Upgrade Or Buy New Mac Book Pro?

Hi Guys.

I'm hoping you can advise me on my best course of action in terms of upgrading my current mac book or buying a new one.

I've currently got a 2009 Mac Book Pro with:

Processor 2.53 GHz Intel Core 2 Duo
Memory 4 GB 1067 MHz DDR3
Graphics NVIDIA GeForce 9400M 256 MB
Hard Drive 1: 128 GB Solid State SATA Drive
Hard Drive 2: 500 GB SATA Disk Drive

I've started doing video editing with it to produce youtube videos. I use a GoPro camera to record, and generally don't go longer than 15 minutes with the vids.

I use an external mic for my sound recording, and often have some effects, overlay text/images, and two video reels going on screen at the same time.

But I don't think I do anything too fancy with it, but I'm trying to up my video quality, and recently upgraded my camera to the GoPro.

I'm finding that Final Cut Pro X often slows to a crawl to the point where playback is barely understandable because of the lag/dropped frames. This was not as much of an issue when I used a lower resolution camera before buying the Go Pro.

So I know I need to upgrade at the least, and possibly buy a new one.

Is upgrading worthwhile? If so, what do I need to switch out?

If I do buy new, can anyone suggest the least-expensive set up I can buy that will dramatically improve my FCP performance?

How about the apple reconditioned macs? Any fast enough?

Thanks!

-Andrew

I think you have the bare minimum system requirements to run FCP X so having less than speedy performance would be expected especially on GoPro footage.

There is an Apple presentation on Tuesday and the rMBPs haven't had any major change in a while so I'd see what they announce. I am also a big fan of buying refurbished macs. Same warranty, they are just as brand new looking when you get them, but they are much less money. You can also save even more by getting a refurbished discontinued model. They are on the Apple store, you have to do a search for 'refurbished'.

One thing, don't skimp on the RAM, get the 16GB no matter what.

What Darren says for sure. And, he didn't say it directly, but, forget about spending any money on upgrading your current 2009 MBP, not even RAM. It would be money wasted. If you can't afford a refurb yet, just keep going with what you have until you can.

Here is a link to the U.S. Apple Refurb store. Note that this list updates daily so various models come and go.
store.apple.com/us/browse/home/specialdeals/mac

Hi Bobby!

There is also this site: www.refurb.me/us/

You just plug in what you are looking for, and they send you a text the second they post one.