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FrozenGate by Avery

Upgrade my 2009 MacBook Pro - new version

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firelaser

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I am finally looking to upgrade my computer system to a new year and model
I will most likely stick with Mac book Pro so I am hoping to buy one of the later years as mine seems to be showing it's age but it still working good

My mac mid 2009
2.26ghz Intel core 2 duo
4gb 1067 MHz DDr3
NVIDIA GEFORCE 9400m 256mb


This is what I have and it's processing power
My objective is To have a new a machine that will have no problems and obviously not show it's age -

Ie no freeze or spinning loading wheel - load webpages fast ext

I mostly will use it for video streaming , movies , YouTube , maybe some games ?

Any suggestions ?

Should I get am order year and upgrade some systems ?
Ie last time I got 4gb of ram instead of 2

Any store suggestions ?

Ideally 1000$ or less
 





Not that I'm a huge Microsoft fan at the moment, but you can get a LOT more computer under $1000 with Windows 10 than with Mac OSX.

Personally, I like ASUS and Toshiba laptops, but Dell's have been surprisingly good lately.

For new Apple computers, the prices are pretty consistent, so I don't really have a recommended retailer.
 
Lol before I read the replies my instant thought was, "Get a PC, that's usually the best upgrade from a Mac you can get" :D

I have to agree with Rivem about Dell at least, especially their XPS models, I've got a fancy for those things.

Though if you're dead set on a Mac and use proprietary software or something like that then the Apple Store is the place to go, their customer service isn't too bad as long as you don't get too deep into a conversation with them because then they end up not knowing what they're talking about.

The Core 2 Duo you have in there is indeed quite outdated, but you should try a complete reset of your laptop, and re-install OS X and see what that does. I've noticed that hard resetting and re-installing the operating system on old machines usually speed them up like crazy, even after you install your programs n' crap. It'd also help if you told us what you were looking for, but the Macbook pro is pretty universal when it comes to many different applications, besides gaming... but if you've been with a Core 2 Duo for this long I doubt you do much gaming :p

All in all go for a new Macbook if you'd like, but as Rivem pointed out you'd get a hell of a lot more value for that money out of a PC (specification wise) than if you were to spend on a Mac.
 
ElectricPlasma said:
The Core 2 Duo you have in there is indeed quite outdated, but you should try a complete reset of your laptop, and re-install OS X and see what that does. I've noticed that hard resetting and re-installing the operating system on old machines usually speed them up like crazy, even after you install your programs n' crap. It'd also help if you told us what you were looking for, but the Macbook pro is pretty universal when it comes to many different applications, besides gaming... but if you've been with a Core 2 Duo for this long I doubt you do much gaming :p
Click to expand...

Oddly with Macs, reinstalling everything or upgrading the OS really doesn't help nearly as much as it can with a Windows PC.

OSX is actually a very stable and solid OS with a lot less junk in it than Windows. You pay for it in compatibility and capability though.
OSX slowdowns over time are usually due to hardware bottlenecking the necessary software updates. Because of this, you usually won't see anywhere near the boost you get from doing this to Windows.

An i5 in either Windows or Mac would totally be worth it in your upgrade though.
 
Alright , if I did decide to go the PC route any suggestions on specific machines with , fast web browsing , movies , watching tv series (Hulu ) or the other "free sites " . General office work - And perhaps playing games like fallout on it - that can be a bonus - doesn't need to be. Set on ultra or whatever ,
For 700-1000?
I have an Xbox so the gaming part is not nessasary but could be cool since it's a PC -

Also is there any weaknesses to pcs over my Mac ?
Virus , life span , battery ext -
Thanks
 
firelaser said:
I am finally looking to upgrade my computer system to a new year and model
I will most likely stick with Mac book Pro so I am hoping to buy one of the later years as mine seems to be showing it's age but it still working good

My mac mid 2009
2.26ghz Intel core 2 duo
4gb 1067 MHz DDr3
NVIDIA GEFORCE 9400m 256mb


This is what I have and it's processing power
My objective is To have a new a machine that will have no problems and obviously not show it's age -

Ie no freeze or spinning loading wheel - load webpages fast ext

I mostly will use it for video streaming , movies , YouTube , maybe some games ?

