***Official Apple Macbook Upgrade Central***

I just thought I'd compile a list of the upgrades that can be done to a Macbook.

One fact that is relevant to all Macbook's: You can NOT upgrade the CPU/Processor, it is soldered in.

The Intel Core Duo Macbooks can be upgraded to OS X 10.6 Snow Leopard. All the other Intel Core Macbooks can run up to OS X 10.7 Lion.

If you have a question about if a certain upgrade is possible, please post.


Macbook 13


Macbook 1,1:

Max Memory: 2GB. Type: PC5300 667MHz.

Hard Drive: 2.5" SATA 1.5(If you put a SATA 3 HDD in it will run at SATA 1.5 speed)

Macbook 2,1:

Max Memory: 4GB. Type: DDR2 PC5300 667MHz.

Hard Drive: 2.5" SATA 1.5(If you put a SATA 3 HDD in it will run at SATA 1.5 speed)

Macbook 3,1:

Max Memory: 6GB. Type: PC5300 667MHz

Hard Drive: 2.5" SATA 1.5(If you put a SATA 3 HDD in it will run at SATA 1.5 speed)

Macbook 4,1:

Max Memory: 6GB. Type PC5300 667MHz

Hard Drive: 2.5" SATA 1.5(If you put a SATA 3 HDD in it will run at SATA 1.5 speed)

Macbook 5,1:

Max Memory: 6GB. Type: PC8500 1066MHz(Don't use 1333MHz memory, it wouldn't boot in mine)

Hard Drive: 2.5" SATA 3.0

Macbook 5,2:

Max Memory 6GB. Type: PC6400 800MHz

Hard Drive: 2.5" SATA 3.0

Macbook 6,1:

Max Memory: 8GB. Type PC8500 1066MHz(Don't use 1333MHz memory, it wouldn't boot in mine)

Hard Drive: 2.5" SATA 3.0

Macbook 7.1:

Max Memory: 8GB. Type: PC8500 1066MHz(Don't use 1333MHz memory, it wouldn't boot in mine)

Hard Drive: 2.5" SATA 3.0


Macbook Pro 13/15/17


Macbookpro1,1:

Max Memory: 2GB. Type: PC5300 667MHz.

Hard Drive: 2.5" SATA 1.5(If you put a SATA 3 HDD in it will run at SATA 1.5 speed)

Macbookpro1,2:

Max Memory: 2GB. Type: PC5300 667MHz.

Hard Drive: 2.5" SATA 1.5(If you put a SATA 3 HDD in it will run at SATA 1.5 speed)

Macbookpro2,1:

Max Memory: 4GB. Type: PC5300 667MHz.

Hard Drive: 2.5" SATA 1.5(If you put a SATA 3 HDD in it will run at SATA 1.5 speed)

Macbookpro2,2:

Max Memory: 4GB. Type: PC5300 667MHz.

Hard Drive: 2.5" SATA 1.5(If you put a SATA 3 HDD in it will run at SATA 1.5 speed)

Macbookpro3,1:

Max Memory: 6GB. Type: PC5300 667MHz.

Hard Drive: 2.5" SATA 1.5(If you put a SATA 3 HDD in it will run at SATA 1.5 speed)

Macbookpro4,1:

Max Memory: 6GB. Type: PC5300 667MHz.

Hard Drive: 2.5" SATA 1.5(If you put a SATA 3 HDD in it will run at SATA 1.5 speed)

Macbookpro5,1:

Max Memory: 6GB. Type: PC8500 1066MHz.

Hard Drive: 2.5" SATA 3.0

Macbookpro5,2:

Max Memory: 8GB. Type: PC8500 1066MHz.

Hard Drive: 2.5" SATA 3.0

Macbookpro5,3:

Max Memory: 8GB. Type: PC8500 1066MHz.

Hard Drive: 2.5" SATA 3.0

Macbookpro5,4:

Max Memory: 8GB. Type: PC8500 1066MHz.

Hard Drive: 2.5" SATA 3.0

Macbookpro5,5:

Max Memory: 8GB. Type: PC8500 1066MHz.

Hard Drive: 2.5" SATA 3.0

Macbookpro6,1:

Max Memory: 8GB. Type: PC8500 1066MHz.

Hard Drive: 2.5" SATA 3.0

Macbookpro6,2:

Max Memory: 8GB. Type: PC8500 1066MHz.

