repair my old macbook pro or buy a new one?

[natomui]

I'm debating trying to squeeze another year or two of life out of my four year old macbook pro - the only issue is my screen suffers from the "cigarette burn" issue - essentially where the computer overheated to such an extent that the adhesive backing the LCD seeped into the screen, causing slight bruising.

At the time it started happening, my computer had just gone out of warranty.

Also, my optical drive (which admittedly, I rarely have a need for anymore) stopped working about a year ago, and I removed it so it wouldn't try to read from it and wear down the battery. Yeah, my baby is a bit of a lemon instead of an Apple, but I've gotten some good service out of her for four years.

I can replace the screen for about $175 (pretty comfortable to do that myself) and I've already upgraded the hard drive to 250GB a while ago, and have 2GB of ram and a 2.16 Core Duo processor.

For what I'm doing (graphic design...starting to do 3D modeling for a class) it still works within reason and is just only now starting to be a little slow, but not unbearably.

Do I invest more money into this computer (just about $200) and wait for the next generation of MBP? Or do I get a new Macbook Pro of this generation?

I know you can't wait indefinitely for a new product...but I'm more wondering if it's worth it trying to repair my existing one. Trying to weigh my opportunity cost and get a new perspective.

Cheers

 

[MrCheeto]

The choice is yours. Do you want to spend $200 to keep your sufficient machine, or splurge and get the new UltraMac 5000+ with heated seats and cup holder?

I would leave the display as it is, to save even more. If it does the job, there's no real reason to go all out. Then, when you buy your new mac, you'll find the wait was worth it.

 

[Badger^2]

You could always run a second larger screen.

Dropping in a SSD would make it a lot faster, but you are going to have to give up space over speed. Towards the end of the year I would expect 120 gigs or so to drop around $150ish.

 

[acedrums]

Heres my recommendation: Id do the tune up and wait. If it eventually starts adding up, then thats when you can't wait no longer. I say this cause I jumped too early on wanting my mac and as much as I love my baby, I got the infamous "Collectors" mac (which is the mac that was produced w/o firewire, which I had NO clue about). But like i said, if that two hundred becomes more like four hundred or eight, then a new computer is a better deal for you. Till then, squeeze the juice out of that lemon till shes nothing but a peel.

About the screen, just an idea is to maybe consider looking at used ones. Like hunt craigslist, refurbished items, or open box items. I say this cause if your going all out in the future, then spend as little as possible. I got a spanking deal on craigs list with a 2009 Mac Monitor for 150 on craigslist (of course, it had a major scratch on the leg but ill live with that). And if you like the used one, then it'll come handy in the future.