Macbook spec requirements, need some advice

Well, there are actually a number of theories about that, but here is some info as to what it is, how to find out capacity, etc-

http://support.apple.com/kb/HT1519

 

Have you guys seen the new 13" MacBook Pro range?

 

ooooooooooyeah!

Thinking about an upgrade from my BlackBook now ... firewire 800 is a very welcome addition and even if I go for the "cheap" one it's a faster processor than I currently have and so should run TSP well ... I wonder how hard it will be to swap out the 160GB 5400rpm HDD for my 320GB 7200rpm one?

Might even think about a 500GB 7200rpm drive if I want to do a complete upgrade ... pitty 8GB of RAM will cost so much or else I'd do that as well!

 

dude, thanks for the heads up! im still within my 2 weeks..... taking mine back for an upgrade!

 

Dude the hard drive swap is dead easy, on all except the older-style Macbook Pros. With the unibodies you just open the bottom and there's the hdd; a small screwdriver set with a torx bit and a tiny philips bit will be sufficient. Oh and if you don't wanna bother with reinstalling everything, get one of those SATA-to-USB adapters and Carbon Copy Cloner (free) or Drive Genius (not free) to clone the drive contents.

My aluminum macbook's hard drive up and died this past weekend, and I had a new 7200rpm 500GB Seagate drive installed, all data transferred and permissions repaired, within 2 hours.

 

These new machines are the same as the 17" unibody ... as in they have an integrated battery now and so I'm not sure about cracking them open ... no battery to take out to access anything ...

I might have to google it ...

EDIT:
shouldn't be too hard to change if it's the same as the 17" unibody ...
http://www.fifthfloormedia.com/17-unibody-macbook-pro-hard-drive-installation/

now to find some money to actually purchase a new machine ...

 

Instructions not yet on the apple website but here is the go for the 17" from the apple website.
http://support.apple.com/kb/HT3419

 

Jay Michael,

Im looking at your specs and checked the apple website it right in my price range. And its good that it seems to be workin good for you. But one question i was looking throught the options you can select from and can't find 320 gig 7200 rpm, hard drive. The max i see is 320 @ 5400 rpm. Is that the upgraded you got after you purchased your machine.

 

I personally think it's not worth it to pay Apple a serious amount of money for switching parts in Macbooks since they've actually done it so incredibly easy to do yourself... just get the Macbook with smallest harddrive and lowest amount of memory in MacStore, go to any decent computer store of your choice and buy some upgrades - a 2.5" SATA II harddrive of the size/speed-combination of your choice and 4GB of "apple compatible"-memory (if it really is a decent computer store, they'll know what you want).

Then all you need to do is take away the battery, unscrew two screws, remove the parts that are installed on macbook, insert new ones, screw the two screws back, install OSX onto the new hard drive and you're done. Not countinf the operating system installation, all this takes approximately two minutes - and saves you about 200-400 euros (275-550 USD).

 

Don't bother paying Apple for hard drives or memory, you can source the hardware for less than half the cost they want and do it your self. I got a Seagate Momentus Gforce (ST9500420ASG) 500GB 7200.4 SATA 7200RPM 16MB Cache 2.5" Laptop HDD for under $160 Cdn out the door and used the instruction set from:http://www.macinstruct.com/node/130
to do the swap. Takes about an hour and a half from the time you start to clone your drive until you are done and up and running again. The surgery requires about 5 minutes, the rest of the duration depends on how much data you have to move. The Seagate gave me 466 Gb of useable space and runs about 30% faster than the 120Gb 4400 Rpm drive that came in my Macbook. Please note if you are running a Virtual machine for Windows (VMWare, Paragon etc) you should partition the new drive (I set aside 40Gb Fat 32) and install your virtual machine in there. Other wise Drive Genius or iDefrag have a freak out when they encounter hidden virtual machine files. It's also always good to lock Microsoft products away in a little box where they can't cause harm and you can observe them.

 

thanks alot

I have two ways

NEW 2.13GHz Intel Core 2 Duo
4GB 800MHz DDR2 SDRAM - 2x2GB
160GB Serial ATA Drive @ 5400 rpm
Apple Care Protection
Price package $1222
I found this website to upgrade the harddrive
http://eshop.macsales.com/shop/hard-drives/2.5-Notebook/
Total package somewhere around $1297
i save a extra $30 if i upgrade the memory myself


I can also get a refurb
2.4GHz Intel Core 2 Duo;2GB memory; 160GB hard drive; for $899
upgrade to 4GB for $70( doing myself)
upgrade 7200rpm 320 for $75 (doing myself)
apple service plan extra $183
TOTAL PACKAGE $1227

Which is a better way to go, will the refurb 2.4 Ghz offer me that much more speed, or should i get the new 2.13 Ghz

thanks in advance

 

I would advise getting the fastest processor as this is not upgradeable, the rest do yourself.
F

 

I want to change my advice...... Always go for the fatser processor, I would not go for a second hand as you don't know what it did before you got it...... Fastest processor but buy new. Also get the apple care! You know you have not run the processor to death and if it burns you get new through the Apple care.
F

 

If you are buying a refurb from Apple direct, you still get the warranty & you can buy Applecare for it.

I would definately consider it.

 

update:

Macbook Pro 13
2.26GHz Intel Core 2 Duo

2GB 1066MHz DDR3 SDRAM - 2x1GB

160GB Serial ATA Drive @ 5400 rpm

SuperDrive 8x (DVD±R DL/DVD±RW/CD-RW)

AppleCare Protection Plan for MacBook

cost: $1228

I'm waiting for my Juniper card to arrive to order

I already order my from Macsales.com
4GB Ram

500Gb ram @72oo Rpm

cost: $220
total cost: $1448

the refurb was soldout so thats why i'm op for the pro