Thoughts on Upgrade Timing

[rick3000]

Hi Everyone,

I am currently sporting a 2.8GHz Late 2009 MBP 15" with dual HDD/SSD and 8GB RAM. It runs well and is relatively quick (about 3890 on Geektool), and holds up well for being four years old. But Aperture and renders in FCP are annoying slow, and it has trouble with more than 8 tabs that have hires images.

I could probably use my computer until WWDC 2014, when Apple has historically done another MBP refresh/update. However, if there are not going to be wild new changes, I would like to upgrade now. What does the consensus speculation say Apple will be doing next, a refresh or a redesign?

The second generation of most models tend to be the most stable, as I prefer to keep my computer for about 4-5 years, would the current 2nd gen Retina be a safer computer than being an early adopter on a new design next year?

Lastly, I am weary of BTO because my original BTO 3.06Ghz MBP broke and the Apple Store could not replace it the same day, so I took a refund and a 2.8Ghz the day of (to avoid being without a computer my first week of college).

Is the difference between the 2.3Ghz and 2.6Ghz Retina significant? I know it won't make much difference day to day, but would I see a significant advantage when using all four cores to render, etc?

Thanks for any advice, thought, help!

 

[rick3000]

bump, thanks for any advice!

 

[Bear]

You'll see a small difference in rendering going from 2.3 to 2.6 if they're both i5s or i7s. At best a 2.6 is 13% faster under ideal conditions but in real usage will be a tad less. An i7 will render noticeably faster than an i5 of the same processor speed.

As for when to buy. Who knows when Apple will update. They could wait until the fall again. Also, I doubt they will do a major design update next year.

The real question is how soon do you want/need an upgrade?

As for BTO or not. Don't sell you current system until you know the new one is good. Or if having a system is critical, keep it as a spare in case your new system ever needs warranty repairs.

 

[neteng101]

I think its time you stopped wasting your time and killing your productivity while waiting for "yet another update". Because there will always be those, and it sounds like you've gotten past the point of effectiveness on your 2009.

You're already seeing a refreshed rMBP lineup now and won't be an early adopter, so its really just about the perfect time.

Or you could wait, one, two, there, etc more years cause there will always be something newer coming out.