MacBook Pro :: Core Duo 3GB RAM / Firmware Flashing Process Work?
Oct 14, 2009
I know that the RAM limit in the MacBook Pro is 2GB. However, this is most definitely not due to hardware limitations. Technically speaking, the CPU and chipset can address up to 3.3GB RAM. I also know that the computer won't boot with more than 2GB in it. I have reason to believe that this is therefore a firmware limitation. Has anybody done any work modding MacBook firmware? I am considering working on this myself, but if anybody has information about how the firmware flashing process works, that would be quite useful. I also would particularly like to know if Apple firmware updates are signed or if anything can be flash into ROM.
It seems that going by the OCZ site the drive can only be reflashed with the latest firmware from a windows based machine. Is that correct?Haven't plugged it in yet but I hope mine comes with v1.24.
I have upgraded the cpu on my macpro 1.1 to 2x 266 GHz. xeon processors. I beleive that is is the xeon 5355 processor. Is there any way to update the firmware so that the computer recogizes the upgrade. Currently: about this mac shows the processor as unknown.
I'm nervous to install the Firmware update 1.3. As I've heard from a lot of people the update has crashed their mac. I know it has to do with the fans and temp. My Mac book pro is running at 135 F at 2000rpm is this ok? Is it too overheated. Should I install the firmware I'm so nervous to install it just in case it breaks. Here's the rest of my specs...
Model Name:MacBook Pro Model Identifier:MacBookPro3,1 Processor Name:Intel Core 2 Duo Processor Speed:2.2 GHz Number Of Processors:1 Total Number Of Cores:2
Just received SuperDrive Firmware Update 3.0, MacBook EFI Firmware Update 1.4, and AirPort Client Update 2009-002 1.0 on Software Update for 13" Unibody MacBook.
I got my wife the new iMac with a Radeon 4850 to replace her ancient PC (and I meant ANCIENT) and she had massive issues with lockups due to overheating, especially when playing fullscreen 3D games like World of Warcraft in Mac OSX or any of her Windows XP games in bootcamp.
After the EFI Firmware Update 1.4 she's had far less issues, but she's still had 1 lockup (playing Diablo 2 stangly enough, a very old low detail game) and graphical glitches in WoW which caused her to stop playing out of fear of a lockup before it could happen.
Her computer temps are still extremely high but our house temp is only 72degrees.
Have an iMac MA877LL that I needed to replace a hard drive on. After the drive is replaced and I run the install from the disk that came with the computer. I get can not install on this computer. I can see the drive from the install disk utilities, partition it (1 Partition, Journaled.) can run verify and repair on it, no problem found.
I have a Mac Pro with several raid array and single drives attached (1x Wiebetech RTX600 Raid 5 through SCSI; 1x CalDigit HDElement Raid 5 through miniSAS; 4x internal drives).Unfortunately, due to various reasons (electricity outtage and software crashes), I'm experiencing system crashes and need to hard re-start the system. Upon restart, I am able to boot back into Mac OS X, but sometimes one, or both of the raid arrays will not mount.However, after a period of 0.5 - 2 hours, the array would magically re-appear again. Sometimes this might even happen to internal drives that I had mounted inside the chassis of the Mac Pro.
I am wondering if anyone knows of a good osx based alternative to Process Explorer on windows - what I'd like to be able to do is graph CPU and memory for a specific process and ideally see what network connections a specific process has open. atMonitor seems to do this pretty well generally, but not for specific processes (this is for monitoring a multiplayer flash game).
I see the numbers of everything from Core 2 Duo, to the slightly faster and cooler Core i3, to the supposedly faster core i5s and i7s. The benchmarks go up accordingly, but I found this does not always equate in a faster experience on most tasks.
Here's my experience so far on processor upgrade:
In one computer trade school re-certification class I am in, we are working with Windows Server 2003 on a Quad Xeon platform and it's incredibly slow.
