Want your opinion on upgrades

[WacoOne]

Hi, all.

Here's what I've got.

- Macbook Pro mid-2012 i5 2.5 GHz 8 GB 500GB HD 13" Mavericks

- MacBook Core2Duo Unibody 2.4GHz 4GB 250GB 13" Snow Leopard (cracked screen but still useable)

I am a part-time professional photographer and I use the Pro to do my image editing. It's a wee bit slow when I have Photoshop and Lightroom pulled up, so I'm wanting to upgrade it.

My wife uses the Core2Duo for basic web stuff and word processing. Nothing too fancy.

I thought about buying a new or refurb system from Apple this spring, maybe paying in the $1300 to $1500 range for an i7. Then I could give my machine to my wife and sell hers for whatever I could get.

Now I'm wondering if I would do well to simply install SSDs in both machines, fix her cracked screen, and then just be happy with what I have for another year or possibly two.

Any thoughts? Thanks.

 

[Meister]

Definitely an ssd upgrade. The mbp you own is still sold and an excellent machine.

It's only slow because of the HDD.

 

[Samuelsan2001]

Hi, all.

Here's what I've got.

- Macbook Pro mid-2012 i5 2.5 GHz 8 GB 500GB HD 13" Mavericks

- MacBook Core2Duo Unibody 2.4GHz 4GB 250GB 13" Snow Leopard (cracked screen but still useable)

I am a part-time professional photographer and I use the Pro to do my image editing. It's a wee bit slow when I have Photoshop and Lightroom pulled up, so I'm wanting to upgrade it.

My wife uses the Core2Duo for basic web stuff and word processing. Nothing too fancy.

I thought about buying a new or refurb system from Apple this spring, maybe paying in the $1300 to $1500 range for an i7. Then I could give my machine to my wife and sell hers for whatever I could get.

Now I'm wondering if I would do well to simply install SSDs in both machines, fix her cracked screen, and then just be happy with what I have for another year or possibly two.

Any thoughts? Thanks.

As a photographer the retina may well be your best friend, if you want the best processing power and real estate plus amazing detail for photoshop and lightroom the 15 inch retina is the way to go.
To be honest the 2010 is reaching the end of it's life with a cracked screen maybe $200-$300.

That 2012 is still a quality machine and SSD would do wonders but it won't speed up the work on your photos. You really need the quadcore for that and you only get it in the 15 inch, the i7 in the 13 inches are only dual core and while very good they just don't cut it on huge RAW files, they are only about 7% faster than the i5's in the new rMBP's.

You can pick up a 2013 refurb 15 inch rMBP on the refurb store for $1489

http://store.apple.com/us/browse/home/specialdeals/mac/macbook_pro/15

I would look at it as an investment in your work and go for it, then an ssd in your old 2012 will give your missus a fantastically fast little laptop for the next 2-3 years.

 

[Meister]

As a photographer the retina may well be your best friend, if you want the best processing power and real estate plus amazing detail for photoshop and lightroom the 15 inch retina is the way to go.
To be honest the 2010 is reaching the end of it's life with a cracked screen maybe $200-$300.

That 2012 is still a quality machine and SSD would do wonders but it won't speed up the work on your photos. You really need the quadcore for that and you only get it in the 15 inch, the i7 in the 13 inches are only dual core and while very good they just don't cut it on huge RAW files, they are only about 7% faster than the i5's in the new rMBP's.

I work with "huge raw files" all the time on dual-cores and there is no problem whatsoever.
CPU pressure is usually at around 10%. I have no idea what influence a quad core would have on Lr. It might make a difference for complex graphics design in Ps, but for HDR and normal photo editing a quadcore is a complete wast of $$$.

The OP is restricted by the HDD. His 2012 mbp is still an excellent machine for his usage.

 

[WacoOne]

Thanks for the advice. I think I'm going to go with the SSD idea for about a year at least.

 

[arelaxsound]

SSD is a good choice

 

[ixxx69]

Agree entirely with Meister on this one. And the SSD will be a night and day difference.