Repair or Replace Early 2008 15'' MBP?

[charjd]

The screen on my Early 2008 15'' MBP (Model A1260) has cracked. (I attempted to replace a cracked bezel and ended up cracking the LCD in the process. Doh!)

Should I repair the screen, which would run $200-250 to swap out a used assembly off e-bay, or just pony up and buy a new model (non-retina)? The new MBPs are nice, but appear to be only an incremental upgrade. Then again, it's hard to put money into a 4-year-old machine.

The specs on my current (2008) MBP are:
-2.4 Ghz Core 2 Duo
-4 GB RAM
-250 GB hard drive
-battery life: fair (I last replaced it in 2010)

 

[thekev]

Should I repair the screen, which would run $200-250 to swap out a used assembly off e-bay, or just pony up and buy a new model (non-retina)? The new MBPs are nice, but appear to be only an incremental upgrade. Then again, it's hard to put money into a 4-year-old machine.

I wouldn't invest in it. The batteries can start to swell around the 3-4 year mark from age. The display assembly you're considering is used. You don't know how much life remains in that logic board. To me the $200-250 there is better invested in a new machine, especially when compounded with an aging battery and a hard drive that is most likely past middle age. Assuming that is the original drive and you value your data, it is realistically on its final year. You don't even have to just consider non-retina. There are some nice features that were picked up this year, but the 2011s were much cheaper and also quite nice. 2010 and 2011 were much more significant updates with the exception of usb3 having been added in 2012. The late 2011 is $1359 refurb or the one with the bad gpu from early 2011 is around $1200. I'm assuming you like the display size of the 15". Even the 13" outpaces the performance of the one you own on every possible level assuming you were running the latest OS and software. The last thing to consider is that the one you're currently using was either cut at mountain lion or will be most likely cut with the next. At the five year mark they're considered vintage, and you're basically headed for that.

 

[bdav]

The screen on my Early 2008 15'' MBP (Model A1260) has cracked. (I attempted to replace a cracked bezel and ended up cracking the LCD in the process. Doh!)

Should I repair the screen, which would run $200-250 to swap out a used assembly off e-bay, or just pony up and buy a new model (non-retina)? The new MBPs are nice, but appear to be only an incremental upgrade. Then again, it's hard to put money into a 4-year-old machine.

The specs on my current (2008) MBP are:
-2.4 Ghz Core 2 Duo
-4 GB RAM
-250 GB hard drive
-battery life: fair (I last replaced it in 2010)

I have the same MBP as you. I say if you can afford it go ahead and get one of the new ones. It should be a decent performance boost over what you have. I'm looking to buy a retina MBP, but I will probably hold out until next year when the new models come out.

 

[T5BRICK]

I agree with the other posters. Use that money towards a new one. You may even be able to sell your current one for parts.