only if you are using it for video

otherwise unless you increase your fan no tangle difference from my personal experience

Ok, thanks man. I don't plan to do video.

The video card would be the only thing to make a noticable different if you are doing video. I wouldn't expect the processor to change that at all.

That's what I figured. I know that the difference between 2.3Ghz and 2.7Ghz is a small margin between clock speeds but I thought maybe there were other things underneath the hood with the 2.7 (besides the video card) that would make for a noticeably faster machine. From what you guys are saying I probably won't notice the difference.

I have the same Macbook...I just installed a ssd & 16gb ram and I see a difference

More ram and SSD would be a way bigger upgrade that .4 ghz CPU speed.

From what I understand anything over 8gb of ram is overkill and that having as much as 16gb ram doesn't improve performance but rather it lets you smoothly run more apps at the same time, but I don't have anything other than SDJ and iTunes running during a gig. Do you think 16gb of ram is necessary if I'm not doing video?

Btw, I agree on the SSD thing, that's what I have in my current MacBook Pro.

honestly i have no issues with SDJ my machine is 2.53 ghz 4gb ram i5processor. but my file structure is very simple. i use it every week with a pioneer ddj sz and i'm golden

Ya, I could probably get away with 2.3ghz or less. I'm mostly just trying to get the best pre-retina MacBook possible.

To be honest, I just upgraded my Early 2011 Macbook Pro 2.7ghz with 16GB RAM, but the speed didn't improve too much( it did improved a little), then I went and got a high edge SSD (550 Read and 520 Write). Now it is better then when it used to be when it was new.

But my discussion doesn't end here. I did the same with my friend's Early 2011, 2.4 ghz Macbook Pro. However, his speed hasnt imporved as much as mine. Reason: Apple send high edge updates all the time, which requires high computing power. Only updating RAM or SSD cannot handle it. Lets look at the following example:

1. If the pipe coming from main water line was 3 inch wide, however the motor that pumps the water is only 2 inch capacity, does it make any difference that you install 3 inch wide pipe to connect to your house?

Although I have a 16 GB ram, 11 GB is always free ( I use Memory Cleaner to measure it) , means 5 GB is what is usually being used even when I am using iMovie. So no point to go 16GB. SSD really helps, but only with combination of processor and RAM.

Upgrade options:
1. SSD should be first option.
2. RAM (8GB should be more then enough)
3. You may want to consider higher GHZ processor while buying laptop.

I hope this helps.

The reason why SSD's make such a big difference is because your machine is constantly reading and writing data. On an SSD this happening at 400MB/sec on a 7200RPM drive this is happening at 40MB/Sec. Also the seek times are faster in an SSD.

In the event your mac is low on memory it will swap real memory for virtual memory (basically your hard drive) and if you have an SSD this is much faster.

In response to all thos talk about CPU speeds, clock speed isnt a super major determining factor of how good a CPU is. There are many under the hood things like huperthreading, turbo boost, TDP, voltage, size of transistors, number of transistors, architecture of the chip, the list goes on. What matters are the model numbers of the chips in question. If you look at both chip model numbers then google benchmarks in an application like cinebench of each chip then compare the data, you will much more accurately know which is better and by how much.

What Scully said. Basically Processors get more efficient as time goes on. The focus is now on getting the more IPC and lower TDP.

But still, a higher end CPU could only be .4 GHz faster but completely demolish the lower end one. Oh and I forgot to mention this in my last post, but the difference will be noticeable in Serato. Analyzing songs will go faster, and there should be less CPU usage across the board in Serato and it should handle ME, PnT, and really everything else you throw at it.