New Macbook or not!

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Bit of a dilemma..
My current macbook has had its 2nd birthday. It runs fine, no speed issues etc..
However I just really want the peace of mind etc of a new machine.
Am I being paranoid, or is it just the new gadget side of me that wants a new machine...
Do I have any real reason to upgrade?
Current machine is a 2.16gig intel 2gig ram machine...

whats your thoughts?
 
I think you are all right lol

I've got a buyer for the old mac if it goes.. sorry lol :)
I'm now actually looking at the macbook pro for the sake of £100.... they worth it??
 
If you going to go for a pro, you'd be better saving up a bit more and getting the one with the dedicated graphics card (it actually has onboard and dedicated). This will benefit you more being a photographer. :)
 
Why don't you invest in a Network Attached Storage Array? Plop in 4 1TB drives running RAID 1+0 configuration. That backup solution will ease your paranoia for the sake of 2 year old hardware. Most of the NAS systems are hot swappable so replacing a worn out dive is pretty easy.
 
i just upgraded from my 2ghz macbook (2.5 years old) to the 13" macbook pro
tbh i can hardly see any performance difference. the only massive improvement is the aluminium chassis is so much stronger that the plastic one.

as always, only buy macs from John Lewis as you get 2 years warranty instead of 1. and with macs that is worth its weight in gold.
 
I've got a 2yo Macbook too and it's still going strong, I'm waiting until it dies, or I can get a decent size SSD drive for a sensible prce before I replace it.

I think the dedicated graphics and anti glare are only available on the 15" version, so a bit more than £100 more.

FWIW I would go for the Macbook Pro, because of the Firewire connector and the toucher chassis.
 
Cheers Gary, great tip on John Lewis, didnt know about that!

I already back up externally, so thats not my paranoia!
Been reading about the pro, I think you are right Lewis, the ali chassis is worth the extra £100!
 
don't be soft, do it :D
 
neil_g said:
please do not use RAID'd drives as a single point of storage though.
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Of course.

Hard monthly, bi-monthly, tri-monthly, quarterly or whatever copies are well worth the time and effort. You can pick up Blu-Ray writers pretty cheap which record 50GB discs. Well worth the investment.

I have started burning individual shoots onto DVD for safe keeping. Stored in a cabinet like a million slides.
 
neil_g said:
i think youre looking for an excuse to waste money to be honest :D
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word. I'm a great believer as well in 'good enough computing', i.e., i run a piece of crap computer by today's standards, but it serves me fine. Most people who have a Core2Duo/Core2Quad computer will never hit 100% on any of their cores.
 
There are rumours of upgraded MacBooks due soon. Looks like they will have a newer Intel Processor.

To be honest though I doubt if you will see much difference if you buy a new machine now, compared to your old one.

Why not get along to an Apple Shop or retailer with your old laptop and do some side by side tests. Give it some really serious work to do and see if it makes any significant difference..
 
trencheel303 said:
word. I'm a great believer as well in 'good enough computing', i.e., i run a piece of crap computer by today's standards, but it serves me fine. Most people who have a Core2Duo/Core2Quad computer will never hit 100% on any of their cores.
Click to expand...

Because they don't know how. I welcomed dual core / quad core CPU's as soon as they were announced. Having the ability to assign multiple applications to different cores saved me a lot of processing down time. I could run 3DsMax, Photoshop, Premiere and Lightroom all at once with next to no processing hangups. Although a considerable amount of memory is required. The debate with regards to DC/QC cpu's not being used to their full potential is misleading. Many factors play a roll in regards to being able to multithread. Its the of lack user ability / knowledge when comes to actually multithreading that raises the debate with regards to them not providing any significant improvement.

With regards your upgrade question I would seriously sit back and consider your options. The main question I would ask is if you need more power? Can you edit / publish / do what ever you do just fine as it is? If so then save your money and buy some new glass, or go on holiday or just put it aside.
 
If you really need a laptop, it's possibly best to get out of it when you have a buyer. I am lucky enough to need the power of desktop machines and they keep up for a good few years. You pay a premium for portability and there is nothing so quickly old as a laptop.

I have had four hard drives in my desktop macs. They are cheap and just slot in. Memory is easy with as many as eight slots to fill. You don't have to throw memory away to upgrade.

But you can't take them with you, so if you really need portability I'd grab your opportunity to update.

Graham
 
I know what your going through, I purchased a new IMac 24" in April 09 & followed it by the MacBook 13" (Ali) in May. To get any speed out of the MacBook I did add an extra 2Gb ram and it made a big difference. Happy with the MacBook for travelling etc. I was captured by the new 27" i7 & found a buyer for my 24", Did I need the newer 27"? Hell no but still glad I did it because it really works well & I have a feel good factor
 
Mines got applecare for another year, so I will think about it later. I know repairs could be very costly, I had a £800 job done recently - luckily covered by w'ty.

Definitely get a 'pro' version, as you get much more connectivity and better build. Don't worry about the screen much, serious work needs an external s-IPS monitor anyway.

If you have any students in your family, then you could get up to 15% off and very cheap AppleCare (I think £100 instead of £300).

Add as much RAM as you can to it when you get it home. Crucial worked a treat to me.
 
Paranoid. Probably the only reason why you should upgrade relates to new software (if you invest in it) and the system spec it requires. Other than that, a 2.16 MB will be good for many, many year.

Up until last year I was running a 500mhz G3 Pismo (the sexy one with the black rubberised case) and the only reason I changed (aside from it being broken after a fall off a table) was that CS3 wouldn't run on it with any speed. the system bus was just too much of a bottleneck and a maximum RAM of 1GB just wasn't enough for that and OS X.

I use a 2.4ghz MBP now with 2GB RAM and it's more than enough for me. Besides, i could never justify spending £1,500 on a new model when mine works fine, just for a slight speed upgrade. If you manage your mac through regular pdates and clearouts of the HD, it'll be fine for year.

I'm just getting rid of my 1.25ghz G4 eMac only because it doesn't get used these days and my missus wants a laptop for here birthday - looking for an older, original 13" MB for her because I know it'll be more than enough for here web surfing needs.
 
Since your macbook is working fine, keep it and buy the soon-to-be-announced tablet instead.

So you then have a laptop AND a tablet. :thumbs:
 
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