Hey all,
My friend and I have a photography business, and we both use our Macs to process video and picture files for clients.
His Mac: http://alturl.com/tka4a
A 2008 24'' iMac
My Mac: http://alturl.com/p2qov
A 2010 13'' C2D MBP
We've been very pleased with our Macs, and are glad we switched from Windows, however, over the past two years, we've both noticed significant slowdown with our Macs.
My question is: Is it worth it to upgrade them, or to simply sell them and use the money to upgrade to newer models?
I could easily max out the RAM in his iMac, as that is not using the full amount. Similarly, my MBP could use more RAM, as well as a faster HDD. I'm almost considering upgrading the Mac to an SSD, removing the optical drive, and installing a second HDD in its place. I have an external optical drive so it wouldn't be an issue.
I can also upgrade both of our OSes, as he's running Leopard and I'm running Snow Leopard. An upgrade to Mountain Lion to both of them, using a clean install, could be just the ticket to revive them.
On the other hand, I'm wondering if it's worth the time and expense. After all, I've heard that getting a quad core CPU could be more useful for lots of video and photo processing jobs. For just a hundred or so more dollars, we could both get newer Macs with the "i" Intel series. Is upgrading the RAM and HDD on the laptop enough, or would faster processors be called for? We do use Adobe CS6, iPhoto, Aperture, and other resource-intensive programs.
Any advice would be gratefully accepted!
My friend and I have a photography business, and we both use our Macs to process video and picture files for clients.
His Mac: http://alturl.com/tka4a
A 2008 24'' iMac
My Mac: http://alturl.com/p2qov
A 2010 13'' C2D MBP
We've been very pleased with our Macs, and are glad we switched from Windows, however, over the past two years, we've both noticed significant slowdown with our Macs.
My question is: Is it worth it to upgrade them, or to simply sell them and use the money to upgrade to newer models?
I could easily max out the RAM in his iMac, as that is not using the full amount. Similarly, my MBP could use more RAM, as well as a faster HDD. I'm almost considering upgrading the Mac to an SSD, removing the optical drive, and installing a second HDD in its place. I have an external optical drive so it wouldn't be an issue.
I can also upgrade both of our OSes, as he's running Leopard and I'm running Snow Leopard. An upgrade to Mountain Lion to both of them, using a clean install, could be just the ticket to revive them.
On the other hand, I'm wondering if it's worth the time and expense. After all, I've heard that getting a quad core CPU could be more useful for lots of video and photo processing jobs. For just a hundred or so more dollars, we could both get newer Macs with the "i" Intel series. Is upgrading the RAM and HDD on the laptop enough, or would faster processors be called for? We do use Adobe CS6, iPhoto, Aperture, and other resource-intensive programs.
Any advice would be gratefully accepted!