But in a previous class we had the previous generation server edition on older Xeons, and while not fast, it was much better. On paper the newer multi-core Xeons should have made a difference, but could 2003 server software be that much more bloated than the previous Windows server edition that it would stall like that and make us wish we had the older setup?
I am going to try out the Adobe CS lab and put the new high end Dells to the test there and see if they work better than when we had an older CS version on older Xeon equipped Dells.
I don't know if this is something to do with Dell, or if Apple's increasing processor bumps/generations are going to similarly not make a difference in the speed things appear to go at, whether it's Adobe stuff, server stuff, or anything else that needs power.
I know somebody who plans on a Core 2 Duo, i5 or i7 MBP and I was wondering if the higher end processor is worth it in that case (iMovie being the main program of use).
Considering purchasing a CS4 Extended for my OS X v10.4.11 with Intel Core 2 Duo, but reading here I need a multicore Intel processor.There's no way I could make it work with my processor at all?
There's a lot of people wondering if the 13" MBPs would have been a lot better with a Core i3 processor, but everything has been just hangups over perceived old vs. new technology, and really the only thing the Core i3 adds is Hyper-Threading, but it doesn't have Turbo Boost, which helps the Core i5/i7s tremendously. Let's compare using Geekbench since it is cross-platform and one of the few available sources of info...
Core 2 Duo P8600 2.4GHz (~3362)
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vs.
Core i3 330m 2.13GHz (~3472)
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Core 2 Duo P8800 2.66GHz (~3700)
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vs.
Core i3 350m 2.26GHz (~3680)
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As you can see in both cases, the difference is pretty minimal indeed, and in single threaded applications, the C2D will easily outdo the Core i3 which lacks Turbo Boost and runs at lower clock rates.
And you get a 320M instead of Intel HD graphics with the new 13".
The Geekbench results from the old 15/17" to the new 15/17" are quite an order of magnitude better.
So unless people are expecting Core i5 processors in the 13", sticking to the C2D was actually a good decision, and given the differences between 2.4 and 2.53 isn't so large, one is far better buying the base 13" and then putting the money saved towards a good 7.2k HDD or SSD.
Note - I took averages of the 32-bit numbers and added them.
Note 2 - The C2D Pxxxx are 25W TDP processors, which are more efficient than the Core i3 which are 35W TDP processors. Less heat, better battery life from C2Ds.
I've been debating whether or not to upgrade my 3 year old 15" Macbook Pro that has a 2.2Ghz Core 2 Duo (Santa Rosa) to the new 13" 2.4Ghz Macbook Pro. FYI... My current system also has 4GB of RAM. Since both systems are Core 2 Duo, what kind of speed bump am I going to see? Would this be a substantial upgrade?
I'm buying a new MacBookPro but can't decide, due to lack of knowledge, wich one to choose and if there's a noticeble difference between, 15.4" MacBook Pro Notebook Computer 2.2GHz Intel Core i7 Quad-Core4GB of DDR3 RAM500GB 5400rpm Hard DriveAMD Radeon HD 6750M 512MB Graphics15.4" LED-Backlit Glossy Display1400 x 900 Native ResolutionSlot-Loading SuperDrive802.11a/b/g/n Wi-Fi, Bluetooth 2.1+EDRFaceTime HD Camera, Built-in MicrophoneMac OS X 10.7 Lion (64-bit)
and the 13.3" MacBook Pro Notebook Computer 2.8GHz Intel Core i7 Dual-Core8GB of DDR3 RAM (2x4GB)750GB 5400rpm Hard DriveIntel HD 3000 Graphics13.3" Glossy Widescreen Display1280 x 800 Native ResolutionSuperDrive, Secure Digital Card SlotFaceTime HD Camera, Omnidirectional Mic802.11n Wi-Fi, Bluetooth 2.1+EDRMac OS X 10.7 Lion
Besides the screen size, one would be considerable faster?
I use Photoshop and beeing a photographer I deal with large files.
