2.4 vs 2.6

Good Morning I just bought my daughter, a DJ, the MacBook Pro with the 2.4 GHz Intel Core 2 Duo processor 3MB shared level 2 cache. It has:
* 2 GB of 667 MHz DDR2 SDRAM (PC2-5300)
* 200 GB 5400 rpm HD

Can you tell by these specs if I can upgrade the RAM and HD - add more or remove existing and add new? I wanted to know IF I could upgrade to a 2.6 processor, but I see an earlier thread that states the processor is soldered in. She will be running Reason, Finale 08, maybe a few other music software related programs. Is that processor fast enought for Reason and Finale 08 at least? Thanks

 

She'll be completely fine with that CPU. You CAN upgrade, but it wouldn't be worth the money for a 9% increase in clockspeed. I've run reason under windows on a 1.6 with no problems.

 

I don't know any of the programs. But you can change HDD to 7200rpm for better load time of applications and stuff.
Processor is seems to be fine

 

The best upgrade you can get is actually a faster HD: 7200 rpm or even better an SSD. But as long as she says the computer is running well, it's not worth it.

 

it would be 8.33333 percent faster with a faster processor. that's not worth any money..

 

Johnny and dave are correct: modern processors, even the weakest (dual-core 2.0) are enough for pretty much anything thrown at them currently. The only place where there are differences is in CPU-intensive applications like 3D rendering or number crunching. Your daughter should not need any of that.

Note that you probably CAN upgrade the processor, although it's not easy: you'll have to open up the laptop, which in Macs is unusually hard, and work your way to the motherboard: usually that involves removing battery, hard drive, memory and other stuff. The CPU is probably not soldered to the motherboard (though Macs might be special in that). But it is sort of "glued" to the heatsink with thermal paste, a dough made to conduct heat properly. When you upgrade a processor you have to remove the heatsink before you have access to the processor, which means that you will have to clean the old thermal paste and reapply it. It's not a hard procedure, but it is non-trivial and I do not recommend it if you've never done it, especially for a 8.333% benefit in clock speed.

 

while she does some audio stuff that can be cpu intensive, the cpu is definitely more than enough for that task. i run ableton live on my core2duo 1.86 without any problems, and this in a live environment where there is no stuttering allowed works great.