What used MAC should I upgrade to from my older MBP?

[stevo8]

I have a older MBP that I'm looking to upgrade from. The specs from the top of my head are, core duo(not core 2 duo), 2.0GHz processor, 2gb ram 180gb HD. Now I use it for school as well as photo editing and it gets the job done, and I'll be hanging on to it, but it's time for something a bit more powerful fore editing. I don't have a ton of money so I would be looking used but I really don't know what is a good price for mac stuff used. Desktop is fine as long as the monitor is 20"+ Primary use would be CS4, LR, photomatix.

[tim]

The main thing is to make sure you get a Core2Duo chip, or even better Core2Quad. Not sure about mac models though.

[stevo8]

I think all the newer macs have the core 2 duo so that won't be an issue. Just not real sure what I should be looking at as far as the best bang for the buck goes. :?

[Damian75]

You can find current style ie aluminum and glass 20" iMac for under 800 with 4gb ram and 250gb drive if you can find someone selling one that has AppleCare on it that would be best as being integrated parts cost $$$. Personally if you are in a rush I would bump your MBP to 4gb and grab a nice 20 to 24in display and wait to see what happens with graphics upgrades to the iMac around macworld as the duel graphics card systems like the new MBP's when paired with 10.6 OS should let you run both graphics cards at once for a major speed boost. Thats the opinion of this Apple Certified Tech

[stevo8]

I was told that I my mbp wouldn't support 4gb of ram. If I could do that I would be stoked. I just had a 24" dell monitor crap out on me so if I did that then I would need to spend some coin on a monitor as well as ram. So it's either that or buy a iMac and not worry about the monitor.

Btw where are you seeing 20" aluminum iMacs with 4gb ram for under $800? I haven't seen any that cheap.

[Tony-S]

You were told correct - your MacBook Pro cannot take more than 2 gb of RAM. Putting more into it will prevent it from booting.