Worthwhile Macbook Pro Update?

[Hate]

Yo

I've got a 15" 2006 Core 2 Duo MBP (2.16) with 3GB RAM and 120GB Hard Drive, It's served me well for the last 4 years but it's gone through 2 batteries, one of the fans rattle, the wifi is a bit patchy and the body is pretty beaten up.

I've been looking at the Unibody MBP as a replacement, specifically the £999 13" one as the fact I like the thought of the long battery life and increased portability (and price).

I only use my machine for the usual web browsing / emails / iTunes and the occasional bit of iPhone and Android development (no games) and to be fair my current laptop is fine speed wise, but would you guys think of the 13" Unibody MBP as a worthwhile upgrade over my current laptop? I note it's still using c2d processors but is there really a gulf in performance between the 13 and 15" one?

 

[Spyhop]

I wouldn't. Whack a SSD in to your current MBP if you want a noticable boost.

 

[Disco Boy]

I personally wouldn't be able to justify that after 4 years I'd be getting the same processor architecture with only an additional .24ghz clock speed for £999 but that's just me. Welcome to the world of Mac I suppose.

 

[Bes]

I wouldn't.

I would strongly advise against going down a screen size. As others have said, stick an SSD in, maybe a little more RAM, and get yer screwdrivers out and fix that faulty fan!

If it really really bothers you, you could probably get the case replaced for around £250, making it look new, and boosting the resale value when you eventually do get rid.

 

[Adrianr]

The screen on the 13" whilst obviously smaller, is higher quality than the one on the older 15" models. Though it was never really going to be hard to improve as they were diabolical. The form factor is obviously nicer, much more solid. You won't notice any difference in the portability though trust me. I've lugged both around plenty and all you ever notice is you have a heavy lump of laptop in your bag, I doubt you'll be able to tell which!

If you were going to upgrade I'd go for the new 15" model so at least you can get the new i5. It's not going to set the world on fire either but it does go some way in justifying the expenditure. Plus you get the better battery, don't have to drop a screen size, and it won't have any of the problems your current one has.

If you're teetering on the edge of upgrading, or the 15" is just a bit too expensive, do what Bes has suggested above

 

[Nexus]

Depends what you are upgrading from though.

I recently upgraded my 15 inch PowerBook to the top spec 13 inch MBP.
The PowerBook was like lugging around a brick, but this new one is quite comfortable to carry in a bag.

I'd also agree that 13 inch is going down in screen size, but like you say the quality and resolution is far better.

Depends on what you want to use it for really.
I like the 13 because it's small, I use it for work and can plug it into a monitor when I need more size.

 

[Hate]

Meh, I think I'll keep my 15", I've already maxed out the amount of RAM this machine can take (3GB is max) and the hard drive is fine, I think I'll just buy a replacement battery and run this thing until it dies - really can't be bothered to try and sell it.

 

[Martin SH]

I have the new 13" MBP, its is a great machine but I would take the battery life figures with a pinch of salt. I am getting nowhere near the quoted 10 hours, personally.

Cheers

Martin

 

[8t10]

I have the new 13" MBP, its is a great machine but I would take the battery life figures with a pinch of salt. I am getting nowhere near the quoted 10 hours, personally.

Cheers

Martin

The small print is: Half screen brightness, with wifi and doing word processing.
In truth, with those specs I can get 7 hours out of my 6 hour battery.

 

[NickK]

I'd wait until spring for the next refresh. If it does everything then I wouldn't bother for now. My '07 MBP is looking a little beaten up but I bought two new batteries for the price of one from Apple and it's just as usable for everything I do. I do have an SSD in it already but if I move laptop the SSD can follow.. although WoW's 40GB install has left me with 10GB free..

 

[Hades]

I know this thread is a couple of months old but I've noticed that hate will be doing Android development.

It seems that Apple have announced they will not be supporting Java on OSX in the future. A lot of the Android development tools such as Eclipse require Java. So I think you may need to look into it a bit further before spending a lot on new Apple hardware that may not be able to run some of your development tools in the future.

You could have course just run it in a VM under Windows if you still want an MBP. But I thought I'd give the heads up. It's not clear what Apples statement means and whether Oracle will provide a JVM in the future.

http://www.theregister.co.uk/2010/10/21/apple_threatens_to_kill_java_on_the_mac/

 

[Hate]

Yeah, I heard about the Java thing - I already run my dev stuff in a VM (as I also work with Blackberry and J2ME dev which is strictly Windows only) but I can't as easily run a VM on a Windows laptop to do iPhone development

 

[FreeStream]

I went from a 2.4 2007 15" to a 2.4 2010 i5 15".

Worth every penny.

SSDs are good but they don't give you twice the battery life, this SUPERB keyboard, the unibody build quality etc, not to mention the fact that if you want to put an SSD in a unibody it's a damn sight easier than it is in the old non-UB machines!

My opinion: DO IT!

Edit: Caveat is that you make sure you want a 13", I couldn't live with the lack of space, and besides, I picked up this 2010 15" for £1100 with 3 years applecare.
My advise is to find a bargain of a second hand 15" and then add applecare to it (if it doesn't already) - Bay of e is the way to go as well as watching the MM.

Your machine is probably worth £400-500 if your lucky.