Hardware :: RAM And SSD Upgrades Biggest Bang For The Buck On New MBP?
May 10, 2010
I recently bought the new 13" MBP and have been looking at upgrades. I bought it standard so I could walk out with it that day, but I've been thinking about two main changes: RAM and a SSD hard drive. I'm pretty sure I'll be getting the Intel X25-M 160gb SSD, it looks like the best GB per $ ($424 for 160GB). I know that will show great results. Is a RAM upgrade also necessary for improved speed and performance? If so what is the best RAM to change to? I'm looking at either getting 1 4GB card for a total of 6GB or getting the pair for 8GB. I don't want to drop $300+ if it isn't going to do much for me.
I mostly use the MBP for word processing, internet, email, etc.; but I want a bit snappier and quicker performance than what I'm getting out of stock. It is possible (likely) I will get into music making/mixing on this machine.
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Nov 5, 2010
The title says it all - getting a 2.4Ghz 13" MBP, 4GB Ram (rarely if ever need more), and thinking of a little boost somewhere over the 500GB 5400RPM drive. $300 for a 128GB SSD is pretty high, especially considering I'll probably max that out far too quickly. Is there any bigger bang for the buck performance upgrade over the Momentus XT?
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Jul 21, 2009
Bang for buck wise which has a better speed to price ratio? I'm not talking about benchmarks, I'm talking about noticeable performance. I heard some people say that 5400 drives are so fast nowadays that even 7200 drives can sometimes be slower. Is this true?
Also, if it's a 7200 drive, is it cheaper to BTO straight from Apple the 7200 drive? Rather than buy aftermarket? (bearing in mind that I don't need the space of the two drives, so if I buy aftermarket the old drive will end up being unused )
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Mar 21, 2010
have MROOGLED and searched forums but haven't found a quick and dirty answer to this...
What's the best bang-for-buck upgrade of these?
1) Software Raid 0 ?
(Free, but might actually slow some tasks due to adding a workload to the processor?)
2) Add RAM ?
($150 to bump from 3GB DDR3 to 6GB, $300 to bump to 10 GB)
3) Hardware RAID 0 ?
($800 for the apple controller - yikes! )
I read Lloyd Chambers recs for optimizing photoshop, and while very helpful, it seems overkill for a weekend warrior , non professional like me.
Using the base 2009 Mac Pro with standard 3GB of DDR3 primarily for
1) medium photoshopping with file sizes up to 200 - 400 MB
2) importing / smoothing / editing movies in iMovie and possibly FCE from HDV tapes and a Flip
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Jul 30, 2009
I'm really liking the thought of having an SSD drive in my new 13" MBP but I don't have a clue as to which one I should choose.
my budget is somewhere in the 250-ish range. so I'm hoping some of you pros can suggest something good in that price range.
I see alot of them are SATA II. can our MBPs use these or do I need to stick with just the regular SATA drives?
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Oct 6, 2010
I got two questions.
1) What would you guys say the best bang for your buck FireWire 800 is? I hear a lot of differing opinions on this one, so I'd like a couple suggestions, need over 500GB though. 750GB and up would probably be the best.
2) I've got 2 PATA hard-drives from my old Windows PC that crashed, what would you guys suggest doing about getting the data off of them? Most of the hard drive kits I found are for SATA, and the one I found for PATA was like $50 at Best Buy, I just want to get the data off these hard drives and junk 'em. I don't need bells and whistles and fancy enclosures.
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Mar 23, 2009
I did a search, briefly, & did not find what I was after. I have a late '06 MacBook, 2GHz & 2GB ram. I am also looking to buy a second one for the wife, maybe a new white or a refurb uni. I am looking to upgrade the HDD & maybe memory on both. I have seen posts where the Aluminum iMac recognized a 1.5TB drive. When I search for "MacBook" drives the biggest I get is 500GB. Is this the biggest it will recognize? I was hoping to put at least a 1TB into the new one, as that will be my wife's work computer. As for memory, some sites claim the '06 will recognize 3GB, but only if I put in 2-2GB modules? Not sure if that is worth the effort. On the new ones I am seeing 4GB max, but Mac Upgrades claims that the Feb 08 ones go to 6GB, how the hell did that happen?
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Jun 21, 2012
what is the biggest hard drive i can put in macbook pro mid 2010, is it worth put hybrid hard drive
Info:
MacBookPro, Mac OS X (10.7.4)
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Nov 5, 2009
Whats the biggset size monitor that I could use as a external monitor with my 2.2 ghz 2gb and 160 hd black macbook?
