Changing / updating / upgrading MBP

[jonathanbruce]

Hello.

I currently have a Mid 2010 MacbookPro 13".. I have upgraded the memory on it to 8Gb and changed the original 250gb hdd to a 120gb ssd and the machine does fly!
However i'm having itchy feet about either another new Mbp 15" since i have heard rumours that the mbp line-up is being refreshed.

I'm interested in everyone's view on what I should do about this. I'm currently using the Firewire800 with a WD Passport 500gb drive, that I use for iTunes, but again would consider using usb3 or the thunderbolt port if and when it's on the new mbp.

 

[jaguarskx]

Depends on what you do with your MBP.

The refresh is likely due to Intel's upcoming 3rd generation Ivy Bridge Core i3/i5/i7 CPUs. Since you bought your MBP back in 2010 you have a 1st Core i3/i5/i7 CPU. The current 2ng generation CPU is known as Sandy Bridge

Sandy Bridge has roughly 10% - 12% more processing power than the 1st gen Core i3/i5/i7 CPU if the clock speeds were exactly the same. Sandy Bridge introduced a graphics core inside the CPU known has the Intel HD 3000. It is about equal to a desktop Radeon HD 5450 graphics card; the slowest in the Radeon HD 5000 family. It is much faster than Intel's old GMA 4500m graphics core.

Ivy Bridge is going to have more processing power than Sandy Bridge; how much is unknown; probably 6% - 10%. The Intel HD 4000 integrated graphics core has been estimated by Anandtech to be as much as 60% more powerful than the Intel HD 3000. That would make it around as powerful as the Radeon HD 5550 video card. Everyone just needs to wait for benchmarks to put all this guessing to rest.

 

[hang-the-9]

Only an Apple user would want to upgrade a laptop barely 2 years old 🙂 But the new one is 5% more Shiny, must buy now!

Why waste money when I'm sure the one you have is fine for anything you do with it. Is opening iTunes .1 second faster worth another $2,000?

Don't go for the brainwashing, use the laptop till it's really too slow, which is probably 2-3 years down the line.

 

[jonathanbruce]

Depends on what you do with your MBP.

The refresh is likely due to Intel's upcoming 3rd generation Ivy Bridge Core i3/i5/i7 CPUs. Since you bought your MBP back in 2010 you have a 1st Core i3/i5/i7 CPU. The current 2ng generation CPU is known as Sandy Bridge

Sandy Bridge has roughly 10% - 12% more processing power than the 1st gen Core i3/i5/i7 CPU if the clock speeds were exactly the same. Sandy Bridge introduced a graphics core inside the CPU known has the Intel HD 3000. It is about equal to a desktop Radeon HD 5450 graphics card; the slowest in the Radeon HD 5000 family. It is much faster than Intel's old GMA 4500m graphics core.

Ivy Bridge is going to have more processing power than Sandy Bridge; how much is unknown; probably 6% - 10%. The Intel HD 4000 integrated graphics core has been estimated by Anandtech to be as much as 60% more powerful than the Intel HD 3000. That would make it around as powerful as the Radeon HD 5550 video card. Everyone just needs to wait for benchmarks to put all this guessing to rest.

My MBP is a 2.4Ghz Core 2 Duo, 8GB 1067 Mhz DDR3..
I do use Creative Suite 5.5 a lot.. and Ms Office '11.

 

[jaguarskx]

Okay, I guess you bought your MBP before the Core i3/i5/i7 MBPs were available.

Assuming you buy a new MBP with a Core i3 at the same clock speed, the difference in CPU performance will be roughly 20% - 22%. I think the fastest mobile Core i3 is the i3-2350 @ 2.3GHz. That doesn't mean all programs will perform 20% - 22%; that's a rough average.

See link below for a comparison of the desktop Core 2 Duo E8500 @ 3.16GHz to the Core i3-2100 @ 3.1GHz. That is give you a rough estimate about the performance improvement between the old architecture and the current architecture.

http/www.anandtech.com/bench/Product/55?vs=289

Since benchmarks for Ivy Bridge has not been released yet (gotta wait at least 2 months) the performance improvement over Core 2 Duo probably ranges between 28% - 36%.