.
 
arachn1d said:
Well, I'll ignore most of you that probably have no idea the situation I'm describing.
Click to expand...

Probably because you're being intentionally vague.

If you're running multiple VM instances, you'll definitely benefit from doubling your RAM to 8GB. However, at some point it just makes more sense to invest in a server.
 
arachn1d said:
I still have the last 2009 model. My MBP is about 6 months old. My job is full-time web-development so it makes sense to always have the cream of the crop.
Click to expand...

Really? I disagree here

It is an expensive habit and unnecessary costs for not much, if any benefit rather than having solace in that you have the best tech
 
arachn1d said:
Well, I'll ignore most of you that probably have no idea the situation I'm describing. My macbook pro is **** slow when I'm developing and that's all you need to really know. The specifics are truly beyond you, and I don't deserve you trying to pinhole my situation without you knowing the technicalities.

The truly deciding factor that I'm trying to figure out right now is how much faster is the i5/i7 over the C2D 2.53 GHz?

Sure, I can just buy a SSD for $500, that means I need to spend at least $500 for an upgrade right now.

However, if I can double my memory and increase my CPU power it's worth it to me to spend more money.

The money isn't the issue here. I can spend as much money on tech as I want. The issue here is whether the upgrade is beneficial enough.

If the only thing noticeable is the SSD upgrade then I can just do that. However if the CPU is truly that much better over the previous, then I'll happily pay more to have that as well.
Click to expand...
YOU left out a bunch of critical information in your initial post. It's no ones fault except your own that the advice that people gave is ill-suited to your uses. :rolleyes:
 
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