Any suggestions ?

Should I get am order year and upgrade some systems ?
Ie last time I got 4gb of ram instead of 2

Any store suggestions ?

Ideally 1000$ or less
Click to expand...

Actually I have the same macbook as you, though it has a custom processor in it and (17") .

1# upgrade the ram to 8GB
2# remove the optical drive. (frees up a SATA port)
3# add 2 SSDs (2x 250GB) or (2x500GB) Preferably SAMSUNG 850 pro or EVO.

when setting up the computer start from a USB key and set both drives to Raid 10 format.

Then install MacOSX on the raided drive. ( speed will be roughly 3-4x faster than before)
 
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Agree with several notes on here.

an i5 or i7 or xeon would be much better
suggest at least an Nvidia 970 card (for gaming)
SSD drive will make a HUGE difference.

But just for what you are describing (other than gaming) a new machine will do the same thing depending on other factors.

You don't need power for surfing and streaming, in general - a dual core 2.26 will keep up with any streaming or surfing you do.

My OLD mac mini is 2 ghz, but has an SSD and is connected to a gigabit fiber link. NEVER a problem with streaming. It can't handle the full gigabit download speed, but still tops out at about 500 Mbps, which is plenty.

Memory bandwidith can hurt you on some of the older machines.

Be sure to check out the speed of the memory/board (memory <-> cpu)
Also the speed of your HD/SSD

An older HD may only hit 30-100 MBps, even new Hard drives rarely break 200. Whereas a new system can have SSD drives that are 1000-3000 MBps or higher

Your internet connection is going to slow down any system if it's not up to spec, I would suggest at least 30-50 Mbps

And an SSD drive will get rid of most your other issues (on new or your old system - SATA III 6Gbp/s)

Also, PCs don't age as gracefully as Macs. They show signs of age much quicker, shorter lifespans in general. Although they are lots cheaper. So its not just a matter of cost. But you can replace them quicker when you are paying less.


firelaser said:
I am finally looking to upgrade my computer system to a new year and model
I will most likely stick with Mac book Pro so I am hoping to buy one of the later years as mine seems to be showing it's age but it still working good

My mac mid 2009
2.26ghz Intel core 2 duo
4gb 1067 MHz DDr3
NVIDIA GEFORCE 9400m 256mb


This is what I have and it's processing power
My objective is To have a new a machine that will have no problems and obviously not show it's age -

Ie no freeze or spinning loading wheel - load webpages fast ext

I mostly will use it for video streaming , movies , YouTube , maybe some games ?

Any suggestions ?

Should I get am order year and upgrade some systems ?
Ie last time I got 4gb of ram instead of 2

Any store suggestions ?

Ideally 1000$ or less
Click to expand...
 
If you like OS X, you can just get a newer (but used) Macbook Pro and you'll be just fine. You just need to get one with at least 8GB of RAM, and i5 processor, and an SSD. See if you can find a used Mac Pro and buy that.

This is coming from a person who exclusively uses Windows except for some Linux for server type stuff. Really, it's not going to matter too much whether you get a PC or a Mac except that you will be limited to whatever Apple will sell you or what you can find used.

If you're willing to switch to Windows, you'll have more choices, but overall it's going to come down to whether you want to stick with OS X, or move to Windows.

Some of my suggestions for a computer:

- A high-resolution (i.e. Retina) display. Everything will scale down as needed and look good. On the PC side, 1920x1080 will usually be fine, but having a higher-res display is nice. DO NOT settle for anything less than 1920x1080. Weird-ass resolutions like 1366x768 are an ABOMINATION that should only be found on crap-ass netbooks or computers that you'd give to your kid as baby's first laptop.
- At least 8GB of RAM, preferably more.
- An i5 processor. An i7 processor usually doesn't buy you much more horsepower for most needs and will cost quite a bit more.
- An SSD. This is CRITICAL for laptops. Most new laptops will have an SSD unless you're buying some crap-ass laptop.

