Upgrade Recommendation

[ninjaslim]

I'm someone who generally appreciate portability over performance, within reason of course. My current setup consists of an iPhone 4S, iPad and MacBook Pro 2011 (i5 2.3 GHz/128 GB SSD/8 GB DDR3). In generally, my iPad suffices for 70% of my computing needs, and the MacBook Pro is great, but it's a bit heavier than I like a laptop to be. I've been eyeing the MacBook Air 11" (i7 2.0 GHz/128 GB SSD/8 GB DDR3L/$1349) for a while now, and with the new upgrade, I'm thinking of switching to it. So, I have a few questions:

1) How much do you think I can get for my current laptop?
2) How much of a performance difference do you think I'll see? I normally use my computer for surfing, minimal graphic design, document preparation and some statistical analyses.

 

[currahee2100]

Honestly it's a downgrade. Your macbook pro should still be more powerful than the current MBA CPUs simply because your CPU has more horsepower. But given that you don't really do anything you probably won't notice anything.

You pretty much have a Macbook Air, without it being a Macbook Air. If you think the weight trade off is worth extra money, that's for you to decide.

That being said, you could probably fetch mid-high $700 for your laptop. There just isn't a whole lot of drive space and your laptop contains a CPU that's two generations old, despite being maybe more powerful than Ivy Bridge. That's my "fair price" but I've seen used Macbooks go for crazy expensive on ebay so you might be able to milk $200-$300 more depending on if you have AppleCare too.

 

[ninjaslim]

Honestly it's a downgrade. Your macbook pro should still be more powerful than the current MBA CPUs simply because your CPU has more horsepower. But given that you don't really do anything you probably won't notice anything.

You pretty much have a Macbook Air, without it being a Macbook Air. If you think the weight trade off is worth extra money, that's for you to decide.

That being said, you could probably fetch mid-high $700 for your laptop. There just isn't a whole lot of drive space and your laptop contains a CPU that's two generations old, despite being maybe more powerful than Ivy Bridge. That's my "fair price" but I've seen used Macbooks go for crazy expensive on ebay so you might be able to milk $200-$300 more depending on if you have AppleCare too.

Mid-high $700s, really? Mac2Sell says ~$1200.

 

[currahee2100]

Mid-high $700s, really? Mac2Sell says ~$1200.

Mac2Sell may say $1200, but when someone can buy a new Macbook Air 13" for that price, do you think they'll buy your one year old pro for the same cost?

 

[mattopotamus]

you won't notice any performance difference b.c you do not do any hardcore computing. If you want portability, then yes, it could be a good trade off. I went from a 2011 13" pro to an 11" air for the form factor and could't be happier. I never pushed my pro though and i won't push the air but still went with an i7/8/256

 

[KPOM]

Since you already have an SSD, I agree that it would be mostly a lateral move in terms of performance. Overall the processor would be a wash. If I recall correctly, on CPU-intensive tasks the 2.3GHz Sandy Bridge i5 was about 10% faster than the 1.8GHz Sandy Bridge i7 (as both had similar Turbo Boost speeds). Thus the 2.0GHz Ivy Bridge i7 should be roughly comparable. The HD 4000 GPU in the Ivy Bridge will be a step up, but you'll notice this only on games.

Was the SSD an Apple option, or did you add it on later? If the latter, I'd put the stock HDD back in and keep the SSD (you'd do better selling it separately).

For comparison, I just sold my 2011 i7 MacBook Air for just over $1100 ($1000 net of eBay/PayPal fees). That one sold for $1649 new. I'd say $750-$850 net for the MacBook Pro is realistic. The base model was $1200 last year, and I think the SSD added $250 to the cost.

 

[ninjaslim]

Thanks for the feedback guys! What if I were to include licensed Microsoft Office 2011, iWorks, Final Cut Pro X, Motion and Compressor on the laptop? Would that bump the price up?