MacBook Pro Late 2011: Still worth to buy ? and are all of them will be affected by the GPU Prob ?

[10-Dee-Q]

#1
Hi, So currently im still using my old Mid 2009 MBP
15"
2.66 C2D,
8GB 1067 MHz DDR3,
NVIDIA GeForce 9600M GT 256 MB,
750GB 7200rpm WD scorpion black

I use is everyday, and i for me the perfomance is still okay ish on the latest El Capitan
i use it for downloading torrent, browsing, backing up my iPhones and iPads, do some light photo Editing on Photoshop (lagging quite a bit when i open big RAW files from my DSLR)
I didn't bring it with me a long anymore as i just get the new iPad Pro 9'7" for my works.
so the MBP i just basically left it at home plugged in 24/7 and powered on 24/7

There are already some problems arrises already on my Mid 2009 MBP
-there's a 1 blue vertical lines on the left side of the LCD, it's only 1 pixel wide but run across from top to bottom, it's only noticable when the display is showing colour, on white of light colours , it's quite faint.
-the battery life is already very bad, cycle are 647, status "service battery", health 32%
-the fans are noisy like hell, but i've replaced it myself and so far it's working allright, unless i use it for graphic intensive like video editing and gaming where the temp can goes to 80 C and above then it will start to "whine" again.

anyway i want to get a new macbook, but i've read macrumors that now is not the right time to buy
as the newly redesigned MBP is imminent.

i was tempted to get the new 12" macbook retina, but i'm afraid the screen size is too small for me ( i've owned 13" black macbook before and i feel that the screen is too small for my need)
and since the 12 macbbok retina only uses M proccesors , i'm worry about it's performances.

Yesterday, one of my friends just bought a new iMac, and he's asking me wheter i want to buy his old MBP which is :
MacBook Pro Late 2011
15"
2.4 i7
4GB 1333 Mhz DDR3
AMD Radeon HD 6750M with 512 MB GDDR5
750GB 5400 rpm HDD
for cheap

he's asking for about US$500
the condition is very good, no dent no scratches, as he was using it also as a desktop replacement,
so he seldom bring it out and the battery status is still "Good"

i was thinking to sell off my MBP and get his MBP and use it for about 1-2 years from now untill the 2nd generation of the newly redesigned MBP comes out ( as from my previous experiences, apple like to skims a lot from their first generation products)

so now here's my questions,:

- i know the 2.4 i7 gonna be faster than my 2.66 C2D, but how much faster exactly ? i mean will it be enough to do some basic Raw editing in photoshop ? will it be much faster than the C2D ?
-COmpared to current line of MBP 15" i7s, how slow is the Late 2011 i7 ? cause i thought they are the using i7s and if i upgrade the late 2011 i7 to ssd and add more ram, it wont be very far behind in terms of performace , compared the current line up of i7 MBP ?
- i'm planning to install a SSD on the DVD-rom bay, what kit is reccomended for this ? and i've read that all non apple branded SSD has no "TRIM" support on apple machines, so will it cause me problems ?
-what brand and what size of SSD is the "sweet point" right now ?
-i'm planning to use my 750GB 7200rpm on the main bay , so what SSD size should i get ?
-What size of RAM is the sweet spot for running El Capitan comfortably ? and can i use my old RAM from the mid 2009 MBP on the late 2011 MBP ?
- i've heard about the infamous MBP 2011/2012 GPU replacement program from apple,
but i've asked my friends and he never experiences any of the symthoms before, so my questions is, will all the 2011 unit GPU failed ? or only certain batches ?

so should i get his MBP and sell off my MBP and wait for the second generation of the newly redesigned MBP ?
or should i just use my MBP as his MBP is not that worht of an upgrade to my current MBP ?
or just get the new 12" macbook retina and buy some 21" external LCD ?

please advice, thank you so much.

 

[Just_Me_D]

What does your gut tell you to do? His MacBook is 2 years newer than yours, but it's still 5 years old. Why purchase a 5 year old MacBook at half the price of a brand new one?

 

[BD_BB_8520]

Thank you for your post. I have learned alot from it.

Sorry cant really advise you, since I'm new to the MBP world.

Just to put things in perspective : I recently purchased a used late 2011 MBP 13' i5. I put in a 512 Gb SSD. Using 4Gb RAM now, Plan to upgrade to 8GB then 16 Gb RAM when I can afford it.

My usage is light, similar to yours. Some times do a little photo editing, but nothing intensive like tiff or raw files.

Just a thought; since you already have i7, would a different configuration make a significant difference in processing speed? I am curious to see the reply in the Forum.

I'm also interested to know about the GPU issue, since I have a late 2011 13' MBP. Looking forward to the replies to your Qs.

Good luck, keep us posted on the progress.