Hard Drive: 2.5" SATA 3.0

Macbookpro7,1:

Max Memory: 8GB. Type: PC8500 1066MHz.

Hard Drive: 2.5" SATA 3.0

MacBookPro8,1

Max Memory: 16GB. Type: PC10600 1333MHz.

Hard Drive: 2.5" SATA 6.0

MacBookPro8,2

Max Memory: 16GB. Type: PC10600 1333MHz.

Hard Drive: 2.5" SATA 6.0

MacBookPro8,3

Max Memory: 16GB. Type: PC10600 1333MHz.

Hard Drive: 2.5" SATA 6.0

MacBookPro9,2

Max Memory: 16GB. Type: PC12800 1600MHz.

Hard Drive: 2.5" SATA 6.0

MacBookPro9,1

Max Memory: 16GB. Type: PC12800 1600MHz.

Hard Drive: 2.5" SATA 6.0

MacBookPro10,1

Hard Drive: 2.5" SATA 6.0

Max Memory: 16GB. Type: PC12800 1600MHz. Non user upgradeable.

Hard Drive: SSD. Non user upgradeable(yet at least).

Macbook Air 11"/13"

You can NOT upgrade the memory in any of the Air's. It is soldered onto the logic board.

MacbookAir1,1:

Max Memory: 2GB Type: 667MHz.(Not user upgradable)

Hard Drive: 1.8" PATA.

MacbookAir2,1

Max Memory: 2GB Type: 1066MHz.(Not user upgradable)

Hard Drive: 1.8" SATA(Some Air's use a 1.8" SSD)

MacbookAir3,1:

Max Memory 2GB/4GB Type: 1066MHz.(Not user upgradable)

SSD: 1.8" Mini SATA.

MacbookAir3,2:

Max Memory 2GB/4GB Type: 1066MHz.(Not user upgradable)

SSD: 1.8" Mini SATA.

MacBookAir4,1

Max Memory 2GB/4GB Type: 1333MHz.(Not user upgradable)

SSD: 1.8" Mini SATA.

MacBookAir4,2

Max Memory 2GB/4GB Type: 1333MHz.(Not user upgradable)

SSD: 1.8" Mini SATA.

MacBookAir5,1

Max Memory 4GB/8GB Type: 1600MHz.(Not user upgradable)

SSD: 1.8" Mini SATA.

MacBookAir5,2

Max Memory 4GB/8GB Type: 1600MHz.(Not user upgradable)

SSD: 1.8" Mini SATA.


Hard Drive Upgrades:

You can put just about any 2.5" hard drive in your Macbook(excluding Air's). Except for the 12.5mm drives, as they sometimes are too tall. If you put a 7200rpm hard drive in, it may vibrate a bit more than the stock Apple 5400rpm drive. If you want an SSD, I think the best ones are with Sandforce controllers, because they have built in TRIM, no software needed. Drives such as the OCZ Vertex 2, or the Mercury Extreme, have the SandForce controllers.

For Macbook Air's its just about the same thing, just 1.8" hard drives(or SSD's). The new Late 2010 Air's cannot have their hard drives replaced.

Optibay:

It is possible replace the DVD drive in your Macbook with a hard drive. You need a hard drive caddy shaped like an optical drive. You can buy optibay's here: http://www.mcetech.com/optibay/index.html, or on other sites.

Wireless Card:

For the Unibody Macbook's, its almost impossible to replace the wireless card, as it is located behind the screen. For older white Macbooks, the Wireless card is located under the keyboard, so it is quite easy to replace.

MacBook Pros with ExpressCard slots

 

Perhaps we should add dual-hard drive setups to the "upgrades" list?

after all, I took out my SuperDrive and replaced it with an SSD. I'd never, ever go back. it isn't the most obvious of upgrades, but it's definitely an upgrade.

 

I kinda touched on the subject with optibay. But, if you want, you can write up something about dual HDD's, and I'll ad it to the thread. I don't know much about dual HDD's

 

why list the macbook Air's as Max memory 2GB when they actually can run 4gb, though its not upgradable... saying 2GB max sounds wrong when people will see and hear about other people that have 4GB.

 

Fixed! But, only the latest 2 can have 4GB.

Apple MacBook Air Specs (All MacBook Air Technical Specs) @ EveryMac.com

 

since some people people might not understand what "soldered" means... you may put like "2GB/4GB, not user upgradable" or something similar.

