Trade Black MacBook for Core Duo MBP?

[jhkaplan]

So someone offered me a straight up trade of his Core Duo MBP for my C2D Black Macbook. Normally i wouldnt even think about this, but I have been wanting a MBP lately since I have been doing more photoshop work and gaming (XPlane looks like crap coming from my MB).


Here are the specs on his:
- 17" matte screen
- 2 GB of 667MHz DDR2 SDRAM
- 2.16 GHz Intel Core Duo
- OS X 10.5.6 (Leopard)
- Power adapter
- 115 GB HD
- iLife '09

Here are the specs on mine:
2.4 GHz Intel Core 2 Duo
2GB 667 MHz DDR2 SDRAM
3MB L2 Cache
250GB HD (Really 232.44GB)
OS X 10.5.6
iLife 08

What would you guys say? How big is the performance hit going to be going from the C2D to the CD? I only use my MB for basic excel/word processing, internet/email functions, Photoshop, and now X-Plane. I have also been told that his MBP is 32 bit only, which might leave me SOL for an upgrade to Snow Leopard, but I haven't followed what improvements SL will bring. I'm quite happy with Leopard, unless SL is going to be a huge upgrade.

Thanks for all your input!

Edited to add: Also, I run parallels on my MB for some proprietary work software which is pretty CPU intensive. Will this MBP give similar performance?

 

[11800506]

I would not do the exchange simply because it's a Core Duo machine. As a result, you'll be limited to only 2 Gb of RAM, plus it's only 32 bit. I think you should stay with your current Macbook.

 

[gan6660]

Stay with the macbook. core 2 duo>core duo

 

[jhkaplan]

Thanks guys. Even with the dedicated graphics card, which would be better for Photoshop and X-plane, you think stay with the MB? Just how much of a performance hit for everything else are we talking? Like back to my old 12" white iBook days?

 

[gan6660]

More reasons to stay with macbook:
was yours from the begining
looks cooler (imo)

 

[jhkaplan]

More reasons to stay with macbook:
was yours from the begining
looks cooler (imo)

Thanks, but those are less important to me than other things. Besides, i kind of like the look of the MBP.

 

[blurb23]

One other thing to consider is that the Core Duo MBPs ran notoriously hot. Not sure if that factors into your decision making or not, just thought I'd throw that out there.

 

[jhkaplan]

So consensus is not to do the deal? Even with improved graphics performance?

 

[J&JPolangin]

...its older, just buy the MBP for cheap...

 

[jhkaplan]

I dont have the cash to buy it, he's asking around $1k, and I don't need 2 computers.

 

[techound1]

I too would recommend against. If you really must go for the MBP, sell the MB and buy his MBP. You'll end up with more than a little change in your pocket.

 

[jhkaplan]

Thanks for all the input everyone. I decided not to go with the trade for now. If anything, I'll try to build a cheap gaming PC for X-Plane and make due with Photoshop on my MB.