Upgrade worthwhile?

[WillFisher]

So I'm currently on a 13" MBP from 2010, its all standard. 2.4ghz C2D and 4GB RAM all with a 250gb HDD.
Lately been getting random turn offs and extreme slowdowns, like EXTREME. Last night it reset itself and took around 5 mins to turn back on. I'm worrying it could be a drive failure, so I've backed up etc but here are my options.
1, get a replacement HDD to keep it going for a little longer, and possibly get a new 13/15 cMBP next year around september, being a uni student this would be awesome.
2, same as above but a rMBP, this would be even better but still considering.
3, Just get a new SSD, preferably Samsung 830, boost the RAM up to 8GB, and live with the C2D for another 2 years or so.

Main issue is its a Core2Duo. And its not like its slow, but its outdated.
I do music technology for my degree, this year the C2D will be fine, I'm using a maximum of around 10 tracks. But next year I'm gonna be hitting 30/40, and I don't know how the C2D will cope, whats the recommendation here?
Or at least, whats your views on the C2D, if anyones used it with Logic/Pro Tools/Reason etc.

Thanks Guys!

 

[NewishMacGuy]

Could be a lot of things, but I had a similar symptoms (extreme slow downs, random shut downs, and super long boot up) 2 days before my drive failed.

Some of the slowness is likely due to low RAM if you are running the latest version of ML (or Lion). I'm finding that they really need more than 4GB headroom to run free.

A late version C2D will probably be fine for the next year or 2 at least, maybe more, and you won't have to spend very much at all to make your machine very snappy.

For ~$150 you can order a 4GB upgrade plus either a very small SSD (if you don't need a lot of storage space) or a Seagate Momentus XT hybrid drive (if you do) from Amazon. Swap out the memory and the drive, reset both your PRAM and SMC, and you'll be thinking that you got a brand new machine.

 

[WillFisher]

Could be a lot of things, but I had a similar symptoms (extreme slow downs, random shut downs, and super long boot up) 2 days before my drive failed.

Some of the slowness is likely due to low RAM if you are running the latest version of ML (or Lion). I'm finding that they really need more than 4GB headroom to run free.

A late version C2D will probably be fine for the next year or 2 at least, maybe more, and you won't have to spend very much at all to make your machine very snappy.

For ~$150 you can order a 4GB upgrade plus either a very small SSD (if you don't need a lot of storage space) or a Seagate Momentus XT hybrid drive (if you do) from Amazon. Swap out the memory and the drive, reset both your PRAM and SMC, and you'll be thinking that you got a brand new machine.

Yeah I was thinking about just upgrading everything, I just didn't want to spend a lot on a machine that might be about to break down on me you know? Thanks a lot for all the advice! The main thing thats worrying right now is the drive failure, don't want that just before Uni hand-in dates!

 

[Rhinoevans]

I hope that it is just a HD failure, because if a MBP fails after 2 years, i would be extreme disappointed, since I just dropped $1800 on a new cMBP 15".

Maybe less expensive laptops are the way to go and just get new every 2 years, like a car lease.

 

[WillFisher]

I hope that it is just a HD failure, because if a MBP fails after 2 years, i would be extreme disappointed, since I just dropped $1800 on a new cMBP 15".

Maybe less expensive laptops are the way to go and just get new every 2 years, like a car lease.

Possibly.
I'd rather get a new cheap one every 3 years than a high quality for 5 if its like that.
Although my White normal Macbook lasted 3 1/2 years. Its HDD failed after 3, but it got abused by a college student so its expected ahaha