 

Ok, I added that too

 

i found this to be helpful when needing to identify what model mac device you have

it's the "Ultimate Mac Lookup"
Lookup Mac Specs By Serial Number, Order, Model & EMC Number, Model ID @ EveryMac.com

using that along with the info from Macrumors would put you in the right direction:
6GB in MacBook (Pro); Yes it works. - 8GB... well... - MacRumors Forums

hope this helps others!

 

GPU's are not user replaceable/upgradeable don't forget that one

 

MacBook Pros with ExpressCard slots can use the FileMate Ultra SSD cards for booting Mac OS X. The Ultras come in 48 GB (which is what I currently use) and 96 GB. I noticed that the prices dropped recently on these. I do not know if you can install Windows via BootCamp on these but it's not an issue for me. I saw a huge performance improvement on startup and application launch times, similar to what those with conventional 2.5 inch SSDs have reported.

So I guess you could have a three-drive setup with OptiBay and ExpressCard.

The advantage of an ExpressCard solution is that you can have a small SSD for the OS and Applications and use the HDD for user data. This keeps the costs down for the SSD. Another benefit of an ExpressCard solution is that you can take a bootable ExpressCard from one MBP and use it on another MBP for booting.

There are other companies besides FileMate that makes these things but the FileMate is the only one that I know of that boots Mac OS X.

 

Cool, I added this to the guide. Hope you don't mind

 

Great guide, thanks for posting.


So I've been researching and trying out if its possible to get SATA 3gbs speeds out of my Macbook Pro 3,1 (1.5gbs).

There is no user upgradeable way to up the SATA controller speed so far.

But then I went onto MCE's site and checked out the OptiBay Hard Drive enclosure that has its own SATA <strike>controller</strike> interface.

So does that SATA <strike>controller</strike> interface give me the ability to fully utilize the SSD's SATA 3gbs speed?

If I find out soon, I'll post an update.

 

I believe the optical drive SATA port is limited to 1.5GB'S also

 

I have a MacBook 13 aluminum late 2008 model 5,1 and It can accept max 8gb of ram not 6gb, thanks

 

I've heard that before, and I think either its buggy with 8 gigs or when it goes over 6GB's of memory usage the Macbook will mess up.

 

I'll run more tests on both the windows and Osx side and let you know the stability, so far so good and I'm pleasantly surprised

 

Cool, maybe if you could post a screen shot in with task manager up showing over 6GB's used?

 

I have a MacBook Pro i5 2.4Ghz (Mid-2010) I know the fastest bus speed it supports is 1066 will it run with 1333 in here but just work at a max 1066? I dont see why it wouldnt but this is a Mac and I am new to it, pc it would and just run at the max bus speed would allow.

 

Yep, 1333MHz will work fine, it'll just clock down to 1066MHz.

 

There is an actual application that is awesome to track upgrades.

Mactracker

It has all macs ever produced on there!

 

Nice, I'll add this to the Free OS X software thread.

 

update, the mb 5.1 can go to 8GB if have os x 10.6.6 and all updates installed

[derp old i know]

 

Have you tried using over 6GB's at once? I heard that once it used over 6GB's it freezes/gets buggy.

 

I'm looking to buy i7 Quad 2.0 with 6490 gpu. Can I upgrade it with 6750m?

edit. looks like whole logic boards needs to be replaced. not worth it

 

Correct, it would be cheaper to sell your MBP and buy the faster one.

 

Yes, but i have too much CPU load to handle, so it gets a little laggy, but no freezes or crashes

 

I am waiting for my 8gb kit to come in to upgrade the ram. Since Apple "officially" supports up to 8 gb in ram for 2011 MBPs (unofficial is 16 gb), I hope there is a performance increase as I do get that infamous mac circle cursor when I am running flash or too many browser windows. I was thinking of upgrading my HDD to SSD, but from what I have seen it is not worth it as the price is too high for couple of seconds worth of quick boot. I have a 500 gb HDD on it though I am pretty sure it is a 5400 rpm drive.

 

The benefits of SSDs go way, way beyond a decreased startup time. This itself is a significant improvement (as is the decreased shutdown time), but SSDs are also silent, don't vibrate, and are more reliable than HDDs. The main benefit, however, is that virtually all applications open pretty much instantly-it's remarkable.

Note that I've seen the cursor to which you refer all of two times in the 3 months I've had my MBP, and I too often have a lot happening on my machine.