For the SSD, if you don't have an SSD in your current laptop, you could probably buy an SSD and your laptop will feel like 3x as fast. It is the BEST upgrade you can get for a laptop after sufficient RAM (and RAM is cheap).

I would have suggested just going and getting an SSD, but I do think you need to at least be using an i5 generation processor so that you don't feel the need to upgrade for a long time.

Video cards: unless you want to pony up for a "gaming laptop" which will be inferior to nearly all desktop machines, the integrated cards will usually suffice.
 
good advice - i will keep all those specs and models in mind for my next buy-

what would be the main differences i would notice when siwtching from osx to windows ? i.e things i am use to on mac that are better or worse. or just different on the windows?

also as some suggested would there be any issues with just buying new upgrades for my current machine ? RAM SSD ect-- i assume this would be the cheapest option
 
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RAM and SSDs should be easy to install in a PC laptop provided it isn't some ultra-light version or something special. My own laptop annoyingly has 4GB of RAM soldered to the motherboard and a single RAM slot so I get some mismatched 12GB RAM configuration with an 8GB DIMM. You can usually find videos on Youtube taking you through the process too.

For Macs, it depends on the model. Macbook Airs and such can't be upgraded, but I think Macbook Pros probably can. Maybe that has changed; I'm not sure.

As for the difference between a Windows and OS X: it's going to be different. You should probably try out Windows to see if you like it before investing in hardware. Some people don't like Windows and will stay with Macs, some people can make the transition. I find that I can use OS X, but that I can't move around it as quickly as I like, but others are quite efficient.

I'm not sure where is the best place to buy used Macs. I've heard of people buying them on Craigslist or eBay or other places. You probably should research what you're looking for and then see if it's available.

If you buy a new PC, check out sites like FatWallet's forums to see if there are any discounts or deals. I found a 10-15% off employee code or something on there to get my Thinkpad, and that saved me quite a bit. You could even get a desktop if you want, for gaming.


One last thing too: do some research on some of the ergonomic features of the laptops you're considering. Sometimes there are some very nice features, and other times there are some design decisions that will make you hate your laptop. For example, Lenovo on their older T440 series laptop decided to try and imitate Apple with their single trackpad, only they completely screwed it up by making a really clunky button and also making it so that their Trackpoint mouse system really sucked. That kind of stupidity held me off from buying from them for a year or so because it'd be such a damningly bad experience.

Other such problems would stop me from using a Mac. For example, there are no Home/End/PageUp/PageDown keys on those keyboards which I consider essential. It's bad enough that Lenovo forced those keys into a row instead of the nice 3x2 grid like on their older laptops. Stuff like that would drive me mad. Dell even imitated that Apple keyboard with some of their models which would completely pain me to use.
 
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firelaser said:
https://www.amazon.com/gp/offer-listing/B0096VDM8G/ref=dp_olp_used?ie=UTF8&condition=used

would this be good for the USED MACs ? ill also be looking at some PCs soon
Click to expand...

128GB hard wired in AFIAK, will be very fast but that's not a lot of memory
Graphics will be OK
i5 processor which is minimum IMHO

Geekbench score of only 7599 - not great. (for comparison -my 2008 Mac Pro is hitting between 12000 and 13000 with upgrades.)

Would be OK for a couple years but not being able to up the storage without going external and poor benchmarks would not put it at the top of my list.

Download a program called "Mactracker" - it will give you specs on EVERY single Mac every made along with Geekbench scores and other info.
It is an awesome resource if you decide to look at a mac. FYI!
 
