I wasn't really sure what to expect from my upgrade - my 2.33ghz machine had max ram at 3gb and I'd upgraded the drive to a Scorpio Black 7200rpm 320gb drive so it was pretty much maxed out in terms of upgrades. The only thing that I had left to do was install a ssd but the drop in prices of the new macs persuaded me to do a whole different kind of upgrade. I'd originally planned to get a 13" and use my external monitor for any real graphics work but as soon as I saw the refurb prices go through the floor I decided to opt for the 2.53ghz w/4gb ram and a 5400rpm 320gb drive.
Pros:
- screen is vastly improved. Even though I had a matte screen (or perhaps in part due to) the brightness of the new LED screen blows my old one away
- speed is improved although I haven't really done any high HP work on the new system to see by how much.
- Stability is improved - I've only had one crash since the upgrade not sure why but I'm happy about that. The classic was good for about 1 crash every 2 months on average which I always found puzzling in view of OS-X's reputation.
- trackpad
- battery life is up from about 2hrs to 3-3 1/2 depending on what I'm doing
- probably the BIGGEST improvement is the fan activity (which is significantly lower) and the cpu temperature (again way lower). My old Classic would spin up to 4500+ rpm at the drop of a hat but I can probably count on one hand the number of times I've had any significant heat from this one.
Cons:
- there's definitely some unwanted glare at times but a simple adjustment of the screen will usually take care of it.
- not entirely convinced by the unibody design. I was confident that if my old MBP dropped it would survive but from all the stories I've read about the uMBP I'm not as confident.
All in all a decent upgrade and I'm still a bit dazed that I was able to sell a 3yr old laptop for $1100 then turn around and buy a significant upgrade for $1550 or so! It still burns a little to think that I paid $2600 the first time around...
Pros:
- screen is vastly improved. Even though I had a matte screen (or perhaps in part due to) the brightness of the new LED screen blows my old one away
- speed is improved although I haven't really done any high HP work on the new system to see by how much.
- Stability is improved - I've only had one crash since the upgrade not sure why but I'm happy about that. The classic was good for about 1 crash every 2 months on average which I always found puzzling in view of OS-X's reputation.
- trackpad
- battery life is up from about 2hrs to 3-3 1/2 depending on what I'm doing
- probably the BIGGEST improvement is the fan activity (which is significantly lower) and the cpu temperature (again way lower). My old Classic would spin up to 4500+ rpm at the drop of a hat but I can probably count on one hand the number of times I've had any significant heat from this one.
Cons:
- there's definitely some unwanted glare at times but a simple adjustment of the screen will usually take care of it.
- not entirely convinced by the unibody design. I was confident that if my old MBP dropped it would survive but from all the stories I've read about the uMBP I'm not as confident.
All in all a decent upgrade and I'm still a bit dazed that I was able to sell a 3yr old laptop for $1100 then turn around and buy a significant upgrade for $1550 or so! It still burns a little to think that I paid $2600 the first time around...