Would i be wasiting my money? Upgrade from C2D to i5?

[MikhailT]

The usefulness of the 17" is to be able to have two different application screens next to each other and see the whole page. Also the Electronic Medical Record I am using will automatically optimize for high resolution screens which I don't have. Generally I use the computer on the couch so I 24" screen doesn't work well for me.

Have you try using Spaces to match your needs? I just make the app take up full screen and switch space to other app that's full screen. Usually works for me on 13" MB.

If you got the money to burn, then get the 17". You probably can get some money back by selling your current MBP.

 

[green86]

The usefulness of the 17" is to be able to have two different application screens next to each other and see the whole page. Also the Electronic Medical Record I am using will automatically optimize for high resolution screens which I don't have. Generally I use the computer on the couch so I 24" screen doesn't work well for me.

Well if it's going to increase your productivity, that's another story altogether. It might be worth it then..

 

[Greenman85]

i dont get spending 1700 on a computer if you are not planning to use it for at least 5 years.

 

[larryg1do]

I guess it depends how much you use your computer - mine at home is used at least 3 hours per day sometimes 8-10 hours with many different activities when I am on call. Although money is not an issue - i do start to worry about reliability after 3 years or so - so I think about replacing my computers every 3 years or so - our desktop was replaced 5 years ago - which was too long - but wow the new imac is great. That is why I am considering replacing my laptop as I would need to upgrade the memory, hard drive (running out of space) and worry about doing that in a 3 year old computer when the memory cannot be reused.

 

[MikhailT]

i dont get spending 1700 on a computer if you are not planning to use it for at least 5 years.

At least 3, not 5. Remember we're talking about laptops here, not desktops. Not much you can upgrade in laptop to extend its resources.

A lot of things can change in 3-5 years and depending on what you do on the laptop, it does bring more productivity by upgrading faster than 3 years.

When I worked as an IT Systems Engineer, I constantly run VMs, multiple applications (compiling, researching, remote access for sysadmin works, etc)all at same time during my work hours. I need a lot of RAM, my current MBP (early '08) can only do 4GB of RAM, my earlier MB could only do 2GB. Right now I don't need more than 8GB since I'm still looking for a job but once I do and I need to do the same task, I'd probably upgrade to the newer MBP to take advantage of the 8GB. Now if you ask why I don't use a desktop instead, I need the portability. I constantly travel between data centers, clients and my workplace, remote access wasn't fast or feasible enough for my work.

Now, remember applications grow in size, memory usage and CPU usage over time. Not the other way around. Look at how much ram that Chrome/Safari takes up and compare them 5 years ago when there wasn't a lot of javascript, flash and such running around as well as multiple tabs with sandbox protection. Movie and photography work is growing in popularity along with huge MP pixel resolution thanks to youtube popularity and so on.

 

[dsprimal]

no u wont be, u will have the latest technology. so its a trade off. somethings gotta give! but tbh imo, i would wait for sandy bridge to come around. im already getting jealous about it....but meh...w/e technology keeps going

 

[LedCop]

I just bought my mac about 5 months ago, Intel Core 2 Duo, 2.53, 4gb ram.

This is my first Mac ever ( and i am loving it actually ) but like anyone, I am all about speed....lol...

I pretty much....
Surf the web
Use Garage Band to record some guitar tracks
Import some videos from my Sony HD camcorder to iMoive and Export them or upload to YouTube
Run my screen res at 1024x768 stretched ( i have bad vision so i think ill stick to the standard screen if i were to upgrade because anything higher and its a bit hard to see for me )
burns CDs DVDs
watch movies

So pretty much just your basic user i would say....

Would upgrading to the 15" i5 be just a waste? would i notice any speed increase?

The video importing and exporting seems to be the most demanding task you put your computer through. How long does it usually take on average for those tasks? The i5 could be worthwhile for this.