12-30-2010, 05:49 AM

Currently running 2.16 Ghz Core 2 Duo MacBook Pro (Late 2006) with 3GB of RAM. I use the laptop mainly for Indesign, Aperture, MS Office, Safari, Mail etc.

It has been serving me well but lately feels sluggish with large documents. The Ram is maxed out fir this model. I have recently reinstalled a clean Snow Leopard OS to see if this would help performance - it has but only a little.

I like the new MacBook Air range but am concerned about the low processor speeds? Looking at the processor speeds on MBA/MBP at the moment - It looks to me as if they don't warrant an upgrade. How much 'snappier' are the new laptops as it would cost me around £1500 for what I want. No small chunk of change!

Should I wait for new spec's MBA's as this is the model I prefer due to portability but need a fast machine!

Or Should I take my current MBP apart and put an SSD in there?

HELP!!

12-30-2010, 12:35 PM

I wouldn't recommend a SSD just yet. They are still too expensive (imo) in regards to price per GB. Plus there is a whole new series of SSDs slated to be released soon, which will drop the current models prices (hopefully).

If all your work is on those programs (which are usually more RAM and CPU intensive) I would recommend a base model MBP (or a refurbed 15" with the i5). The MBA is snappy due to its flash storage but a lot of people complain that when they need the processor speed, it just isn't there. Plus the MBP's can be upgraded to 8gb of RAM.

12-30-2010, 01:22 PM

Originally Posted by xone92

It has been serving me well but lately feels sluggish with large documents.

To me that sounds more like a problem with too little RAM or a slow processor. Once your file is opened I don't believe your hard drive plays that much of a role in performance anymore so upgrading to an SSD might not improve in the areas you want. Also downgrading to a MacBook Air will probably make things worst. The SSD feature on the MBA can be added to any Mac so everything else will be a downgrade for you. The MBA was also recently updated so you won't see a faster MBA for awhile.

If you have all your applications opened at the same time then maybe you are running out of RAM. Open up Activity Monitor and see how much RAM you are using. You should check again at the end of the day and if you are seeing a lot of Page outs and Swap usage in the System Memory section then you know you need more RAM. Once you max out your RAM your hard drive does play a part in speed but it's a lot better to get more RAM if RAM is the cause because RAM is still faster than even SSD. If you are a big multitasker then more RAM is very important. A quick test is use one application at a time and if that speeds things up for you then you know it's the lack of RAM that is causing your problem.

If your computer is slow due to actually processing or working on your files then a faster CPU is needed. Remember a faster hard drive only speeds up things that uses the hard drive such as opening/closing files, saving, application startup speeds, etc.