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Some advice please?

S

SirStrumalot

macrumors 6502
Original poster
Feb 28, 2011
391
4
Minneapolis, MN
Hey guys,

I apologize if this has been asked before, as I'm sure it has. I've been scouring the internet for the past week, but haven't been able to find any definitive results to my question, but this forum has given me a LOT of information. I would really appreciate some advice.

I currently have a MacbookPro3,1 which is the late 2007 silver key model. I realize that the laptop is pretty dated, but hasn't really given me any problems so far. The HDD of 120GB definitely needs to be upgraded and I could do with the current 2GB's of RAM. Also, the battery is shot and barely holds a charge. Considering all of that, and the fact that it's not in the best cosmetic condition, I have a buyer who will purchase it for $550. In the case that I sell it, I would put in the difference to get either the new MBP 13", or a refurb 15".

Now I'm contemplating either getting a new MBP 13" and selling this one instead of upgrading the battery, RAM and HDD because I find that the price difference is minimal if I take into account the price difference to get a new one after I sell my current laptop. Which would be a better option?

More than anything, I'm worried I'm not going to be able to get as much as I can right now out of it (in terms of resale value) and won't be able to afford a new laptop if I don't do it right now. I'm also worried that the C2Duo that it's running on is a little dated, and that Apple will soon stop supporting it too much. I'm already on edge about purchasing a $130 battery for it with mostly 1-star reviews!

Should I just get the new 13" or stick to this one and spend almost the same amount as I would on the new laptop upgrading the RAM/battery/HDD?

I would appreciate any opinions, and apologize again for the repeat post (because I'm sure somewhere in this forum is lurking the exact same question just waiting to be linked in this thread :eek:) and the tl:dr length of this post!

Thanks!
 
I would consider the new computer, although upgrading the HDD, RAM and a new battery all could be done for about $250 or so, rather than the extra $700 or so it would be for a new computer. I wouldn't worry too much about C2D not being supported, as they still sell computers with C2D processors in them. I doubt they would drop support for that anytime soon. The only reason they aren't supporting Core Duo is that it's 32-bit only, which forces developers to come up with two versions of the code. Windows is also dropping 32-bit support for its next release.

If you want to keep your current machine, here are a couple potentially helpful links:

HDD- Here's a good fast one

RAM- This is what I use

That plus the battery would cost you about $265, whereas the new computer would cost you $650 after selling yours.

Neither is a bad option, it's just a matter of how much you want to spend.
 
alust2013 said:
I would consider the new computer, although upgrading the HDD, RAM and a new battery all could be done for about $250 or so, rather than the extra $700 or so it would be for a new computer. I wouldn't worry too much about C2D not being supported, as they still sell computers with C2D processors in them. I doubt they would drop support for that anytime soon. The only reason they aren't supporting Core Duo is that it's 32-bit only, which forces developers to come up with two versions of the code. Windows is also dropping 32-bit support for its next release.

If you want to keep your current machine, here are a couple potentially helpful links:

HDD- Here's a good fast one

RAM- This is what I use

That plus the battery would cost you about $265, whereas the new computer would cost you $650 after selling yours.

Neither is a bad option, it's just a matter of how much you want to spend.
Click to expand...
Thing is though, if I can sell my current MBP for 500-600, I could still afford to buy a new one at this point. If I do spend the ~$300 upgrading it, if it does get outdated in the near future (since it is a 2007 machine, albeit one that runs quite well), I'm afraid it would probably deteriorate in value and at that point, I will have no choice but to stick with it 'cuz I'm pretty sure I won't be able to afford full price for a new notebook (students budget! :p)

It's a 2.2Ghz C2D machine btw...
 
SirStrumalot said:
Thing is though, if I can sell my current MBP for 500-600, I could still afford to buy a new one at this point. If I do spend the ~$300 upgrading it, if it does get outdated in the near future (since it is a 2007 machine, albeit one that runs quite well), I'm afraid it would probably deteriorate in value and at that point, I will have no choice but to stick with it 'cuz I'm pretty sure I won't be able to afford full price for a new notebook (students budget! :p)

It's a 2.2Ghz C2D machine btw...
Click to expand...

True, however Apple is still selling machines with 1.4GHz C2D in them. If you have the money now, it wouldn't be a bad time to upgrade to a new machine though.
 
Sell yours and buy a new (or refurb).

I've done the sell&buy vs upgrade analysis for a MBP and a Mini. In both cases it was far better to sell&buy because the Macs held their value so well.

If you had a more easily upgradable computer like a Mac Pro, then upgrade might be more of an option.
 
Doesn't matter what you do to be honest. Either way you win.

I would think about upgrading though for one main reason. You're used to a 128gb hard drive.

Perfect situation to consider a SSD as an upgrade. You can get a 128gb SSD for under $250.

You'll have a machine that will feel faster in daily use than a new MBP for around $400ish including your other upgrades.
 
GadgetAddict said:
I think selling the old and buying a refurb would be the best choice.
Click to expand...
Since you say that, I was actually looking for a 13" MBP... I could get either the C2D 2.4 refurb or the new model for a very minimal price difference. Would it make any sense to go for the refurb? I would think the GPU might be the only slight advantage over the new ones?

Thanks for all the replies guys.
 
Definitely go refurb, now is even a better time than usual, what with the new ones just coming out. Unless you need the latest-and-greatest or Thunderbolt then a refurb is the way to go.
 
kuebby said:
Definitely go refurb, now is even a better time than usual, what with the new ones just coming out. Unless you need the latest-and-greatest or Thunderbolt then a refurb is the way to go.
Click to expand...
Hmm, as I stated above though... Right now, since I'm essentially looking for a 13", my only option in the refurb is a 2.4Ghz C2D version which costs only slightly less than the current model. Wouldn't it make more sense in this case to go for the newer version?
 
Guys, so I honestly am leaning towards upgrading. I was looking at the refurbs but would there be any sense in purchasing the C2D 13" at this point? I'd rather not tip the budget into the 15" right now. The only thing making me weary about the new MBPs are the Intel 3000 graphics and how bad it apparently is.. Why does it seem like Apple sometimes downgrades one aspect while simultaneous upgrading another on their systems knowingly? :s

I'm looking at Windows machines with quad core i7s and nvidia gpus with dedicated ram which are much cheaper than the mbp and that just confuses me even more!:(
 
I would suggest a new 13"

Well, as you might know, the newly released MBP's have MUCH better processors than the last C2Duos... so It's a perfect time to upgrade!

However, since you mentioned the graphics card, you might want to consider if the Intel graphics card is enough for you. Do you do lots of gaming? If so, take a look at what kind of games the intel card can run, and how well it will run them...

But, depending on what you use the laptop for, the newly refreshed MBP would be a significant upgrade compared to your older model, so I would definitely be inclined to sell your old one and get a new model! You get a significantly better processor, twice the ram, more storage, etc.
 
Yeah, upgrading to a newer model would probably be the best bet. Your current machine will be nearly 4 years old and so it may not be worth spending a lot of money on it, especially if you don't need to spend much more to get a brand new machine.
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