Upgrade or buy new?

2011 MacBook Pro with the specs in my sig. I'm either deciding to wait until 2015 to upgrade to the Broadwell MacBook Pro, or upgrade now.

If I go the upgrade route, I'd probably buy a 500gb SSD for ~$300, 16gb RAM for ~$150, and maybe replace my battery for ~$130.

I am an industrial design major, and the upgraded screen and lighter weight of the Retina MacBook Pro would be nice, along with a faster GPU for my CAD work, but I'm not sure if that's worth the extra money. Another thing that concerns me is that this model of MacBook Pro with the AMD Graphics has issues... I don't want to upgrade my machine only for a year down the line to get GPU issues.

I guess I'm just lost. Opinions?

 

I highly recommend the Macbook Retina with the 750m GPU that's in my sig. Overall this is my third macbook pro and it's the best one I've owned and probably is strong enough to last another 2 years easy if not more. The previous two macbooks I owned was a matte GT 330 version (Similar to yours). The GT 650 version and now the GT 750. And the GT 750 handles everything I throw at it, I see no reason to own gaming laptops anymore because of this thing. Previously I had owned 3 different types of Alienwares.

Of course I finally graduated from college and got a big boy job as a Data Analyst so my gaming has since severely declined but I use my Macbook daily and it works like a dream. The Nvidia GPU's are far superior to that of AMDs in purely the overheating issues. And of course if that doesn't satisfy you enough just pick up a 3 year warranty to extend it.

 

The way I see your machine, if you're not in need of a (slightly) stronger GPU, you may as well wait until next year. 300$ for a 500GB SSD sounds a bit overpriced though, you could probably hit some brand new 512gb ssd's for like 270$ shipped or cheaper, i used to sell these like candy for 260$.

 

Meh, if you are going to upgrade that GPU for CAD better to just be done with it and settle on a nice ThinkPad. If you want that retina display that is another matter though. I would tough it out with what you have and enjoy the last of the user upgradeable MBP for another generation or two.

 

If you're looking for a better GPU for your major's work, you would be much better off with an appropriate GPU for the job (Quadro or FirePro). In the OSX lineup, that leaves you only with the Mac Pro desktop, as none of the current Apple laptop offerings have a decent GPU for CAD and other professional work (the GeForce 6xx and newer are badly handicapped for anything outside of gaming). Long story short, the GPU in the rMBP won't be much of an upgrade over what you currently own.

That said, if you're looking for upgrades to your current laptop, the SSD upgrade would be well worth it, and you can later transfer that SSD to whatever you end up buying in the future as well. Personally, I'd recommend something from Crucial, Samsung, or Intel for their reliability. I don't really think that the 16GB RAM upgrade will do much for you unless you're consistently running up to the limit of your 8GB of RAM.

 

I agree 95% with what was said except I would also recommend the ram upgrade to 16GB. I've found it beneficial using my setup along similar lines of what you're looking to do.

 

Decided to upgrade. I upgraded my RAM to 16gbs, and got a 500gb Samsung 840 Evo.

It feels like a brand new computer!

Here's to another 3-5 years on this laptop!

 

I know that when I had my M6700 and I went from a traditional HD to an SSD, I felt like I had been living in the stone ages for all the years that I shunned getting an SSD, lol. It really does make a huge difference. Glad to hear that you got your MacBook running how you want it to now!

 

That is an awesome upgrade! I really want to do the upgrade to a 1 TB 840 Evo as well? Saving up as I just don't have enough to cough up the ~$400 for it right away!

 

Assuming you have a Retina MacBook Pro (based on your other thread), you can't do this upgrade because those models have proprietary drives. If your system is from mid-2012 or early-2013, you can buy the Transcend JetDrive, which is not outrageously priced and comes in capacities up to 960 GB. If you have a late-2013 or late-2014, your only upgrade path is to purchase an Apple-branded SSD on the second-hand market.

 

I've used a 2009 macbook with an ssd and it kept it fast and snappy. So when you get a 500 gb ssd, for example a Crucial MX100 512 GB as they're cheap now, you should be good to go.