Is it worth upgrading to the New Macbook Pro's From Core2Duo

Hi,

I currently have a macbook pro 2.16ghz core2duo and I am thinking of upgrading to the new Santa Rosa macbook Pro's. I would be upgrading to the 15" 2.4Ghz model. I have some spare money available to do this, however do you guys think that it will be worth it?

I use the laptop regularly for encoding DVD's to h.264m using handbrake, would I see a marked difference in speed when doing this on the new macbooks?

For the rest of the laptop's usage, I take it to lessons every day and watch movies, listen to music etc.

Your oppinion would be greatly appreciated?

Thanks

 

If you are doing lots of graphics/designing work, then the LED screen is going to be better for your work. For other tasks, even processor intensive ones, there wouldn't be any noticeable difference. Of course, if you have lots of spare cash lying around, the go ahead and buy one.

 

your encoding experience wouldn't change. listening to music would be no different, either. movies might be brighter on the new LCD. battery life is somewhat better.

thats about it. if thats worth $2500 to you, do it.

 

I'd say stick with your Core 2 Duo MacBook Pro. Its already very powerful, and the LED screen and GeForce 8600GT is tempting, but I'd say you're fine with your current MacBook Pro. Save that money for later on, or for something else.

Because think about it, Apple's going to improve their Macs every 6 months or so, and each time will be better. Are you seriously going to switch to the newer MacBook Pro every 6 months? I'd say use your current MacBook Pro for at least a year and a half or longer before switching to a new one.

 

if i were you I would keep the Core Duo machine until the "next" Mac Book Pro update, so your upgrade is more significant, I think that would be better money spent.

oh i see it is a Core 2 Duo machine, then definitely just wait until the next update further down the line.

by a display instead, or better yet, buy me a display.

 

So the only aspects of the new macbook pro's that I would benefit from would be the screen and battery life.
So how much better is the screen and how much better is the battery life?

 

Ok, thanks a lot for your input. I think I will keep my current laptop and take your advice.

Just a quick off topic question, If I added a gig of ram would encoding DVD's be quicker?

 

probably. you have 1 gig now?

remove the ram from your macbook pro.

newegg.com - get more.

 

you should see some improvement, although it may not be huge, but adding 1gb of RAM will definitely give you big improvements in basically everything else that you do.

with RAM prices so cheap, I say definitely add another GB

 

Yes, I have 1GB Ram now and it is one stick of ddr2 ram.

 

its hard to quantify how much better one screen is over another.

i would say- "somewhat brighter"

battery life is about 4 1/2 hours on a full charge in osx doing normal stuff.

oh interesting.

keep that, add one more from newegg.com make sure it is 667mhz ddr2. hopefully it will run ddr mode- but actually it wont make a difference on your particular setup. if your mbp takes a max of 3 gigs, you could add a 2gb stick if you want.

 

I have decided now to get another gig of ram and keep my current laptop.

Thanks for helping me get to that decision.

David

 

yep yep, good decision.

even if you can afford something no problem, it is good just use the computer you have an be happy with it, i think people that constantly upgrade begin to realize that they have become way to interested in just having the latest hardware, instead of doing interesting things with it.

it is better to focus on your use rather than the hardware itself

 

It is interesting you say buy a display because I was thinking of buying an Apple Cinema Display 20". I was either going to upgrade to the new laptop or buy an Apple Cinema Display for all my movies etc.

 

It's like a 10% improvement. Gaming would be a bit better too, but I dunno if it's very significant. Just save your money for now. If you need serious horsepower, get a desktop (Mac Pro or whatever).

 

I don't think it's worth upgrading.