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Nov 6, 2009
I have a 1.25GHz G4 and I'm going to to upgrade to Tiger and install the max RAM. I just thought that I might want to replace the 80g HD that's in there. What is the biggest drive available for that model? From what little I can find on the internet, it sounds like it's a tricky job.
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Sep 19, 2006
now that we know the movies have been selling well, how many are you buying?
...still debating which format to go with in this crazy hddvd/downloadable future.
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Jun 1, 2012
I am slowly getting to the limit of my 2tb hard drive and would like to purchase the largest drive possible. It is mainly for my itunes library. So if i can split the library into seperate parts easily i could just buy another 2tb. Would like to hear suggestion about sizes of hard drives compatible with early 2009 mac pro or hints on how to split itunes library into diff parts.
Info:
Mac Pro (Early 2009), Mac OS X (10.7.2), its actually OS X 10.7.3
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Nov 10, 2010
I'm a proud owner of a 8core base model Mac Pro Early 2008.
When I bought it, it was for some works at the time (I needed raw cpu powah.) but never had the money to upgrade it actually, so it's still withI just added HDD since I needed space.
Now, I moved in the UK for work and was thinking about getting my MP baby here. Right now I work with a sept09 mbp unibody.
The macbook starts to clunk up since I'm doing really heavy tasks on it...so I think I start to need the beast back.
My work experience has matured since then, and so have my requests. 2GB of RAM are something to laugh at, since my workstation at work has 18 and still has problems with some scenes...so is the graphic card.
So, getting to the point (yes, I was feeling talkative today):
I need to start looking around for which are the best parts and places to buy upgrades to the machine.
I'd like AT LEAST 12GB of RAM, and a decent GPU.
Not the Quadro since the drivers suck and they cost too much ATM.
Maybe, if it's possible, also gather info about a possible CPU upgrade in the future (don't know which are compatible, if it's worth it, etc..)
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Nov 20, 2010
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I'm looking to upgrade my Mac mini's ram and to an ssd. Currently I've used up to 250 gb on my HDD. The ram upgrade is easy, 8GB. But the SSD is another thing. Money isn't too big of an issue. I would like plenty of storage. For best performance should I get a 500gb ssd(yea I know over $1000) or a smaller SSD, say 80gb as boot disk and use external HDD for more storage. And is there any places I can get my HDD replaced for cheap?
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Jan 8, 2011
Ok I've go a Mac mini (Intel Core 2 Duo - 2.0GHz) Mid 2007 DDR2
What are my options for upgrading it?
I've checked out the crucial website and it's telling me I can swap the 2 memory modules out and change then for a pair of 1GB's taking me upto 2GB rather than the 1GB that's in it at the moment
Is 2GB the most it will take? I seen on youtube that a guy put 4GB into his but he won't comment if it really did work so I doubt it or crucial would have said
What other options do I have for it while i've got it stripped out? They won't take much better HDD so don't really see the point, unless it will take a SSD somehow?
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May 11, 2012
Are there any upgrades that I may do to my MacBook Air 11"???
Info:
MacBook Air, Mac OS X (10.6.8)
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Nov 9, 2010
Kind of curious how often people upgrade their Macbook pro here. Anyone care to share? (also if its your main machine or not.
I have only had one so far.
To clarify i meant new machine
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Nov 15, 2010
I have a 2.4GHz MBP, 4GB RAM, 320M, 500GB HDD. This is my main to-go machine, as well as my clamshell with my ACD. I am planning on ordering 2 updates for the machine (Already ordered the first one, actually)
1. 500GB 7200.4 RPM Seagate w/16MB Cache.
2. 8GB OWC RAM upgrade.
I hear both of these are ridiculously easy upgrades to do, and this also allows me to upgrade my PS3 slim's HDD to 500GB!
Do you guys think this is a worthwhile upgrade for someone who writes code in XCode?
Also, does anyone know how to back up my iWeb site so I don't have to remake it when I format?
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Nov 17, 2010
So I finally made a choice and have decided I'll go ahead and get the 13' MBP to tide me over till I get my iMac and then use it as my portable.
I've been looking into some upgrades I could do though, looking to stay below 200$. I'm fairly sure I could do all of these fairly easily, especially with all the how to guides online, but are there any caveats that perhaps you more seasoned Mac upgradees would know?
[URL]
I'm thinking about putting this HDD from OWC into it in order to upgrade to 7200 rpm and also triple the storage capacity. (For less than Apple's 500gb 5400 rpm HDD) I would keep the other HDD to switch back into the MBP incase I ever need to send it to Apple -- will there be any problems with this configuration?
