Ugrade from Late 2011 15" MBP?

[Hrothgar]

As the title says, I've got a late 2011 15" MBP, with 750 gb hdd and 8gb RAM. The HDD is almost full -- including about 450 gb of music files.

The computer works fine more me (Internet, MS Word, iTunes), but my wife needs Powerpoint, Excel and Photoshop. She's complaining that it's too slow and her apps keep crashing.

I do plan on getting a Mac Mini to use as a music streamer, so I will move the 450gb off the MPB. I'm not sure how much that will improve the MPB's performance.

But we're considering an upgrade anyway. Am I correct that a 27" iMac (probably not the retina) will outperform an equivalently priced 15" MPB? We don't really need portability, because we will still have the 2011 MBP for travel.

 

[Bending Pixels]

First...which app's are crashing. If it's any of the MS Office for Mac app's, that's understandable (crashing is a feature built into every Microsoft app).

As to a 27" riMac outperforming a 15" rMBP - yes, this is correct. However....the difference may be somewhat minimal. Check out the Mac Geekbench benchmarks.

 

[Ovedius]

You could consider swapping out the HDD for an SSD, it should give you a pretty solid performance boost.
It is quite an affordable option.


Looking at the alternatives you mention, let's go with the entry lever 15" Pro and the 27" non retina iMac.

The iMac starts at $1799, but to get the same RAM as the Pro you need to go up to $1999.
That's the same price as the entry level 15" Pro and the entry level retina 27" iMac, funny enough.

So...

27" iMac:
16GB RAM (+$200)
1 TB HDD
3.2GHz Quad-core i5
NVIDIA GeForce GT 755M 1GB
$1999

15" Pro:
16 GB RAM
256 GB SSD
2.2Ghz Quad-Corei7
Integrated Intel Iris Pro GPU
$1999,-


If portability isn't a concern I'd probably consider the iMac.
You get a more powerfull CPU and GPU in the iMac than in the entry Pro.
Also the Pro starts with 256 GB storage, that might be a little cramped.
But you say you might get a Mini for your music, so storage capacity might not be that essential.
It must be noted though that the iMacs all start out with a regular hard drive.
So even though the Pro has a weaker CPU, I think that for normal non-intensive home and office use that the SSD in the Pro will make it feel like a faster machine overall.
Upgrading the iMacs with SSDs is oh, oh so very expensive; $500 at least.

Sooo...iMac?



But if you can stomach the upgrade to a retina iMac your eyes will thank you

27" retina iMac:
16GB RAM (+$200)
1 TB HDD
3.3 GHZ Quad Core i7
AMD Radeon R9 M290 2GB
$2199

 

[Ovedius]

If it's any of the MS Office for Mac app's, that's understandable (crashing is a feature built into every Microsoft app).

I wonder why they don't put that in their advertising slogans?

 

[Samuelsan2001]

As the title says, I've got a late 2011 15" MBP, with 750 gb hdd and 8gb RAM. The HDD is almost full -- including about 450 gb of music files.

The computer works fine more me (Internet, MS Word, iTunes), but my wife needs Powerpoint, Excel and Photoshop. She's complaining that it's too slow and her apps keep crashing.

I do plan on getting a Mac Mini to use as a music streamer, so I will move the 450gb off the MPB. I'm not sure how much that will improve the MPB's performance.

But we're considering an upgrade anyway. Am I correct that a 27" iMac (probably not the retina) will outperform an equivalently priced 15" MPB? We don't really need portability, because we will still have the 2011 MBP for travel.

Well a very full HDD can cause crashes and slowdowns and spinnuing beach balls, try offloading the music to an external HDD and see how it does then. Your HDD could well be dying at 4 years old as well.

Personally though if it was me I'd tell her to get her own if she doesn't like it!!!

 

[jorgk]

but my wife needs Powerpoint, Excel and Photoshop. She's complaining that it's too slow and her apps keep crashing.

I have a 15" MBP late-2011. No crashes of the MS applications you mention. Also, it"s still decently fast - but I have 8 GB RAM and a SSD. (All on 10.9.5; thus Mavericks, will not change any time soon to the childish newer OSs).

I guess you could buy an optibay/MCE extreme/Hardwrk SATA3/..., put your HDD into it, and have a decently sized SSD in the main drive bay. Then make a fusion drive out of them and keep a strickt backup schedule. That should take care a lot in itself to get back a decently performing machine.