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The processor you want is dependent on what you want to do with it. If your going to do a lot of streaming games like on Twitch and hard core graphic work then yes by all means go with Intel. Dependent on how much you want to spend you can pick up a I5 oct core apu for under a hundred. If you want raw power go with the I7 that comes in 4,6,8 cores and I think the 4 and 6 also come in apu format. but you will pay more those choices. If you want good power plus reliability for not as much then go AMD. I currently run AMD FX 8-Core Black Edition FX-8370 which has all the power I need. As far as graphics are concerned always use Invida they are the best for pc. Does not mean there is one company there are lots of graphic card companies that use Invida. I run a EVGA GeForce GTX 770 SC, ACX Cooler, 2GB GDDR5 256bit, 02G-P4-2774-KR
and 16gb of A-Data ram at pc3 at 1800 I have 1 ssd at 500gb and a single sata at two Tb. That with a asus mother board and a big ass case. Mind you My pc is my brothers handy work. I tend to get his older stuff. He upgrades every year. My pc has gone through 6 transformations in the last four years. for 750 to a grand my brother could put together a pc that would be better than any thing you can buy at the store and will last longer than factory built
 
I could never recommend an Apple PC to anyone. They may run smooth. If you have to replace some hardware, be prepared to lose an arm and/or leg. Someone recently brought in a MacBook that wouldn't boot. The drive was bad. Guess what, it has a proprietary drive. The customer actually paid the $480 plus labor to have it replaced. If you really want Apple, go for it.
 
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Not sure about some of the replies in this thread IMO. Aside from the usual other-platformers trying to convince you to jump ship, I don't know why bionic badger is suggesting an utter powerhouse of a machine (which in no way will fit your budget). I recently "moved to Mac" (although I'd had experience with them before) and bought the MacBook Air 2015 11inch with "only" 4GB of RAM and it's fine. I was surprised to see my memory pressure so low last night with only 2.6GB in use. If you do start paging to disk, then you have an ultra fast SSD which will largely mitigate the effect. Apart from gaming (referring to your original post) the uses you suggest are a doddle for any modern computer, even low end. For your uses, I honestly think a MacBook Air or the 12 inch MBP would do you just fine.

For what it's worth, I've been a Windows user most of my life and I have nothing against it for the most part. I got myself a Mac in 2007 though it was a bit under-specced and being a typical college kid back then I was something of a power user. I learned a lot but the poor little Mac Mini was just not up to what I wanted to throw at it and I soon sold it for almost what I bought it for after. Nearly 10 years on and I'm bored sh*tless of Windows and want a change so I bought myself an MBA 11. I've been working with computers for so long that for the most part I just want the simple life and since I already use iOS devices it made sense.

There are a lot of myths out there about how the current MBAs with 4GB of RAM are totally insufficient machines. This is garbage. Like I said earlier in the post I've come nowhere near to maxing my memory pressure out so as long as you don't plan to run VMs or edit craptons of video or photos in one go you will be fine. Gaming is the one thing I really can't speak for, as i've only ever used a console or played really old games on a computer.

I hope this helps somewhat. I love Macs, always have despite mostly being a PC user although the price of them, which clearly positions them in the market as a premium product, is something I find hard to swallow sometimes.
 
Dr_Evil said:
I could never recommend an Apple PC to anyone. They may run smooth. If you have to replace some hardware, be prepared to lose an arm and/or leg. Someone recently brought in a MacBook that wouldn't boot. The drive was bad. Guess what, it has a proprietary drive. The customer actually paid the $480 plus labor to have it replaced. If you really want Apple, go for it.
Click to expand...

Not actually completely correct here. ( no hard drive is proprietary for any Apple I am aware of. They all use SATA3 or 2 depending on the age of the unit) (new Macbook pros use mSATA and will take any SSD in this form factor) I have had hardware in a Macbook Pro get replaced for free while it was under the Apple warranty. Apple care protection does work, and I recommend it if you are using your Apple as your main computer.

Replacements are at usually at no cost to the user. If the warranty runs out, extended coverage can be purchased.

I'd trust a Mac over a DELL or ACER anyday. I do know that I will end up paying considerably more for the Mac. Yes, I'll agree with you there. Reliability wise, Apple wins hands down.
The exception is the SAMSUNG SERIES ultrabook which is considerably more than Apple's laptop of similar configuration.
 
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