Should i upgrade my macbook or get a new one?

I have a macbook 3,1 (late 2007's), and i was wondering should i invest my money on upgrading it by buying new harddrive and adding more ram to it or should i just buy a newer macbook pro or air? I want to play games on it and have programs like adobe illustrator 5. And if i should stay with the the macbook any recomendation for upgrading it? I'm looking for a cheaper way cause im poor as ****

Thugnificent said:

I'm looking for a cheaper way cause im poor as ****.

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If you're "poor"…then wouldn't buying a new computer sort of be out of the question??

As far as upgrades…we need to know exactly what model MacBook you have…and it's current specs…before any suggestions can be made.

- Nick

Thread moved to more appropriate sub-forum. Not a "Switcher Hangout" topic.

- Nick

well i was looking into investing into it,
and heres what i'm working with right now
Processor Name: Intel Core 2 Duo
Processor Speed: 2.2 GHz
Number Of Processors: 1
Total Number Of Cores: 2
L2 Cache: 4 MB
Memory: 2 GB
Bus Speed: 800 MHz

or to be more specific heres the macbook i have now
MacBook "Core 2 Duo" 2.2 13" (Black-SR) Specs (Late 2007, MB063LL/B, MacBook3,1, A1181, 2200) @ EveryMac.com

You can upgrade the memory and HD to make the machine a bit faster, but with 144 MB of graphics you'll be limited to the kind of games you can run. Which games were you interested in? If you really want to play games, then a dedicated gaming rig running Windows might cost you less and be the route you want to take..

Thugnificent said:

well i was looking into investing into it,
and heres what i'm working with right now
Processor Name: Intel Core 2 Duo
Processor Speed: 2.2 GHz
Memory: 2 GB

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"Investing" more money into your current MacBook would be ok if after the "investment" the computer does what you need it to.

Like already mentioned…you can really only upgrade the ram and the hard drive. You can install up to 6gig of ram…and you could install a larger hard drive…or install an SSD.

But…if your issues with this computer are more related to the processor speed/processor type…and the graphics hardware…these cannot be changed/upgraded.

And of course you mentioned not having much in the way of money (which we really don't know what this means). Being "poor as heck" means different things to different people. Maybe you have $50, $500, or $1000…we don't know your budget.

But if you're talking a couple hundred bucks max…purchasing a new computer would seem to be out of the question.

- Nick

hmm yeah i think i might just screw around with this one for awhile. And budget wise i did mean a few hundred so . I was trying to play games like starcraft 2 or amnesia. i looked around few sites for a new hard drive and ram card and it would definitely be cheaper to just add stuff onto this laptop.

Thugnificent said:

i looked around few sites for a new hard drive and ram card and it would definitely be cheaper to just add stuff onto this laptop.

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If you aren't experiencing any storage space issues…then you really wouldn't benefit much with a newer & larger hard drive. And even if you had storage issues (considering the budget)…you could simply remove some "stuff" from the HD that isn't "mission critical" to free up some space.

As far as the ram…definitely upgrade the ram to 4gig. A 4gig ram upgrade will cost about $60 bucks (maybe less). This will be your best "bang for the buck" upgrade.

You didn't mention what OS version you were running…but an OS upgrade could "freshen" things up a bit. BUT…with OS upgrades you need to be careful…since you don't want to upgrade too much…if your "main" applications would be incompatible with that newer OS version (you mentioned Illustrator 5).

HTH,

- Nick

p.s. One more thought. You could could install an SSD. I've seen some smaller 120gig SSD's selling for $50-$60 bucks. An SSD won't make applications run faster…but reboot times, application launch times, saving large file times…will speed up.

If ur into playing the latest games, it usually requires the latest hardware.

Am not a gamer, so I have no idea those games u mentioned. Are u not able to play them now?

Just speaking as a "sensible" adult I think laptop-based gaming *not* an investment unless you are getting paid to be a reviewer, because (paragraph#1) always want u to buy the latest hardware$$$.

Thugnificent said:

well i was looking into investing into it

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Unless you're using it to produce income, it is not an investment, it's an expense. Big difference.