When did you realize that your Mac just wasn't up to par anymore?

[Sehnsucht]

I was an idiot when I configured my 20" iMac and didn't pay attention to the graphics card...I got stuck with 128 MB of VRAM. Not good.

Now however, I have a shiny new MBP with 512 MB so we're all good for now. What I'm really wondering is when the price of an 8 GB DDR3 RAM kit will drop down from the stratosphere.

 

[toolbox]

My 3 year old Macbook, i notice it struggle specially when using VMware. I have upgraded hard disk and the memory is maxed out.

My powerbook - i can't view youtube videos are more ( why is that? Age or flash player? )

 

[leekohler]

I love my MacBook Pro. Its just a bit over two years old (October 2006 C2D revision) and has done a lot for me. I've taken it to work just about every day for the past couple school years (I work at a school), and has basically helped me earn some kind of living. I've also gotten into photography, and that's where its age is starting to show. It just can't handle RAW files from my D300 too well, and that's after doing an erase and install of Leopard (a new upgrade for me from Tiger).

I suppose I had to know this time would come, but I know my MBP isn't a very powerful laptop by today's standards. When did you first realize that your laptop or desktop was showing its age?

WTF are you doing that your MBP can't handle? I have a 3.5 year old PM G5 that handles Photoshop just fine. Your MBP should be OK with that stuff.

 

[luminosity]

WTF are you doing that your MBP can't handle? I have a 3.5 year old PM G5 that handles Photoshop just fine. Your MBP should be OK with that stuff.

Are you working with large RAW files? Each D300 14-bit RAW file is 24 MBs. I've got two GBs of RAM and a 2.33 C2D and it still took a long time to download just 25 or so images.

I can barely imagine the D3x's RAW files, which check in at something like 500 MBs fully unpacked (mine are close to 60 when they're converted, I think, though those were 12 bit files and I bet the 14 bit ones are much larger).

 

[leekohler]

Are you working with large RAW files? Each D300 14-bit RAW file is 24 MBs. I've got two GBs of RAM and a 2.33 C2D and it still took a long time to download just 25 or so images.

I can barely imagine the D3x's RAW files, which check in at something like 500 MBs fully unpacked (mine are close to 60 when they're converted, I think, though those were 12 bit files and I bet the 14 bit ones are much larger).

Ah, OK. First of all, my G5 has 8 gigs of RAM. Try upping yours to four at least. RAM will help a lot here.

Oh- and I deal with RAW files daily at work. We still use all PPC Macs too.

 

[wakka092]

I have a Rev. A MacBook Pro from early 2006. Bascially,
.. when loading Gmail in Safari beachballs.
.. when watching a YouTube video brings the core temp up to 92 C.
.. and, finally, when your x1600 GPU that came out two years after The Sims 2 can't handle said game on low settings.

 

[luminosity]

Ah, OK. First of all, my G5 has 8 gigs of RAM. Try upping yours to four at least. RAM will help a lot here.

Oh- and I deal with RAW files daily at work. We still use all PPC Macs too.

I was thinking that maybe upping my RAM would help a lot, but I think I can only max out at three GBs. I have an older motherboard, and one that can't handle even four GBs, and definitely no more than that.

I wish I could edit my RAW files, but I don't know how .

 

[i4k20c]

i've been using my 12inch 1.5ghz pb since 2005 and i think i'll continue to use it for another year or two atleast.

 

[maflynn]

Its going to sound like I'm talking out of both sides of my mouth but here goes.

While I generally opt for a new Mac every couple of years, its not because of performance. I have an old G4 Cube - nearly 10 years old. I'm amazed at how well that can do (in OS9) with Office, PS 5 and other classic apps. The load times, are better then OSX, I can do most office/email/web stuff just as fast as I can on my 8 month old unibody MBP. Of course OS9 doesn't have the multitasking, protected memory, virtual memory that OSX has. Nor does it have the applications like Aperture to take advantage of the more powerful CPUs.