upgrade a mid 2010 MBP or buy a new Lenovo or similar?

I am starting a PhD program in the Fall, and I will need to use Windows for some modelling and math software.

I have a mid 2010 MBP with 4gb RAM and a 2.4 C2D. The HD may be starting to go out, and the RAM is barely enough for OSX and certainly not enough for Windows.

Do I pay $250 to upgrade from 4gb to 8gb ram plus a new 256gb ssd for my 4 year old MBP? Then either boot camp or run Windows virtually?

Or do I buy a new Lenovo or similar laptop for around $800? Or suck it up and buy a new MBP?

I've used Macs since around 2007. Windows/PCs since the mid 80s. I prefer Macs but like I said I'll need to use Windows in my PhD program anyway.

Will the upgrades make my 4 year old MBP current enough or is it throwing $ away and I will end up having to buy a new laptop anyway? Any thoughts?

 

which software? honestly the 4 year old Mac will not cut it anymore for most of these applications, I have a daughter doing alot of this in her Bachelors degree now. If you are going to suck it up and spend the money for a new MBP you would be much better off going to a true business class unit that is better built and better supported than any of the Apple products.

For that kind of money you can go to:

thin and light like the rMBP, the Dell Precision m3800 workstation, or the HP Zbook series. both are better built and can have 5 years of NBD onsite warranty with accidental protection. if you are running alot of modeling software and math apps that use FP64 or OpenCL/GL/CUDA then the quadro GPU's will also bump your speed to roughly 2.5-5 times faster than a loaded rMBP 15" with dGPU.

for less thin and pretty but more powerful, look towards the Precision m4700/m4800, Lenovo W530/W540 and the HP Elitebook series. these babies can get into Mac Pro territory for 3D modeling ( my wife runs both platforms for architecture, video editing / SFX and Photo work ) most of these units will also go to 32GB of RAM

in the $800 range you can still find refurb workstations that are far superior.

 

Thanks for the reply. The Dell m3800 and HP Zbook look great, but are a bit more than I was wanting to spend. You said what I've thought but hoped wasn't true, that my MBP isn't going to cut it. My university will announce the new laptops they'll offer for students on May 15, so I'll wait and see what kind of deals I can get through them. If I buy through them, they offer a fairly inexpensive onsite service that also covers accidental damage. They sell and service Lenovo, HP, Dell and Apple.

As for software, it will vary. I had a brief conversation with my advisor, and she rattled off some software. I think the main one she uses is AMPL with CPLEX, but I'm sure there will be others. I'll also be doing GIS work, but I don't know if I'll have permission to install it on my computer.

 

if your getting into GIS, that is VERY heavy on the CPU and some of it on the GPU as well. forget any machine that does not have good cooling, I have a number of dead ultrabooks, Macbook Air's and MBP's on my work bench from GIS work done here in the Alberta Oilfields.

head for the m4700/m4800, Lenovo W530/540 and the HP Elitebook 8560W/8570W in my opinion.

 

and now the wife of Crazycanuk chimes in. I have to second all my husbands recommendations. Our daughter is using AMPL and it is an ultra heavy CPU pig. you really would want a recent top of the line quad core CPU with great cooling, so again I can not honestly recommend any of the thin and light units as the CPU throttling etc will drive you crazy. you will also tend to have issues with laptops with ULV/UL CPU's.

extra ram is also not a bad idea

 

Hmm. Here's a thought. Given how relatively cheap desktop CPU power is, what if I build a desktop server to run my CPU intensive apps and then remotely access from an ultralight laptop? Is that crazy? I didn't mention before that I'll be biking at the minimum from an outer parking lot and likely from our house (location to be determined). So lugging around a 6 lb laptop plus all the other crap I'll need doesn't sound like loads of fun.

At one time I used a MBP to regularly remote access a dedicated modeling computer. It had its pros and cons. The pros are that I could close up the MBP confident that my model was chugging along on the PC. The cons, of course, were that I had to rely on network access, which can be a real pain in the , especially if I needed to restart or do some kind of maintenance when I wasn't onsite.

 

Same pro/con issues on network connection. maybe see if you can deal with the weight/budget of a w530/m3800 or m4700 that would be your best weight/performance units. 6 pound laptops aren't that bad, even at my advanced age I haul an m6700 and a Lenovo X230 around all day walking to architectural and advertising agencies two days a week. also have to keep in mind that you lose durability and longevity once you trim off too much of the fat in every laptop I have ever seen.

 

You can look at a chromebook and the google Remote Desktop app if that's the direction you're heading.


Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk

 

Agree with almost all the posts above (not a chromebook, please, not a chromebook ).

I think that to build a decent desktop that you'd use remotely and also buy a decent notebook would really blow your budget and to use your existing MBP would be a humbling experience too.


A true mobile workstation like an HP, Dell or ThinkPad as mentioned above will really make your life and studies easier.


And the extra weight on your commutes will help build your body: you're young; get hard.

 

Ha! I wish I were young. I'm 43, which I guess is ancient to go back to get a PhD, but better late than never.

I have a lot to think about. I have a hackintosh desktop that I built last year with an i5 and 8 gb RAM. I could use it with the MBP and remote access to test it out. I could always upgrade to an i7 if I decide it is workable. f it doesn't work well, then I haven't really invested anything and can get a workstation laptop.

 

Lol... 43 is young - If I could go back in time, keeping myself more active (aerobics-wise) would be top of my list.

Yeah, try with the equipment you have - even if just for a point of reference. An actual dry run is worth more than anything else you can gleam from these boards now.