Macbook upgrades from apple website

I might get a macbook soon or after the new release but do you think it's wise to let them do the upgrades for additional prices. I want 1 or 2GB ram, 100GB. If apple does the upgrade, this means, they open the laptop and configure it by hand and re-close it rite? Will they do a good job of this?

 

The RAM is much cheaper to do yourself, and its not hard to do. The Hard Drive doesnt really save you any money doing it yourself, it just depends.

 

If you have the time to spare, I recommend waiting for the Intel "santa rosa" chipset, that will be the most futureproof, and the rumor mill has it that the redesign of the macbook will come out then, with a better heat sink other tweaks.

 

If I order a 1GB RAM Macbook, is it on 1 GB RAM stick? Or is two 512MB sticks?

 

When will that be?

 

Santa Rosa is not due until Q1 2007, and there is no guarantee the MacBook will get it when it comes out. In fact, it is likely it would have to wait a month or two. Also, there are a couple of things to consider when upgrading through the website. One, cost. Apple charges a premium. Two, it is harder to et a replacement. Since you would have a customized Mac, they will not swap it in store usually, and if you need to swap it via the repair center, the wait may be slightly longer. For the MacBook, I say get your own RAM and hard drive because they are very easy to install, and you'll save a little dough.

 

You should upgrade the ram yourself it is much cheaper

 

Usually the 1GB MacBooks are 2x 512MB. I think the only one that is a single 1GB stick is the higher-end MacBook Pro with 1GB RAM.

Really though, much better to get the base configuration and order additional RAM for much cheaper somewhere else. The MacBook is one of the easiest laptops to install RAM in.

-Zadillo

 

Would upgrading the RAM void warranty? Also, where and what RAM should I get?

I mean, is there a difference between desktop computer's RAM and laptops?

 

Upgrading ram will not void your warranty. You need to get SODIMMS, they are different than desktop ram sticks. 200 pin DDR2 So-Dimm is what you should be going for. oh, btw, it's the pc2-5300 ram.

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produ...2910525+1309221136&Submit=ENE&SubCategory=381
that should about do it for you... As far as brand, I usualy go with crucial

 

http://canadacomputers.com/index.php?do=ShowProdList&cmd=pl&id=RAM.187

But KingMax has a 1GB stick that is 677MHz for a cheaper price than Crucial 400MHz

 

KingMax RAM isn't necessarily as highly regarded as Crucial either though.

 

Oh. But the RAM that Apple ships with the Macbook is 667 MHz, and the Crucial is 400MHz.

Would that make a difference?

 

yes, it has to be 667 mhz.

 

Since we are all waiting.

Lets just skip Santa Rosa and wait for nehalem, seriously waiting out is just dumb, by the time Santa Rosa or Nahalem is out, you'll be going "omg I want to wait for hokeypokey chipset now". If you have the money just get it, it's gonna serve you for a quite sometime before it gets slow.

So sorry to burst your bubble, nothing is futureproof, its just a marketing term to make you feel all fuzzy inside, by the time you get it, it's already obsolete technology because the newest thing is in the works.

 

I can't find a Crucial 667Mhz, though. Is KingMax reliable?

 

aye, too much waiting is bad... waiting a week or a few weeks isnt' bad, it's just smart thinking. It would be absolutly silly to talk about waiting for SR at this point... since it could be march before apple ships units with SR in them. we'll probably see about a 6 mo. difference between the release of merom and SR.

 

Do you thinking waiting for Merom for Macbook is silly, then? I start school monday, and the maximum I can wiat for is probably a month or so.

I'd feel pretty stupid if I waited till October and still end up getting a regular Core Duo Macbook.

 

Personally I think Merom should be in the MacBooks pretty soon. I don't think it would hurt to wait a week or so on that one. But it may end up not going in them for a while.

 

Well, again, I am not so sure that the regular MacBooks will get Merom chips right away..... I think they might keep Core Duos in them (like they are with the Mac mini line), and reserve Core 2 Duo for the MacBook Pros.

Honestly, it's not like a MacBook with a Core 2 Duo is going to be insanely better or something; a MacBook with a Core Duo is still perfectly fine, and it wouldn't suddenly become obsolete even if they do get Core 2 Duo.

Certainly at least wait and see what comes out next week, with an Apple event on the 12th, but otherwise, I wouldn't feel bad about getting a current MacBook.

-Zadillo

 

From every computer mag I have read and every insider blog I have read there aren't going to be any core 2 duos until sometime into Novemeber. Thats without the Santa Rosa plateform, which as another member correctly pointed out won't be in notebooks until at least the first quarter of next year. So think somewhere in February or April. So as long as you don't need a notebook until next fall I wouldn't wait. A computer specialist friend of mine (who actually has degrees in this stuff and not some online correspondence course through ITT Tech has always told me to buy last years technology. It saves you money and really gives you more bang for your buck. On top of that your machine isn't going to become obsolete or noticeable inferior much sooner then the next generation model anyway. Hell most people could get away with using centrino processors still and not really even know the difference.

Core Duo processors are going to be productive and relevant for some time to come. Plus Core 2 Duo's are not a leap forward in technology by any means. One program slated for major release in the next 6 months will take advantage of the 64 bit core 2 duo capabilities (thats vista aero) Also on a personal note windows sucks, so upgrading to it isn't something worth making yourself nuts about anyway.

