Worth buying?

[Chris8920]

I have the a MacBook Pro (13-inch, Mid 2009) model with the following specs:

2.26 GHz Intel Core 2 Duo
8 GB 1067 MHz DDR3
NVIDIA GeForce 9400M 256 MB
Samsung 500GB SSD (Upgraded in 2013)

I use my MacBook Pro hooked up to my 23" Dell monitor a lot, I've considered buying an iMac but I need the portability. When I am using my MacBook Pro it stutters a bit when trying to play 480p video from YouTube, or when using some programs like Adobe Illustrator. It's very minimal but can be a bit annoying. I imagine it's struggling a bit with the extra task of using the monitor.

I also game on it from time to time, I used to run Starcraft 2 at low settings and the fans would kick in heavy but it ran okay (frame rate got bad in big battles).

My question is whether it would be worth upgrading to the recent MacBook Pro model? There is a bonus of having the retina screen, but would I find any significant performance upgrade for the money?

Thanks!

 

[CaptainChunk]

The improvements in CPU architecture alone (which are significant from C2D to current Haswell and Broadwell tech) would make that upgrade worthwhile. And even the integrated GPUs on the base models would be faster than the discrete graphics you currently have.

 

[Meister]

The hardware of your current macbook is more than enougn to stream/play 480p, 720p or 1080p videos. The problem lies somewhere else.

I recommend:

• make a new user account and see how that goes
• repair disk permissions
• reset pram
• backup and reinstall OS

Also an ssd upgrade is always a good idea.

 

[Hieveryone]

The hardware of your current macbook is more than enougn to stream/play 480p, 720p or 1080p videos. The problem lies somewhere else.

I recommend:

• make a new user account and see how that goes
• repair disk permissions
• reset pram
• backup and reinstall OS

Also an ssd upgrade is always a good idea.

This is exactly right. Your computer is fine. I would just reset it or something.

It shouldn't stutter with even 1080p.