Worth it to Upgrade?

[chonger91]

I currently have a 2010 macbook pro 13". I'm looking to upgrade as its become a bit sluggish. I feel like I could get something better without spending a fortune. I found an upgraded Dell E6540 on craigslist for $450. Should I go for it? Would I expect to see much improvement?

My macbook has 2.4ghz processor, 4gb ram. 250gb 5200rpm hdd, and dwindling battery life.

The Dell has a fourth Gen i7 processor, 16gb ram, 2gb discreet graphics card, 500gb ssd, and 9 cell battery.

On paper, it looks like a considerable improvement. I don't know much about PCs tho so thought I'd ask.

 

[Titillating]

If you're not intimated by the idea of opening up your Macbook, there are cheaper options available to you. For one thing, switching out your HDD for an SSD will give you a dramatic boost. A 250GB SSD is roughly $100, depending on brand. Of course, this will mean reinstalling OSX as well. A replacement battery is also fairly easy to get, although Apple ones tend to be rather expensive.