Info: MacBookPro 2.66GHz 4GB 1067MHz DDR3, Mac OS X (10.6.2)
Intel X25-M 160GB, how do I find out if it has the latest firmware v1.5 from Dec 8, 2009. And is the Solid State Drive Toolbox v1.3 from Mar 22, 1010 worth downloading?Intel's download/support page doesn't tell you how to know if your SSD has the latest firmware or not.
The ivy bridge processors are coming out soon (or may already be out). I have heard that macbook pro 13" models might be able to use the new processers due to their lower energy useage. I presume that I will be able to take my mac to an apple store and have it installed. Is this information true?
Info: MacBook Pro (13-inch Early 2011), Mac OS X (10.7.4)
My brother has the first generation of the iMacs that has a Core duo processor (not Core 2 Duo). Will snow leopard work on it? On Apples site, it says that you need a Intel processor to run Snow leopard, but then below it says you need a 64bit processor which is what he doesn't have.
I have a 2.4 Ghz Core 2 Duo 20" Aluminum iMac. I often have a problem with my mouse not working when booting. I turn the computer on, and more than half the time, the mouse infrared thing on the bottom turns on then goes by the time the blue screen comes. Then I have to reboot again, and usually about 3 times before it finally works. I use the Mighty Mouse connected to the Apple Keyboard connected to a USB extension cable. I tried it without that but it still didn't work. Any suggestions would be great. If none of them work, I will contact AppleCare as I am still under warranty.
Although i'm hardly impressed by the prices and specs of these 'new' machines I need one so I'm buying!
Just need to know before I make the plunge. Is the i7 variant with the extra GPU ram really worth it? I would use the extra power in my work but I honestly need to know if I'd notice any difference as for a few seconds less waiting it would hardly justify the price.
I was travelling and added a firmware password a few months back, I now want to disable this to install Ubuntu on a partition of my MacBook - but there are no directions how to in the utility.I looked at the Apple doc I originally used to set the password: [URL]/HT1352, and I cannot find a companion document for taking it off. So, if anyone knows how I go about doing this,
I've got a 27" iMac quad-core i7 running Lion and a Sony VPL-CX5 video projector. The projector is no longer support by Sony and Lion doesn't have an included driver to make it recognize the projector as a display device. I'm trying to find some sort of adaptor that the iMac will recognize as a display that will send a video or s-video (or even vga) signal to the projector.
I wanted to know if I can replace the upper case of a Core Duo white macbook with that of a Core 2 Duo black macbook? The white one has the distinctive yellowing of the rev A macbooks, so i'd like to make it better whilst making a black/white frankenMac.
Just curious as to how much of an improvement in performance I would see upgrading my system as it states above, since my 2006 machine is 3 years old and getting close to the end of my apple care, figured I would trade it in and upgrade.
I am looking to purchase my first Macbook Pro. I am having a difficult time deciding between a $1749 17" from Amazon that is the older 2.8Ghz Core 2 Duo and the $2298 17" (w/ student discount and tax... have to include tax) from Apple that is the newest model. The price difference is $549.
Some things I'm curious about:
1. Intel HD card? Does it really cause that much lag? How is it compared to the nVidia 9400m? I don't mean benchmarks, I mean real life performance.
2. Battery life? Is the battery life in the newest model much better than previous gen?
3. Heat? Is there a difference in heat production between them?
I don't care about gaming, so the 512 300m vs. 512 9600m is no concern.
Does the newest 17" justify the $549 price difference? Are there any other things that I should know between the two?
Has anyone that know if it's possible to upgrade MacPro Nehalem 2.26 to 2.66 Ghz Westmare with the following processors : Intel Hexa Core Xeon? Processor X5650 12M Cache, 2.66 GHz, 6.40 GT/s Intel? QPI part #:BX80614X5650 ? Could you help me telling if it?s possible to upgrading MacPro Nehalem octa core 2.26 Ghz to Mac Pro Westmare hexa core 2.66 Ghz ?
