To upgrade mid2010 MBP or buy new?

[pubb]

I really like my 13" MBP. It is showing signs of age however: hoggish apps slow the entire system down to a crawl and I get the beachball more and more frequently.

I am debating dropping $400 (plus local install) to swap out the 5400RPM HD with a 240GB SSD and upgrade the RAM from 4GB to 16.

My alternative is the bottom end current MBP.

Most used apps include: Chrome, iTunes, Silverlight (Netflix), Camtasia, Acrobat, the iWork apps, Aperture, Mathematica, Maple, Parallels (Windows 7 Home Premium with a few low-resource requirement apps installed).

Thanks for input.

P

 

[eXan]

Im in a similar situation.

I moved to other country so no more iMac for me, and as it turns out my mid 2010 MBP is no good for a lot of things that I do, like Aperture.

I was thinking of upgrading to 8 GB, but even putting 90$ into this Mac seems inefficient at this point as it does nothing to the resale value.

Now I'm just waiting for the MBP line update and sell mine after I get a 15".

 

[Krazy Bill]

I am debating dropping $400 (plus local install) to swap out the 5400RPM HD with a 240GB SSD and upgrade the RAM from 4GB to 16.

My alternative is the bottom end current MBP.

I wouldn't throw 1/3 the cost ($400) of the bottom end cMBP ($1200) into an old machine. At the very least wait a few weeks to see what the refresh brings and maybe you can get an overstocked cMBP for much cheaper as sellers clear out inventory to make room for new. Or even check the Apple's refurb store where even those older items come with Apple warranties.

All this is assuming you're checking the sofa cushions for spare change (nothing wrong with that).

 

[LizKat]

I'm also tiring of my mid2010 MBP's occasional beachball and its laggy thinkin'-about-it presentation of the desktop after rebooting or when switching users. The machine has been back for a few repairs, unusual in my Apple gear experiences. Don't need the latest and greatest in a laptop (and I have an MBA to fall back on), so I'm considering an Apple-refurb'd mid-2012 MBP with a 750GB drive, 8GB RAM, still has the optical drive, has the Intel HD 4000 graphics. I think they run around $1250 or so now which seems ok price to me. Can get AppleCare on it within a year and run worry-free for quite awhile. But yeah, I'd be digging in couch cushions if I did it right now, so gotta wait a bit.

 

[RedReplicant]

The 2010 13" will only take 8GB. If I were you I'd go 120GB SSD, 8GB ram, and move the stock HDD to the optical bay. My MBP is still more than quick enough to handle web browsing, lightroom, VirtualBox, etc.