Upgrade from 2.4 Core 2 now or wait? mmmm..

[Craigy]

I don't 'need' a new macbook pro at the moment - But I am frequently based at clients for a couple of days at a time and using my macbook as my main machine away from home and my mac pro.

I've got a 2.4 Core 2 Duo about 18 months old with 4gig and wanted to hear from other people who may of upgraded from a similar machine to a new 15" unibody - Thoughts on speed improvements etc?

I know the clock speed is not much higher on the new macbook pros - but wonder if the new chip architecture and memory speeds etc make a dramatic difference.

I have a mat screen and its a shame its not an option on the 15 - but the new battery life makes up for it.

I 'heard' that new quad core chips may be coming to macbook pros later this year - do you think this is likely? - I may wait if they are planned.

Thanks
Craig

 

[miles01110]

I 'heard' that new quad core chips may be coming to macbook pros later this year - do you think this is likely? - I may wait if they are planned.

It's highly unlikely there will be any major updates to the MBPs in 2009. The next major improvement is going to be Arrandale chips, probably in early 2010. Arrandale is dual core- quad core chips need to reduce power consumption before they make it into laptops.

 

[Craigy]

It's highly unlikely there will be any major updates to the MBPs in 2009. The next major improvement is going to be Arrandale chips, probably in early 2010. Arrandale is dual core- quad core chips need to reduce power consumption before they make it into laptops.

A significant boost is performance though?

 

[miles01110]

A significant boost is performance though?

I mean... that depends almost solely on what you use your machine for. Based on your signature it looks like you are some sort of programmer. A faster processor isn't going to help you code faster...

I just replaced a 2 GHz Core Duo MBP with a new 2.66 MBP and I while the speed difference is noticeable, if my old machine hadn't been stolen I wouldn't have replaced it. So I don't know if the performance gain will be "significant" for you or not.

 

[Craigy]

I mean... that depends almost solely on what you use your machine for. Based on your signature it looks like you are some sort of programmer. A faster processor isn't going to help you code faster...

I just replaced a 2 GHz Core Duo MBP with a new 2.66 MBP and I while the speed difference is noticeable, if my old machine hadn't been stolen I wouldn't have replaced it. So I don't know if the performance gain will be "significant" for you or not.

My workflow normally involves CS4, FCP, Logic Studio, XCode - so I would assume these wold take great advantage of the extra cores?

 

[miles01110]

My workflow normally involves CS4, FCP, Logic Studio, XCode - so I would assume these wold take great advantage of the extra cores?

What extra cores? All of those already take advantage of both cores, and quad-cores are almost certainly not going to be in the next generation. I can't remember the specifics about what advantages Arrandale is going to bring to the table, but it stands to reason that the new chips coupled with SL would be good for an intensive workflow like yours.

 

[o2xygen]

You should be fine for a little bit yet, if I was you id wait until probably the end of the year, early 2010 just to see what happens. Or at least wait for Snow Leopard

 

[clyde2801]

You should be able to pull benchmarks from Macworld for your machine running cs3 and compare the results to the new macbook pro mini. That may give you some idea of the potential of the two.