Right now you can get a core duo macbook pro for around 1500 to 1700 if you look around enough (apple is offering factory direct refurbs for 1600 and you can find similiar prices on ebay, mine was 1700 brand new sealed) Core 2 Duos are going to start at least the 2000 starting price of the core duo laptops and probably more. so say something in the 2200 range. To me thats a steep price to pay just so you can say you have the newest technology out there, and something you aren't going to use or even really bve able to use

so save yourself around 500 bucks and several months on waiting and get yourself a good deal on a notebook now.

either way waiting or not, the macbook pro is a great notebook and has really made me think about ever getting a PC again.

ok by the way little side note. the new apples are light years ahead of the old powerbooks. this is one time when buying last years techhology is not a good idea. apple really took a leap dropping there IBM G4 and 5 processors for the much more powerful intel core duo's. Just wanted to cover all the bases

 

While this has been discussed a lot, I'd lik to point that Leopard will also make good use of 64bits available in Merom. Also, the upgrade to Core 2 Duo will probably come at no cost - see what happened to the iMac.

 

Sorry Brotz, but I'd have to disagree with your friend. I often get bit in the ass if I build a new computer and go with yesterdays technology. It dies faster and often costs more to upgrade. Say, last upgrade I did, less than 2 years ago, I upgraded to a AMD x64 3000+ on nforce 3 with an apg video card. I didn't have a lot of money, so I stayd w/ nforce 3 (cheaper processors) and with AGP. yeah... bad idea Similar things happened on previous builds (though no AGP issues, but often socket changes or something).

So going with the newest isn't always bad... Especially since it often isn't that much cheaper and if you're doing more than just browsing the web and email, it will die out a lot faster.

Anyway, apple isn't going to charge for their update, as we've seen with the imac. We may even see a cheaper version of the MBP (perhaps with c1d).

 

Apple normally likes to keep the individual product lines pretty simple, so I wouldn't count on something like Core Duos and Core 2 Duos in the MBP line at the same time.

And I know what you mean, I'm almost in the same boat as you. My second to last computer was a Dell Dimension 8100, and I got really frustrated since soon after I bought it I discovered that many aspects of it were obsolete or a pain in the ass; RAMBUS RAM, Socket 478 processor without much of an upgrade path, etc.

So, about 2 and a half years ago I decided to put a new PC together, and used a Socket 754 motherboard with AGP, an Athlon 64 3400+ Clawhammer and a 6800GT. I think this was just as Socket 939 stuff was just starting to show up.

Granted, I've gotten some good life out of it, but once again I'm in a situation where I don't have too many upgrade paths from my existing hardware, and basically will need to start from scratch again with a new motherboard, video card, etc.

-Zadillo

 

hah, thats crazy... Same **** I did
Well, at least it'll make a good file server ;-p It just sucks I can't carry anything over besides the HD to a new machine... And even then, I only have 1 SATA drive... and I'd want SATA 2 drives in a new machine.
The hard decision is to get a MB and build a new machine, or just buy the MBP and use that as my main workstation and gaming machine.

 

Heh, I think you and I are working through the same decision process....

Personally I'm leaning towards getting a basic MB (my previous experience from owning a Sony Vaio S360 with a Mobility Radeon 9700 is that I just didn't really use a laptop much for gaming, and instead used it more for web surfing, writing, etc.) and using the money I saved plus a bit more to put together a nice gaming PC. My thinking is just that a MBP is not going to be a major gaming performer (and I also don't want to get one of those big gaming focused laptops), and I would probably be much happier with a MB plus a PC that I can put a really nice graphics card in.

At this point I'm making do with my PC as it is (an Athlon 64 3400+ and a 6800GT still aren't bad), and I think I will probably look into building a new gaming PC sometime next year when the DirectX 10 stuff is sorted out..... although I've also been looking at just getting a custom built gaming PC from Velocity-Micro.

-Zadillo

 

heh yeah, i think we are. My other thought is, that I'm going to probably be too busy to really game much now. I can barely touch WoW as it is... So I'm more in need of stuff for doing production... whether it be music, graphic design, or SW engineering stuff. One of the major pushes for me geting a MBP is that it's a bit better for using logic during a live performance or something.

But yeah, it is a good idea to wait a bit for building a new desktop until we figure out exactly what the deal is with DX10. As I understood a few things from MS, they're only going to have DX10 in vista... I hope thats not true... then again, they're going to make MS games only playable in Vista.... so who knows.

 

Yeah, absolutely. I would definitely get a MBP if I was planning to use Logic on it. I don't do much with computer music right now but it is something I'd like to get into; probably something that might make me lean back towards a MBP anyway.

I'm pretty sure that is supposed to be the deal with DirectX 10, that it will be a Vista-only thing. I think between that and stuff like Halo 2 being Vista-only, it shows that MS probably sees DirectX 10 as one of the main things they can offer that will give people a reason to upgrade to Vista - I think MS is worried that a lot of people are pretty satisfied with XP as it is and aren't seeing a lot of compelling reasons to upgrade to Vista.

-Zadillo