 

An SSD will also give you longer battery life.

 

SSDs compared to todays HDD? I think the difference should be minimal.

Now, I haven't tried the HDD version but the sony vaio I have with an SSD would run cooler (fans are on but some laptops even don't cool then) but battery life is not that better than 2 or so hours on full load.

 

No, absolutely not. Even the best HDD's-10,000RPM desktop drives, for instance-are not vaguely comparable, generally, to SSD's. The only advantage of an HDD is decreased cost per GB. That's about it.

I recommend you look into this issue further, since your statement is, I'm afraid to say, incredibly misguided.

 

I think the topic was about power consumption...

 

The poster doesn't seem to be referring to power consumption here:

 

I was referring to the post you were quoting earlier who seemed to be responding to...

which was posted right before.

 

*Added the latest MB's.

 

hi guys,
Does the 2011 macbook pro 17 inch with 3.2ghz CPU support Kingston Hyperx 1600mhz (or more) RAMs?

 

In the link below, they have 1600MHz ram in a 2011 17" MBP and it works great! Runs at full speed too.

17" MacBook Pro 2.3GHz, 8Gb 1600MHz, 240Gb Vertex 3 *Benchmarks* - MacRumors Forums

 

You have to have the 2.2 2720QM or the 2.3 2820QM to run 1600MHz. If your in doubt get plug and play and it will downclock automatically.

Other then that....

You guys should really get MacTracker... almost all this information is in that program... and its FREE.

Mactracker - Get Info on any Mac

 

Does replacing your optical drive with an SSD void your warranty?

 

Would I be able to use this ram to upgrade my MBP 2010 2.66? I ask because it says it's for iMac and macbook on the title.
Thanks

 

Yeah, it'll work. They both use laptop memory. Newegg sells the same stuff(Just not branded as for iMac): Newegg.com - Kingston 8GB (2 x 4GB) DDR3 1066 Memory for Apple Model KTA-MB1066K2/8G

Newegg says it's compatible with the MBP.

 

But some of the comments/reviews on the amazon page have complaints from mbp users who faced crashes after inserting the new memory. Some of them said that forums pointed the trouble to be due to CAS latency figures not supported by mbps.

 

Hmm, the Newegg review's show the the memory to be flawless, but theAmazon reviews of it are horrible.

But, looks like there are quite a few n00bs buying it on Amazon:

Why not buy the G.SKILL 8GB's for $35: Newegg.com - G.SKILL 8GB (2 x 4GB) 204-Pin DDR3 SO-DIMM DDR3 1066 (PC3 8500) Laptop Memory Model F3-8500CL7D-8GBSQ

 

Aye, for crying out loud. Of course you can't put DDR3 RAM into a DDR2 2007 MBP ... silly slots are in different places on the PCB.

You otherwise have to match the DDR3 numbers, as the systems can't always downclock the DDR3 1333 correctly in a 1066-based machine. Which nobody @ AMZ will tell you

 

Hi everyone,

I'm pretty sure someone has already posted this but what is the cheapest HDD caddy for a 2011 unibody Macbook Pro 13" that features SATAII connections and is not the OWC one (which costs $67) or the MCE Tech Optibay?

I looked at the $18.00 ones on Amazon.com but people were complaining it was only SATA 1.5Gbp/s and might require breaking off some plastic on the inside of the laptop.

The model number of my computer is MC724LL/A

 

I was wondering the same thing

 

If you're planning on doing an SSD upgrade while retaining your existing hard drive, the former belongs in the standard hard drive bay while you put the latter in the optical bay. Even the fastest 7200 RPM notebook hard drive will hardly max out a SATA I connection, so you can easily get away with the cheaper caddy.

 

Can I upgrade the screen in a 4.1 Macbook Pro 15? For example the 1440x900 LED for a higher resolution screen. (WUXGA) Or in the 17 inch versions non led screen for a wuxga?

 

It's pretty difficult to remove a Macbook's screen. I tried it on a 2007 MBP 15, no fun

But, if you really want to....

The original screen part number is: N154C1

It appears to be a standard 15.4" 30 pin screen.

Spoiler

I would purchase a LP154WU1(TL)(B1)

It appear to have the same connectors.

Spoiler

 

You need to upgrade with EFI Firmware to support rates higher than 1.5Gbps. Most of the times the transfer rates is capped by the software/firmware.