Buy new MBP or not?

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Hi,

I've currently got an April 2008 Macbook with the following spec:

Core 2 Duo 2.4GHz
160 GB HDD
4GB RAM
Running Snow Leopard.

In one word, it's been great. I use it for all my work stuff for hours each day (Eclipse, SQLDeveloper etc) and it's only ever had two small problems in 3.5 years (case cracked, battery died).

Now the 'nice' people at the Inland Revenue have calculated that I paid too much tax last year, so I've got an extra few £ to play with.

Reckon it's worth upgrading to a Core i5 MBP? Would probably go for a 13" laptop, I find a 15" to be a little too big when travelling. Other option would be a 13" Macbook Air. Would these be a feasible option as an only PC?

What's the score with Applecare now? Avoid people selling on Ebay?

Cheers,

Mike
 
i don't know much about the software you use but if the extra cpu power will be useful then yes

if not then no as even though i do own and love one of the i5 models its not exactly a huge upgrade

putting an SSD and even extra ram in your current model would see it fly in all fairness
 
I would deffo go with the MBP 13" add an additional 4GB of Ram yourself not through Apple. Then when you have the funds and feel this is neccasery grab yourself a Crucial M4 SSD drive, the machine will fly through everything. Even with the traiditonal HDD the MacBook flys, I can run itunes, multiple internet pages, youtube, dailymail on Mac OSX whilst running an Windows 7 Viritual Machine whilst installing a game, id say thats multitasking for just 4GB of Ram I have now upgraded to 8GB as it left ram pretty stretched! (30odd pound)
 
In my opinion the Air is too thin for my liking and slightly more expensive I know it has flash memory but also a less powerful processor. The MBP is more futureproofing lets say and also will run cooler when under stress I presume. The res is handy, but my personal preferene is the MBP.
 
Cheers guys.

Rilot - I'd love a 13" MBP with the higher res screen. Maybe I ought to consider the Air. Will have to take a look and work it out.

Keeping this laptop is one option. Probably wouldn't bother chucking an SSD into it either, it's quick enough to be honest - just would maybe like something shinier (plus a warranty is useful).
 
In my opinion the Air is too thin for my liking and slightly more expensive I know it has flash memory but also a less powerful processor. The MBP is more futureproofing lets say and also will run cooler when under stress I presume. The res is handy, but my personal preferene is the MBP.

It is a less powerful processor but it's still faster than any core 2 duo macbook pro made according to the benchmarks I've seen. Do you need more processing power than that?

Aside from the upgradable RAM side I struggle to understand the 13" macbook pro, the Air is almost as quick and if you really need performance the 15" is a lot faster. Interesting middle ground.
 
i chose the 13 because for a laptop i know i will be keeping for a few years i wanted to easily be able to upgrade its ram and hard disk. the optical drive slot is still useful to me and when I'm ready to go without, it will be handy being able to stick a big storage disk in its place.

i did come close to a 13" air but by the time i had added an external dvd drive and considered the above and that i was stuck with 4gb ram well i jumped ship.

the 15 isn't as portable as id like
 
im in the same boat, cosidering selling my 2009MBP 13 " for a new one mainly for thunderbolts future prospects if im totally honest,

may hold out till they refresh the MBPs soon (minor refresh is predicted) and hopefully they bump the 13" res in that
 
I found the MBA to thin and light... And it lacked things, simple things like an ethernet port (obviously because of the size)
At work the wireless drops at 4:30 so I need an ethernet port on my laptop to plug it in.

Changed to the MBP and bought 8GB of RAM, don't regret the change really.

Think I heard something about a small update on the new MBP soon?
 
Could you not use an Ethernet adapter at work? Apple sell them with the MBA for not a lot of money.

If the MBA could support two TB displays, I probably would have gone with one over the 15" MBP.
 
How soon is soon?

As in today

Apple on Monday improved its MacBook Pro lineup with slightly faster Intel processors, as well as new graphics processors and larger hard drives in some models.

The new entry-level MacBook Pro now sports a 2.4GHz dual-core Intel Core i5 CPU. It also features a larger 500GB 5400-rpm hard drive at the same cost of $1,199.

The faster 13-inch MacBook Pro now boasts a 2.8GHz dual-core Intel Core i7, and its hard drive has also been upgraded to 750GB. It sells for $1,499.

For the 15-inch models, both feature quad-core Intel Core i7 processors. The low-end 15-inch has a clock speed of 2.2GHz and a 500GB hard drive, plus a faster AMD Radeon HD 6750M discrete graphics card with 512MB of GDDR5. The faster 15-inch runs at 2.4GHz with a 750GB hard drive and features the AMD Radeon HD 6770M with 1GB of GDDR5.

And the updated 17-inch MacBook Pro features a 2.4GHz quad-core Intel Core i7 with a 750GB hard drive, along with the AMD Radeon HD 6770M with 1GB of GDDR5. All MacBook Pro models come with 4GB of RAM clocked at 1333MHz standard.

Apple's top-of-the-line build-to-order 17-inch MacBook Pro offers a 2.5GHz quad-core Intel Core i7 for an additional $250, while the RAM can be upgraded to 8GB for another $200. All MacBook Pro models can also have their hard drives upgraded to solid state capacities up to 512GB for as much as $1,200.
 
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