And then I'll probably upgrade the RAM to 6gb. But there shouldn't be any problems with that, unless having a 2gb and 4gb stick together will create problems.
I may get a very small SSD to boot from somewhere down the line...But I'll probably cross that road whenever I decide to sell this model and buy a new MBP. I don't want to spend too much on an outgoing processor.
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Jan 22, 2008
I have a Intel CD 1.66 GHz Mac Mini and I'm trying to figure out my upgrade choices. Which Core 2 Duo CPUs work with my Mini?
The partial list I've compiled include: T7200 (2.0GHz) T7400 (2.16GHz) and T7600 (2.33GHz).
Of course, I might be mistaken that the above work, and I'm sure there are other CPUs not on the list. Please let me know.
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Jun 8, 2009
I haven't looked at the specs on the Mac Minis and iMacs in awhile, but I dont remember them having the NVIDIA GeForce 9400 M graphics last time I looked. I just looked at the Apple store and both the mini and iMac have this chipset.
I could be wrong, but wasn't this chipset introduced with the new unibody macbooks? if so, when where the minis and iMacs updated? Did this happen today after the WWDC keynote?
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Mar 10, 2012
I have an 09' MacBook Pro and have upgraded the OS along the way. Now I bought a new computer and want to restore it and give it to the kids. Can I restore it with the factory disc without losing the upgraded OS? I upgraded with a family pack with my brother so I don't have the upgrade disc, he does. Thoughts?
Info:
MacBook Air, Mac OS X (10.6.8)
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Sep 9, 2010
I am a frequent poster at places like Slick Deals, but seems that they are pretty anti-Apple. If anyone sees any great deals on Mac Mini 8GB Memory upgrades.....could they post them? I want to upgrade my Mac Mini, but as a single working mom on a serious budget, I can't frivolously spend cash on the Mini.....it's bad enough that I bought it. Would love to hear if anyone finds great deals. I'll even replace one stick at a time
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Dec 6, 2010
I have a G4 iBook that I'm about to do some upgrades to and want to know who has done this and if it is worth it. I just got this iBook from a guy and its a good machine. I'm about to upgrade the ram, hd, etc and I'm wondering if it would be worth it to add an ssd hard drive over a 5400 or 7200rpm drive. Obviously I'd get the benefit of battery life and temp but would it be any faster with the ide transfer rate limit? Also I think the keys from the titanium powerbooks will fit the ibook keyboard. I want to get one so I can remove all the keys and put them on my keyboard so i will have a black keyboard. Also I am wondering if the top casing from a G3 iBook will fit mine. I'd like to use it so I can remove the paint and paint it black to go with the keyboard.
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Feb 18, 2009
I just purchased my first mac (a macbook 2.4) and I'd love to buy a mini, but I can't justify it until it gets an upgrade. Here's to hoping that the sources in this article are wrong, since 2010 is little too far away for an upgrade for my taste....
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Mar 23, 2010
Upgrade to 8GB [URL]
Upgrade to SSD [URL]
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Jun 4, 2010
im running a powerbook g4 titanium running on OS X 10.4.11. im trying to find out what are the best upgrades i can get, hardware/component wise, on my powerbook to make it better. i dont know where i can find this information. i want to upgrade to the highest possible point.
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May 15, 2012
So, I have a 2009 MBP 2.66 Duo Core, 4MB ram, 320GB HDD, GeForce 9600M GT 256. I play mostly WoW, LoL, Civ, some FPS, Diablo 3- now that it's out, and a handful of others... I was planning on upgrading my HDD to 1TB and possibly doing a raid configuration for speed, as well as upgrading to 8MB ram. I realize the graphics card is going to be my biggest downfall- and to my understanding, not upgradable. I guess my question is, Is the memory and HDD upgrades viable even though I probably won't be able to do anything with my graphics?
Info:
Time Capsule, Mac OS X (10.6.8)
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Jun 17, 2012
For about the last two weeks, I have not been able to install any updates. I first noticed this with an adobe reader update. The update will download and then at 6% complete on the install bar, I get an error. The latest software updates from apple will also download and then I click the install and restart computer button and the computer acts like it is going to install and then error, updates didn't install.
Info:
MacBook Pro, Mac OS X (10.6.8)
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Dec 14, 2008
I want to upgrade my aluminum macbook's 5400 RPM hard drive to a 7200 RPM hard drive.
My question is: Will upgrading the hard drive void the warranty on the new macbook?
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