thinking of replacing 2.16 macbook pro

[Thunderchicken]

Well as the title suggests I'm thinking of replacing my 2.16 core duo Macbook Pro with a Macbook 2.23 or maybe a Macbook pro 2.66 core 2 duo 13.3". I'll will be using it with light photoshop elements, my modest itunes library. If I do that I would like to use my current hard drive since it's a 500GB.

Am I going to see any increase in performance to justify the cost?

 

[miles01110]

Highly doubtful.

 

[chikit]

Greater battery life, more graphics power.

You would only likely notice the extra 1-2 hours on battery. If you play games you may notice higher frame rates.

 

[scaredpoet]

For very basic things, you mgiht not see a performance increase. However the upgrade would move you onto a 64-bit platform, which means the macbook pro you get now will likely be supported farther into the future than your current model.

You'll also have significantly faster RAM (and more of it; at least twice as much).

I would say wait a bit, try to save up some more and see if you can't bump up to a 15" Core i5. Or, if your MBP is currently working just fine, save the cash until either it breaks or you have a need to run software (or a future version of OS X) that requires a Core 2 Duo or better.

If you don't see yourself getting more cash anytime soon though, or it seems like your current MBP is on its last legs, then maybe the 13" is the way to go. This would also be true if you're thinking of selling your current MBP to help defray the costs of upgrading, since the value of your current model will only drop in the future.

 

[Thunderchicken]

I do like having a 15" screen, and having a working battery again would be nice since it seems like my MBP likes to eat them for lunch.

 

[ayeying]

Well as the title suggests I'm thinking of replacing my 2.16 core duo Macbook Pro with a Macbook 2.23 or maybe a Macbook pro 2.66 core 2 duo 13.3". I'll will be using it with light photoshop elements, my modest itunes library. If I do that I would like to use my current hard drive since it's a 500GB.

Am I going to see any increase in performance to justify the cost?

Not really.

I've thought about switching to a Core i7 from the current Core Duo I have but I noticed that my biggest bottleneck is the I/O (Hard Drive) in my work (virtual machines). For me, upgrading would just allow me to open more virtual machines (due to the upped ram) but I'll be severely compromised in the I/O dept.