When to upgrade my MBP?

Quick question as I am mediocre with computer kowledge. I purchased my MBP in 2008 and below are the specs. While I feel like it works just fine for me, and really don't have any issues, I was wondering if I should upgrade and how I may benefit. I'd be looking for basically the same 15" MBP but with better specs of course. Would I just be gaining speed? I use it everyday, mainly for web surfing, and photo editing through LR, CS5, and a few other programs. I like to have several programs going at once including music, and such, but I don't really use it for gaming, although I did use it for WoW for a short period of time. Oh, and any wild idea on what it may be worth in the classifieds if I were to sell it after upgrading? Thanks in advance.....Jake

2.4 GHz Intel Core 2 Duo
4 GB 1067 MHz DDR3
NVIDIA GeForce 9400M 256 MB

According to http://buyersguide.mac​rumors.com/#MacBook_Pr​o
"Buy only if you need it - Approaching the end of a cycle"

Yes, it will be a lot faster then your current machine.
Your machine: Geekbench 3170/3591*
The slowest 2011 15" MBP: Geekbench: 8786/9518*

Ok thanks Rene, can I ask what those numbers mean that you posted? I see they are roughly 2-3x's my numbers. Jake

Nevermind, I figured them out. You are right, the newer ones are a ton faster.

ha! I got the same MBP as you. =)
I recently bought an iMac 27' for specifically editing photos.
I will say this. It handles LR3 so much faster.

Yeah, I would love an iMac, but 99.9% of my editing has to be done on a laptop with a portable hard drive. I would like LR3 to be faster, after adding the 5Dii to my bag earlier this year, those larger files tend to slow things down a bit. I guess I will just have to start waiting for a sale of some sort, from what I read an upgrade may be coming in the next couple months....

jakeg1999 wrote in post #13164912
Quick question as I am mediocre with computer kowledge. I purchased my MBP in 2008 and below are the specs. .........

2.4 GHz Intel Core 2 Duo
4 GB 1067 MHz DDR3
NVIDIA GeForce 9400M 256 MB

For playing WoW it's adequate, but to play the newest version with full graphics you need something with a considerably more powerful graphics card.
My better half plays a lot, and we had to upgrade here 9600GTS to a GTX460 for her to play with the graphics on maximum.

For photo editing, especially anything from a 5D2, it is not what I would call adequate.

Do you shoot JPEG or RAW, and what level of editing do you do?

If your shooting a low of RAW, and doing some heavy editing, including use of the adjustment brush, then ideal in a laptop would be the latest Macbook Pro with the i7 Quad.

If you just shoot JPEG, or don't do a lot of heavy editing, then one of the dual core i5 models would be ok.
I use an i5 2410 based laptop for tethered shooting from a 5D2 shooting RAW.
It's ok for basic work, but takes time to generate 100% previews or export JPEGs.
I use a proper desktop for the real editing though, which involves lots of batching of adjustments and exports.

Yeah, I am realizing it's not really adequate, and probably slowing me down. I only shoot RAW, and do lots of editing and moving between editing programs and plugins. Fortunately it's a side business startup for me, so I don't have a huge crunch for time, but speeding things up would help a ton. I would love a desktop, but I do most all my editing in the evening at my work during downtime, so I need to be mobile.

I am thinking about going with the i7 quad 2.2. Does anyone know if Apple discounts there computers right before a new release or shortly after? Seems like the time for a new release may be in the next couple months.....

Just watch your activity monitor and see how taxing your programs/workload is on it. I find that my 2.6 dual core MBP with 8 GB of RAM is more than adequate for 95% of the work I do on it. I dont render video or play games. Just LR 3 and CS3 apps are the heavy usage apps, the 5%. I guess it also depends on how much editing you do and your workload.

If your processor isn't bogging down you might want to just increase your RAM.

Unfortunately, the MBP he has is fully loaded with RAM at 4 GB. I have the same MBP, with the 5DII RAW files, it is not acceptable because of the rendering speed and the speed Aperture works at - creating the dreaded beach ball from hell.

A new I7 MBP can come with a SSD and the ability to go up to 8 GB RAM. This will be substantially more powerful and faster than what you have. Personally, I'd get the SSD and a good FW 800 external drive at 7200 RPM for backup and storage. I would also max out the RAM using a 3rd party to buy it from and installing it myself.

Too bad you need to be so portable, the iMac's would be faster.

Don't forget to check out the refurbished models - you can save hundreds for the same machine.

sf1 wrote in post #13205316
Unfortunately, the MBP he has is fully loaded with RAM at 4 GB. I have the same MBP, with the 5DII RAW files, it is not acceptable because of the rendering speed and the speed Aperture works at - creating the dreaded beach ball from hell.

And Aperture is considerably lighter, faster and more efficient than LR3. It makes far better use of the hardware.
LR is a huge CPU hog.

Moppie wrote in post #13168203
For playing WoW it's adequate, but to play the newest version with full graphics you need something with a considerably more powerful graphics card.
My better half plays a lot, and we had to upgrade here 9600GTS to a GTX460 for her to play with the graphics on maximum.

The 9400m was really great in 2008 :P

My fiancé actually just upgraded from our Macbook Pro with 9400m because of this.

jakeg1999 wrote in post #13165243
Yeah, I would love an iMac, but 99.9% of my editing has to be done on a laptop with a portable hard drive. I would like LR3 to be faster, after adding the 5Dii to my bag earlier this year, those larger files tend to slow things down a bit. I guess I will just have to start waiting for a sale of some sort, from what I read an upgrade may be coming in the next couple months....

Portable USB 2.0 drives are really, really slow. If you put a decent size SSD in the machine, 120GB say, you'll probably cut your editing time in half. Keep only the images you're working on right now on the SSD, and 120GB is plenty. 60GB would be a bit small I think.

The SSD can be transferred to your next machine too.

That sounds like a great idea! Is there an easy way to transfer photos from one catalog to another? I would like to upload to the ssd, delete and edit, then transfer them over to a portable drive.

tim wrote in post #13205994
Portable USB 2.0 drives are really, really slow. If you put a decent size SSD in the machine, 120GB say, you'll probably cut your editing time in half. Keep only the images you're working on right now on the SSD, and 120GB is plenty. 60GB would be a bit small I think.

The SSD can be transferred to your next machine too.

Now I'm starting to think an iMac may be the way to go and keep my current mbp. I really only edit while at work during down time at which I'm always at a desk and plugged in. I can just get a decent carrying case. Now I just have to decide which one.