OK I am completely, hopelessly stuck on the fence on this one.
A few months ago I upgraded my 2011 i7 2.0ghz quadcore MBP, replacing the optical with a 128gb SSD and buying 8gb of 1333mhz ram (about $250). The upgrade was a wicked success and the mac ran at a blistering pace.
A couple of weeks ago I finally experienced the GPU failure that plague 2011 MBP's. It was bad, the mac wouldn't boot and I needed work files off of it so I had to shell out $250 for a guy just to reflow the GPU (labour is expensive in Aus).
Now I understand that reflowing isn't a permanent solution, I'm running gfxcardstatus and smcfancontrol which is actually showing her running at much lower temperatures now and I've completely disabled the discrete GPU.
Im still cautious as to whether it will fail again as suddenly as it did the first time and because I need it for certain work files it makes me really nervous.
The plan is as its running 100% right now I could quite easily throw it up on Ebay, looking at sold items MBP that are the same model with similar upgrades go for between $1000-1500. Therefore I could cut my losses on this one and with maybe a little added put it directly into a brand new 13" MBP retina 128gb ($1500) which I could actually benefit from the increased portability.
That way I would no longer have this one as a liability and have something that will last a minimum of 3 more years. I have a 1Tb usb 3.0 hard drive which I would use to store larger files.
MAIN Q's
If I continue to run my current setup with the discrete GPU disabled and monitoring the temp... What are the chances of having a relapse? 4yr old technology makes me edgy.
Upgrade or not?
Thanks dudes
A few months ago I upgraded my 2011 i7 2.0ghz quadcore MBP, replacing the optical with a 128gb SSD and buying 8gb of 1333mhz ram (about $250). The upgrade was a wicked success and the mac ran at a blistering pace.
A couple of weeks ago I finally experienced the GPU failure that plague 2011 MBP's. It was bad, the mac wouldn't boot and I needed work files off of it so I had to shell out $250 for a guy just to reflow the GPU (labour is expensive in Aus).
Now I understand that reflowing isn't a permanent solution, I'm running gfxcardstatus and smcfancontrol which is actually showing her running at much lower temperatures now and I've completely disabled the discrete GPU.
Im still cautious as to whether it will fail again as suddenly as it did the first time and because I need it for certain work files it makes me really nervous.
The plan is as its running 100% right now I could quite easily throw it up on Ebay, looking at sold items MBP that are the same model with similar upgrades go for between $1000-1500. Therefore I could cut my losses on this one and with maybe a little added put it directly into a brand new 13" MBP retina 128gb ($1500) which I could actually benefit from the increased portability.
That way I would no longer have this one as a liability and have something that will last a minimum of 3 more years. I have a 1Tb usb 3.0 hard drive which I would use to store larger files.
MAIN Q's
If I continue to run my current setup with the discrete GPU disabled and monitoring the temp... What are the chances of having a relapse? 4yr old technology makes me edgy.
Upgrade or not?
Thanks dudes
